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Casual Articles - The M-Word (Marketing) Phase 2
Why?Why should you bother?A couple of little business statistics have stayed firmly in my business thoughts ever since I came across them almost 10 years ago.1. A 5% improvement in customer retention could add between 25% and 125% to your bottom line.2. Companies with good service records grow twice as fast as those with poor service records.WOW!What an opportunity!No expensive marketing. No gimmicks. Just give good service and watch your profits grow.How?Firstly, involve your people.Make sure that everyone knows what’s going on. And why this is important.Ask for their ideas and suggestions. This is so much more powerful than you telling them how to do it.Involve everyone from the tea lady down. Remember that the most important people from a customer’s point of view are in the front line. They are the ones on the security gate, at the counter, delivering the products. This needs the support of senior management. But it needs the involvement of everyo
4) Integrate online with off-line. Think about how you get new clients now – word of mouth? Referrals? Networking? A letter of introduction? Quoted in the press? Usually it’s through off-line activities. While you’re at it, invite people to visit your website and let it do the initial relationship-building work for you. Follow up an initial introduction with an email link to your site and an invitation to subscribe to your firm’s free e-newsletter. Attach an article you’ve written that specifically addresses the concern they approached you about. Follow up with a phone call to see if they got the article and continue your conversation.
Maybe you get a new client right away, but if not, you keep in touch through your monthly e-newsletter that reminds them of how valuable you are, and drive them back to new content on your website. Before you know it, you do have a new client, and a lot of the work was done by your great website.
Even if your firm has a website, take a look at how hard it works for you. Remember, marketing is about creating and sustaining a relationship with your target audience and current clients. Leverage the power of a well-crafted website and promotional strategy, and that process gets a lot easier!
We encourage sharing and publication of Your Monthly TurningPointe in whole
Freelance writing offers the opportunity to make money from home and gives a writer a chance to work on an almost endless variety of projects. A writer can either focus on an area of expertise, or write a greater variety of general knowledge articles. With the internet, there are many more freelance opportunities today than ever before, and the field is expanding daily.Where to find Freelance Writing Jobs:While magazines and newspapers are the more traditional route for freelance writers, the internet has provided a whole new arena for writers. There are internet magazines (sometimes called e-zines) and blogs (short for weblogs) on almost any topic available. While many do not pay writers, some are beginning to. Content sites are another source of writing jobs.There are also freelance websites specifically designed to help bring together clients and writers. The writers can bid on jobs, and then the client will chose the writer who best suits their needs, both in talent and price. Some of the jobs will be creating new content, while
Skip Phase 1 and chances are you'll do a really good job at spreading the wrong message about your firm in the marketplace. Not only is this confusing for prospective clients, it's a waste of your firm's time and resources. You can learn more about these crucial steps in last month’s e-newsletter at http://www.turningpointemarketing.com:8080/icms/icms.php/cs/9/Articles.html.
So let's say you've done your Phase 1 homework and are ready to communicate with your marketplace. Where do you start and what should you consider? In Phase 2 you have a number of communication channels to tap, all of which should be working together. The basics include a business card and stationery, a website, a keep-in-touch system (ideally an e-newsletter, but a paper version works too), perhaps printed materials or leave behinds, a core set of articles and other freebies, and a basic talk you can give (i.e., at an industry networking event, local conference, or Chamber of Commerce event).
At a minimum, you need business cards/stationery, a website, and a valuable article or two to demonstrate your expertise. If you don't have these tools, you're going to have a hard time establishing credibility and differentiating yourself in today's marketplace.
This month, let's focus on the most important of these tools: a solid website. Much more than an electronic brochure, a well-done website can do a lot of the marketing "heavy lifting" if you couple it with a smart online/offline strategy to get people to visit your site. Done right, here’s what a website can do for you:
* Build relationships. Marketing your professional service firm is about creating and sustaining a trust-based relationship with your intended and current clients. A good website and online promotion strategy can do just that, without requiring more of you precious billable hours to be present in your clients’ and prospects lives.
* Tap new markets. Why do clients come to you in the first place? Is it because they have a real problem, an immediate need, and no choice but to hire you? What if you could tap a less crisis-driven, more pro-active market that provided you with more predictable and longer-term cash flow? Amazingly, an integrated online/offline marketing strategy, centered around your website can do that for you.
* Accelerate your sales cycle. By the time someone calls you, chances are they’ve already visited your website. With the right online approach, you can increase a prospect’s confidence that your firm is the right one to call, reduce the number of unqualified prospects, encourage a "call to action," and begin a long-term relationship.
