Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’
Friday, May 20th, 2011
Hope you enjoyed our teleclass this past Monday with guest expert Liz Canavan Byrne about Customer Retention! There was a lot of great information in the call, including some fantastic tips for connecting with and keeping your clients, which can have a huge impact on the success of your business. If you missed it, the recording is now available for purchase here.
If you’re interested in learning more, Liz will be holding a training on Thursday, June 2nd entitled “3 Pillars of Running a PO Business – Sales + Service + Raving Fans Retention”. The class will start at 9:00 AM and run until 9:45. For more information or to register, e-mail Liz.
Don’t forget, our next teleclass–Authentic Marketing with Michael Katz–will be this Monday, the 23rd of May. Click here for more information and to register.
Tags: A Red Bench, Audio recordings, Authentic Marketing, Business Training, Continuing Education of Professional Organizers, Customer Retention, Managing a business, Marketing, Professional Organizer Business, Professional Organizing Classes, Red Bench, Send Out Cards, Teleclasses
Posted in Marketing, Teleclasses | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
Potential clients have a sea of options available to them, so how can you make yourself stand out as a person that they want to hire and recommend to others? The answer isn’t a cooler website, a larger newspaper ad, or a deeper discount in your next promotion. Instead, it’s leveraging a natural advantage: your authentic voice!
It’s something you use every day, and it’s a big part of the reason your best clients love you. Yet, it’s probably not even something you’re aware of. Join us on Monday, May 23rd as we speak with Michael Katz of Blue Penguin Development about marketing yourself authentically.
On this call you will learn…
- What ‘authentic marketing’ means and why it matters.
- How to communicate with emotion, consistency, and natural language.
- Why everything you learned in school about how to write is wrong.
- How to get past your fear of communicating authentically.
This session will be filled with examples, dos and don’ts, and plenty of practical advice! Click here to register for this call today!
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Audio recordings, Continuing Education Units, Marketing, Maximize your marketing, Professional Organizer Business, Professional Organizer Education, Teleclasses
Posted in Marketing, Teleclasses | No Comments »
Monday, October 5th, 2009
(Prefer to LISTEN to the audio version of this article? Click here and turn up your speakers.)
Potential clients and prospects are everywhere. But what should we do after we meet them, how do we follow-up? Consistent follow-up and communication is key to growing your database, but is so often forgotten or just simply not done well. The fact is with each contact follow up you make, you increase the odds that a client will act on your offer. So get in front of them on a consistent basis.
To get the ball rolling, here are three tips you can use right now to stay in better touch with your clients.
- Create a newsletter: I will be the first to tell you a newsletter is time consuming, but every time we send our newsletter we get a new client, a product purchase or inquiry. Use a tool like Constant Contacts and start communicating on a consistent basis to your database. Consistency is key here. For more information on creating your own newsletter, purchase our audio recording called Launch and Sustain Your Newsletter.
- Use Send Out Cards: I would be lying if I said I could get a card in the mail on time and that’s for my Mom’s birthday. So the thought of actually coming back to my office and sending thank you card, or nice to meet you card, to a potential client is just not going to happen. Then I discovered Send Out Cards and all that changed. I absolutely love this product!!! I’ve created campaigns and can send a thank you card in a few seconds. It’s just that easy. For more information on staying in touch using note cards, purchase our audio recording called Rise Above the Rest with Relationship Marketing.
- Free Information: A great way to grow your database is to offer free tips and information on your website. The key is to have the person enter their contact information in order to get the tips. A simple and effective way to increase your database.
Every touch point is an opportunity to grow your business and increase profits. Get back in touch with potential clients today and consistently stay on top of your database.
A Red Bench offers business training to Professional Organizers and small business owners.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Business Training, Christa Patchen Wagner, Christa Wagner, Marketing, Maximize your marketing, Professional Organizer Courses, Professional Organizer Education, Professional Organizing Training, Small business training, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Teleclasses | 1 Comment »
Monday, July 20th, 2009
I recently saw a report on CNN that focused on what was in and what was out during a recession. According to Christine Romans of CNN, what is out is: teen apparel, cameras, high end baby products, and bottled water. Even disposable diapers are down 4% from last year! Wow!
So what is in? Spending money on lipstick and high end cosmetics is up. This may be attributed to vanity and escapism. I believe if women are tightening the purse strings on their wardrobe budgets they may be loosening them on cosmetics which have a smaller price point then a new pair of shoes. What else are people still purchasing? According to the CNN report: i-phones, specialty pet supplies, vegetable seeds, romance novels, vitamins, and insect repellant are the hot items of the summer.
The report states “Conspicuous consumption is now seen as bad manners”. This is great if you are in the business of helping clients to stop over buying and start reducing their purchasing!
