Top Book Sales : Book Marketing and Self-Publishing Articles

Let’s face it. There’s a small part in all of us that find it difficult automating tasks once reserved for ourselves, or our employees. Why should we hand over communications so vital to our business to a computer system?

The challenge is that a lot of people never consider their process for executing simple business tasks. They take for granted the fact that if they were able to automate activities that are routine it would provide additional time for the important items on their to-do list.

Working Smarter

I had a client named Bob (named changed for privacy) who was using a spreadsheet to manage the times that he should be sending standardized emails in response to a customer signing up for a free trial. These were emails where the only information that changed was the first name and email address of the recipient.

After we mapped out his process, I suggested to Bob that he consider using an email automation system to deliver these messages. This would save him time for more important communications like selling the service to those who were using the system and customer questions and other types of support inquiries.

At first, Bob’s response was akin to if I suggested he get shot into space out of a cannon. It was like I was trampling on his contribution to the process and possibly jeopardizing his role in the organization. His perspective was that no person, or thing, could be trusted with getting these highly important communications delivered.

After we reviewed his process a second time, I pointed out that he had designed an elegant process for getting people interested in paying for the service but he was missing out on creating even better solutions for the conversion by spending his valuable time on something that is standardized and should be automated. I asked him to test out the system for 30 days and if he wasn’t benefiting from the system then he could always switch back.

Needless to say, he spent the 30 days a little nervous. Over the course of the month, Bob’s time was well spent as he had already brainstormed ideas for overcoming certain objections that his prospects had and even came up with solutions for how to automate some basic customer support questions. He was also a little shocked that people still replied to his emails even though he technically wasn’t sending them. After the 30 days, Bob was ready to consider automating anything.

I used this example because it illustrates an important point about using automation:

>> It is important to see results from a process before you make judgment.

So…Is it evil to automate? Add your thoughts in the comments below.

Stay tuned for more in this series. Next up: Automating Social Media.

Thinking about Marketing Automation? Check out NetOneClick online marketing services.

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Facebook is great. Not because there are more than 840 million active users on the site or that 50% of those users logon every single day. These stats are difficult to ignore and easy to get excited about. But I’m talking about the fact that you can engage with your customer base through a Facebook Page at no cost and you can easily target potential new customers through Facebook advertising. There is no other platform where you can target your potential audience with such specificity.

Did you know there are 63,920 people;

• who live in the United States,
• who live within 50 miles of San Diego, CA,
• age 18 and older, and
• who are in the category Small Business Owners.

If you’re in the accounting industry you’re probably already targeting local businesses for tax season. Are you advertising on Facebook?

Certain types of attorney’s might be interested in knowing that there are 442,620 people;

• who live in the United States,
• who live within 50 miles of San Diego, CA,
• age 18 and older, and
• who are married?

These couples might be interested in living wills, trusts, or in the unfortunate need of a family attorney for issues around divorce.

On Facebook, these individuals have already defined their interests. If they match your criteria, then they are more likely to click your ads. I know businesses that have spent $25,000 a year on Yellow Page ads and were not afforded the luxury of knowing who was going to see their ad.

You can literally target anyone on Facebook.

Page Basics – Setup, Branding, and Content

This is essential-and free! Your Facebook Page can host a variety of content (video, download links, promotions coupons) and your customers can Like your page or “check-in” (if you have walk-in customers) to let all of their friends know they are at your place of business (great viral marketing).

__Yes __ No — Do you have a Facebook account? (No? Really? – get one here.)

__Yes __ No — Have you secured your Facebook Page yet? (click here to create a Facebook page)

__Yes __ No — Are your competitors on Facebook?

Suggestion: Make a list of your top 5 most successful competitors and map out their social profiles. Are they on Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Google+? Are they engaging with their customers on a regular basis?)

