Vision Of Success

Want a lot of great publicity? Play off of what’s happening in your community.

Qdoba has a great campaign now on their website, Taste Bud Politics.

Enter their site, and you can vote for your favorite U.S. Presidential candidate. At the same time, tell them if you’re a taco or burrito kind of person. They you can look at the results, and see where you stand. Look at the entire U.S. standings, or state by state.

They’ve also placed videos on there, giving away T-shirts to people depending on if they are a taco or burrito. How much did this cost them? Not a lot - just a new web design and the ability to get it out to people that will use it.

How much exposure is it getting them? A ton. From videos on YouTube, to writeups in newspapers and trade publications, they are receiving a to of referrals back into their website.

Now whether this turns into new customers or not remains to be seen. But it is driving traffic.

What can you do to play off current events?

So what do you do if you’re planning on releasing a new Internet browser - one that will directly compete with the big player, Microsoft?

Well if you’re Google, you announce it in a way sure to please every online person around. Through a comic book of course.

This past weekend, Google announced it will be releasing Chrome, it’s browser that will directly compete with Microsoft Explorer. Want to see the comic book - I found a complete copy here.

Google has always taken complex items and made it super easy to use. They don’t clutter up their main idea with a bunch of  links to other places. You can go to Google and get exactly what you’re looking for. That said, I wonder what Chrome will be like?

I guess we’ll find out sometime in the next few days. You should be able to go to Chrome when they release it. 

In the past few weeks I’ve written about the doom and gloom that appears daily in the news, and about people hiding their true fee in order to post as low a price as possible.

Well it’s in the news again.

JetBlue just announced that they will now be charging $7 for pillows if you so choose. When will other airlines follow suit (in hours I’m sure)?

Airlines are hurting. If you’ve seen any type of news in any type of format, that’s common knowledge. But once again they are hiding the actual cost of flying in “hidden” fees.

JetBlue originally grew because of their service skills. They were customer friendly, and supplied you with all the extras that somehow vanished from the other airlines. Yet now they are following in the footsteps of their rivals.

If I choose to fly, I must pay a fee for my ticket, a processing fee, a booking fee, a baggage fee, food charges, tv/movie charges, and now pillow/blanket charges. What’s next, a charge for the seat?

So my “cheap” $200 ticket can soar by $100 or more by the time all the fees are added up. Why can’t they just charge me the $300 in the first place? I’ll pay that if I choose to fly; why not give it to me all up front and let me decide?

The name of the game right now is to bring in a customer at the lowest possible price. Then once you have them, tack on every charge you can think of. This isn’t just in the airlines - I’m assuming it’s the rationalization for surviving the recession. Bring a client on board for a low price - then start adding up the extras.

Use this to your advantage. Charge one fee, and stick with it. And advertise it that way.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s sick of bringing out my wallet ever step of the way. 

Ok I’ll admit it. I’m a fan of Sex In The City. What woman isn’t? The clothes. The steamy moments. And of course the shoes.

So last night my sister and I had a night out on the town, and headed over to the newest theater in our area to check it out.

This theater just opened in December. We’ve been there a few times since it opened, and I have to admit I love it. You spend a couple extra dollars on the ticket, but the seats are comfy and leather, there’s free popcorn and sodas - and you can buy wine (by the bottle if you care to) and other snacks in their front cafe.

This isn’t a place where teens run wild. In fact the few times I’ve been there, I’ve never seen a teen. Maybe it’s because of the expense. Plus they don’t run the typical teen-attraction movies.

For a 7 pm movie on a Thursday night, the movie sold out by 6:30. And you should have seen the groups of women coming in. Most were dressed in their favorite outfits, and of course shoes that would make Carrie proud. The theater was packed - every seat, top to bottom. And I counted a big “2″ men in the theater (brave souls).

The women didn’t just have popcorn and soda. I saw wine by the bottles. There was cheering. There was clapping. And there were sighs… ahhhh

Marketing to women? You bet.

1. This movie gets you excited to spend money. You have to have shoes, bags and the clothes, right? (Time to go shopping this afternoon.)

2. This theater promoted it perfect. Half their theaters were filled with this movie. A new show started every hour on the hour. And yes, they were sold out as of last night.

3. Where else can you go with a group of friends, share a great flick AND have a bottle of wine? Other theaters, take note.

4. You can’t please everyone all the time. Define your target market well, and promote, promote, promote.

5. Women talk, share and build relationships well. They share ideas, and talk about everything (good and bad). Give a woman a great experience, and she brings her friends in droves.

So you’re looking for something for your kids to do this summer. What can you do to keep them busy and entertained?

How about blogging?

Blogging is easy to do, easy to create, and provides a wealth of knowledge to a budding writer or businessperson. (And yes, it’s what my daughter will be doing this summer – she’s actually excited about it.)

1. Make it exciting. Don’t set too many boundaries for your child’s blogging project. Let her choose something of interest to her, and help her refine what the focus will be. The only limits should be Internet safety, depending on the age of the child. Things to keep in mind are not revealing your real photos, real name, or detailed information about your life.