* Stay in sight and top of mind. The adage, "out of sight is out of mind" is true, even in business. There is simply no guarantee that an existing client will return to your firm the next time they need similar services. Too many variables and influences can intercede, particularly if a lot of time passes between needs. Your website and online strategy can painlessly bridge the gap between more time consuming, "off-line" keep-in-touch activities (i.e., phone calls, direct mail, customer surveys) that are often hard to carve out time to do and expensive to implement.
* Turbocharge your business development efforts. A well-constructed website can be the "hub" of your firm’s presence in the marketplace. Ideally, your website is the first place prospects go when they learn about your firm through a referral, while networking, in the press, or perhaps a direct mail piece. Once they’re on your site, you can educate them, build their loyalty and confidence, demonstrate your results, and motivate them to take action…all for a fraction of the time, energy, and money these things require off-line.
* Manage your marketing dollars more wisely. Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell which off-line marketing activities pay off and which ones don’t? With the right approach, you can do just that, using your website – and underlying technology – as a tool for "measured marketing." You’ll never have to wonder if the money you spend on direct mail, networking, or publicity is really worth it again – you’ll know for sure!
For specific tips on what to consider in developing (or upgrading to) a website that really works, keep reading...
The money you spend on a website and promotional strategy is only as good as the work they do for you to turn "surfers" into real clients. For a website that works hard and gets results, here’s what to consider.
1) Function over form. There are plenty of visually appealing websites that fall far short of what clients and prospects are really looking for. When someone visits your site, they want it to…
* load quickly
* be easy to read
* be easy to navigate (i.e., no mysterious icons or images that represent links)
* provide a range of compelling information (not everyone will read it all, but everyone is attracted and motivated by different things – so you’ve got to offer it all)
* make it easy to contact you
* not distract or waste their time with unnecessary effects
* be easy to print out
* teach them something they didn’t know
* motivates them to do something (i.e., sign up for your e-newsletter, download an article)
Graphic design is a very important element of any website, but it should not be what drives content, navigation, and usability. At most, it should weigh in equally with content and navigation.
2) Long, well-written copy sells. Believe it or not, if what you say speaks to your target audience in language that’s about them, their problems, their world, and their needs, they’ll read a lot more than you’d think. The key, though, is that what you say has got to be about them, not your firm – at least not initially.
Most professional service firms break this rule…and end up sounding alike. Differentiate your firm by writing website content that speaks to your clients’ worldview, not yours. Educate them, motivate them, soothe them, convince them, inform them, and move them to action.
3) Load up on value. Give visitors to your site a reason to stick around and to "bookmark" your site because it’s so darned valuable. Increase their knowledge and help them feel competent every time they go to your site, and they’ll fall in love with your firm. Ironically, the more you share about what you know, the more people are drawn to your work and will trust that your services are highly valuable, and worth every penny they pay.
4) Integrate online with off-line. Think about how you get new clients now – word of mouth? Referrals? Networking? A letter of introduction? Quoted in the press? Usually it’s through off-line activities. While you’re at it, invite people to visit your website and let it do the initial relationship-building work for you. Follow up an initial introduction with an email link to your site and an invitation to subscribe to your firm’s free e-newsletter. Attach an article you’ve written that specifically addresses the concern they approached you about. Follow up with a phone call to see if they got the article and continue your conversation.
Maybe you get a new client right away, but if not, you keep in touch through your monthly e-newsletter that reminds them of how valuable you are, and drive them back to new content on your website. Before you know it, you do have a new client, and a lot of the work was done by your great website.
Even if your firm has a website, take a look at how hard it works for you. Remember, marketing is about creating and sustaining a relationship with your target audience and current clients. Leverage the power of a well-crafted website and promotional strategy, and that process gets a lot easier!
We encourage sharing and publication of Your Monthly TurningPointe in whole
Most business books and magazines sing the virtues of having or being a mentor. Even though we know how valuable a mentor can be to our success, we discover that finding the right fit is not always easy. In this article, I discuss the ins and outs.It is important that the mentor-mentee relationship is satisfying to both people involved. If you find someone you would like to have as a mentor, ask him or her if they are willing. If they back out gracefully, or just say, "No," accept the answer graciously and without devastation. If you become a mentee, make sure that you know the ground rules - what you both expect from the relationship. If your mentor suggests that you make certain changes to push yourself to a new level, will you be willing to follow those suggestions? Being a mentor can be satisfying and exhilarating as long as you feel that your mentee is giving it his or her "all." If, however, you begin to feel drained and/or manipulated, it is time to bow o
This month, let's focus on the most important of these tools: a solid website. Much more than an electronic brochure, a well-done website can do a lot of the marketing "heavy lifting" if you couple it with a smart online/offline strategy to get people to visit your site. Done right, here’s what a website can do for you:
* Build relationships. Marketing your professional service firm is about creating and sustaining a trust-based relationship with your intended and current clients. A good website and online promotion strategy can do just that, without requiring more of you precious billable hours to be present in your clients’ and prospects lives.
