You are here: Home / Archives for Free marketing tools

Turn Your Own Mess Into Your Marketing Message

By 19 Comments

Listen if you like!


Have you ever stopped to consider what you and your target audience have in common?

And I’m not talking about considerations like gender, race, age, income, education, home ownership, employment status, or location.

Let’s leave the demographics of your audience out of this conversation.

I’m talking about the roadblocks and the problems they face.  Chances are pretty good that you’ve experienced the exact same issues.

The reason I say this is because, once you’ve encountered a problem and found a way to resolve it, you can teach others to do the same.  You become the expert or the go-to person because you’ve gone through the learning curve, the ups and downs, and the ins and outs.

You’re all over this problem like white on rice!

The advice, direction, instruction, and resources that you’ll share with your target audience will most often come from firsthand experience.

I’ll use myself as an example.  I know what it’s like to be a single mom and try to start up a business online with very limited finances.  As the saying goes, I can pinch a penny till it squeaks!

I’ve been researching and testing out low-cost and no-cost marketing strategies and platforms for the past three years.  And I know, without question, that the single mom entrepreneurs I meet are going to want to get their hands on this kind of information.

This is a good example of what my target audience and I have in common.

What kinds of similarities are there between you and your target audience?

As soon as you figure out what they are, these will be the areas where you’ll be able to help them out the most – where you become most credible and hold the most value to them.

Concentrate your marketing efforts and showcase your expertise in those areas and you’ll be very successful.

What are your areas of expertise that are the biggest benefit to your customers and clients?

Filed Under: Building relationships online, Online Marketing, Service Business Owners, Small business owners Tagged With: , , , ,

If This Old Lady Can Do It, So Can You

By 13 Comments

Prefer to listen to this post?

I turned a half a hundred seven years ago (all of you math wizards have now figured out my age).  Sorry.  There’s no prize involved.

Let’s just say I’ve “been around the block” a time or two and I have a fair amount of life experience under my belt.  I know the difference between right and wrong and I’ve learned that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.

I decided to become an independent business owner and online marketer after spending almost four decades in the offline working world.  That’s okay.  I believe it’s never too late to follow your passion and design a life that’s right for you.

So, if you’re not moving forward in your business or you’re still sitting on the fence about getting started, what’s holding you back?

Is it that you’re not sure how to put together a business plan? (A short and simple plan is all you need).  Or is it that you think you have to spend money to market your business? (Not true! – You can market on a $0 budget).

Maybe you’re resisting because you lack some necessary skills (Don’t worry a bit – there’s lots of resources and easy action steps to follow).

Take it from this old lady …

There’s no better time than today to live your passion and purpose – profitably!

What questions can I answer for you today that will help you get started or move you closer to your goals as a small business owner?

{mysig}

Filed Under: Blogging, Business Plan, Following Your Passion, Online Marketing, Small business owners, Starting Out Small Tagged With: , , , , , ,

My Friend Terrie Has Sign-up-itis

By 26 Comments

Prefer to listen to this post?

And she’s a doctor!!

But it just can’t be prevented sometimes.

It’s a terrible affliction and there’s no known cure.

Terrie’s not alone.  Internet marketers seem to have more “sign-up-itis” than any other segment of the population.  I suffered with it for about three years and then it finally went away.

Oddly enough, it started easing up considerably once my bank account was drained.  I’m seeing a correlation here, how about you?

In medical/pathological terms (which doctors know a lot about), the suffix “itis” denotes inflammation of an organ (bronchitis; gastritis).

In extended senses, “itis” denotes abnormal states or conditions, excesses, tendencies, obsessions, etc. (telephonitis; baseballitis).

Come to think of it, I believe my friend also has “baseball-itis”.  Terrie is really CRAZY about those Yankees!!

Now I want you to be aware that one form of “sign-up-itis” is much more harmful than the other.

The first form is where you sign up for every Free thing that comes down the pike – free ebooks, coupons, teleseminars, ice cream, movie tickets, webinars, surveys, reports, contests, and maybe even toe rings.

In this case, the sign-up-itis involves no pain or discomfort and you’ll probably be okay.

The second form is more serious and may require intervention.

You’ll know you suffer from the second form if you don’t bother to put your credit card back in your wallet and leave it within arm’s reach of your computer keyboard – just in case there’s something to sign up for today.

This form of sign-up-itis can be excruciatingly painful and you must seek treatment right away!

All joking around aside, try your best to only sign up for programs, products, and services that relate to your target market and those that help to move your business forward.