2. Make it entertaining. Who would want to read your blog? Write to entertain your readers, provide them with something of value, and give them a reason to come back and visit again and again.

3. Make it rewarding. How about earning a few extra bucks while blogging? The easiest way is to affiliate with Amazon, and let your child link back to books, magazines and other products of interest. It takes just a few minutes to create an account, and you’re child will learn valuable skills in the process.

4. Make if fun. Don’t feel like blogging to day? Don’t sweat it. This shouldn’t be a chore. If your child is having fun with it, have her create a few extra posts. You can always post-date them, and have information ready for days when you prefer to lie by the pool.

5. Make it educational. Learn a few new skills along the way. Maybe it’s how to create a graphic design. Or maybe it’s a little about computer security. There are many ways to have fun and learn about this exciting new endeavor.

Want help setting up a blog for yourself or your child? Learn How To Blog

What? Internet safety for parents?

But I’m trying to learn how to keep my kids safe – why do I need safety tips?

I thought in this post I would turn the whole idea around of why we as parents need Internet safety.

Maybe you just don’t have time to learn that much about being online. You don’t visit anymore sites that you have to, and really only turn on your computer a couple of times per week.

Or maybe you spend a full day at work, and the last thing you want to do when you get home is spend more time online learning about the latest technology.

Or maybe you dabble in the new technology, and have learned just enough to be totally confused.

Yet you as a parent are the only one that can help your child navigate the online world, and teach him or her wrong from right. Most parents are not doing this today, which is leaving many sites on equal territory to the wild west.

So when you child was a toddler, you told her “no” when she tried to touch the stove because you understood it was hot and would burn her.

As a child, you taught her “don’t speak to strangers” because you understood the safety issues.

The same applies to the Internet.

Start with the simple statement “Don’t post anything online you wouldn’t want your parents or grandparents reading”.

If you say it enough, they will listen.

Also teach them stories of the implications. If you post a video showing you drinking alcohol at 17, it may impact getting into the college of your choice, or getting the job you desire. People search, and they will find you.

Think twice. And don’t post anything online you wouldn’t want your parents, grandparents – or even your kids reading.

Not only is it a good rule for you kids, it’s a good rule for you too. Establish your boundaries now, and teach your children well.

Have you gone out for dinner lately? Prices are really on the rise here in the States.

As a business owner, not only do I meet a lot of people for lunch, but I’m also always on the run with my family. So we eat out quite a bit.

I used to love the Quick Casual places because the food is good, and you can get in and out in a hurry.

Tonight we stopped in at Macaroni Grill. Food was great - and the prices weren’t that much higher than the Quick Casual places. Wow. Do the Quick Casual place really have that much more expense level that they need to raise prices? With oil on the rise, I know their pricing will continue to rise.

Could the sit down places use this to their advantage? From a marketing perspective, keeping their prices as low as possible - and letting consumers know about it - may actually help them bring in more customers.

So what can they do?

1. Keep prices as low as possible. With oil on the rise, they will obviously have to raise prices. But keeping costs low will ultimately give people more of an option.

2. Tell people about your low prices. During hard times, its important to keep up your marketing. Companies die faster in hard times simply because they quit marketing.

3. Bring people in on special promotions. Trusting an old favorite is sometimes more important than trying something new. The last thing someone wants to do is waste their money.

How would you describe your marketing? Do you jump in full force with an idea, only to start in on another idea a week later?

The problem with this type of "marketing" is you’ll never get enough traction to make it work. No matter what you do, if you don’t commit to it, it won’t have a chance to work for you.

So if you create a website and don’t touch it for a year, it won’t work.

If you create a blog and don’t touch it for a year, it won’t work.

If you create a MySpace account and don’t touch it for a year, it won’t work.

Marketing is all about commitment. Case in point is a wedding photographer  from Berkeley, California. He doesn’t have a blog. He hasn’t scored big on YouTube or MySpace. Yet he has found tremendous success by committing to posting on one site.

Commit to your marketing - it will make a difference.

Lori

Monthly Marketing Program

Remember when businesses could survive without a website?

I’ve been online and had at least one website working for me for over 14 years now. Yet I also know that even though I’ve embraced technology, and couldn’t live without it, there are still people out there that have never created a site for their business. In fact, I currently have a half dozen business cards in front of me without an email address on them.

Let’s look at a few stats for a moment. In 2000, Google indexed about 1 billion pages. By the end of 2004, those numbers had risen to 8 billion. Currently, the latest estimate is that Google has indexed about 14 to 15 billion pages. All of this means people are adding a lot of content to the online arena – and its growing not just in America, United Kingdom and Australia. It’s growing in the far corners of the world.

Doing business online has truly made it to the mainstream. And for all of you that have a website and realize the importance, you’ve probably contemplated the next step. SEO, or search engine optimization is about getting your site ranked and in front of your prospects and your customers. But what most people don’t realize the strategy it takes to make that move.