* Tap new markets. Why do clients come to you in the first place? Is it because they have a real problem, an immediate need, and no choice but to hire you? What if you could tap a less crisis-driven, more pro-active market that provided you with more predictable and longer-term cash flow? Amazingly, an integrated online/offline marketing strategy, centered around your website can do that for you.
* Accelerate your sales cycle. By the time someone calls you, chances are they’ve already visited your website. With the right online approach, you can increase a prospect’s confidence that your firm is the right one to call, reduce the number of unqualified prospects, encourage a "call to action," and begin a long-term relationship.
* Stay in sight and top of mind. The adage, "out of sight is out of mind" is true, even in business. There is simply no guarantee that an existing client will return to your firm the next time they need similar services. Too many variables and influences can intercede, particularly if a lot of time passes between needs. Your website and online strategy can painlessly bridge the gap between more time consuming, "off-line" keep-in-touch activities (i.e., phone calls, direct mail, customer surveys) that are often hard to carve out time to do and expensive to implement.
* Turbocharge your business development efforts. A well-constructed website can be the "hub" of your firm’s presence in the marketplace. Ideally, your website is the first place prospects go when they learn about your firm through a referral, while networking, in the press, or perhaps a direct mail piece. Once they’re on your site, you can educate them, build their loyalty and confidence, demonstrate your results, and motivate them to take action…all for a fraction of the time, energy, and money these things require off-line.
* Manage your marketing dollars more wisely. Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell which off-line marketing activities pay off and which ones don’t? With the right approach, you can do just that, using your website – and underlying technology – as a tool for "measured marketing." You’ll never have to wonder if the money you spend on direct mail, networking, or publicity is really worth it again – you’ll know for sure!
For specific tips on what to consider in developing (or upgrading to) a website that really works, keep reading...
The money you spend on a website and promotional strategy is only as good as the work they do for you to turn "surfers" into real clients. For a website that works hard and gets results, here’s what to consider.
1) Function over form. There are plenty of visually appealing websites that fall far short of what clients and prospects are really looking for. When someone visits your site, they want it to…
* load quickly
* be easy to read
* be easy to navigate (i.e., no mysterious icons or images that represent links)
* provide a range of compelling information (not everyone will read it all, but everyone is attracted and motivated by different things – so you’ve got to offer it all)
* make it easy to contact you
* not distract or waste their time with unnecessary effects
* be easy to print out
* teach them something they didn’t know
* motivates them to do something (i.e., sign up for your e-newsletter, download an article)
Graphic design is a very important element of any website, but it should not be what drives content, navigation, and usability. At most, it should weigh in equally with content and navigation.
2) Long, well-written copy sells. Believe it or not, if what you say speaks to your target audience in language that’s about them, their problems, their world, and their needs, they’ll read a lot more than you’d think. The key, though, is that what you say has got to be about them, not your firm – at least not initially.
Most professional service firms break this rule…and end up sounding alike. Differentiate your firm by writing website content that speaks to your clients’ worldview, not yours. Educate them, motivate them, soothe them, convince them, inform them, and move them to action.
3) Load up on value. Give visitors to your site a reason to stick around and to "bookmark" your site because it’s so darned valuable. Increase their knowledge and help them feel competent every time they go to your site, and they’ll fall in love with your firm. Ironically, the more you share about what you know, the more people are drawn to your work and will trust that your services are highly valuable, and worth every penny they pay.
4) Integrate online with off-line. Think about how you get new clients now – word of mouth? Referrals? Networking? A letter of introduction? Quoted in the press? Usually it’s through off-line activities. While you’re at it, invite people to visit your website and let it do the initial relationship-building work for you. Follow up an initial introduction with an email link to your site and an invitation to subscribe to your firm’s free e-newsletter. Attach an article you’ve written that specifically addresses the concern they approached you about. Follow up with a phone call to see if they got the article and continue your conversation.
Maybe you get a new client right away, but if not, you keep in touch through your monthly e-newsletter that reminds them of how valuable you are, and drive them back to new content on your website. Before you know it, you do have a new client, and a lot of the work was done by your great website.
Even if your firm has a website, take a look at how hard it works for you. Remember, marketing is about creating and sustaining a relationship with your target audience and current clients. Leverage the power of a well-crafted website and promotional strategy, and that process gets a lot easier!
