St. Louis Missouri (MO) Small Business Social Media Marketing

I’m looking for 8 St. Louis business owners who understand the rest of this post.
Whether you are completely new to the business,  or wanting to move to the next level, this might be for you…If you’re plan is to “ease” into 2010. Then stop reading. The
unsubscribe link is at the bottom. Don’t take this the wrong way,
but you don’t want to be helped.

I know, I know that’s not real sensitive. It’s forbidden in the marketer’s handbook.

You know I spend a ton of time running LTC Expert Publications LLC.

I’ve got a family. Triplets that are almost 3 years old and my husband, and our extended family.We’re busy.

How about you?

And yet I get a CRAZY amount done. Finished. Launched. Profitable.

How about you?

You should know exactly how much time you have to work with in a day.

If you don’t then here’s a question…

What’s wrong with you?

If you don’t know how much time you have to devote to your business
(something that is totally measurable); how can you plan?

Forget all the reasons you can’t and start canning.

—————————— ————————
2010 : Important Stuff
—————————— ————————

1. 5%.

That’s the number of businesses that make it.

Michael Masterson wrote this in Early to Rise yesterday, “According
to polls, almost all Americans — about 88 percent of us — plan to
make New Year’s resolutions this year.

That’s good. But this isn’t: More than half of those resolutions
are abandoned (or broken) on January 2.

Another 10 percent will be forgotten (or broken) on January 3.

By April 1, more than 90 percent of those good intentions will have
mutated into regrets and rationalizations.”

Ah…….

That’s the problem.

It’s not businesses that don’t make it.

It’s PEOPLE that don’t make it.

LOL! If people can’t keep (finish) something as simple as a
resolution, how in the world are they going to operate a profitable
business?

The good news. That absolutely does NOT have to be you.

2. 30 days

The next 30 days are crucial.

They set the stage and the pace for 2010.

Get on your mark, get set… GO!

Decide on ONE business goal for the next 30 days.

Launch one blog. Make your first $1. Make your second million.
Whatever. The what is not nearly as important as getting it DONE.

3. Partner

Find a coach or a mentor.

Going it alone sounds cool, but it’s hard.

4. Focus

Are you distracted? Too many thoughts? Too many shiny things to
look at? Too many possibilities? Don’t know what to do first? Don’t
know where to go next?

Schizophrenic business building will drive you insane.

Go back to #2 above. Concentrate on the ONE target. You do not have
to do everything at once. Just one thing.

Earl Nightingale said, “People are where they are because that is
where they really want to be – whether they will admit that or not.”

Think about that a while.

—————————— ————————
2010: It’s Time for a Coach and Mentor
—————————— ————————
Hire a mentor who will really stretch you to into a new paradigm.
You want to be pushed and challenged to be more than you are now.
That’s not going to happen if you are all nice and cozy hanging out with your best friend.

5. Invest High

My last tip is to hire a success coach at a level that hurts.
You MUST have some serious skin in the game to experience the level of growth you desire.
If you aren’t feeling a pinch then you aren’t being charged enough.

Here’s why.

When you find your stride you’ll be tempted to back off or slow down.

When you are dropping some serious change (and this is at whatever level it hurts for you -
could be $200 or $20,000 a month) then you will work a million times
harder to ensure you get the return on investment.

——————————————————–
Move on This NOW. It will sell out, guaranteed.
——————————————————–

In 2010 I’m offering 8 people/organizations the opportunity to work with me one-on-one.

-I will arrive at  your office/home office/facility/community one time, and spend 1 to 1.5 days with you (at my expense) and your staff looking at marketing processes, print marketing pieces, CRM, autoresponders, websites, radio, tv, newspaper ads, yellow pages ads and more.

-We will analyze the effectiveness of what’s happening now, what needs to happen for success in 2010, and how to make it all happen QUICKLY.-You will also receive one-on-one coaching calls monthly.

-You will receive $400 “LTC Expert Bucks” to use on any of our products or services in 2010.