My friend, Terrie, coined the phrase “sign-up-itis” and we like to kid around about it. :-)

By the way …

Have you signed up for a copy of my FREE Solo Mompreneur Survival Kit Yet? :-)

{mysig}

Filed Under: Blogging, Business Plan, Internet Marketing Tools, Small business owners Tagged With: , , ,

The Sound of Your Voice Matters

By 8 Comments

I bet everyone reading this already understands the value and importance of building online relationships.

Relationship-building must remain your #1 Priority!

But how do you go about establishing viable and lasting relationships over the internet?

How do you give your colleagues, prospects, social media contacts, and potential customers and clients the opportunity to get to know you better?

Use a powerful free marketing tool that’s at your disposal twenty-four hours a day – Your Voice!

E-newsletters, email marketing, blogging, article marketing, forums, and social media are great and should be vital components for branding yourself and your business.  However, these are considered “silent” venues.  People can only read what you have to say.

Having the opportunity to hear your voice makes a REMARKABLE difference in the minds and hearts of your target audience!

Normally, you don’t have the luxury and joy of meeting your fans and followers face-to-face, although it would be wonderful to sit across the table from one another and have a nice chat.

So, instead, choose your next best relationship-building option!

Select at least one or two of these “voice” strategies that you’re most comfortable with or want to learn more about:

  • Teleseminars
  • Webinars
  • Internet Radio
  • Videos
  • Podcasting
  • Audio Postcards
  • Guest Expert Interviews

If you’ve never heard MY voice, click the link below where Terrie Wurzbacher of Getting Unstuck, LLC recently interviewed me as a Guest Expert:

Hear my Voice

{mysig}

Filed Under: Blog Talk Radio, Building relationships online, Internet Marketing Tools, Public speaking, Teleseminars, Webinars Tagged With: , , ,

Because Bobbye, Martha, and Heather Asked

By 15 Comments

Nothing spells disaster faster than not having the right tools to market your business – especially if you are trying to market on a shoestring budget.

This is a sequel to a recent post on the Solo Mompreneur blog entitled, “What’s Your Business Building Cast Iron Skillet?”

I’m writing this because Bobbye, Martha, and Heather asked. :-) These are three exceptionally talented bloggers and small business owners I met through joining a 30-day blogging challenge.  (Be sure to click their names and check out their amazing talents!)

These three lovely ladies asked me to share the tools I use to market my business – my “Cast Iron Skillets”.

So here’s what I use to cook up some tasty marketing messages and spread the word about my business:

Free Headline Analyzer: I love this tool and consider it a must-have.  It measures the “emotional marketing value” of your words.  It’s great for crafting blog post titles, landing page & sales page bullet points, and article headlines.  And it’s fun to use!

Social Oomph: This is the best time-saving tool in my arsenal.  I use it to preschedule Twitter updates – a day or two or three in advance!  So when I am away from my computer or working on other projects, my Tweets will automatically show up in my Twitter stream at specified times throughout the day.

Ping.fm: With one click of my mouse, I can send out a post/message to ALL of my networks at once!  I’m currently subscribed to 15 different networks.  It’s another time-saver and a real convenience.

Survey Monkey: I really like this free easy-to-navigate platform for creating surveys and polls.  Google Docs are also a great choice.

Audio Acrobat: I have lots of fun recording Audio Notes here to send out to my list, publish in my ezine, or post on social networking sites.  They have some really cool templates, too.

My Marketing Cornerstone: This is a series of OUTSTANDING webinars and accompanying workbooks created by my mentor and colleague, Jessica Swanson.  I return to this information again and again!!  This $97 bootcamp took me from ZERO success to targeted subscribers and sales!

To search for other bloggers in my niche and to keep up-to-date on what people in my niche are talking about, I use:

1) Icerocket

2) Blogpulse

3) Technorati

So there you have it – My business building Cast Iron Skillets!

{mysig}

Filed Under: Aritcle Marketing, Blogging, Build an online empire, Internet Marketing Tools, Small business owners Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

I’m Stumped For A Blog Post Topic

By 10 Comments

Have you ever noticed how Twitter and Facebook have become ideal “help desks”?

People ask their burning questions and other people answer them.  And just like email and text messaging, it happens in real time. That’s pretty amazing.

So I got to thinking today about another platform you can use to get an answer to, “What topics should I blog about?”

If you’re stumped for ideas for blog posts, why not ask your readers for suggestions in a blog post?!  You might be pleasantly surprised what they have to offer.

What’s really cool is that you’ll be accomplishing two important goals at once.