__Yes __ No — Are you able to customize your Facebook content so it presents an accurate picture of your brand to your customers? (customize your logo, add photos, set up your content to auto post)

__Yes __ No — If NO to the above — do you have the resources to pay someone else to customize your Facebook Page?

__Yes __ No — Have you identified what challenges your customers are facing and how you can help them?

Suggestion: Create and send a survey to your customers to discover more detail about their situation, industry, and needs.

__Yes __ No Do you have a plan to create content or identify the types of content you’d like to share with your fans?

Suggestion: Your plan doesn’t have to be extensive, even some quick notes about websites that might have some great content or other items you want to share with your customers (quotes, pictures, new products/services..etc). You can’t always post “selling” type of links.

Goals – Why Are You Using Facebook?

__Yes __ No — Drive more traffic to your website

__Yes __ No — Build your email list

__Yes __ No — Sell more products/services

__Yes __ No — Announce special offers and promotions

__Yes __ No — Announce events

__Yes __ No — Share news

__Yes __ No — Provide value to your prospects and customers

__Yes __ No — Share photos and videos

__Yes __ No — Get feedback from clients and prospects

__Yes __ No — Improve your relationships with your prospects and customers

__Yes __ No — Improve Search Engine Optimization

It’s useful to have some clear expectations about your Facebook page and/or advertising. Because of the popularity of Facebook Advertising it’s difficult to produce results on $1 a day (we recommend at least $100/month for ultra-low budgets) and you can’t expect to get 5,000 fans if you’re operating in a small market. Set realistic expectations and understand the tool and how it will be used in your overall marketing.

The bottom line is that you need to be on Facebook.

Whether you post a few times a week or use their advertising platform you need to have a presence on Facebook and start thinking about how you’re going to utilize the social platform to start driving business and giving your customers something to “Like.”

We’re preparing a new NetOneClick special report on Facebook.

Please comment below and let us know…

What questions do you have about Facebook Pages and the opportunities available to you with the Facebook advertising platform?

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How well is your business doing online? For example, is your website pulling in the amount of business it should be or could be? Or was it designed to represent your brand so perfectly that some of the more relevant business utilities were missed?

To keep with this example, many business owners–with the best of intentions- choose a website designer simply because they notice a few websites in their portfolio that happen to be in the same industry they are in or are pleasant to look at. This might seem to be a good way to choose a website designer. But as you may have come to realize, the way a website looks isn’t the only thing you should be worrying about. It’s nice to have a website that looks good, but if it doesn’t support your quest to get more business you’ll end up with a pretty site that does very little for you.

If you take just one thing away from this article, make it this – just because someone can build you a website, it doesn’t mean they should. If you want a smart, efficient and well thought out website, you have to have a smart, efficient and well thought out internet marketing plan to support building your business. Or at the very minimum, someone that knows how your website fits in to a larger internet marketing blueprint.

Don’t Tear the House Down

Let’s say you were going to build a house. What kind of contractor would you choose to get the job done? Would you choose a contractor who specializes in custom roofing for your neighborhood? Would you choose a contractor who can supply you with various types of energy saving measures for your new home? Or would you choose a contractor who has the experience and resources to build your entire home?

This example shows you just how important it is to look at the whole picture. When you want a home built properly, you need the contractor who has experience using the complete range of tools needed for the job at hand. You’ll also want to be sure they have seen and risen to pretty much all of the challenges you might face during the construction of your home.

“You can be an expert in using a drill, but there’s a big difference between knowing whether or not you’re tearing the house down or building it up.”
– Philipp Lomboy
(Author and Internet Marketing Expert)

Think about the above quote and how it applies to constructing a website. It’s great if you can find someone who can build a stunning website that takes your breath away. But does it really work? Will it generate the sales you want (need) it to? It’s perfectly possible for a website to look great and fall flat on its face when it comes to getting in the orders.

Seeing the Forest from the Trees – Creating a Blueprint for Success

Choosing a contractor that has industry expertise is great, if they know how to use all of the tools within a larger marketing strategy. Picking a website guy because you met him at a local networking meeting doesn’t constitute you having an internet marketing strategy.

