​ This is not my typical blog post, but I felt compelled to write it because I sincerely wanted to share the one thing I was scared about in my professional life being a stay at home mom and how I tackled it.

If you are anything like me the term SEO gives you a massive headache, there are so many ways to analyze and optimize your site to better reach customers that it can leave you spinning.

Now, I do not claim to be an SEO expert oh that’s Search Engine Optimization, but I do however, understand the importance and relevance of it for your business. What I do - is give people honest simple advice for their small business. 

So here are 3 simple tasks you as a small business owner can do today to optimize your website and social media pages to ensure people can find you. 

Recently, I was trying to make a purchase for additional services at a place I frequent.

I went up to the nice lady at the front desk asked a few questions, got a quick response but still had a few more follow up questions that would have led to me pulling out my credit card to make my purchase.

But before I could finish asking, I got the one finger in the air signal to hold on.

The phone rang, so she proceeded to answer it versus finishing up with  me, I waited one minute got side tracked with my phone and decided to leave as she was taking too long. At the time of this interaction, it all seemed harmless, as the people at this business are usually helpful.

After a day, this interaction lingered with me (my marketing hat on) and made me think, that was not good customer service for the business. 

They missed out on an immediate $1100 sale to take a phone call, which also made me wonder, who is more important, a customer right in front of you, or some guy or girl on the phone?

My strong advice to business owners, being on the receiving end of this, I strongly suggest to never let a customer who is right in front you walk out the door.

It is far easier and better business to make a sale to this person than to take a phone call. Leave it to voicemail, or answer the call and place the person on hold for a reasonable time.  I also hate being on hold too long.

Now that I’ve had too much time to think about this, I am debating whether I want to make this purchase, ever! 

Have you had this happened to you?



Whether it’s in life or business we all need a strategy to get where and what we want.
You can say, it’s like a road map to creating and delivering the life you seek personally or professionally.

For some, it can take a long time to figure this out and one can spend a great deal of time and energy on useless tactics or guys that reap no rewards.

For others, they know what they want and they go for it! 

It's kind of like dating.

In my experience, most women, no matter how much of a free spirit, free love type they claim to be, deep down want a stable, honest, reliable relationship with a man they can trust and feel a sense of security with.

However, their strategy to this ultimate goal can be flawed and they do the same things or in this case date the same type of guy over and over again expecting different results, the true meaning of insanity!

To help solve this insanity and shed some light on developing your marketing or dating plan, here are my 5 tips for creating a successful plan whether you are seeking love or a marketing success. 

1.       Determine who your target is, whether it’s looking for the ideal partner or the perfect customer, you need to understand who your target customer is, where they are and how to attract them to what you are selling. Please note ladies, do not target the same type of douche bag guy to date over and over again, branch out try different methods to meet the right guy.

2.       Know what your unique selling proposition is and communicate it effectively or in this case it should be your personality, values and beliefs, don’t lead with your cup size or superficial assets to find the right guy for you.

3.       Make sure you have clear quantifiable objectives in your marketing plan and stay focused. For instance if you want a decent guy, do not go on several dates with a guy who is not right for you. Trust me you are not going to be the one to change him. 

4.       Identify the steps you need to take to get what you want, this is the most important part of creating a strategy. You must lay out a step by step plan as to how you are going to meet your goals. Keep in mind you may need to adjust your tactics as you go, so be fluid in your decisions not your bed mates.

5.       Finally assess the risk and outcome of your decisions and always measure your results against your objectives. If not you do not measure your results, then there is no point in creating a plan and executing it. In doing so you have a better chance of success in business and dating.

In conclusion, I hope you found this fun analogy helpful and it gave you a different perspective on how to determine your marketing strategy with dash of dating advice thrown in.

Once you have a plan, I guarantee you, it’s a lot easier to obtain your goals, but keep in mind be fluid in your thinking and stay true to your purpose and adjust accordingly but do not sacrifice your brand integrity. 

As a small business owner, you cannot afford to turn any customers away and must always put your brand forward.

Let’s face it we don’t have big budgets for massive brand building campaigns so every little bit we can do to create a better customer experience goes a long way.

And from experience, I’ve noticed these 5 essential customer service elements are not always met, and it’s a sure way to lose business. These are:

1. No greeting upon entry or on the phone. It’s just poor manners, when you enter a store and the clerk is head down busy on their phone and obviously too involved to notice you. If you have staff that does this, I suggest you have a strong conversation about etiquette. 


2. You call a business and the phone just keeps ringing. This has happened to me on several occasions. Who in their right mind does not have a voice mail system?  As a small biz owner, you maybe solo in your store or office, so you can’t afford to miss any potentials customers. Set up a system right now.


3. Staff is not educated enough about a product or service. It is truly a big turn off when you are interested in purchasing an item and you have questions that cannot be answered. To make matters worse, the customer service person may just waffle around the answers instead of connecting you to someone who knows. 


4. You have a difficult to find location. If your business is in a difficult to find location, something you may not be able to avoid, please make sure your address with detailed directions and landmarks is on your website, social media pages and on your google page. In addition, have a sign outside your business leading customers to where you are.


5. Not responding to email, social media posts, or voice mail messages. It is mandatory to respond to any inquiries a customer may have, even if it’s the simplest question. The point is when you do not respond, that potential customer will talk about it to friends or to make matters worse, when a question on social media goes unanswered others can see it. As a rule, respond to emails within 12 hours, voice mail within 24 hours, Twitter posts within the hour, Facebook within 3 hours or sooner the better for all of the above.

I hope you found these tips helpful to deliver a better customer experience.  Contact me with any questions. Thanks.

There are so many tools and resources out there to help you run your business, but who has the time to decipher which ones will work the best. For me, I like to keep it simple, my everyday marketing online needs are covered by these 5 basic easy to use digital assistants.

