Branding, Publicity and Marketing Success Secrets

Discover the secrets to career and business success using publicity outreach for branding and marketing. Find out how to showcase your credentials, experience, wisdom and expertise using publicity success principles and strategy.

By Annie Jennings

Is there a secret to success? Is there more than one? Yes! Let’s find out what successful people, consultants and business pros believe and do that helps them achieve their optimal potential. What is it that they have in common, whether it’s in their beliefs or in their actions that makes them successful?

First of all they use resources available to them including publicity, self-promotion, branding and marketing to create their outstanding advantage in the marketplace. The rest comes naturally. The major opportunities go to the ones who are visible, making a difference, seen and heard by their target market.

Successful people know that they have to take responsibility and follow it up by taking action. You set you own limits.  You are defined by the intensity of your commitment and the depths of your knowledge. In other words, commitment without knowledge can equal frustration and limit your potential. The idea is to add the right knowledge to your ambition so you can climb the ladder for yourself.

Those who make it big believe certain things and do certain things to back up their beliefs. They are ready to invest in themselves. They believe that they are they best investment. Successful people create a business model that meets the demands of their target market. Successful people are ready for action, they are committed and they are willing to go for it with gusto.

Showcase your knowledge. Showcase your talent using media outreach. Your clients will love seeing you out there in the media sharing what you know and commenting on the issues. They enjoy hiring a tried and true professional who understands how to deliver the specific outcome. By doing publicity, marketing and promotion, you let your clients get an idea of your knowledge, wisdom and experience. You client will want to hire you. Clients want certainty. They want to hire the best. In the end, your clients want to buy outcomes and are happy to pay for your services if you are able to define the return on investment and clearly state how your services can help your clients.

Content is critical when showcasing yourself and your knowledge. The media is your opportunity to shine.  Do an outstanding job, pack your commentary with valuable content and share your wisdom and experience in all of your marketing materials including your email newsletters. Be sure your website helps you educate your visitors and your clients.

Success is in your own hands. Taking responsibility for both the successes and failures empowers you to make the changes necessary to turn the situation around or to expand on your success.  If you feel powerless in both the good and the bad, you will get stuck in your thinking and in your progress.

Have a terrific attitude. Commit to proven publicity, branding and marketing strategies. Do not fight success the whole way. Be optimistic. Success will come easily to you and it will seem as if everything you do has a terrific outcome. Have confidence in yourself. Go with your gut, your intuition and your instincts when making choices. Be high energy. Be ready for success & take action. P.S. Don’t stop until you get enough success!

Access tremendous publicity resources for both your career and your business at Annie Jennings PR. Free publicity, branding and business marketing special reports are available as well as free MP3 audio recordings to empower your corporate communications strategy. Contact Annie Jennings PR at 908-281-6201

Do You Know Who You're Dealing With?

If you are thinking about joining a business, or if you are just out prospecting in the internet, it is always a good idea to do a little research on anyone that you are planning to contact, or anyone that contacts you. There are a few reasons why this is a good idea.

By Robin Rushlo

Copyright (c) 2010 Soaring Eagle Companies LLC

If you are thinking about joining a business, or if you are just out prospecting in the internet, it is always a good idea to do a little research on anyone that you are planning to contact, or anyone that contacts you. There are a few reasons why this is a good idea.

The information that is available about individuals on the web is pretty extensive. Just by Googling a name, you can get a lot of information. Go to almost any of the social websites and you can sometimes find ever more. So, there is really no excuse for not doing some research to find out a little information about a person.

First, if you are thinking of contacting someone about your business, it would be important make sure there is no information that would make the person a bad match for your business. As an extreme example, you probably don’t want to contact the president of the Christian Women’s League about your multi-level marketing company that puts pornographic movies into hotels or a counselor who runs Alcoholics Anonymous (and is a former alcoholic himself) an opportunity in your wine company. You never, know, but it is unlikely that these would be a good matches.

You also really want someone that will use your products. You can’t promote a product you don’t like or don’t use. So trying to add someone to your business that can’t or won’t use your products doesn’t really make good business sense. Conversely, you don’t want to get into a business that has products you don’t like or won’t use. It will be a lose-lose situation for everyone.

While there is a lot of information on the web about individuals, you do have do your due diligence. Anyone can put anything on the web and it usually stays there forever whether it is true or not. So take into account the source of the information before you make a decision based on something you found on the web.

Knowing who you are dealing with can save you a lot of problems over the long run. The big time network marketer that you would like to bring into your business will not bring in the numbers if they are not a good match for your product or your business philosophy. Contacting someone about a business that a little research would have revealed is something that they are totally opposed to can bring you a lot of anger.

Be careful who you contact and about who is contacting you. At the very least, you can look pretty silly. At the worst, you can anger someone that might be an asset to you later.

Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing. Warren Buffett

"Dr. Robin Rushlo", is a well known MLM Radio personality and is nationally recognized as an expert in the network marketing business.He is the current host of the radio show, "Networking with the Blindguy"live daily. Visit his sites athttp://www.robintrushlo.com and http://eatcandydiet.com

How To Use Autoresponders To Build Your Internet Business

Ever wondered what a Auto Responder is and how it can benefit your online Business? Find out more in this article!