Your question will become a post so you’ll be creating fresh content for your blog.  And you’ll be encouraging “interaction” with your readers, which makes for the best kinds of posts.

But if you’re in a REALLY BIG hurry and need some ideas RIGHT AWAY for topics to blog about, here’s a list of 100 ideas!

It’s on the house – enjoy! (Pay special attention to #9) :-)

1.  How I Use Facebook

2.  Ways I Embrace My Audience

3.  Should My Town Use Social Media?

4.  A Community I Love

5.  Technology That Empowers Me

6.  How Flickr Did it Right

7.  How Best to Comment on a Corporate Blog

8.  Ways to Save a Bad Time at a Conference

9.  How I Find Blogging Ideas :-)

10. Somebody Has to Say It

11. My Children Will Do it Differently

12. How Schools Could Use Social Media

13. The Best Parts of Marketing

14. Presentation Skills for a New Conversation

15. How I Find Time to Make Media

16. Empower Your Best Customers

17. After the Event- Carrying the Conversation Forward

18. Just Jump Into Podcasting- Heres How

19. My Community and How You Can Engage It

20. Twitter Jaiku Pownce Facebook- And Then What

21. Making a Miniseries

22. If I Were an Advertiser Today

23. My Mother is On Facebook

24. Does a Big Brand Need You

25. Books I Want to Write

26. Serving the Deep Niches- How I Do It

27. How Women Use Social Media

28. A Hard Look at My Media Habits

29. If I Were a Television Producer

30. Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing

31. Elements of a Marketing Campaign

32. Social Media Campaigns are NOT Traditional Campaigns

33. Idea Making and How I Make Something

34. What I Spend Money On

35. Do Rock Stars Need Social Media Strategies

36. How I Use My Website

37. Book Shopping- Buy These Books

38. MTV Changed the World in the 80s- Here is What Comes Next

39. How I Process Blogs and What I Do With All That Info

40. Ten Guilty Pleasures

41. The Internet Application I Havent Seen

42. If I Worked for a Venture Capital Firm

43. My Day Job Versus My Passion

44. The Difference Between Fark and Truemors

45. Fixing Conferences

46. Making Marketplaces for Media Makers

47. When I Feel Frustrated

48. Branding Strategies I Use

49. Your Ideas And My Ideas- How We Play Together

50. Friends I Cant Wait to Meet

51. The Art of Chaos

52. Telling My Boss About Social Media

53. Could I Quit My Day Job

54. When to Cut Back on Web Habits

55. Breaking Down My Favorite Blog

56. Explaining Social Media to Your Chamber of Commerce

57. Non-Internet Equivalents to Internet Tools I Use

58. Considering Media for the Rest of the Globe

59. Twitter is Too Simple- Twitter is Just Right

60. The Future of Podcasting

61. Video Made Simple

62. Facebook Applications I Love

63. You Are Here

64. Blogging Tactics- How to Keep it Fresh

65. I Want to Brag A Minute

66. Who Says What About Your Brand

67. Tools for Blogging

68. WordPress Plugins I Use And Why

69. Media Topics That Need More Coverage

70. Comments versus Blog Posts

71. How I Drive Traffic to My Site

72. News- Is it Useful and How I Might Fix It

73. Which TV Network Gets Videoblogging and PodCasting

74. Franchising My Media

75. Handling Critics

76. My Audio Tricks

77. Ning Sites I Like and Why

78. Controlling My Brand

79. Sharing and Contributing

80. How Twitter Improved My Blog

81. Email After Twitter

82. Facebook Video Improved My Social Network

83. Letting Go

84. Downtime- What I Do Offline to Recharge

85. How I Went From Very Shy to Less Shy

86. The RIGHT Number to Track for Podcasting

87. PodCamp Has to Change

88. Shaking Things Up

89. Joining A Network- Things to Consider

90. Newspapers and How I Would Change Them

91. Interview With a Veteran

92. The Countries of My Social Media World

93. Giving it Away

94. Consulting Strategies for Social Media Experts

95. Turning Media into a Business Card

96. Podcasting on a Budget

97. For Every Excuse a New Strategy

98. Just When I Think I Am Done

99. Buying Gear- My Shopping Tips for Podcasters

100. When is Free Better- When Not

{mysig}

Filed Under: Blogging, Building relationships online, Internet Marketing Tools, Social Media Marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

Do You Post Follow Friday Recommendations On Twitter?

By 6 Comments

Another Friday will be rolling around soon and Twitter enthusiasts everywhere will be joining the popular weekly event as an opportunity to recommend their favorite followers to others.