When you think SEO, what does it bring up in your mind? Getting ranked high in the search engines? Magically appearing in ads? Getting more traffic than you can handle?

All of that may be a part of SEO, but unless you create a strategy, it will never happen.

I recently sat down with Jeff, a business consultant. He created a small website a couple of years ago, and left it up more as a brochure than anything else. It didn’t go into a lot of detail about his business; it just gave a brief explanation about Jeff and his business. He received no business from his site, and he was looking to change that.

After a five-minute analysis, I began to see some definite areas where we could make changes. Jeff had a friend who designed his site. This friend dabbled in web design on the side, and did it more for fun. But he now had a new full time position, two kids – and no time to help Jeff make changes. The first problem was Jeff’s friend had used an old “template” for the design, and all of his keywords were from an entirely different industry!

Next, because Jeff knew very little about SEO, he only had one goal with his online strategy: to be number one under the keyword “business consultant” in Google. He spent a few hundred dollars on Google’s Pay Per Click strategy, but recently gave up when he had little success.

Jeff had never sat down and created an online strategy that would truly help his business. He was guilty of the most common problem made by today’s small business owners – he listened to all the wonderful stories about the power of the Internet, yet he never captured any of it for his business because he never did anything to get his site noticed.

We went on to discuss SEO, and what it means for him, and for any small business owner. SEO means finding out what your clients are looking for online, and being there when they search. You don’t want to show up under “business consultant” if your clients are searching for “small business marketing coach”. And you won’t magically appear under the term “small business marketing coach” unless you work with your content and your marketing to make it happen.

Like it or not, business is competition. And thanks to the Internet, that competition is fierce. In years past, the people in your local market were your competition; but now that field has spread across the globe. For you to get to your target audience, and to capture sales, you have to work at it.

But the good news is it’s actually the best time in history to get started in online marketing. For both service and product businesses, the tools available today are amazing. In just a few short months, with the right planning, we’re able to capture high rankings under the terms most often searched. And it’s not just a big business strategy – even small businesses can create a lot of magic online.

And it all starts with a strategy.

In the pre-Internet days, communicating with your customers took a whole lot more effort. You had to plan a promotion, create the marketing piece, print out address labels and attach them to the marketing piece, head to your post office and buy a bulk mailer or buy individual first class stamps and stamp each piece individually. Then drop everything into the mail. The whole process could take anywhere from several days to several weeks, depending on your use of graphic designers and printers.

But then the Internet rolled around, and everyone jumped on the bandwagon of email. Email is a quick form of communication that allows you to send anyone anything at little or no cost. Of course the problem with email is because of its low cost, everyone does it. It’s not uncommon for someone to get several hundred email a day.

With that kind of incoming messaging, your communications have little to no chance of making it through – and creating the sale – unless you provide your customers strong value and they anticipate and even wait for your arrival.

As a part of your marketing strategy, consider the following when building a campaign.

1. Don’t just send email because of its value to you. Give your customer the value. What do they want to know? What do they care about? They don’t care about the details of your business. They care about how your business affects their lives.

2. Send email on a regular, anticipated time interval. Tell your customers when to expect email from you, and what to expect in the email. “Sign up for my weekly ezine in which I provide you with simple 5 minute tips on organizing your home office.” This gets straight to the point, tells people when they will receive your information, and how they can use your information. People can decide before they sign up if this type of correspondence is for them.

3. Don’t overwhelm your customers. Different industries have different email patterns. If you are emailing to a consumer, they may only open up personal email once or twice per week. If you send one or two email per day, you’ll quickly overwhelm your customer, causing her to opt out of your email. If you email business owners, they may appreciate daily correspondence, and like quick tips to start out their day. Find out what your customer prefers, test your responses often, and give them what they want.

4. Don’t forget about the mail. Just because email is a great system that’s inexpensive to use, don’t forget that snail mail can be equally effective. Try working the two together. Email your customers to watch for a new promotion you’re about to put into the mail. Send out your postcard. Then email a week or so later asking if they received the postcard, and giving them further incentive to make contact with you.

5. Instead of emailing people with all of your information, offer them choices. Autoresponders are a great way of emailing people only the information they are truly interested in. If you have a new product coming out, give them a chance to sign up on another list that will provide more information. They will receive a variety of emails based on this new product, and their desire for your information.

Above all, keep trying. If something doesn’t work, look at the possible reasons why. Is it your timing – maybe it’s a holiday. Is it the message – refine the way you say it. The important thing is to be consistent, and be willing to change to reach your fullest potential.

Lori Osterberg has created three successful businesses in the past 10 years, and along the way discovered the secrets of taking a local small business and turning it into a worldwide success. She now shares this passion with people all over the world, and speaks, writes and mentors on using technology to grow your business – and stay small at the same time! Receive her FREE ezine at http://www.visionofsuccess.com/