By John Beaumont

What is an autoresponder? As the name suggests it is an automatic response email which is a very important internet tool.

You may have heard many people recommend them to you, but why use an autoresponder? To be honest the question really should be why? But rather how can you not use an autoresponder? In fact it is difficult to see in this day and age how you could build an active list without one.

Basically an autoresponder is a system for sending out emails on a regular pre-determined basis to people who have opted in to receiving your information. Sure you could type out an individual email every time someone contacted you but, hey, would you have the time or more importantly the inclination to do that?

By writing an email once you are able to send it automatically to numerous enquirers quickly and efficiently.

The disadvantage, of course, is that it is a general information email rather than a personal one. However in most cases this does not matter as most people require the same type of information initially.

You should of course word the email to sound as friendly and personal as possible. Your potential customer will hopefully contact you if they have further questions and you can then send them the requested answer via a personal email, phone or whatever.

So what should you put in your autoresponder email? Obviously pertinent information regarding the offer you are making and why they should buy from YOU but more importantly a “call to action”. You are building a business after all and you need to build up trust and a good relationship but you also need your potential customer to take ACTION.

Always remember that people buy from others whom they trust. Other things to put in your emails should be:-

- A thank you for requesting information

- A brief explanation about using the internet for sales

- How you can help them

- How to contact you

- Testimonials Etc.

The art is to spread out your information over several emails stressing different advantages in each one.

So how many emails should you send? It is a rough “rule of thumb” that, in general, people do not buy until approached around seven times. There is of course no limit to the number of emails you can send assuming that your reader does not request to be removed from your mailing list. This is an important point. If they do request removal then ensure that you carry this out immediately. There is automatic software available to take care of this situation.

The frequency of your autoresponder campaign is another important consideration. Personally I do not like receiving emails too often. To me this is counterproductive in as much as you can “over egg the custard” and put people off. However I know that other internet marketers disagree with me on this point and some even inundate their potential clients. So the choice is yours. Why not experiment with different timing of submissions?

My recommendation would be to send your emails at 2/3 day intervals initially. Long term you could also send reminders after 3/6 months and maybe again after a year. Often people’s circumstances change and whilst your offer may not be appreciated initially after a while it may become more of interest to them especially if their financial situation changes.

Bear in mind also that if you have several products you can automatically make different offers through your autoresponders. If they are not interested in product A then you can offer product B in the same niche. This might be just what they are looking for. Also you can use a few of the autoresponder emails to give free pertinent information to your contacts thus building up trust. Not every email needs to be promoting your offer(s) of course.

So where do you get your vital autoresponder? There are a number of companies offering their services on the internet so the choice is yours.


I like more Internet Marketers have found my preferred autoresponder through a matter of trial and error. The Most important thing is to find the autoresponder that works for you. So do a search and with due diligence, you’ll soon find yours.

To YOUR success

John Beaumont Internet Marketer

Get your FREE! "6 Pages To 6 Figures Special Report which Reveals EXACTLY How to Build a long lasting and Passive $100,000/yr Online Business here

The Benefits Of Outsourcing

To be competitive, many companies are already utilizing their workforce to the maximum levels. This stream of constant manufacturing leaves little area for expansion and injects fatigue over the workforce. In an effort to increase manufacturing, a company can outsource portions of the needed work or tasks to a smaller more focused group of individuals who can provide an accurate and easier outcome.

By Steve Duval

The concept of outsourcing has erupted in popularity in the 21st century. Many corporations and small businesses reap the advantages of outsourcing their manufacturing or production needs to maintain their competitive edge. As employment in many countries contracts, there are people who look at the benefits of outsourcing as damaging to an economy.

The main argument is reducing the labor costs involved in producing goods or services. On the surface, American employees view outsourcing as a threat to their own jobs. However, this argument is easily overshadowed by the many benefits of outsourcing in today’s economy.

1. Increased Manufacturing

To be competitive, many companies are already utilizing their workforce to the maximum levels. This stream of constant manufacturing leaves little area for expansion and injects fatigue over the workforce. In an effort to increase manufacturing, a company can outsource portions of the needed work or tasks to a smaller more focused group of individuals who can provide an accurate and easier outcome.

2. Continued Innovation

Many businesses focus too much on the task at hand rather than updating their information or procedures. Technology constantly expands and is perfected in other areas of the world. Companies can become more innovative and learn new techniques for improving their tasks and output from new specialists acquired by outsourcing.

3. Focused Control

Fewer employees is not a bad thing. In fact, it is easier to focus on each section of the process, because there are less chances of failure or defects. Many companies must wade through a tangled area of management to solve even simple problems. Having a higher degree of focus can increase production, marketing and profits.

4. Low Expansion Costs

No construction or building contracts are required. There is no need to hire a new department or setup expensive equipment. A company can save thousands of dollars by expanding into outsourcing.

5. Lower Costs; Higher Profits

Companies can benefit from workers who live in under developed economies. If manufacturing costs are reduced, companies will receive higher profits. A benefit to this method is the range of highly skilled workers in other areas of the world who are available for immediate work.