We encourage sharing and publication of Your Monthly TurningPointe in whole
You can notice immense development in the business industry and every organization is striving to undertake expansion plans. This is due to the vast development in business industry and one such industry is accounting outsourcing India. Proper management and good strategy is the key aspects of an organization to outperform. Achieving a grand success is desire of every individual and so it needs good effort and managerial skills to make every unit of the firm properly functioning. Accounting is an important section of any firm as it contains finance records which is a very crucial data. Accounting outsourcing India is a significant marketing strategy that makes business to make them work smoothly. These data contain financial records, it also shows whether the firm is in credit mode or deficit.Accounting outsourcing India is a cost effective business strategy that many businesses are looking for it. Many business specialized in any area is considering this technique. They get efficient and quality work in their defined period of time from accountin
* Turbocharge your business development efforts. A well-constructed website can be the "hub" of your firm’s presence in the marketplace. Ideally, your website is the first place prospects go when they learn about your firm through a referral, while networking, in the press, or perhaps a direct mail piece. Once they’re on your site, you can educate them, build their loyalty and confidence, demonstrate your results, and motivate them to take action…all for a fraction of the time, energy, and money these things require off-line.
* Manage your marketing dollars more wisely. Wouldn’t it be great if you could tell which off-line marketing activities pay off and which ones don’t? With the right approach, you can do just that, using your website – and underlying technology – as a tool for "measured marketing." You’ll never have to wonder if the money you spend on direct mail, networking, or publicity is really worth it again – you’ll know for sure!
For specific tips on what to consider in developing (or upgrading to) a website that really works, keep reading...
The money you spend on a website and promotional strategy is only as good as the work they do for you to turn "surfers" into real clients. For a website that works hard and gets results, here’s what to consider.
1) Function over form. There are plenty of visually appealing websites that fall far short of what clients and prospects are really looking for. When someone visits your site, they want it to…
* load quickly
* be easy to read
* be easy to navigate (i.e., no mysterious icons or images that represent links)
* provide a range of compelling information (not everyone will read it all, but everyone is attracted and motivated by different things – so you’ve got to offer it all)
* make it easy to contact you
* not distract or waste their time with unnecessary effects
* be easy to print out
* teach them something they didn’t know
* motivates them to do something (i.e., sign up for your e-newsletter, download an article)
Graphic design is a very important element of any website, but it should not be what drives content, navigation, and usability. At most, it should weigh in equally with content and navigation.
2) Long, well-written copy sells. Believe it or not, if what you say speaks to your target audience in language that’s about them, their problems, their world, and their needs, they’ll read a lot more than you’d think. The key, though, is that what you say has got to be about them, not your firm – at least not initially.
Most professional service firms break this rule…and end up sounding alike. Differentiate your firm by writing website content that speaks to your clients’ worldview, not yours. Educate them, motivate them, soothe them, convince them, inform them, and move them to action.
3) Load up on value. Give visitors to your site a reason to stick around and to "bookmark" your site because it’s so darned valuable. Increase their knowledge and help them feel competent every time they go to your site, and they’ll fall in love with your firm. Ironically, the more you share about what you know, the more people are drawn to your work and will trust that your services are highly valuable, and worth every penny they pay.
4) Integrate online with off-line. Think about how you get new clients now – word of mouth? Referrals? Networking? A letter of introduction? Quoted in the press? Usually it’s through off-line activities. While you’re at it, invite people to visit your website and let it do the initial relationship-building work for you. Follow up an initial introduction with an email link to your site and an invitation to subscribe to your firm’s free e-newsletter. Attach an article you’ve written that specifically addresses the concern they approached you about. Follow up with a phone call to see if they got the article and continue your conversation.
Maybe you get a new client right away, but if not, you keep in touch through your monthly e-newsletter that reminds them of how valuable you are, and drive them back to new content on your website. Before you know it, you do have a new client, and a lot of the work was done by your great website.
Even if your firm has a website, take a look at how hard it works for you. Remember, marketing is about creating and sustaining a relationship with your target audience and current clients. Leverage the power of a well-crafted website and promotional strategy, and that process gets a lot easier!