Building a strategy that will work takes time and should focus on all aspects of your business. Business owners and marketing managers must be able to see the entire landscape so they can better understand how to utilize their available resources.

Whether the focus is on email marketing, pay-per-click advertising or social media campaigns it is critical to know how they fit into the larger puzzle of internet marketing. Take the time to find out what your strategy is and stick to it. It’s usually best not to expect a full blown strategy to appear during your coffee break either. You might need to get help.

Get Help Plugging Your Profit Leaks

An important part of building your marketing blueprint is to identify your current gaps and weaknesses. By learning how to plug them you’ll build a stronger, better business with the potential of larger profits.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when you’re considering what kinds of leaks you might have:

• Are you getting the quality and/or quantity of leads necessary to support your financial goals?
  Profit Leak Tip: Use your website as a lead generation source. Too many businesses forget just what a powerful tool their website is. If you’re using print advertising (yellow pages, industry magazines, etc) you can offer your readers something of value and send them to a specific web page that requires them to opt-in with their name and email. This will allow you to start automatic communication with them based on the specific message within your campaign AND you will know how effective your printed ad is in getting people to take action.

• Are you using the Internet to create more work for yourself or are you automating certain tasks that take away time from closing business?
  Profit Leak Tip: Too many businesses have ignored social media because of the perceived time it takes to monitor networks and respond to tweets and messages. Did you know you can automate posting to your social networks without anyone realizing that you’re not in front of your computer? There are lots of ways you can focus on automating certain parts of your business without any of your customers being the wiser. Not only will it prevent you from running around chasing your tail all day, you’ll actually be able to get more work done and have more time for building relationships with your current customers (likely the source of the majority of your business).

You can probably tell by now that your website forms an essential part of your internet marketing strategy. Your website can function as a hub and all traffic can be directed to your site. Your website can and should function as a valuable resource that customers will recommend to their network.

You can see why it is vital to not only build your website but construct a platform that supports your larger business ambitions. For this to happen, you need to understand the landscape and see your overall strategy within the internet marketing blueprint design.

Don’t Expect Wine from Water – Setting Expectations

One last thing is to remember is to have realistic expectations. The time it takes to develop and implement a plan plus the time it takes your market to respond to your actions depends on a many factors, such as how much time, money, and resources you have to invest in your marketing.

Do you have a marketing staff responsible for executing your plan and delivering results or are you working on your plan alone a few times a week–or perhaps only a few times a month?

Setting realistic expectations for yourself, your employees, and/or your contractor is important. Are you spending $5,000 a month on your marketing or $500? If you have ever purchased a home stereo system you know that you can do a lot more with a budget of $5,000 compared to $500. With the lower budget you tend to have a more narrow focus and have limited options available.

The same is true for marketing. Align your expectations with your available resources and ability to execute your strategy and you will be able to better judge the return your receiving from your overall marketing investment. If you have a smaller budget don’t be discouraged. There are many ways to get a good bang for your buck if you have balanced expectations, patience and a good plan.

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There is so much hype around Google+ (Google Plus) right now that many people worry about getting left behind on this new social network. So far, Google+ is still limiting signups to the network and has indicated they will launch a special business-type of page for Google+. For now, here’s some quick information about Google+ to get you started with some possibilities for using your Google+ profile for your business.

Google+ Basics

Google launched their Google+ network to compete with the likes of Facebook. Capitalizing on their dominant search position, Google signed up over ten million (10,000,000) users within its first two weeks. So, if you’re in the business of marketing products, services, and brands on the Internet then you should be paying attention.

Let’s look at the current stats:

• 750 million Facebook users
• 200 million Twitter users
• 100 million LinkedIn users
• 10 million Google+ users

For business owners and marketers there are features on Google+ that may in fact work for business, even though they were designed for personal use. Many are still questioning what benefits Google+ may have over other social media sites. If you are wondering what you need to know to make sure the time investment is worth it to your business, here are some things you should know about the program before signing up.