6. Fast Turnaround and Reduced Risk

Due to time zone differences throughout the world, work can still be completed when your company is closed for the day. This method consistently increases output and achieves a faster turnaround. The specialization of a diverse workforce can improve manufacturing, company culture and business relationships. The risks are extremely reduced when work is outsourced. Projects can be started immediately without the need for training new employees or negotiating expert salaries.

7. Lower Consumer Cost

Consumers will benefit from this method of manufacturing and production. Typically, when a company can lower it’s cost to produce goods or services the cost savings are passed directly to the consumer. This provides an increase in sales for the company and a lower cost for consumers in and out of an economic downturn.

In conclusion, outsourcing is a fantastic way for any business to compete in the global future.

Steve Duval is an internet entrepreneur who is showing others the many ways of making money online today. He teaches simple techniques that anyone can use to earn money online http://www.expressincomes.com

Your Client Attraction Secret: Speaking!

How you can create comfortable and interactive speaking engagements that attract clients!

By Chris Makell

I won’t go into all of the strategies and facts on speaking and how it’s the thing people least like to do even more than dying. Or, how it’s just too hard and nerve racking to do. You’ve heard it all.

I will say that how you approach speaking will either make this true for you or not. I have spent many years in corporate, delivering presentations to as few as one senior vice president to a group of 50+. No matter how well I knew every word and bullet on my transparency, or foil (remember those?), slide or PowerPoint, it was not always an easy thing to do. I was nervous, every time. Because this was something I wanted to be better at, I’ve taken fabulous presentation courses and improved my delivery as a result. It’s created more confidence and less nervousness.

Now that I’m leading my own business, speaking for me is, very, very different. No longer do I need to convince someone that I know what I’m talking about and that my recommendations will help them have better results. I have the opportunity to take a much different approach. And I guarantee you that if you add these simple strategies to your speaking toolkit, you’ll achieve the client attraction success I have experienced.

Strategy #1: Approach the presentation with a desire to share your knowledge

Ever wonder why teachers don’t get nervous each day in front of the classroom. I’m sure some do that first day… Though I don’t know this for a fact, I do know that having a desire to help others learn can erase that nervousness and give you the passionate energy that all great speakers thrive on. When you’re putting together your presentation, ask yourself what am I teaching my audience? How can I help them achieve success from what I’m about to share? Just using this approach will shape the tone and texture of your presentation and build your passionate (not nervous) energy!

Strategy #2: Select a topic that will be of interest to your specific audience

So that means you can’t use a “canned” presentation. You have to demonstrate your ability to connect with an audience where they are. As a result they’ll see that you are able to address their specific client challenges.

Strategy #3: Put your audience to work!

Use handouts that keep them on track with your presentation and that requires them to take notes so that they are active and learning during your presentation. Ask your audience what they got from the presentation at the end, to deepen the learning and keep them connected to you.

Strategy #4: Create a way to “stay connected”

Bring your business cards, sign up sheet for your newsletter, brochure, announcement of an upcoming event you’re hosting, etc. Give the audience a way to stay connected to you after your fabulous presentation!

Using these simple strategies will make you and your business more “client attractive”. And you’ll get an incredible rush from sharing your knowledge, expertise and passionate energy!

Break a leg and get a client!

Chris Makell helps coaches, consultants, and other solopreneurs who want to live their life's purpose transition smoothly from unfulfilled full-time employees to successful full-time entrepreneurs. To learn how to make more money doing what you love, visit www.RadianceMarketing.com to claim your free special report, "7 Surefire Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Time and Marketing Dollar."

How To Obtain Small Business Financing Help When Banks Say No

This article provides some realistic small business financing options for commercial borrowers to consider if their bank cannot help. What to do if their bank says no to a request for commercial loans and working capital is on a growing list of problems that small businesses cannot ignore in the face of commercial banking difficulties.

By Stephen Bush

Because of a deteriorating commercial lending environment, some of our earlier advice is now likely to be especially relevant for many businesses. Banks are currently saying “no” more frequently than they have in decades, and we provided advice a few years ago about what actions business owners should consider if their bank rejected a small business financing request.

A bank saying “no” can actually lead to an overall improvement in commercial financing options under many circumstances, although a business owner is not likely to hope for the business loan rejection in the first place. With requests for needed business financing and working capital, small business owners are increasingly hearing their bank say “no”. Most commercial borrowers are often not sure what to do next since such an awkward situation represents uncharted waters for them.

Banks are routinely saying “no” to small businesses which are both profitable and long-term customers. Because this has become such a widespread commercial lending problem, it is now common to hear phrases such as “business loans without banks” and “thinking outside the bank” when talking about strategies small business owners might need to analyze.

There are two financing situations that businesses should especially be prepared for banks saying “no”. One of these involves working capital loans (including commercial lines of credit) and the other commercial real estate financing. While a small number of banks are still proving to be reliable sources for some business financing options, recent nationwide commercial lending reports clearly show a drastic reduction in commercial loans for commercial real estate financing and working capital loans.