We encourage sharing and publication of Your Monthly TurningPointe in whole
What are you interested in? We all have a passion for something. So, what is your passion?Are you actively seeking information about your passion? Knowledge, providing it is correct knowledge, will increase your power.In this century there is an increasing demand for experts in so many fields. Everything is becoming more and more specialized.Let me give you an example. At the turn of the 19th Century, all you needed to do to be an Accountant was to be good with numbers and undertake some training with other accountants. Later, formal qualifications were required. It consisted of a special course called a Diploma where up to a dozen specific subjects had to be studied.As technology increased and finance, book-keeping and taxation became increasingly more complex, more subjects were required to be undertaken, presently around three dozen. The Diploma was replaced with a Degree.Accountants can specialize in general accounting, management accounting, taxation accounting and other specific areas. Employers pay much more for
* load quickly
* be easy to read
* be easy to navigate (i.e., no mysterious icons or images that represent links)
* provide a range of compelling information (not everyone will read it all, but everyone is attracted and motivated by different things – so you’ve got to offer it all)
* make it easy to contact you
* not distract or waste their time with unnecessary effects
* be easy to print out
* teach them something they didn’t know
* motivates them to do something (i.e., sign up for your e-newsletter, download an article)
Graphic design is a very important element of any website, but it should not be what drives content, navigation, and usability. At most, it should weigh in equally with content and navigation.
2) Long, well-written copy sells. Believe it or not, if what you say speaks to your target audience in language that’s about them, their problems, their world, and their needs, they’ll read a lot more than you’d think. The key, though, is that what you say has got to be about them, not your firm – at least not initially.
Most professional service firms break this rule…and end up sounding alike. Differentiate your firm by writing website content that speaks to your clients’ worldview, not yours. Educate them, motivate them, soothe them, convince them, inform them, and move them to action.
3) Load up on value. Give visitors to your site a reason to stick around and to "bookmark" your site because it’s so darned valuable. Increase their knowledge and help them feel competent every time they go to your site, and they’ll fall in love with your firm. Ironically, the more you share about what you know, the more people are drawn to your work and will trust that your services are highly valuable, and worth every penny they pay.
4) Integrate online with off-line. Think about how you get new clients now – word of mouth? Referrals? Networking? A letter of introduction? Quoted in the press? Usually it’s through off-line activities. While you’re at it, invite people to visit your website and let it do the initial relationship-building work for you. Follow up an initial introduction with an email link to your site and an invitation to subscribe to your firm’s free e-newsletter. Attach an article you’ve written that specifically addresses the concern they approached you about. Follow up with a phone call to see if they got the article and continue your conversation.
Maybe you get a new client right away, but if not, you keep in touch through your monthly e-newsletter that reminds them of how valuable you are, and drive them back to new content on your website. Before you know it, you do have a new client, and a lot of the work was done by your great website.
Even if your firm has a website, take a look at how hard it works for you. Remember, marketing is about creating and sustaining a relationship with your target audience and current clients. Leverage the power of a well-crafted website and promotional strategy, and that process gets a lot easier!
We encourage sharing and publication of Your Monthly TurningPointe in whole
In many management situations we find in our consulting and coaching environment we are brought in to solve particular problems. Management and their teams have tried everything they could but like our boiled frog they can’t get out of the soup. A consultant is brought in, wearing his bright red cape and carrying a magic wand. After several months’ intensive analysis and study a resolution is found. Plans are developed to implement a solution. Staff is communicated with; the involved members are trained in the new processes, policies and metrics written, a change management procedure is developed and all is being returned to normal. The solutions are implemented and the problem is over. Productivity is up, quality raised, staff is motivated, and costs are down, customers happier than ever before. Management is impressed they chose such a great consultantSTOP Rewind… Not so fast whizkid, MBA wonder boy.How long do you think it will take for that self same problem to reappear? OK it might not be a week. You can rest assured it’s coming back w
4) Integrate online with off-line. Think about how you get new clients now – word of mouth? Referrals? Networking? A letter of introduction? Quoted in the press? Usually it’s through off-line activities. While you’re at it, invite people to visit your website and let it do the initial relationship-building work for you. Follow up an initial introduction with an email link to your site and an invitation to subscribe to your firm’s free e-newsletter. Attach an article you’ve written that specifically addresses the concern they approached you about. Follow up with a phone call to see if they got the article and continue your conversation.
Maybe you get a new client right away, but if not, you keep in touch through your monthly e-newsletter that reminds them of how valuable you are, and drive them back to new content on your website. Before you know it, you do have a new client, and a lot of the work was done by your great website.
Even if your firm has a website, take a look at how hard it works for you. Remember, marketing is about creating and sustaining a relationship with your target audience and current clients. Leverage the power of a well-crafted website and promotional strategy, and that process gets a lot easier!
We encourage sharing and publication of Your Monthly TurningPointe in whole or in part if copyright and attribution, including live web site link and email link, are always included. Please let us know where and when it will appear. Thank you!
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