They help me create, mail and share to get the job done.

1. Canva - do you need free great looking images for your social media posts, emails or blogs? Try Canva, it provides images with the proper sized dimensions for any of your online needs. In addition to pictures, it has great layout templates to help you customize your masterpiece with text or your own images. You can also purchase images for only $1 if the free ones aren't doing it for you. Check it out and use it for free at www.canva.com

2. PicMonkey - this is mainly an image editing tool. There are some free images, but not enough to choose from. The editing features are excellent with lots of choices for text, overlays, backgrounds, collages and more. You can use it without signing up or sign up for a reasonable membership fee and have access to additional features and layouts. A very easy to use image editing software especially if you are new at editing pictures. Check it out and use it for free at www.picmonkey.com

3. MailChimp - this is my favorite email provider. The templates and layouts offer a variety of choices for any type of email you need to send out. The list sorting feature is very versatile and allows you several practical ways to sort your emails, for example by last name, email address, location etc. You can send to various types of lists you create by using these filters as well. The templates are beautifully designed, have all the social media plugins you need and is mobile friendly. Importantly, you can send 12,000 emails to 2,000 subscribers for free. Check it out and use it for free at www.mailchimp.com

4. Dropbox - are you on the go, need to share files with others and want to access to everything while you are with clients anywhere ,anytime? Then Dropbox is a very practical solution for you and your small business. It is easy to download or login from anywhere to gain access at anytime. Store your files in the cloud, and only share what you choose to with the ability to remove file sharing access at anytime. You can also download Dropbox on your phone, or as a folder onto your computer and the folder automatically gets updated whenever you make changes online. Dropbox provides 2GB free space and you can buy more as you need. Check it out and use if for free at www.dropbox.com

5. Fiverr - so you don't have the time to do any of this yourself and have a very limited budget ,then try Fiverr to get a logo, Facebook cover, flyer, email header and just about anything done for only $5. The Fiverr site makes it very affordable and easy to use. It's free to sign up and you can review hundreds of providers before selecting the one that best suits you. Keep in mind you are paying $5 so you may not always get exactly what you are looking for, but I've gotten some great work from these guys at a very affordable price. Check it out and use it for free at www.fiverr.com

Spring has sprung and we are  into the second quarter of the year, can you believe it!

Are you thinking about what the next quarter holds for you and what you want to achieve? I know I am!

For some of us, it is time for a fresh start, a time to evaluate our goals and how we are going to achieve them. I personally find it easier to set objectives especially when I have a big project, but as a routine I make a habit of setting daily objectives to avoid getting distracted from my end goal.

Now, by definition objectives are a specific result that a person or system aims to achieve within a time frame and with available resources. In general, objectives are measurable, specific and easier to measure than goals. That is why I like them!
 
For me, as a Marketing Consultant, defining my marketing objectives is an important part to creating successful programs that drive results.  Do you always create objectives before starting any marketing program?

Today, I would like to share with you my:

5 tips on how to create clear objectives to turn your marketing ideas into reality! 

1.  Make your objectives quantifiable: having a clear quantifiable objective in either number of units to sell, a percent increase to obtain or sales revenue to generate will give you a specific goal reach. For example: I want to sell 10 units this month. 

2.  Set a clear time frame: having a start and end date to anything helps, so do the same for your marketing program. Knowing how much time you have to realistically achieve your goal is a great motivator to completing any project. 

3.  Strategize: understanding how you are going to execute against your objectives is crucial in achieving success. Once you know what you want to achieve be sure to create a step by step plan so you and your team are on board to turn it into reality. Your plan should outline every detail possible and have contingency plans. A simple calendar outlining your strategy from start date to end date will keep everyone on
track.

 4.  Set a budget: nobody wants to waste money, so setting a budget is the best way to stay on track. You will know exactly what your return on investment is.  

5.   Measure: Last but not least measure your results, simply review your objectives and determine if you achieved them with the resources and tools utilized. Most importantly ensure you were able to achieve the best ROI possible.

Thanks for reading, I hope you found this helpful!
Download your free objective planning template here.
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Date Attended: Thursday May 17, 2012
Speakers: Michelle Villalobos,  Jessica Kizorek, Mike Michalowicz, Anette Nathan, Lisa D.  Sparks

1.  ASK or you won’t get what you want. As women, much less entrepreneurs, I think we struggle with this one. We we are used to the idea of taking care of others and everything around us that we forget to ask for what we really want. Don’t beat around the bush, just ASK! 

2.  Define your style, what makes you unique, learn how to package it and sell it. This one, I think is easier said than done. I know I struggle with it. We all have great qualities to offer and as marketer I too make this mistake by wanting to talk about all the great features and benefits a brand/service has to offer, but there is only so much room on a flyer. It is important to spend time on this exercise to truly understand your brand, your truth so that you can communicate it confidently and comfortably.  Practice your pitch as often as you can and on different audiences and try different versions until you get where you want.

3.  Different is better. This is a great way of positioning yourself to stand out from your competitors. The key learning here it that your “name is magnetic”, so use it to create a call to action that people will remember.

4.  Under promise, over deliver. It’s important that your customers are always satisfied by your product and service, so why set the bar too high when you know you cannot deliver. Instead be realistic, give yourself enough wiggle room and provide a reasonable expectation. Then over deliver by either handing in that proposal early, finishing the job sooner than they expect and cheaper than
expected. 

5. Think of email marketing in terms of campaigns. This a great way to think about your email marketing programs versus struggling each month on “what to write”. Create a campaign based on a theme or news that has an ongoing story to tell. It’s
important to take the time upfront to think it through, plan it out and then execute each month without the added stress.