Here’s what you see when you first login:

Google+ Circles

First, Google+ lets profile users create circles of friends. This is quite different than any other social media site, and is one of the features users seem to like the most. You can set up a circle and then share specific information with only the people in that circle. For now, the benefits of using Circles is to help segment out content on your homepage stream. Your circles are not public so your contacts will not see which group they are in, only that they are part of your network. If you’re looking to use Google+ for prospecting this could help you segment out your list so you can quickly see what your prospects are posting and then comment, share, or contact them about the post.

As your network grows and more users are paying attention to Google+ on a daily basis, you can share specific offers and discounts with select Circles. This type of targeting will have obvious benefits if they are part of the Google+ business page.

Google+ Sparks

The Sparks feature is interesting because it simulates Google Reader in that you can target content streams from the Internet using keywords (I’m loving this feature). Sparks lets you select things you are interested in and then list them in the left column of your profile for easy access. The great thing about this feature is that it gives you the ability to target the type of content you want to see everyday and share with your network. Unlike Facebook, you don’t have to find articles from outside of the Facebook system. Google lets you auto-stream the content right in your Google+ profile for easy access and sharing.

For business owners and marketers, this will allow you to get automatic access to any targeted keyword (see below). If you’re working for Proctor & Gamble, you can add your keyword to your stream and see all of the posts that mention Proctor & Gamble. As noted before, this type feed reader will eventually replace Google Reader if all goes well.

Google+ Hangouts

Hangouts allows you to talk with friends or associates. The feature is like a chat program, that lets up to ten people video chat at the same time (think Group Skype Video Chat). If you have followers that are interested in hearing more about a product or service you offer, this can be a fun way to tell them about it in a group setting, allowing a bunch of people to hear from you at once. I haven’t used this feature yet but the potential for using this as a business presentation system is great.

Google+ Photos

The Photos feature is a more creative way to display and browse through your networks photo updates. Seems a little cluttered with profile pics for now but that will eventually change.

Google+ Profile Page

The Profile page is pretty basic and very similar to a Facebook setup. You can opt to have people contact you via email through a small button under your profile pic. People can also view your +1′s (posts you have indicated are of value to you by clicking the +1 icon next to a post).

Google+ Summary

If you are a business owner or marketer who has experienced the value of using social media in your business then you definitely need to get your Google+ profile and start updating. If you are still reading this trying to figure out what social media is then you might want to read my past post Social Media for the Non-Believer: 5 Tips for Getting Started so you can take some baby steps.

All in all Google+ is fun and exciting now and seems to hold a lot of promise for using the platform to engage your prospect and customer base. It’s important to remember to not try to quantify your ROI to quickly or spend hours a day sitting on your profile page trying to figure out how to make money with your Google+ profile. Social media is a long term investment and one that your customers expect you to make.

For now, Google+ is still limiting signups (at least at the time of this post) so if you haven’t yet signed up you can get on the waiting list now.

https://plus.google.com/

Google+ Bonus!

If you’re using Google+, head over to http://gplus.to to get your custom Google+ profile url.

See how fancy mine looks > http://gplus.to/kriskiler

…

If I missed anything, please comment below. This wasn’t intended to be a complete guide, just a summary of my experience so far.

Cheers!

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Blogging and social media are no longer the preserve of people discussing their personal hobbies. They have surpassed both search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC) as lower cost strategies for getting new leads. If you’re looking for marketing strategies that lower your costs for generating leads, you must start integrating these two methods into your marketing toolkit as soon as possible.

Strategy #1: Blogging

If your business doesn’t have a blog yet, you’re missing out on a number of opportunities to support your long term marketing strategies. Not only are you losing out on countless potential leads that could be making you money but your losing an opportunity to help your customer and position your business as the go-to source for information in your industry. Not convinced? This data from a recent HubSpot report* could be the information that finally gets you moving.

The report stated that a huge 55% of companies had reported their blogs were generating leads at a lower cost than other forms of marketing they were using. This put blogging in pole position when it came to using inbound marketing methods to find new prospects and sales.

What does this mean for you?

