It’s pretty hard to have a relationship with somebody if they don’t ever hear from you!

That’s why the cornerstone to creating an ongoing marketing relationship with your prospects and clients is to build a permission-based email list.

Only when people have given you their permission to market to them, and you have their name and email address, can you start to have any kind of business relationship with them.

In order to build a hot and steamy list….or at least a satisfied and happy list of prospective and current customers, you need to strategically use every point of contact with people.

Here are some suggestions on different ways you can get people to opt-in to your list:

• make sure you have an opt-in box/sign-up form on the top of every page of your website
• advertise your opt-in form when you ship products - include it in a postcard or a colored one-pager included in the shipping box/envelope
• include a “send to a friend” option with your ezine, special reports and so on
• have the link to your free-giveaway/ezine sign-up form in your resource box at the end of any articles you distribute to article submission sites and other people’s ezines
• give information on how people can sign up for an email subscription with all your print ads and direct mail
• have your opt-in message and box on your shopping cart pages when people purchase something
• have email signatures on all email being sent out by you and employees to have a one-line blurb about signing up for the company email newsletter or free report
• include information and link to your ezine/free report opt-in page in any press releases you send out
• add sign-up information to invoices, warranty and product registration cards
• have call center and sales staff ask people if they’d like to receive ezines and informational emails - whenever they’re talking to a prospect or customer over the phone
• promote your free-giveaway and provide sign up information at all your in-person meetings, workshops, trade shows and presentations
• promote your ezine or free special report in consumer and trade publications, other company’s publications, industry sites and directories
• add the opt-in box to any reports, white papers and registration forms you send out
• include information on how to opt-in to your ezine or free-giveaway on any surveys you send out to people

As you can see, there are many places of contact with your prospects and clients where you can tell them about your free-giveaway, special report or ezine subscription. Take advantage of these opportunities to add people to your email list - so that you can ensure a profitable and productive marketing relationship between you.

A free-giveaway is a vital first step in marketing your business and building a list of prospects that you can turn into customers and clients.

Once you create your free-giveaway, you don’t need to touch it again.  Remember, there will always be new people who “discover” you - new people you’ll be getting into your marketing funnel, pipeline or pyramid (however you think of it).

Your free-giveaway is aimed at this constant stream of new prospects and is the vehicle you use to build the marketing relationship with them, build credibility, earn their like and trust and convert them into loyal clients and customers.

So your free-giveaway will always exist as a stand-alone and entry point into your marketing system for the majority of your list.  This doesn’t mean, though, that you can’t build on the work you’ve done with your free-giveaway and leverage its power.

Another word for this is re-purposing your work.  That’s what smart marketers and business people do:  take the time and money you’ve invested in something and re-purpose it to use in conjunction with, or as another marketing tactic or product and service.

For example, with your free-giveaway you can take out pieces of it and write articles around it, blog posts and ezine content.  In this way, you spend the time once on creating your free-giveaway but you take parts of the content and re-purpose (or recycle) it to use in other marketing strategies that you employ.

Smart marketers, like yourself, know that the power of leveraging new marketing tactics with existing strategies is the way to get the most out of your time, expertise and resources.

Schedule a few minutes today to see if you are utilizing the power of your free-giveaway to the fullest.

We’ve all heard for years that online marketing is the most affordable, measurable form of getting access to targeted customers.  So that means that every small or medium sized business owner has been spending online for years, right?  Wrong, but that trend is rapidly changing.

A few years ago all that mattered was having a web presence, which meant simply building a static website with some sweet animated GIFs.  Then, the early adopters, the tech savvy or friends of the tech savvy, started doing ppc and possibly seo.  The numbers making the jump were few, but the success was great.  The doorway has opened a bit wider now.  Small business internet marketing providers now have technology specifically made for managing and optimizing smaller spends.  Previously, these types of optimization tools were only available for companies capable of shelling out thousands per month.  Many SMBs still thriving during the current economy attribute their success to search marketing performance.

