Virtual Marketeers

Archive for the ‘Business Life’ Category

I found a lot of really good information about marketing in a recent article, Build Buzz With a Business Blog, written by Susan Gunelius and published on Entrepreneur on the 25 June 2010, but I would like to expand on it a little.

Sales and marketing is extremely important to the success of our business, I feel though that an extremely important ingredient to ‘building buzz with a business blog’ might be added to take the concept that Susan has provided to the next level.

What is that important ingredient?

There are two actually that immediately spring to mind – focus and innovation!  We need to ‘create’ the buzz first, once we have the buzz we can build on it further:

• Establish yourself as an expert in a particular field.
• Provide confirmation to your readers that you know and understand the topic.
• Make the predominant focus of your blog the topics covered within that particular niche.
• Think outside the box – continue to learn new ideas and try to be creative in how you implement these ideas.  Don’t stay stagnant, continue to learn, move, shake and grow.

Do you think that the customer or reader will be interested in our sales pitches unless they see us as a trustworthy and reliable source?

Do you think that it will predominately be the new reader or the returning reader that will likely purchase the product or service?

Without focus and innovation I feel that it is unlikely that our readers will become intrigued by or stay interested in what we have to say in our blog and the information that we post there.

I would love to hear your thoughts on how to create or build ‘BUZZ’ with a business blog.

I’m sure that a few of you have had times when you realised just how human you are and how easy it is to make such a small mistake in your writing or maybe have an error in judgement in a business decision we make (I know I have)… maybe you sit there pondering what to do.

I find that it is much better to *blush* admit to the mistake straight up.  We are all human and we all make mistakes, even in business.  No point in pondering the what ifs… because we can’t go back when we have already moved forwards.

The funny thing is that sometimes making a mistake or having an error in judgement can work in our favour.  “How would that possibly work in my favour?” you are probably thinking.

• Proof that you are human just like everyone else – which can be a really good thing at times.
• Gives the opportunity to work through a problem and learn new things.
• Encourages for you to feel humility and therefore be sympathetic to others needs.
• Possibility to maybe leverage new business or personal projects on those newly learned skill, the ones that have been learned through their mistakes.

Sure, there are positives and negatives to making mistakes.  I prefer to look at what positive has come from the mistake or error in judgement – and look forwards, rather than looking back.

Would love to hear your thoughts on whether mistakes are a good or a bad thing… or maybe a bit of both.

I am pondering on different niche markets and how maybe some of them could become quite expensive to blog about, depending very much on the topic of conversation. Two that I can think of right now that fit into this category are technology based blogs, (mobile phones, GPS etc) and another might be travel blogs.

My curiosity touches on the secret to providing a good quality product comparison or review, after all technology and travel can become two very expensive areas to niche in.

Is it necessary for the people behind these blogs to go out and purchase many different products to compare them?  Maybe they receive some of the products courtesy of the companies in return for a review – or maybe they have many people assisting them to write these reviews?

It would be quite impossible to write a good quality product review, comparison, or offer ‘how to’ information on a specific product without doing the necessary testing first.  The information wouldn’t be accurate without testing, would it. Without the ability to provide accurate information regarding these specific areas the readership would very much die off.  Credibility would be very quickly lost, because the reader is likely to very quickly figure out that the author hasn’t done the necessary homework and really doesn’t know what they are talking about.

Are you considering setting up a technology based blog, or maybe a travel blog, or something that will rely on your keeping up with some of the most current and expensive products?

Be creative… think outside the box… but above all make sure that you are providing accurate and current information.

I stumbled upon a blog today, iPad Zu, that offers ‘everything iPad’.

I found this really interesting… and I do wonder whether iPad is maybe a fad and will only be around for 10 years or so, or whether like the television or the mobile phone etc it is here to stay.  If it is around for years to come then this could be a real tops niche and could cover a lot, from video instructions on how to use the iPad through to blog posts on how to make the most out of the iPad.  At the moment it covers iPad reviews and its looking like it will probably cover app reviews also.  The list really is endless!!

I really enjoy my Apple Mac and iPhone and have continued to learn many new tricks to help me be even more effective.  Think I might just go and add the iPad to my wish list.  I can’t see myself getting one right now, but maybe later on down the track.  To me the iPad is something that I have an interest in, but unfortunately its not an essential for the day to day running of my business so I’m just going to have to hold off and wait a little bit I think.

There are so many things to consider when writing a blog. There is the structure, the content, the feel… plenty to think about.

Same applies to writing a book or report or any other document really.

Authenticity and Personality

I probably overuse the ellipsis (…) but that’s maybe, hopefully, my own personality and character shining through.

Don’t be too quick to get rid of your own little quirks. Your style of writing is what makes you unique and maybe it is what makes you stand out from every other writer on the planet.

Selecting a Topic

Do you write about topics that you are passionate about?