It means that if you don’t have a business blog, you’re quite simply leaving cash on the table. You find the concept of blogging to cumbersome? Many business owners/marketers make the mistake of assuming they have to blog every single day or they won’t build an audience. This isn’t true. You don’t have to send out long treaties about the state of your industry either.

No, the idea is to connect with your audience without selling or preaching to them. If you can write a couple of blog posts a week (or even in a month) on an ongoing basis that appeal to your target audience, you’ll naturally start to build more interest among your existing customers, giving them a reason to return to your website to read more in the future.

And let’s not forget that having a regularly updated blog as part of your business website is good fodder for search engine optimization. Search engines are looking for sites with content that is updated frequently and reward those sites with a better search position (more traffic).

Strategy #2: Social Media

If you’re still a social media doubter, perhaps the following fact will make you think again. The same report from HubSpot showed that social media came in just behind blogging when it came to the best ways to get low cost leads. An impressive 47% of businesses that took part in the report stated that social media was generating leads at below average cost for them.

Meanwhile search engine optimization came in third with 39% and pay per click efforts managed just 27%. How do those figures correlate with the returns you are getting for your own marketing efforts right now?

In addition to this the report showed that the average company budget for both blogs and social media efforts almost doubled between 2009 and 2011. Budgets for blogging and social media went from just 9% in 2009 to a much larger 17% in 2011.

What does this mean for you?

It means that you need to get started on creating social media accounts to connect with your target audience. It’s easier than ever to join these websites and there are plenty of them to choose from as well. Do your research on a range of social media sites before you join however – Facebook and Twitter may well be the biggest networks around, but do they have a good proportion of your target audience waiting for you to connect with them?

See: Social Media for the Non-Believer: 5 Tips for Getting Started

Some business owners believe they need to join every single social media site in order to see any results. This is a quick assumption that most people make because they don’t want to make the effort at all. It’s easy to start with Facebook (Company Page) and Twitter to get you going. If you try to join all of the social networking sites you’ll get overwhelmed and quit before your ahead.

–

Remember to stay focused. Write down a few goals and imagine the potential that lies within these massive communities. You may find you have generated plenty more leads than you ever thought you would.

*2011: The State of Inbound Marketing, HubSpot

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The Internet continues to be the ultimate Rubik’s Cube of marketing. Whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, tools such as Google, Facebook, Yelp, Groupon, Foursquare, and Twitter have become giant headaches for marketers. They have all introduced fierce competition for the attention of our customers and prospects in ways we couldn’t imagine.

For example, did you think the wine industry was ready for Gary Vaynerchuk? The answer is a big NO and I bet more than one of his competitors has a picture of him on their dart board. Gary is a great example of someone who has disrupted an entire marketplace by completely embracing the social-Internet with all of his might and is using them to take over his industry.

What’s the key? Continue Reading

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It’s inevitable that at some point in your life you’ve done the Hokey Pokey—most likely when you were a kid. It didn’t matter if you knew how to dance or if you had ever even heard the song before. All you had to do was listen to the very clear instructions and do exactly what you were told to do. No thinking, just fun!

Well, it’s time you started to use the Hokey Pokey principle in your business. Take a lesson from this simple song and you can give your website visitors this same experience and in the process start generating more leads and making more sales.

No, I am not talking about telling them to “shake it all about.” I am talking about making sure your website clearly conveys to visitors the actions they should be taking. You need to be giving them clear instruction on what you want them to do. Continue Reading

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One of the biggest obstacles that people face when marketing is…themselves!

I can’t tell you how many times I have had discussions with people who have decided to do or not do something to market their business based on the way they feel about it and not on the data presented right in front of them. Every week I talk with business owners who are hesitant to use more aggressive email marketing tactics simply because they don’t like getting “those type of emails.” But after some discussion, they reveal that the emails they do enjoy are from companies they are already fans of.

That’s the point. You can’t hesitate to start an email marketing program just because you think people won’t want to read your emails. Your customers are waiting for you to email them! Continue Reading

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