Do it yourself options also exist, but there is a level of expertise required to achieve optimal success.  It’s also important to consider that as the industry has grown lower priced solutions have popped up allowing business owners to focus on what they do best.  A lot of us own many hats, but in the end we tend to stick to the one that fits best.

President-Elect Obama:
As you take power for what is the most remarkable statement our country has made in ages and having run the best campaign ever, we know you are taking over what will be the worst job in the world.

• We want your optimism to be contagious and your can-do-attitude to inspire us
• We are terrified you will tax us and hold us up as scapegoats, while we are survivors
• We are hopeful you will see us as family leaders not large corporate thieves
• We are one-third democrats, one-third republicans and one-third independents*
• We love your dreaming but worry we are not included in those dreams
• We care little about NAFTA but worry more about being virtual
• We want to give people jobs but aren’t sure we can carry them
• We believe we give service to society by virtue of the value we provide to customers, the people we hire and the young that we train
• Lastly, it’s always been lonesome as a small business owner and we have no expectations that government will help us. We love our country and want to see it, and you, succeed.

While the entire world is holding their breath as to what an Obama victory really means to them, fear, uncertainty and doubt have already gripped most small business owners. From losing or maxing out their credit lines, to fearing that consumer demand will simply dry up, entrepreneurship is in upheaval. On one hand, it is still the American dream for so many; on the other, it is a grim reality for so many who depend on it.

Regardless of their industry, tenure, or age, never before have most business owners been so apprehensive about their futures. Why? Because, all the institutions and resources they count on—particularly banks, big customers, skilled and available workers, and economic stability—are all in disarray. Whether they voted for Obama, believing that a recovering middle class will lift all small business ships, or against him, fearful that the new burden of regulation, health care costs and increased taxes will torpedo their plans, business owners are downright scared. And when entrepreneurs are scared they become inactive or at the very least stop expanding. Why? Because owning a small business is all about:

• Being confident that you know your threats
• Knowing how to avoid and exploit your threats
• Confidently spending the resources to do so

Why are business owners so nervous? Because for the first time in decades, they don’t know what to do. Nothing has prepared them to cope and face what is upon them. Wondering if they will have a working business at all has replace traditional “E Myth” goals of “working on one’s business” as opposed to working “in one’s business.” The new threats are not the same as the old threats and knowing how to even respond, let alone find the courage to invest the needed time, money and energy in the correct responses, is beyond the “pay grade” of most owners.

But before we can address these concerns, how did entrepreneurship get to this point? Since 1980, business ownership has grown from a wry dream for most to a total investment for so many. From under ten million in the 1980s to some 25 million† today, nearly ten percent of Americans depend directly on their own businesses for financial security and another ten to thirty percent are customers, vendors, employees or investors of small business. From being seen as outsiders or rebels, the small business owner has become in many ways the focal point of the American Dream. Large corporations spend billions marketing to them. This last election created “Joe the Plumber” and the small business owner’s laments of paying too much in taxes, having bad health care options and struggling for visibility and respect are daily themes our news media covers ad nauseam.

As importantly, the entrepreneurial movement has produced a new lifestyle and set of values. Magazines, such as Fast Company and INC. along with owners-only support groups such as EO and VISTAGE have sprung up to enhance the entrepreneurial way of business and personal life. Entrepreneurship is so ingrained in our society that it has outgrown the stereotypes of being part of one political party. A 2007 Fortune Zogby Poll of business owners reported that 37% are registered Republicans, 35% are registered Democrats and the remaining are Independents.

While the novelty of entrepreneurship has worn off, today’s business owner remains as much a lone wolf as ever. All of the 20% who survive their first five years† do so by quickly learning to sell, manage cash, find and keep good people and create satisfied customers. But over the last few years, multiple forces in the economy and society in general are converging into a perfect storm and threatening both established business owners as well as the dreams of emerging ones.