Small businesses have only rarely pursued the option of replacing their bank. There is little recourse but to pursue such a path when their bank says “no” to routine requests for business financing, and astute business owners need to quickly accept this harsh reality. Improvements to the overall financial health of a business will be achieved in a pleasantly surprising number of cases even though this search for new commercial finance alternatives is undertaken under protest by most commercial borrowers. Keep in mind that in many cities and communities, one or two banks frequently operate in a near monopoly environment. When small business owners have literally been forced to find new business finance options, they are often pleased to discover that they can not only replace existing bank financing satisfactorily but also improve their bottom line in the transition.

A prudent starting point for commercial borrowers to adequately evaluate how to get working capital and other business loans when their bank says “no” is likely to be a lengthy conversation with a small business financing expert. A critical step to eventual success in formulating a strategy for obtaining new sources of effective commercial finance funding is likely to be finding and selecting such an expert, but it should be realized that this is not likely to be a quick or easy task for business owners. Ensuring that the commercial financing expert chosen is totally independent and not affiliated in any way with the bank which said “no” is an especially crucial aspect not to be overlooked in locating a reliable expert to help.

Stephen Bush has provided candid advice to business owners for 30 years and is a commercial loan expert. AEX Commercial Financing Group offers small business financing and working capital options

Presentation Success: How You Can Own The Room

A successful presentation starts with the presenter owning the room. When you know and own the room, you will be a more powerful and confident presenter. That leads to more successful presentations for you. What can you do to own the room?

By George Torok

Consider this

While strolling in your neighborhood you will feel more comfortable and confident than in a strange town. A sports team usually feels stronger when playing at home. Delivering a presentation is certainly a competitive sport. Why not do it on your home turf?

As a presenter, how do you own the room? “Owning the room” is a feeling that you can generate within yourself by knowing the room. How do you know the room?

Know the room

Knowing the room for your presentation might mean arriving the day before your presentation. At the very least, arrive one hour before your presentation. Don’t breeze in 10 minutes before you speak and expect to “own the room”.

Get into the room before your presentation - preferably when no one else is there. This will allow you to make the following preparations.

You can see the room and start visualizing how you will present and how your audience will look. Visualizing yourself presenting in the room is an effective way to prepare for your presentation. You will feel more comfortable and more powerful if you’ve been in the room before your presentation.

If the room is not the right size for the audience expected you can plan what to do to alter the room to make it appear to be smaller or arrange for another room.

You can check the setup of the room. Become familiar with the layout of the seating, tables, doors, curtains and other characteristics of the room. Walk around the room and sit in different seats so you understand better how the audience might or might not see you and your visuals during your presentation. Look for blind spots.

Arrange for the seating to be changed to your preferred arrangement. Sometimes this might mean making those changes yourself. (I’ve done this the night before an important presentation.)

Play with the switches. Test all the lights, AV and climate control switches. Tape the ones that should not be changed. Discover the ones that give you the settings you want so you can set it quickly or explain to an assistant how to do it.

Check all the doors to learn which ones are noisy - so you can tape the latches with duct tape. Which are the outer halls that need a “Do Not Enter” sign taped on the outside? Where are the washrooms so you can direct people? hich are the emergency exits in case they are needed?

Rehearse walking on and off the stage so you don’t trip. I’ve done it and seen it happen. It’s surprising how simple things like walking on stage can be nerve wracking when you are giving a presentation.

Stand on the stage and deliver parts of your presentation. Move about the stage to feel comfortable and find the cracks or creaky boards that you will need to avoid. Check the position of the speakers while speaking on the microphone to avoid feedback. Test the microphone when the AV people are there. Often they test the microphone with one of their staff then they disappear.

One More Presentation Tip

Change or move something to make the room yours. Close the curtains, move some chairs, put a small table on stage… It might not be much but any small change that you make can help you feel better when you take the stage.

I’ve delivered over 1,000 presentations and I’ve noticed that a good room setup can influence the energy of the audience and success of your presentation.

Know the room and you will own the room. Your audience will marvel at your confidence and presentation power.

© George Torok helps business leaders, managers & sales professionals deliver million-dollar presentations. He offers presentation skills coaching and presentation skills training. For more free presentation tips visithttp://www.Presentation-Skills-Success.com To arrange a media interviews call 905-335-1997

Like-minded Connections ... "the Best Stuff" To Explode Your Business Results

Masterminds are powerful tools for the solo entrepreneur. So how do you create one or join one? Here are three quick strategies to help you get started!

By Chris Makell

Just by virtue of its title, the solopreneur or solo entrepreneur can be a lonely job. You’re primarily heads down, with “one focus” to create value for your customers and delivering it with just two hands or maybe with a small team. And yet, there are the times when you pause and begin to wonder:

Is there anyone else facing the same challenges?

Are they hitting the brick wall on ideas?

Have they reached a plateau?

Can they be searching for new and fresh ideas to re-ignite their business?

Have they lost some of their passion?

Yes, it can be tough being a “one person” show. But it’s also pretty cool, right? You get to call ALL the shots. You say, go “left” and you don’t have to get 3 levels of approval on the use and relevance of the word “left”! It’s exhilarating to be able to shape your own destiny. You can deliver “the promise”, in the way your clients want and deserve. And you get to fully enjoy the exchange of money for the service you deliver! Yes!