If you have limited knowledge on the topic then you will need to be prepared to either research the topic further, or pay a professional to write the blog post for you.

Have you thought about how your topic ties in with your business goals? Consider whether you can write an article series that might compliment your blog.

I find that the more that I refine my niche area the easier it becomes to think of a topic to write about.

Establish a Niche

Do any of us know it all? Do you think we will ever know it all? Nah, I don’t think so!

Instead of trying to know absolutely everything there is to know you might like to have a look at where you are focusing your business. What is your target audience? If your target audience is too broad then maybe you are not reaching your full potential.

To gain a better understand on niche marketing you might like to have a read of the following article, Have You Chosen a Niche Area Yet?

Try to Avoid Complex or Technical Words

If your target audience are unlikely to use more complex or technical type words and you want to help them, then wouldn’t it be best to use words that they don’t have to look up in the dictionary or on Google?

I prefer to really simplify my text and chat away like I am speaking with another person. For that reason I exclude words that I wouldn’t use in general conversation, eg. ‘therefore’, ‘consequently’, ‘however’.

Go Easy on the Word ‘AND’

Try not to become addicted to the word ‘and’.

Do you find yourself constantly using the word ‘and’ to string your sentences together? If your answer is yes then you might like to try and retrain yourself.

The articles should flow, but not in a way that the words flow together. To know whether the article is flowing you might consider whether the pauses in your article are sufficient – does the reader have opportunity to breath?

Used in the right way full stops and commas can add appropriate emphasis to the message you are trying to get across.

Don’t be afraid (or embarrassed) to read it out loud where there is a need.

If when I write on a particularly sensitive topic I might get worried that the flow of a sentence, paragraph, even article is not quite right. If this is the case, then you will most likely find me sitting in my office reading that part out loud, trying to tweak the sentences to get the flow right.

When editing more sensitive or complex articles, I have found this to really help me.

Consistency

Where possible keep things consistent. Some examples are below:

• Do you tend to put a full stop at the end of your bullet point? Try to do the same always.
• Same with hyphens between words, eg. sub-contractor / subcontractor.
• Try to stick with one Style, eg. US English, UK English or Australian English.

We won’t be able to get everything always 100% right, and quite honestly people won’t expect you to. It is important though to at least try and keep it as consistent as possible.

Don’t be Afraid to Publish!

When blogging or writing to a forum, or in anything that you do…

I agree that it is important to be really careful about the work that is published – especially if it is on a particular sensitive topic, but there comes a point when you really do need to decide whether you should publish or not.

If you have a habit of hardly ever publishing anything because it is simply not good enough then you might like to rethink, because this is likely to be caused by either procrastination or the need to perfect the post. If you constantly hold off from publishing content for either of these two reasons then you could possibly be holding yourself back.

For the majority of my articles I write, edit and schedule / publish them the same day. Occasionally it is necessary for me to delay publishing for a day or two to give me the opportunity to review the article with a clear mind.

Once the article is published or scheduled I go back to it straight away and have one last read just to make sure that I am happy with how it reads. This might not be the solution for everyone but it works for me.

This might be a good opportunity actually to go to your blog, and have a look in your drafts folder to see if there are any articles sitting there waiting.

Today I would like to apply the old crossing the road ‘Stop, Look and Listen’ motto to business.

If a pedestrian does not stop, look and listen then they are taking a huge risk, and there might be very unfavourable consequences. This is the same for business.

In business it is really important that we stop, have some brain clearing time, and consider where we are at right now, where we are heading and how we might get there. But it is also just as important to take action.

STOP is about pausing for an appropriate period of time, having a think about where we are at right now and where we would like to be. It is about the bigger picture goals such as:

• Preparation or review of our business plan, including short term and long term goals.
• Establishing or refining the niche area / target audience.
• Looking at and questioning our methods and our values.

LOOK both ways, to increase your chance of success. Some ways you can do this:

• Gather and analyse data.
• Research of the niche market area, technologies and other information as needed.
• Obtain feedback from clients.
• Compare notes with others.

These things allow you to stay informed and therefore make better decisions.

LISTEN to what the data tells you, what your research tells you and take into consideration what others are saying. Some things to focus on are:

• What did you figure out by analysing the data?
• What seems to be working well according to the client feedback.
• Things that aren’t working so well according to the client feedback.
• What does your research results tell you?
• Consideration of new technologies.
• Consideration of other people’s thoughts and advice.

When looking and listening remember to filter the information that is not useful to you.

The goal must be ACTION!

If a person chose never to cross the road, because maybe they were worried about the road never being 100% safe, then this person would have a different problem – they would be stuck.

Looking at and revising our business plan, business policies, procedures and methods will assist us to make more informed and intentional decisions within our business.

Move forward confidently, but also remember to ‘Stop, Look and Listen’… to review the most important aspects of your business and look at your bigger picture goals.

