This week Coach Sandra Martini offers concrete, effective ways to get the word out about our businesses….

“Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.”
– Napoleon Hill

When starting out in business, many small business owners want to get everything *right*. They spend hours upon hours designing a logo, picking letterhead and envelopes and focusing on their brand.

Is this important? ABSOLUTELY!

Is this *the most* important thing to be doing immediately? Absolutely NOT!

The most important thing you can do for your new business (or business-not-bringing-in-enough-income) is to get the word out. You want to tell everyone you know (and ask them to tell everyone THEY know) what you do.

In order to do that, YOU need to know what you do (yes, I’m serious here!).
Please tell me more! »

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Coach Sandra Martini offers her advice on creating an easy to follow marketing game plan….

It’s Monday and you get an email indicating that writing an ezine is THE way to get new clients. You drop everything and start working on an email newsletter.

It’s Tuesday and your friend calls and says that he heard the best way to get publicity is pay-per-click. You drop everything and sign up for a Google Adwords account.

It’s Wednesday and you heard that someone made a million dollars selling info products. Everything else waits while you work on your first million dollar product.

I once had a client who would tell me he figured out how to “fix” his business and what he needed to do to succeed. Unfortunately, he did this DAILY. Each day he had a new marketing strategy that he would drop everything else to implement. It was exhausting as well as counterproductive.

Does this sound familiar? You have no real plan for your marketing strategy and so you jump from one idea to another based on what you hear or read is the best or quickest way to get more clients and increase sales.

It’s time to get off the merry-go-round.
Please tell me more! »

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Posted in Food for Thought, marketing materials 1 Comment »

Carefully defining your business and your differentiation will help you to understand what your business is, what the business does, and what makes your business different.

Not too many business owners take the time to answer these core questions about their business. However, knowing the answers to these very important questions are essential to creating:

• strong brand identity
• focused messaging and
• effective marketing materials

Having these 3 essentials will make a stronger impression on your target audience, allowing you to stand out from the rest. Once you stand out, your target audience will be more likely to remember you when they have a need for your products or services.

Think of your competition and how they communicate about and market their business. So many small business owners are out promoting their businesses before clearly defining what they do, what type of company they are and what makes them different, that if you have these elements in place, you’ll outshine your competition.

In order to define what makes your business different, you need to determine the characteristics of your business. Please tell me more! »

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A company brochure, done correctly, adds legitimacy to any small business. If you are a new entrepreneur who is just getting started, you may not have money available in the budget to pay a professional to produce company brochures.

However, with a word processing program, careful writing and attention to the tips below, you can produce professional looking brochures that will speak directly to prospects and win new business.

I. Make the brochure cover attractive

Your brochure cover must be attractive and so compelling that prospective clients want to open it and continue reading. Use appropriate graphics and evocative titles that clearly state what the brochure is about.

II. Your brochure copy should be logical

Be sure the information flows smoothly. Does it have a beginning, middle and an end?

III. Make your brochure easy to read

Eliminate technical jargon and over used buzz words such as “solutions”. Have someone unfamiliar with your line of business read your brochure copy. Ask whether the information was clear to them and consider incorporating any suggestions offered.

IV. Triple check for spelling and grammatical errors

Misspelled words and grammatical errors immediately signal “amateur”.

V. Hold your prospect’s attention by speaking directly to him or her

Clearly state how your product or service can benefit the reader. What makes yours the precise thing that will fill your prospect’s need or solve his or her problem?

You must let your prospective client know what they can do to get a hold of your product or service.What number can they call? Should he or she make an appointment, visit a physical address or your web site?

VII. Include pertinent contact and sale information

You were able to hold the reader’s attention, you explained the virtues of your offering, suggested that they contact you, nowhere’s the essential final piece. You should provide any of the following that is applicable to your business on your brochure:

- telephone numbers - both voice and fax

- business address and hours of operation

- web site URL and email addresses

- methods of payment accepted

- business logo, trademarks and copyright information

Following this checklist, you’ll produce a clear, well written brochure to help you get those sales.

Amanda M. Gladden

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