And when you’re at a place where routine has set in and you’re craving something new, you can always read more or attend a teleseminar or workshop. But nothing beats being with and around those in your same field, industry or as part of an issue-based forum, be it virtually or in person.

When you connect with these like-minded individuals, in this case solopreneurs, there is a charge, a spark of electricity that ignites new strategies and a call to action! You hear the new ideas and approaches in a fresh way and the inspiration just surges through your brain. You’re seeing a whole new way to deliver value to your clients and to re-energize your passion around your business.

Let me give you a quick example!

Tom still loved and spoke passionately about his business; however he didn’t know what else he could do to bring in more clients beyond networking and speaking. He had heard about the power of masterminding with other successful business owners to learn more successful strategies. And he thought the accountability and support would help him achieve better results, faster.

He asked his network about how he could find a group of like-minded business owners who were in a mastermind or who could direct him to one. Having found his mastermind, Tom began actively participating with members of the group who opened his eyes to additional approaches to attracting new clients, based on their success.

By engaging in a mastermind group with others in his industry, he learned about more value-based offering his clients would be interested in. He just hadn’t thought anyone else was successfully doing it! The group gave Tom the insight and the steps to take immediate action. As a result, he’s launched a new campaign that brings him more clients than he anticipated!

Connecting with like-minded individuals in a well managed and facilitated mastermind can create untold business opportunities for you, because it leverages the powerful knowledge and experience of a team.

Here are 3 strategies to help you connect with like-minded solopreneurs, today, and create greater value for your business and your clients.

Strategy #1:

Plan to attend a one or two day conference in 2010, if you haven’t already. You will establish new connections to call on and learn new strategies for your business. And by the way, it will pay for itself in new ideas and actions to attract and deliver value to your clients and increase your income.

Strategy #2:

Do a search (either online or ask others while networking) and find associations/communities of solopreneurs in your industry, specialty, etc. Attend their meetings to learn more and leverage their knowledge. Request an opportunity to speak or contribute an article, so that others learn from you and recognize your expertise.

Strategy #3:

Look for and participate in a mastermind group. This collection of like-minded individuals will help you explode your results in a powerful and highly supported way. You can check in with your current network, as Tom did!

Connect with like-minded individuals and build the mastermind that takes you and your business to more profitable levels easily.

Chris Makell helps coaches, consultants, and other solopreneurs who want to live their life's purpose transition smoothly from unfulfilled full-time employees to successful full-time entrepreneurs. To learn how to make more money doing what you love, visit www.RadianceMarketing.com to claim your free special report, "7 Surefire Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Time and Marketing Dollar."

First Law Of Networking: Scratch My Back And I'll Scratch Yours

The law of reciprocity says that after you do something for me I will feel obligated to pay you back. Say hello and I answer you back. Ask me how I feel and I respond in kind. Hold a door for me to enter and I will thank you and be more inclined to hold it for the next person. This is the most important principle of networking.

By George Torok

The law of reciprocity says that after you do something for me I will feel obligated to pay you back. Say hello and I answer you back. Ask me how I feel and I respond in kind. Hold a door for me to enter and I will thank you and be more inclined to hold it for the next person. This is the most important principle of networking.

Give me a business lead and I’ll start thinking about who I can refer to you. That’s the fundamental principle of business networking.

You can apply this law in two ways. You could wait for someone to do you a favor. After they do, you can pay them back. That makes you even. But is your goal to be even?

I suggest that in networking your goal is to be uneven. Not only uneven but to keep increasing the balance of what is owed to you. Every time that you do a favor for someone in your network you write an IOU. They owe you a favor. This is like building your bank account.

Build your bank account of IOUs by doing favors for others in your network. The more favors you hand out, the more people will feel obligated to pay you back. Not everyone will pay you back. Don’t worry about that. Instead realize that if you give out nothing till you get something you might never be out of pocket and your bank account will be zero.

Your networking bank account grows by the number of favors that others owe you. Keep depositing into this bank account because some will pay you back and some will pay back with interest.

How can you use your time wisely so you get the best return on your investment?

Imagine that you attended a networking event, walked around the room and gave everyone a dollar. You told them the dollar is a gift. You told each person that they can keep the dollar as long as they want. If fact they don’t need to return it because it was a gift. If they wish to they are welcome to give the money back to you with or without interest.

That would probably freak a lot of people out. Some would return the money. Some would keep it.

But consider the obligations and goodwill that you would build with every dollar you gave away. The main limitation on you would be your supply of dollars.

Now imagine a similar scenario but instead of giving away dollars you gave away favors - leads, referrals, introductions, advice and news. Now the limitation on investment is removed. You can give an almost unlimited number of favors. The only limitation is in using your time wisely.

Instead of giving out dollars, give more favors and watch your networking bank account and business grow.

Business networking works on the principle that if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. Get out there and scratch more backs.

© George Torok is the author of "Your Guide to Networking Success". Discover how to build a more profitable network in 30 days at http://www.powermarketing.ca/networking_success.html Find more free networking tips at http://www.Business-Networking-Tips.net To arrange for George Torok to speak to your conference or business team call 905-335-1997

Tweeting Your Business To The Next Level

Twitter should be the newest addition to your marketing campaigns. Check out this article for some tips on how to get started.

By Anton Pearce

Twitter Marketing for a Small Business

The newest player on the social networking scene is Twitter. Marketing in this venue still relatively new, and for the owners of small businesses especially, this type of advertising is not only cost effective but just plain effective. It’s easy to use Twitter even if you don’t know much about computers or social marketing.

Twitter is like a mini blogging site. You can send tiny messages of 140 characters or less to whomever you wish. The newest flavor in social networking sites, Twitter can be used to build personal networks or business networks.

Different Ways to Use Twitter Marketing

While there are many different ways to incorporate Twitter into your marketing campaign, some of the more common uses are strictly to share information. Since you can share tiny blurbs of information with a huge number of people at the click of a button, Twitter is great for keeping your Twitter followers updated. It can be used to share public service announcements, news updates, business news and friend and family updates. It is built for disseminating information almost constantly.

Because Twitter is designed to constantly feed current updates to your followers, it is a natural for marketing a business. The proper way to share business information over Twitter is to tweet a link for a website containing the complete information. For business owners sharing their information over Twitter lets your prospects and customers discover you. Twitter does have very strict etiquette when it comes to advertising, and by offending the protocol, you can quickly alienate followers and potentially damage your brand.

Twitter is a great tool for promoting your company’s events. Twitter is designed to share timely news, so promoting today’s lunch special would be appropriate, but tweeting about month old news is not appropriate. Keep your tweets conversational and very personal in tone. Any advertising should be in a ‘by the way’ fashion, not ‘in your face’ advertising.

Twitter Marketing can have Lots of Personality

The more personality that your brand has, the easier it will be to tweet about. A unique voice will make your tweets entertaining. You can always wrap your tweets around a kernel of important information, and then deliver them in an entertaining and conversational manner. Your followers will look forward to hearing from you, and you will be able to get your message out constantly which is a great way to market your small business.

Another place where Twitter is incredibly valuable is with your customer contact. Twitter is designed to be conversational, and it is a great way to keep a dialogue going with your customers and prospects. You can head off service problems before they escalate, and you can solicit feedback from your customers. This is particularly helpful to make sure that you are building a good reputation for your company. Twitter allows you to correct problems and retain customers.

For more advanced guidance, sign up for Anton Pearce's 'Clients on Tap' ezine. It's absolutely free and will show how to implement systems that generate all the clients you need for your professional practice. You can do it yourself or get it done for you, either way this ezine is essential reading if you want to get your online marketing systems set up right without wasting a lot of time and money.

Quick Tips To Get High Powered Publicity For Your Business

Find out the insider secrets to using publicity to empower your business and corporate communications strategy. You'll learn how to stay visible to your target audience, build awareness of your brand and encourage interested prospective clients to take action.

By Annie Jennings

What can business learn from successful businesses that use publicity strategies to stay in front of their clients and customers? Plenty! Getting publicity on your business allows you to create a substantial and compelling competitive advantage for your business. Want to be at the top of your industry? Publicity is the key.

One thing many businesses may wonder about is if accessing the media for publicity and brand name awareness costs a ton of money. The answer is no. You can get publicity for your business easily and within your budget.

In addition to staying visible to your target audience using publicity on radio shows, in newspapers and magazines and on TV shows, successful business go the extra mile for their customers and your clients and customers love these businesses for it.

Clients want to make investments in services that provide a return on their investment and they want guarantees so they don’t wind up wasting financial resources.

Be center stage in your industry. Stay competitive in publicity and promotion and make sure it is you or your business commenting on the issues in the news and not your competitors.

Stay consistent in your publicity outreach as this is important to creating your company’s competitive edge as clients want to do business with the vital companies making a difference.

Get quoted expert media placements, publicity on your company, be seen and heard in media including Radio, TV, Magazines, Online and Newspapers.

Be engaged in the success of your target market. When your business becomes part of the success model of other businesses you have achieved a great goal. Ask yourself, what if I were the client, what woudl I want to see available in products and services to bring my company to its next level of success? Once you discover the answer to this question create products and services that your marketplace and your clients can use to add profits to their bottom line.

One of the best business strategies is to understand what your client needs to go to their next level of success and create these resources for them. Stay cutting edge yourself too so you are always one step ahead of the services your client will need.

As your clients integrate your products and services in their business model, be working on the next higher level product as soon these new products will naturally be in demand. Always strive to create the better mousetrap for your clients to ensure your success!

Business publicity secrets can be yours! Annie Jennings PR is an expert public relations firm that works with individuals, businesses and corporations who wish to stay visibile and create their competitive advantage with publicity. Contact Annie Jennings PR and a national publicist can let you know how publicity can help you achieve your highest level of publicity success.

Branding, Publicity & Marketing Success Secrets

Discover the secrets to career and business success using publicity outreach for branding and marketing. Find out how to showcase your credentials, experience, wisdom and expertise using publicity success principles and strategy.

