Set Goals

I don’t know how many times I’ve read or heard the phrase “set goals for yourself”.  Most people shrug it off, but if you are going to run a business you can’t afford to.  One of the most important things you will do is set goals for your business.  Start simple, goal number one should be your start date.  Sounds easy and it may be, but keep setting goals and they will get harder and harder to reach, the satisfaction and profits will be well worth the effort.

 A System

One major thing small business owners forget to do or get so busy they forget they did it, is implement a system.  Many small business owners, even big business owners don’t have a business or accounting degree.  What they have is determination and that’s great, but if that determination doesn’t have a goal or a road to follow on the pursuit of that goal, then it’s wasted.  Get a system in place, stick to it and keep track of what you’ve accomplished.  If you’ve set the goals this is the map of how to reach them.

 Partner with a non-profit

Locate a local non profit in your area, for example find your local Breast Cancer awareness group and ask what kind of events they have going on in your area.  Depending on your business you could increase sales by offering up a pledge for certain items sold, this not only raises money for the cause it also gets more people through the door.  It’s never a bad thing to be socially conscious or donate to a cause.

 Press Releases

Send a press release to your local newspaper about special events, business news or anything exciting you have planned.  Starting with a grand opening or even a re-grand opening, don’t stop there, keep going with employees of the month, anniversaries, sales or new products.  Your community won’t know what you’re up to unless you tell them.

Website

The internet has put small businesses on the map, saved many from ruin and it can help you too.  Create a dynamic and informative website, put your products online, hit the free advertising sites and springboard into the world wide web.  Get on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and the dozens more networking sites out there.  With the potential to reach millions versus hundreds, creating a website is a no-brainer.

If you start an advertising campaign you may start by putting an ad in the newspaper or on the radio.  You may even have a budget big enough to afford a commercial or billboard.  While these are great strategies, they only work if you are targeting the right people.  The average person may not be interested in the fact that you offer copywriting services to the technology sector, rather you would have more success from a marketing strategy rather than an advertising campaign. On the other hand, are you a dog groomer in a small area that has no other dog groomer, then these traditional methods would make more sense.  Just make sure before you jump into a “big expense” advertising campaign that you look at your key demographic not the frills and want to be in the spotlight.

Let’s go back to the copywriting scenario for a moment.  A marketing campaign would be ideal for this type of business.  You could create a better more “targeted” campaign that is also easy to follow up on and track its progress.  Go to your trade magazine or yellow pages and think about what type of companies could benefit from your services.  Now from that targeted list send out your marketing materials such as postcards, emails, or faxes.  Quickly track your responses and change what may not be working in your campaign before you continue.  You can also taper the campaign; say sending out 15 postcards at a time instead of 100, saving you both time and money.    

Getting a business up and running and keeping it running is a gigantic task and expensive to boot so make sure that you research the best ways to get your name out there for your business to make sure that you get the best bang for your buck. You don’t have to go it alone, have a virtual assistant help with the marketing plan and getting everything set up, you will see return on your investment!

Gift Baskets

This is the most popular gift to give because you can give a basket for anything from traditional fruit and cheese collections to more unique items such as  an electronic lovers basket.  If you know what your client’s tastes are, you can easily create a themed basket that will impress!

Food

Another very popular item to give as a gift is food, especially around the holidays. From cookies to fruit to chocolate food one of those gifts that makes everyone happy. Keep in mind if you are sending food to a client and you are planning it to be a gift for the whole office you will need to make certain you order enough for the whole crew to enjoy.

Business Related Gifts

These types of gifts don’t have to be stuffy. There are many unique and useful gifts to give clients that they will use everyday, well past the holiday season. Findagift.com has many items such as the pop up business card box with a frame to handheld organizers and personal data orginzers.

Keep in mind there are a few gifts that you should avoid when sending business gifts. It’s a good idea to avoid religious type gifts, religion is a sensitive topic and you don’t want to offend your clients. Alcohol is another gift that should be avoided unless you have a personal relationship with the recipient and are certain of his or her tastes. Some people do not drink alcohol for a variety of reasons and you don’t want to offend.

*Take 15 minutes a day to wade through your desk
Yes, just 15 minutes a day can make a big difference. Throw away unimportant papers; put away manuals or books you are not using, file bills and other important documents. Binders and cabinets are an organizers best friend.  Put important loose papers in a binder for safe keeping and put notebooks and books in cabinets so they are out of the way and off your desk.

*Keep a disciplined email system
An entrepreneur’s email can get up to a hundred emails a day or more! Who has time for that?  Start bulking down by unsubscribing all that “junk” that you just thought you would read but has been sitting in your inbox for 2 months.  Color code clients and make separate folders to put “to do’s” in.  Try out an email management program like Outlook or Windows Mail to keep your emails in check. Using a Virtual Assistant to manage your daily in box is easy and can save you hours!

*Return calls in batches.  Leave specific messages and the time you called if the person you’re trying to reach isn’t available.

*Have a master to-do list for each day at your desk.  As simple and as obvious as it sounds, just by doing this you will be able to focus on exactly what the priorites are for the day. It also helps to give a sense of accomplishment, nothing feels better than crossing off one of those tasks!

So in the morning before you do anything else, spend 15 minutes today and get to work.  I also recommend also a great book called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity by David Allen that is a great resource for your office.  Now get started!