Deciding on a Niche Area for Your Business can be a Really Excellent Marketing Tool!

• It allows for your business to establish credibility in the field of choice through:
  -  Developing knowledge and understanding of the needs of the clientele.
  -  Being able to focus your research and training toward a particular area.

• It increases your ability to provide a quality and timely service.
  -  Good quality and timely services means happy customers.
  -  A happy customer means more referrals.

• It helps in managing expenditure, as your business will direct their purchase choices more towards servicing that area specific.
• If you own a website or blog, then your ranking will likely be higher in the search engines specific to your particular area of expertise.

The Value of Credibility

When making purchases most customers will weigh up the perceived value, or the worth of that item:

The definition of value from define.com is “The property or aggregate properties of a thing by which it is rendered useful or desirable, or the degree of such property or sum of properties; worth; excellence; utility; importance.”

The definition of credibility also from define.com is “The quality of being believable or trustworthy.” On reading these definitions, would you agree that value is very much interrelated and interconnected with credibility?

To illustrate this, if something went extremely wrong with a product, and it was published on the news and the impact of this ‘fault’ spread to the outer ends of the earth, then I would suggest that this company has lost credibility in the customers eyes.

Read the rest of this entry »

It probably wasn’t obvious to you as a reader up until now that this blog is destined to become a blog about niche marketing.

Through discussions with other business owners in the last few years I have come to know and understand just how important a niche is to growing ones business.  This comes on a number of different levels.

I have come to realize is that it is much harder to promote your business to ‘the world’, but much easier to promote yourself to a smaller, much more defined group of people.  In addition to this it gives you a really good opportunity to prove to them why you are a cut above the rest; what sets your business apart from all those other businesses in that field of expertise.

I myself have finally decided on a niche area for my parent company Proactive Admin Services, and are already starting to guide my business in that direction.  My niche area will be to provide administrative assistance to Speakers.  We have plenty to do… we will need to look at updating our website, training and development, marketing etc.

What we are hoping is that through Virtual Marketeers we will be able to help you with the following:

1. Provide information about niche ideas and marketing so people who stumble upon this site, who do not yet have a defined niche might realize what an important marketing tool this might be to their business… hopefully earlier rather than later;

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve seen the movie Sliding Doors and you understood the concept, then you are likely to understand the concept that I am about to explain.  This movie is about there being two sides to every story and also helps us to understand that things can very easily change… doors open and close all the time.

It is basically to say that if we were to get up 5 minutes late (as an example)… then who knows, that 5 minutes might be the cause of that series of unfortunate events that followed.  It could invariably be the difference between catching or missing the train, not because you were necessarily running late, but because various stumbling blocks were put into your way because of the time that you were passing through.  You missed it by only a second, which then is then likely to have a major effect on the upcoming events for the rest of the day.

If you think about it, this concept can be applied to many parts of our life.  If you ponder a bit on the broader concept surrounding this one, then it will help you to understand what I am going to speak on next.  I would like to discuss today the concept that life is always subject to change.  This applies each and every moment according to the decisions and choices that we make.

In particular I would like to discuss a bit further those things that have impact on our lives, that are subject to change… those things that are either going to catapult us forward, or hold us back in business and also in live:

Read the rest of this entry »

Over the last couple of days I have received an influx of inquiries about the format of my blog, so I thought I might write a blog post in response to these queries.  Questions were in regards to whether the template that I use is a standard WordPress template, and also whether I could assist/give ideas on how to improve on the format of other peoples websites.

I am a Virtual Assistant, which means I am an independent business that provides administrative services from my own office to yours.

Plenty of Virtual Assistants have undergone training so that they can provide web design and development services to their clients.  I am not trained in html code, but rather I contract this work to another Virtual Assistant.  Caroline is the designer of my web template.  It is non-standard and created to suit my particular needs and therefore the design is copyrighted.  Caroline provided me with some initial designs based on my thoughts and ideas, and the blog design at Virtual Marketeers developed out of that.  I am so please with this website and also http://www.littletaka.com that I am looking to Caroline to build this parent business website, http://www.proactiveadminservices.com on the WordPress platform also.

Virtual Marketeers is a blog and runs through WordPress.  WordPress is really simple to use and is a great tool for building traffic/SEO.  This is to do with continual updating of content of the blog and partially because you can add plug-ins that assist in building your traffic quickly.

If you would like further assistance with your website or blog then feel free to visit my Contact Us page and drop me a quick email expressing your interest.  Through my business I would be extremely happy to arrange for you for content to be written or edited, for the development and/or maintenance of client blogs or websites.

Alternatively if you would like some really good critique of your website, then your best bet would be to head over to http://www.flyingsolo.com.au or another similar business networking site and sign up to the forum area there.  You can actually ask readers there whether they might assist you by providing some feedback on how you might improve your website.