It seems like people are looking for more of the experience. Is that what you are offering? Is there anything you can do with your marketing language that can suggest more of an experience for your clients?
Tags: A Red Bench, Add new tag, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Marketing, Maximize your marketing, Professional Organizer Business
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, July 16th, 2009
In last week’s blog Are You Chasing Away Clients, I talked about the rule I learned in telemarketing training back in my college days, “three no’s and you go”. I discussed how in your third attempt to get in contact with a non-responsive client that you should define that you will not be following up with them again but that they can contact you.
But what if you are actually speaking to the client over and over again and you are not getting a “yes”? On our recent teleclass Relationship Marketing with Donna Smallin she shared with us that she called someone 7 times over two years before they agreed to have a meeting with her and then they hired her for a two year time period. Wow! The key to her success was persistence and permission. Each time she called this person she asked him “would it be okay if I check back with you in a couple of months?” Each time the prospect said “yes”. When you get permission to call someone back you don’t feel bad about calling them because they told you it was okay. In last weeks article Are You Chasing Away Clients, that situation pertains to a non-responsive client, or someone who you keep trying to contact and never can get through to them via phone or e-mail. In Donna’s example the situation pertains to a client you are actually speaking to who is telling you that they are not ready to use your services right now. These are two very different situations.
To sum it up, if you have a non-responsive client use the “three no’s and you go” rule of thumb or if you have a client who is not ready to commit you can use the “would it be okay if I check back with you in a couple of months?” technique.
Don’t forget, we’ll be learning more on How to Sell Without Being Salesy from Helen Graves on our August 3rd teleclass.
Do you have a favorite tip? We love to learn and share.
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Audio recordings, Christa Wagner, Continuing Education of Professional Organizers, Donna Smallin, Helen Graves, Marketing, Professional Organizer Business, Red Bench Program, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses | 3 Comments »
Monday, July 6th, 2009
We are thrilled to announce that Helen Graves will be our August 3rd speaker. Christa and I had a call with Helen two weeks ago and in 45 short minutes Helen was able to offer us some fantastic advice! We put some of her tips into place immediately. Thanks Helen!
Helen is dubbed the Grand Poohbah of Crackerjack Online Marketing Strategy. She has a fun approach to sales and says “the most important belief to nurture is that marketing can be fun!” Now that is a shift in mind set! Have you been thinking that marketing is fun? Don’t miss this call to learn how you can make marketing and sales fun AND increase your business. Personally, I can’t wait!
Tags: A Red Bench, Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Helen Graves, Marketing, Sales, Teleclasses
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing, Teleclasses | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
On a recent Teleclass, Mid Year Marketing Review, (which will be on the website in a few days), an attendee asked what public relations is. It’s a great question and we go into detail about it on our Teleclass called Create a World Class Marketing Plan.
But think of it this way, with advertising you pay, with public relations you pray. I have a marketing friend that always used to say that and its true. PR keeps your name and business out front in the eye of the community, but its costs very little or nothing. It can involve committees, associations or sponsorships. PR can be:
- Writing articles for a paper that benefits the readers
- Press releases
- Public speaking
- Support within your community
- Donation of Time / Services
PR provides outstanding long term benefits to your business ; it increases your credibility and can build greater brand awareness. Be sure to include PR as one of the elements to your World Class Marketing Plan.
Tags: Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, Marketing, Maximize your marketing, public relations
Posted in Grow Your Business, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
Among the biggest concerns for email marketers today are email bounces, spam filters and blacklists – all of which affect email deliverability.
There is a lot you can do to make sure your permission-based email gets delivered:
- Become a Trusted Sender: Encourage the recipient to put your “From Address” in their address book.
- Understand Email Filters: Avoid spam like words: Free, guarantee, credit card, sex etc., resist the temptation to use capital letters and over-punctuate, always include your reply email address and your Web site URL, avoid excessive use of symbols, do not leave the “From” address blank, and always match your subject line to your email content.
- Analyze your bounce backs and remove bounces from the list.
- Use a reputable email marketing service like Constant Contacts (email us to receive $30 off).
- Hire a designer to help you if you don’t have the skills, time or desire to do your own newsletter – We recommend Susabella Designs at www.susabella.com or Leanne Gillespie of Shift Designs.
TODAY’S ACTION:
Ensure your e-newsletter follows the spam guidelines and send out a newsletter your clients look forward to reading. For additional information on newsletter purchase our teleclass recordings called Launch and Sustain Your Newsletter and Marketing Yourself as an Entrepreneur
Tags: Angela Ploetz, Christa Wagner, e-networking, electronic marketing, Marketing, Maximize your marketing, newsletters
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