So in closing, President-Elect Obama, we as business owners are fearful of what you may do to us and the harm you can bring to our small businesses yet we wait with bated breath to see if you can deliver your promises and help us continue our American dream of successful entrepreneurship because “Yes, we can.”

About Andy Birol: Based on interviewing over 5,000 businesses Andy Birol authored The Five Catalysts of Seven Figure Growth (CareerPress, 2006), has advised over 400 business owners.  By focusing on the role of the owner as the “fuel” that drives a firm, Andy speaks to hundreds of groups of entrepreneurs on six continents, helping thousands to clarify or discover their Best and Highest Use^® (BHU) and achieve sustained and profitable growth.  Andy holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School and a BSBA summa cum laude from Boston University’s School of Management.  His website is www.andybirol.com and his blog is www.birolsblog.com.

Articles by Birol Growth Consulting are © copyrighted and all rights are reserved. However, articles may be reprinted with prior written consent if attribution is included as follows:

Many new small businesses get confused about what marketing steps they need to take first.

I believe that there are 3 essential components that you need in your marketing framework:

1. a website
2. free giveaway and opt-in box
3. marketing tactics based on your core marketing strength

Let’s look at each of these in more depth:

The first component you absolutely need in your marketing framework is a website.  I’m sure you’ve heard this again and again, and are probably sick of hearing about it….but that’s because it is so important!

A website is crucial for building credibility, trust, a relationship with prospects and clients, and also as the key means for building your list.  This leads us into the second component you need in your marketing framework.

The second component is a free giveaway and an opt-in box.  These go hand-in-hand - you need to have an opt-in box on each page of your website that gives people access to a free giveaway in exchange for their name and email address.  This is the way you start capturing names and build a list of prospects that you can communicate with on a regular basis and build a relationship with them.

A free giveaway is a piece of valuable information that your prospective clients would find useful.  There are many different formats you can provide your free giveaway in:  a report, audio lesson, tips & tricks, a checklist, an audio recording and so on.

The third component that you need in your marketing framework is tactics built around your core marketing strength. There are 3 main areas that most marketing tactics fall under:  writing, speaking and networking.

All of us are usually stronger in one of these areas, we enjoy one area more, or it comes easier and we can therefore do it quicker.

Once you figure out that, you will start to add marketing tactics that are built around that core strength of yours, and then grow from there.

So if you’re just starting out or you are not achieving the results that you want, take a look at your marketing framework.  Make sure you have these 3 components working smoothly and rest assured you’ve got a solid marketing base from which to go forward.

Do you naturally gravitate towards marketing tactics that involve writing?  If so, take advantage of this core marketing strength in marketing your small business.

When you enjoy doing something and are good at it, then you can do it quicker, easier and with more enjoyment.  Doesn’t that sound great - especially when it comes to marketing?

Below I’ve outlined the most common (and effective) beginner and advanced marketing strategies that you can use if writing is your core marketing strength.

Beginner marketing tactics for writing include:

• write articles and submit to online submission sites
• write articles and post to your website
• have a blog
• write an ezine
• write press releases and news releases
• create autoresponders and email campaigns

Advanced marketing tactics for writing:

• write articles for industry and association publications (print and online)
• write ebooks
• write a book for publication
• write info products
• do guest blog posts
  • I do Resource Nation
• offer articles to strategic alliance partners and affiliates
• write a column for a newspaper or magazine or an online site
• write a newsletter
• write and send out direct marketing pieces

Have I left anything out?  Please let me know (then I can start using it too!).

I define core marketing strength as being tactics that you enjoy doing, are good at and what you naturally gravitate towards.

For example, my core marketing strength is writing.  I love writing, I can do it pretty quickly and easily and I have lots of ideas of things I can write about (around my business services and products).