By Annie Jennings

Is there a secret to success? Is there more than one? Yes! Let’s find out what successful people, consultants and business pros believe and do that helps them achieve their optimal potential. What is it that they have in common, whether it’s in their beliefs or in their actions that makes them successful?

First of all they use resources available to them including publicity, self-promotion, branding and marketing to create their outstanding advantage in the marketplace. The rest comes naturally. The major opportunities go to the ones who are visible, making a difference, seen and heard by their target market.

Successful people know that they have to take responsibility and follow it up by taking action. You set you own limits. You are defined by the intensity of your commitment and the depths of your knowledge. In other words, commitment without knowledge can equal frustration and limit your potential. The idea is to add the right knowledge to your ambition so you can climb the ladder for yourself.

Those who make it big believe certain things and do certain things to back up their beliefs. They are ready to invest in themselves. They believe that they are they best investment. Successful people create a business model that meets the demands of their target market. Successful people are ready for action, they are committed and they are willing to go for it with gusto.

Showcase your knowledge. Showcase your talent using media outreach. Your clients will love seeing you out there in the media sharing what you know and commenting on the issues. They enjoy hiring a tried and true professional who understands how to deliver the specific outcome. By doing publicity, marketing and promotion, you let your clients get an idea of your knowledge, wisdom and experience. Your client will want to hire you. Clients want certainty. They want to hire the best. In the end, your clients want to buy outcomes and are happy to pay for your services if you are able to define the return on investment and clearly state how your services can help your clients.

Content is critical when showcasing yourself and your knowledge. The media is your opportunity to shine. Do an outstanding job, pack your commentary with valuable content and share your wisdom and experience in all of your marketing materials including your email newsletters. Be sure your website helps you educate your visitors and your clients.

Success is in your own hands. Taking responsibility for both the successes and failures empowers you to make the changes necessary to turn the situation around or to expand on your success. If you feel powerless in both the good and the bad, you will get stuck in your thinking and in your progress.

Have a terrific attitude. Commit to proven publicity, branding and marketing strategies. Do not fight success the whole way. Be optimistic. Success will come easily to you and it will seem as if everything you do has a terrific outcome. Have confidence in yourself. Go with your gut, your intuition and your instincts when making choices. Be high energy. Be ready for success & take action. P.S. Don’t stop until you get enough success!

Access tremendous publicity resources for both your career and your business at Annie Jennings PR. Free publicity, branding and business marketing special reports are available as well as free MP3 audio recordings to empower your corporate communications strategy. Contact Annie Jennings PR at 908-281-6201

Business Intelligence

There are many ways to improve the performance of your business. One of the most popular ways today, is to make use of the whole plethora of tools known as BI or business intelligence. Using business intelligence gives you the ability to be one step ahead of the competition. This short article covers some of the issues surrounding implementing BI.

By Graham Baylis

There are many ways to improve the performance of your business. One of the most popular ways today, is to make use of the whole plethora of tools known as BI or business intelligence. Using business intelligence gives you the ability to be one step ahead of the competition. It is of course vital that you have a properly thought out business intelligence strategy in place before you begin.

Preparation is the key to success in anything and this is especially so when setting out your business plan and future goals.

How Can BI Help Your Business

So how can business intelligence help your business? At some point in their careers, most business owners have found themselves completely in the dark about facts and figures of how the business is going, how much stock there is and what state the cash flow is in. The problem is that the business is growing, you are working ever more hours just to keep everything moving and you haven’t got the time to spend going over all the facts and figures, so it is all a bit vague and approximate until you find yourself either with too much stock and not enough cash, or not enough stock to fulfil an important order.

Know The Facts and Figures

You need to be able to have all the facts and figures available whenever you need them so that you are fully aware of what is going on at any time. This is where dashboards, analytics, CRM software, performance management, olap, data mining, data warehousing etc come into their own. All the information you need will be at your fingertips when you need it. You will need to find a good business intelligence company to help you set up exactly what you need to operate your business. They should be able to tailor the correct software to your requirements and only give you what you actually need.

Know Your Data and Keep Your Business Ahead

By having all the data to hand, you have a greater chance of getting your business ahead and staying ahead. All the information can be broken down to whatever you want, so if you need to see how certain lines are selling, how a particular branch is doing or how your customer services are coping, you can find this out with ease. That way, you can promote slow moving stock, further train staff where needed and make sure that all your customers are kept happy.

Up to date information and data is vital to the running and management of any company, now with business intelligence, you can have the tools that will make this easy for you. This will give you more time to devote to running the company rather than chasing facts and figures and better still will allow you to make decisions based on fact and not on gut feel.

Graham Baylis has been in business for many years now and understands the importance of Business Intelligence. BI is all about making sure that a business owner knows what is going on in their business. This is just what Contemporary a leader in the field of Business Objects offers. Training, hardware and software can all be provided. See http://www.contemporary.co.uk for BI advice and information.

Solopreneurs: Strategy Change Is The Solution!

To win in the game of business you have to be willing to change strategies, a lesson that I have learned in my own business over the past three years. Let me share with you five tips on how you can change your strategy today.