-Finally, you will receive free admission (for 2) to our 2010 Power Marketing Conference (dates TBA).

Most coaching programs like this cost $15K and up, and even $15K is a low figure for most high level programs.

This is for serious elder care entrepeneurs who feel that they can benefit from one-on-one “in person” coaching/mentoring that will absolutely give them and their organization to get to the next level.

The cost for the program for 1 full year is $5K.

That’s peanuts for a huge leg up on your local competition, and believe me, I know what most of them are doing.The program is by application only, we will only accept 8 clients this year.

If you are accepted, and full payment is made, we will immediately work together to schedule our meeting dates.

SEE ATTACHED or LINKED FILES FOR APPLICATION AND AGREEMENT.

Success is NOT an Accident,Valerie VanBooven RN BSN

APPLICATION FOR COACHING PROGRAM.pdf (136 KB)
View this on posterous

LTC Expert Coaching_Agreement.pdf (20 KB)
View this on posterous

Posted via email from Marketing Elder Care and Marketing Senior Services

What does it cost to think?

The Original Post: What is the cost of thinking? Can be found at: http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=5232

Your boss says”Our competitors are stealing our customers using this social media stuff. We need to use this stuff and do it better than our competitors and we need to do it NOW!”

You are then tasked with “doing it” but you have no experience or knowledge of what to do. So you look for help and find an outside resource whom supposedly has the experience and knowledge to know what to do. You bring the option of hiring this person to your boss and they ask about the cost and what will they get from using this resource.  You tell your boss the cost but aren’t sure exactly what it is you’re going to get. Then your boss says “I know we need to do this but I don’t know what it is or what we’ll get from it”.

How can a company put value on something they don’t understand?  How can they understand if they have no reference to “think about it”?.

What Is Required To Think?

Thinking about social media cannot increase understanding without the appropriate knowledge. Anything new or innovative takes time to understand and determine how to use it effectively.  In order to think effectively one must first acquire the knowledge necessary to think about using social media strategically, tactically and with specific purpose. Without the knowledge thinking will only produce the wrong outcomes because your thoughts are limited to what you know, not what you don’t know.

The reality is that learning to leverage social media requires people and organizations to reThink everything. This thing everyone calls social media has serious strategic implications and to just “do it” without gaining the knowledge to think about what needs to be done is a sure disaster.

Think About This

A business runs on communications. Without being able to effectively and efficiently communicate you end up wasting time and money. Money represents time and cost in rework, fixing misunderstandings, setting the wrong customer expectations and  not effectively and efficiently communicating to your employees, customers and your market.

The cost of not thinking about these issues is increased cost. However being able to “think” about these issues may require the infusion of new knowledge which may not exist in your organization. W. Edwards Deming once said “knowledge required to change the existing system to a better system must come from outside the existing system”. Why? Because the existing system is blinded by its own thinking. Get it?

Thinking About Social Media?

Who isn’t? The Corporate Executive Board said “Most companies are embracing social media—but too many are wasting their efforts through sloppy management”

More than 70% of companies are already using social media; many are planning to increase their spending on social media across the coming years. Whether for learning from customers, building their brands or a range of other hoped-for outcomes, companies are clearly diving in.

If you dive into the social media water without knowing its depth or where the rocks are you are likely to break your neck.  To avoid breaking your neck you should first get the knowledge about that which your about to dive into.  Without knowledge people, and entire organizations, perish.  Think before you jump. But before you can think effectively you must first get new knowledge.  Social media knowledge doesn’t come from self appointed gurus or experts who know how to get you followers and traffic. The cost of thinking increases when you don’t think. Get it?

What say you?

Great article written by Lorrie Thomas – Web Marketing Therapy

Had to pass it on to all of you, she’s right on target!!

Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

Social media platforms build buzz, boost business and serve small businesses as low-cost/no-cost marketing tools. Small business owners need to understand how these tools strategically serve and support small business first so they best implement social media strategies to sell products and/or services.