I enjoy speaking and I’ve done lots of it, but it causes me some angst and it’s not something I absolutely thrive on doing.

Networking (especially in-person) is definitely not something I really like, am comfortable with or really want to do!  I’ll do it, I have done it - especially in my corporate life, but it isn’t something I get hopped up about doing!  I’m much better one-on-one with people.

So guess what?  I’ve built my marketing framework around writing. I chose marketing tactics that involved writing - like submitting articles, having a blog, doing guest blogs, writing ebooks and so on.

Once that got going and was humming along consistently, I started adding some marketing tactics that include networking and speaking.

But the key thing is that I built my marketing framework around something I enjoyed, could do fast and with not tons of effort.  This ensured that I took action with my marketing right away and that I enjoyed it.  We all know that we will do something we enjoy, but procrastinate endlessly if it’s something we feel not that great at, don’t enjoy or it seems too difficult.

Once you figure out what your core marketing strength is, you can build a marketing framework that encompasses 3 or 4 tactics based on your strength.  From there you can add additional strategies from your core area and/or add some from the other two areas.

Marketing can be fun - so help make it enjoyable by choosing marketing tactics that you actually like doing!

I would love to hear what your core marketing strength is and which marketing tactics you’re using based on that strength.

I was talking to the owner of a new laser clinic that helps people quit smoking. He just opened his doors a month ago and like any new business, he needs an infusion of cash.

He knows the exact number of clients he needs for the next couple months in order to pay the bills and he wanted to talk about what he could do to make money fast.

This guy is a fantastic salesman - you intuitively trust and believe him, and in him. He had an assistant cold-calling businesses for him to make “lunch & learn” presentation regarding his service and quitting smoking.

He wanted me to give him one marketing idea that he could throw his last few bucks at that would result in guaranteed customers.

Of course, there isn’t one.

If he was in business longer, had a regular clientele and needed to make some cash fast, I’d suggest some kind of sale or up-sell to his current customers. However, with him just starting out and no client list yet, there’s no real quick fix. Except what he was already doing…getting out and pounding the pavement and putting his sales strength into full use.

Marketing is all about creating trust and credibility with an ongoing relationship - something that doesn’t usually happen quickly. That’s why it’s so important for all of us small business owners to consistently market and start marketing from day one - it takes time to build a list, a reputation, a solid customer base.

I suggested a few ways he could start building up his marketing, right now, that didn’t cost much money or time - two things he’s short on at the moment.

Some ideas are:

• identify local doctors and chiropractors who have a client ezine or newsletter, where he could add a little blurb about his services and start building awareness and credibility using someone else’s list (strategic partnership)
• add some reports, articles, how-to lists (quickly and easily put together from all the material he has laying around his office) to his website that people can access for free - give people something to keep coming back for and start building credibility and value
• have his website design person quickly add a sign-up box to his website to start gathering names and email addresses so he can start doing email marketing
  • he’ll use one of his free reports to give in exchange to people for their contact information
• do up a letter of introduction, enclose the brochure he already has printed up, and drop off at doctors, chiropractors, wellness centres, massage therapists, etc. in the surrounding area - anyone who may be interested in referring their clients to his laser clinic

This new small business owner left our lunch feeling good and more in control of his efforts. He realized he is already doing the best thing to make some short-term revenue. Plus there are some things he can start doing now that he will build on and be able to develop further once he’s got some money coming in.

He realizes there’s no magic bullet in marketing but that there are lots of strategies that he can use. Now he’s excited to make money fast - to keep his doors open but also to fire up his marketing machine!

“Truth or Dare?

Remember the kid’s game “Truth or Dare?” You’re asked to either answer a question (with the truth of course) or be summoned to a yet-to-be-named perilous activity known as the dare. Of course, there’s risk of complete and total humiliation either way…the truth could reveal something utterly embarrassing and a dare could grant you the opportunity to completely mortify yourself. But choose you must…or you simply don’t play.