Sell a Painting of Your Services

Have you ever watched a really great commercial that makes you want to run out and buy that product right away?  Or have your child run up to you after seeing a toy commercial and say “I need that now!”?  Of course we all have that is the power of advertising.  So why not use those same concepts when promoting your product.

Paint a Picture

Just like the title states, paint a picture of your service for your clients.  Paint a physical picture using descriptive words.  Just because I can’t “see” your service in front of me I can “imagine” what it will look like when I am using it. 

Believing Is Achieving

Before you try a product or service you want to “see” that it works.  Seeing testimonials, reading stories about someone using it, you the owner talking about how great it is these are all great ways to let people know that you and your customers or clients believe in your product.

Make Customers & Clients Have a Graphic Memory

Just because you get the initial sell don’t stop your customers and clients from coming back.  Keep drawing them back with the same techniques when updating them about new products or services.

Using these simple techniques can help you get and keep clients coming back to use your product or services time and time again.

Have a Great Format
Making your newsletter look good is easy today with the different programs that are out there to help you build and send out your newsletter.  With programs such as iContact, Aweber, 1 Shopping Cart and Constant Contact it couldn’t be easier.

Create Readable Content

We’ve all done it, you sign up for a newsletter and then inevitably you read it once and then either unsubscribe from the newsletter or you just delete as soon as you receive it.  To make sure that you keep readers and grow your list make sure your write about what your target audience is interested in, make sure it’s fun and informational and make it personable so that readers can connect with you and your brand.

Leave Your Calling Card

At the bottom of each article make sure that you offer readers a short biography, your website address and all contact information.  This way you can make sure that if they like your stuff they can contact you.

Let Readers Be Heard

Make sure you let your readers let you know what they think.  Making sure that your readers know that they are valued for their opinion is a great way to keep loyal followers.

Offer The Reader Something

Leave the reader with something, a coupon, a discount or a promotion. No matter how small the offer, you will be surprised how many readers will save your email and actually use it! You can also track how well certain coupons an promotions do and improve or change future newsletters.

If you aren’t doing a newsletter and would like too but too busy, you can always turn to a virtual assistant to set up, maintain and even write them for you.  So what are you waiting for?

• Blogging – Have you virtual assistant write up blogs to post on your site. A VA can not only write a post and post it to your blog but can publicize your posts in several ways.
• Article Submission – Do you have articles that you’ve written but haven’t had time to submit?  Have your virtual assistant do it.
• Twitter-Your virtual assistant can write up your tweets and schedule them for a week at a time so you don’t have to worry about it.
• Facebook – Have your VA send your friends and fans birthday greetings as well as posting upcoming events and specials.
• SlideShare – This is a fairly new application that brings PowerPoint and Social Media together. 
• YouTube – YouTube is a phenomenon that is also new to the business world.  Have your virtual assistant demo products, tape interviews, etc.
• Pod Casting – Consider yourself a radio host?  Why not, have your assistant set up the show, book guests, write content.

Whatever platform you choose one or all of them you don’t have to go it alone. Social Media is more than just a fad or a phase, it is a proven way to network and build your business and the best part is that it is free!

Shouldn’t that be the way every business is?  If yours isn’t running this way maybe it’s time to reevaluate your number one priority and that’s the customer.  Here are a couple tips to showing a customer your business cares:

• Associate unique experiences with each individual, not just a carbon copy of every interaction you have with every customer
• Get feedback from customer or clients after the sale, don’t just let them walk away to never hear from you again
• Get a lead database to keep track of customers and clients so that you can make notes about what clients and customers like that come to you
• Treat customers and client the way you would like to be treated, just like when you go into your favorite store.

It may sound like common sense but showing a client or customer right off the bat that you care and are interested in their needs can lead to them being a long standing customer.

Keep a Calendar
You are probably implementing this in your business but how about for your life outside of work?  Have 4 different people going in four different directions can be confusing so keep track of activities with a calendar.  Try using different color pens for different people so you can just take a quick glance to see what you’re looking for.

Make Lists
A calendar can keep track of your kids but who keeps track of the “to do’s”?   A list is a great way to keep way to make sure that everything gets done, purchased, completed, or dropped off.  You can use a small pocket sized notebook or your  PDA. Whatever you choose make sure it works for you. 

Keep Work Time-Work Time
When you work from home it is already a challenge to separate your business from your family because there is no “daily commute” and “working late” probably means you fire up your computer after dinner (don’t get me wrong these are great things) but when there are little ones lurking around all the time it’s probably seems more like Chucky Cheese than My Business, Inc.  Structure your day so that when you are at work you are working and when you’re at home you are at home, not both jumbled together.

Hopefully using these little tips will help your family and business run smoother and let you enjoy it to it’s fullest.

There are several different types of affiliate programs and Pay-Per-Click is just one of them.  Google AdSense is a hugely popular program.  It is free to start and easy to use.  Along with Google’s tools and support starting your own AdSense campaign is super easy.  Combining links from Commission Junction saves time by providing affiliate advertisers for you instead of you having to spend lots of time finding them yourself. 

Having the right tools can also help you along the way.  By using keyword tools like Google AdWords which is a free service or a pay for service like Word Tracker.   Search engine monitoring tools are also helpful at giving you a snapshot of all the different analytical that you’re marketing efforts are making.  Try a program like CleverStat which is easy to use and offers a free monitor for Google.  

Affiliate marketing can be a tricky to get into and may take several tries to get it right so don’t get discouraged.  Make sure you do a lot of research before jumping in and make sure you don’t give up too easily.