By Suzanne Evans

There have been lots of new business lessons that the puppy has taught me over the last week, but none as big as tenacity. What the puppy wants the puppy will get, and not because he is bossy or begging, but because he is willing to use strange strategies. Giving up is not an option- strategy change is the solution. This made me think back on the last 3 years and building my own business. I realized I had done pretty much the same thing. To win in the game of business you have to be willing to change strategies.

You also must be comfortable with failing. Believe me, when the puppy fails his thoughts are not going to “how stupid can I be”, “I better give up”, or “this is too hard”. It’s all about- “what’s next”, “try again”, “change sides”, “change ideas”, “let’s get this done”. Many of you have tunnel vision in your business...you are seeing one problem, one solution, and one strategy. Get out of the box- get out of the box today- just like I teach multiple streams on income...you have to have multiple streams of approach for attracting clients and making money.

1) What do you need to STOP doing? It’s not bringing you business but you have some rule that you should be doing it? A referral group, organization, program, etc...eliminate one thing that is costing you time and NOT bringing you business.

2) Add one NEW element to your list building/business building strategy that you have not used before: audio, video, teleclass, networking group, article marketing, twitter, facebook, etc. Add one, but do it effectively!

3) Get consistent. Many clients tell me something isn’t working, but when I research I find they only do it on occasion or inconsistently. You must build consistency. Use this newsletter as an example- every week it comes. Every week- rain, shine, sickness, holiday because I want your to depend on me. I want you to trust me and I have to consistently show up for that to happen.

4) Change approach. I do this all the time and in the beginning of my business I had to do it even more often...I would run a teleclass and 2 people would show up. Yikes! Did I abandon? No. New approach...I would make it a point to ask 50 more people that I did the time before or change up the name or the topic. You have to zig when zagging isn’t working. To get to what the puppy wants he just changes sides. Goes under instead of over. Digs instead of climbs.

5) Give up the complaining. Business is hard. Life is tough. If this were easy- everyone would be doing it. So, when something doesn’t work- move on or change course. FAST. While you are complaining and feeling sorry for yourself I am out getting clients. I have a one -three minute rule. I get that amount of time to wish it had gone better, cry about the loss, or be disappointed and then it’s time to get back in the game and help people.

I am on a mission. Are you? I know I want to help people and I know I have a message… so I can’t complain or waste time- I gotta get to the people who need my help, so they will build strong businesses and in turn go help more people. This isn’t a job- it’s a movement. Are you leading one, too?

Suzanne Evans is best known as the 'action expert' and has coached hundreds of solopreneurs to model her multiple six figure business. Learn how you can help more people, make more money and have more fun doing what you love by signing up for your free copy of the 5-Part Mini-Course 'Awakening Your Authentic Entrepreneur' at http://www.helpmorepeople.com

Pulling Out of a Sales Slump

There isn't a salesperson alive who hasn't experienced a sales slump. It could be because of an economic downturn or because the competition has a new product. It could be due to personal challenges or lack of motivation. It can even happen when things are going well, and you feel you can "coast" for a while. The problem is, you can't coast uphill.
Barring catastrophic events, you don't dive into a slump. It creeps up on you until you start to realize that things haven't been going well. Don't wait to start your ascent; the longer you wait, the more difficult the climb will be.

Here are four steps to follow if you find yourself in a slump:

1. Call on your satisfied customers. These are the people you know best; presumably, they're the ones with whom you have the best personal relationships. Look for additional ways to satisfy their needs or new needs you can meet. Ask about their customers and potential customers, and find ways to help them reach their targets. Learn about their new problems and challenges, and come back to them with fresh solutions.

2. Concentrate on bread-and-butter accounts. Different accounts have different sales cycles. Some may take a week, a month or two years. Sometimes, you get so caught up with landing the big one that you forget about little accounts with shorter sales cycles that can bring in money now. There are times when you have to sacrifice immediate income for something that will pay off over time. In business, you have to look ahead and think long-term. But you also have to take care of day-to-day responsibilities. It's important to keep those factors balanced; don't get so focused on one that you lose sight of the other.

3. Stay on top of business and world news, and always keep in mind how events of the day might affect your customers. When was the last time you broadened your reading habits? Look for sources that will give you new ideas on how to fine-tune your activities and target your customers more efficiently. Read materials that will help you speak to your customers in their business language. Learn more about how other people grew their businesses. You never know what you might learn from their failures and successes.

4. Be selective about the company you keep. If everyone around you is in a slump as well, you'll drag each other down. Surround yourself with people who are excited about what they do. Ride on their momentum until you can build enough of your own.
Be selective about your customers. It may seem like you want to keep every customer when you're in a slump, but there are times when you get so desperate that you spend all your time trying to make a match where one doesn't exist. So if an opportunity doesn't meet your expectations, move on.

In the end, it's the movement that counts. The best way to get out of a slump is to keep moving forward. Remember: See the people, sell the people, serve the people. Make more calls, set up more meetings. Don't let a temporary slump turn into a slippery slope. If you keep your activity levels high, you'll be at the top of your game again before you know it.