Dared to Spin

In the world of business, you’d be surprised how often I’m asked to choose dare. Since I’m the “PR guy,” when briefing the press on whatever the matter of the day might be, rather than choose to tell the exact truth, I’m dared to “spin” it. The rub with “spinning” a story is that you have utterly no inkling about what might happen. It’s tremendously risky and the upside isn’t so great. On one hand, it might be relatively harmless and you escape with a grand victory. On the other hand, more times than not, it can cause great humiliation to yourself or your company and it won’t take long for you to wish you could go back and take the “Truth” option instead.

The Wisdom of Truth

Working with the media is an exhilarating experience providing great opportunities. It’s a great tool that is helpful for spreading the word about your company or product. But to keep the trust of a reporter and therefore ensure future collaboration, choosing the “truth” is always the wisest decision. Choosing to “spin” only erodes your credibility and cheapens your company’s reputation.

Far and away, the best kind of story you can provide the media is always rooted in the truth. Even when it’s bad news…here are some tips when you dare to tell the truth:

• Ensure accuracy. No matter if the facts are good or bad, you want to ensure the information you share with the media is accurate. In bad situations, take your lumps up front and let your bad story be a one-day story.
• If you make a mistake, don’t worry…just correct it. Even if you forgot to share something critical or you misspoke and needed to provide a correction, that’s okay. Making a mistake is human and the media will forgive you. Purposely not telling the truth? Now that’s another matter.
• You don’t need to be overly forthright. I said tell the truth, not tell your entire life story. Share the facts related to the current situation, but don’t sway too far away and give up other juicy information that isn’t relevant.
• It’s okay to say “I can’t tell you…” If you do run into a situation that you can’t share something…just tell them why. Here’s some examples: “I can’t share that information with you because its confidential,” “Due to competitive reasons, that information is not disclosed,” or “I can’t speak on behalf of that other party, you’ll have to ask them.”

I talked in a previous blog posting about the importance utilizing “pull” marketing, which is simply drawing people into your business by ensuring you constantly provide value to them.

Sounds good, but how are you supposed to provide value to your prospects and your clients?

The best way is with content rich material - which is just a fancy term for information-packed material that your prospects want and need.

Some examples are:

* an interesting news article photocopied or scanned and sent to them
* free reports available via your website or links provided in an email
* ezine or newsletter
* access to downloads on your website
* links to interesting studies or articles
* how-to lists, tips & tricks and top 10 lists
* new book titles
* information about applicable workshops or seminars (don’t have to be yours)

There are many, many different ways you can offer valuable information to people. You can help them learn to view you and your company as an important resource for them - someone who shares what they know (and others know) with them.

Providing value also extends to your email marketing. Obviously the purpose of some of your follow-up material will be to pass along information such as sale dates or workshop registration details, etc.

But you should strive to have the majority of your marketing emails to prospective and current customers to be of some value to them and their needs - whether you’re targeting consumers or businesses.

Let me give you a couple examples.

If you are a tax consultant, instead of sending out an email letting people know of the tax return due dates, why not send out an email that lists some of the most-overlooked exemptions (personal or business - depending on your client base) they could claim. You could be seen as someone who cares about making sure people are educated about overlooked money on their taxes.

Or you may run a health and wellness store. You could send out an email to people on your customer list 3 -4 times a year, outlining what nutrients and vitamins people’s bodies most need or lack during specific seasons (ie. vitamin D in winter). You’re not overtly selling them anything, just letting them know some important health information.

Take a look around your business and take note of all the material and information you have (on your shelves, in your filing cabinets, in your head) regarding your company, product or services, and the market you serve.

Quickly jot down 5 ideas or ways that you can make this valuable stuff available to your prospects and your clients and then get it up on your website, put it in an email or ezine, post it on your counter.

Start positioning yourself as someone who is valuable and shares valuable information…then watch your number of leads and customers start climbing.