How Social Media Serves and Supports Small Business

Social Media, simply put, serves users and organizations in marketing in three ways:

1. Communication

Marketing is all about building relationships — relationships start with communication. New web tools like blogging, micro-blogging (Twitter), social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning), podcasting (BlogTalkRadio), video distribution (YouTube), event coordination tools (Meetup), wikis (Wikipedia) photo sharing (Flickr, Photobucket), and product review sites (epinions.com) allow small businesses to communicate, educate and share information directly with their current and prospective customers.

Content in the form of blog posts, audio, video, comparison/review sites, tweets and social network messages help share information in a less-formal way that builds the know, like and trust factors that influence decision making. Content is no longer just text. Small businesses can use audio or visual content for a “show me” and “tell me” to make communications a pack more interactive punch.

Social media’s direct communication distinction serves and supports small business as it brings the people you want to attract directly to you and makes direct communication possible. Social Media makes communication a conversation so small business owners can share, receive feedback and connect on equal ground with their target markets.

2. Collaboration

When small businesses empower their target consumers, they feel powerful. When your target market feels powerful, it trusts you, buys from you, and stays with you. Social media collaboration transforms consumers into prosumers. In an era of social media prosumers, it’s people (not companies) who make, shape, or break purchase patterns.

Small businesses can ignite collaboration for marketing by creating their own communities and/or joining communities. By doing so, they can listen and connect to their target customers and build a free forum to bring their market together. Collaboration = Marketing Acceleration.

Social media collaboration tools like review sites, video sharing sites, blogs, wikis and more allow users to self-serve, collaborate, and potentially serve as an endorser for your small business. Social media works as a marketing tool because people are more likely to trust peers rather than companies.

The power of mass collaboration serves and supports small business owners in a distinct way. Tapping/creating valuable collaborative options can bring people together to share ideas, exchange information, and help each other — and support relationship growth. Removing the “company/client” disconnect can break down elitism and boost marketing mind power.

3. Entertainment

The most important reason that social media works as a marketing tool is simple — because it’s fun. People want to go where they feel they belong, have a voice, are listened to, and enjoy themselves. Small business owners need to be where their target markets are — and these days, the masses are on Facebook, Ning, Twitter, Linkedin, Photobucket, YouTube and more because it has entertainment value.

Remember the Will It Blend? campaigns by Blendtec? They were a perfect example of social media marketing in brilliant action. Videos were relevant as they showed the product, were entertaining (they blended an iPhone!), and they were viral! People could easily share the fun with friends due to the ease of social media sharing widgets.

You can’t put a dollar amount on free promotion. The way social media stores data as an “Interactive Rolodex” also has an entertainment factor. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are becoming the “new databases” because they are fast, easy, and fun. People are more likely to update their Facebook and LinkedIn information than a sterile address book because it is fun.

Small business owners use social media’s entertainment factor to build their online database of contacts and connections, be visible to prospective customers, and get the word out in creative ways like YouTube videos, blog posts, images, podcasts to make people smile and spread the word.

How Social Media Helps Small Businesses Sell

Social Media Marketing helps most small businesses boost sales indirectly by increasing relationships. Understanding that social media marketing serves users for communication, collaboration, and entertainment is the first step to considering how to strategically implement the multitude of social media marketing tools and choose the ones that work best for your unique organization.

The key thing that small businesses need to remember when using social media to help sell is that efforts must have value. There has to be value to your content, community, and execution to get people to engage with you or your organization. Social media doesn’t sell things — people sell things. Engaging in social media marketing starts the relationship-building process. Start small and snowball. Social media takes understanding, passion, effort, and commitment to make it work. Give your small business an authentic voice with social media and commit to providing value and you will be off to a smart start.

Lorrie Thomas, MA is a Marketing Therapist that helps small businesses get BIG with web marketing. Her team of “wild web women” at Web Marketing Therapy empower professionals with healthy doses of marketing advice to gain maximum wealth from the web. Lorrie speaks nationally and teaches Web Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Marketing courses at UCSB and Berkeley Extension.