Some people choose to post at #followfriday and some prefer the shorter version, #FF.  If you’re brand new to #’s (hashtags), visit http://hashtags.org or do a search for hashtags on Twitter to learn more.

Follow Friday recommendations are oftentimes referred to as “kudos”, “mentions”, “reco’s”, and “shout outs”.

Here are my Four Best Tips for getting desired results using Follow Friday recommendations:

1) Don’t just “clump” a pile of names (Twitter ID’s) together in the same post.  It’s the standard approach I see all the time and it won’t work to get your favorite followers the attention they deserve. No one wants to take the time to rifle through name after name in order to check out each person’s profile.

2) Don’t create posts like: “Follow so-and-so” or “Follow my friend, so-and-so, he’s great.”  Does that really make you want to check the person out?  No, I didn’t think so.  You may think your Twitter friend is great, but why should I?

3) Give each of your recommended followers their own chunk of the spotlight.  Praise each one individually to share their talents, skills, expertise, and personality!  For example:

Be sure to follow @shoestringgal to tap into the most Powerful Free Marketing Platforms! #followfriday

Look to @MarthaGiffen for inspiration and expert online marketing start-up tips. High-spirited & fun! #FF

Check out @HeatherBestel – the “Queen of Calm”. She’s an expert on helping you find more ME time! #FF

4) And my all time favorite tip is to place your Follow Friday recommendations in a BLOG POST.  A blogging platform is the perfect venue to make your Twitter followers shine!  You can include a bio, a short story about each person, or a list of products or services they promote.  You might also want to share how you met and why you decided to follow these folks.  Posting your Follow Friday shout outs on your blog gives you total creative freedom and flexibility!

Would you like to follow me on Twitter?

{mysig}

Filed Under: Blogging, Building relationships online, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking, Storytelling Tagged With: , , , , , ,

I’m Rubber. You’re Glue.

By 2 Comments

Do you remember that old saying from your younger years?

When I was in elementary school, we used to say, “I’m rubber.  You’re glue.  Whatever bounces off me sticks to you.”

Your version may be a little different, but the meaning still holds true.

As I march along through this 30-day blogging challenge I entered, I’m noticing something interesting taking place.  Everyone is learning from everyone else.  What a concept, huh?

Every member of this challenge has a unique writing style and a unique message to convey.  No two bloggers or blogs are alike.  So many amazing individuals and possibilities for enrichment!

So how does this rubber/glue theory come into play?

As members of this event get better acquainted, we are …

  • Bouncing ideas off one another
  • Becoming better storytellers
  • Establishing joint ventures
  • Gathering new business building tips and resources
  • Offering encouragement and support
  • Sharing talents and expertise
  • Honing copywriting skills
  • Creating friendships
  • Planning future get-togethers
  • And having tons of fun!

The benefits and rewards of joining this blogging challenge will “stick” with me forever.

The 30-day blogging challenge is sponsored by Connie Ragen Green. If you’ve never had the joy of participating in the challenge, here’s a GREAT place to start and learn more about Connie:  “5 Pronged Approach to Online Writing Success”.

{mysig}

Filed Under: Authors, Blogging, Building relationships online, Following Your Passion, Infopreneurs, Joint Ventures, Online Marketing, Service Business Owners, Small business owners, Storytelling Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Who else wants to craft grab-them-by-the-collar headlines?

By Leave a Comment

Whether you want someone to visit your blog, view your videos, read your articles, subscribe to your list, attend your teleclasses, or grab your freebie offer …

It all starts by crafting  grab-them-by-the-collar titles and headlines that compel people to Take Action!

Instead of writing my own “take” on this topic, I’d like to share two incredible resources and an amazingly helpful tool.

READ THESE COOL POSTS:

3 Rules for Writing Effective Titles by Daniel Scocco

10 Surefire Headline Formulas that Work by Brian Clark

CHECK OUT THIS FANTASTIC FREE TOOL:

Free Headline Analyzer

By the way, I entered several possibilities into the free headline analyzer tool before I decided on a title for this post.  :-)

{mysig}

Magnifying Glass Image from Daniel Rizzuti’s portfolio

Filed Under: Authors, Blogging, Build an online empire, Writing effective headlines Tagged With: , , , , ,

Two Quick LinkedIn Profile SEO Tips

By Leave a Comment

LinkedIn is a great marketing platform for building your business and for making b2b connections.

{mysig}

Filed Under: Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking Tagged With: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »