The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Growing your business with marketing, week 48: Thankful

This is Week 48 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

Week 48 was a rare week off—from marketing, anyway. Read the story on when and why that can be a good idea (and what makes it possible, at least in part) on the Virgo Guide.

Being thankful

Welcome to Week 47 of my adventure of following the Start Up Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and Week 10 as a member of the Marketing Plan Group. In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a website copywriter, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and what I’m learning from my group experience.

It’s good to be thankful everyday – but Thanksgiving is a nice reminder to really think about the things we are grateful for. So that’s what I’m going to do!  When it comes to my work – here is what I am thankful for:

• I’m doing something that I really enjoy (and getting paid for it!)
• I get to work with so many wonderful people
• I’ve had this incredible opportunity to blog for all of you (Thanks, Ilise!)
• My business is growing!
• Freedom!
• I am part of a fantastic community of solopreneurs and creatives
• I receive tremendous guidance and support from family, friends, and mentors
• Every client, click, and connection
• All of you, my fellow solopreneurs, creatives and small business owners, who are traveling on this journey with me!

I hope you have lots to be thankful for too. If you feel like sharing, please do!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Smile For the Camera

In the last year, I’ve started appearing on video a lot more often…though not in the way you might think. I’m getting a growing number of requests from creative partners to replace phone conversations with videoconferences. I have several clients who regularly communicate this way, and have also used it to keep in touch with friends in Germany and Belgium.

Videoconference technology isn’t new, though until recently it’s mostly been seen in corporate boardrooms. In the last few years it’s become more common among creatives as video support has been added or improved in applications such as AIM, iChat, and Skype; and with the spread of inexpensive or built-in video cameras for computers. It’s free, doesn’t use minutes of my cell phone plan, and allows me to have a face-to-face confab with some of the folks I regularly interact with.

Yet at the same time, I’ve also noticed that it’s causing insidious changes in the way I work.

For example, even though I spend most of my on-the-job time in a home office, I’m finding that I’m less likely to skip shaving in the morning. I’ve become more careful about how I dress, how I arrange my office, and how often I clean my desk (or at least push clutter off-camera). Just this week I rearranged my desk so that my computer camera now faces a bookcase instead of a sunny window that I had to close whenever someone came calling on video.

I’ll be frank: as a recovering introvert, there are times when I resent people looking into my world this way. Didn’t I become a freelance creative so that I could have more control over my work environment? Yet I’m also finding that I enjoy the face time. I feel like I have a stronger working relationship with the folks who visit my computer screen. And while I’m not one of those people who goes bonkers from working alone all day, I’ve learned that the occasional video call can be very refreshing.

Though I’ve only been doing video for a few months, I’ve already realized that it requires a different approach than talking on the phone. Here’s a few tips:

Growing your business with marketing, week 47: Marketing is talking to people

This is Week 47 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

Week 47 found me continuing my two-week tour of the Pacific Northwest, combining (marketing) work with pleasure in a way that had me questioning what's really work, and what's really marketing.

Read the full story, along with this week's round-up of tasks completed, at the Virgo Guide.

How does social networking work for you?

Welcome to Week 46 of my adventure of following the Start Up Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and Week 9 as a member of the Marketing Plan Group. In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a website copywriter, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and what I’m learning from my group experience.

If you need to get your booty movin’ on your marketing, the Marketing Plan Group will get you there. Since I launched my new business, Connect with Copy, I’ve had something on my marketing to-do list, and I’ve been moving it – from week to week to week.

This item was: Update social networking profiles

Fortunately for me, Lesson 4 in the Marketing Plan Group is all about creating effective social networking profiles – and that’s all it took to get me going. Not only is the guidance super-useful, it’s also really great to get feedback from the group and know you’re on the right track, instead of waffling around on your own. (If you don't want to waffle anymore, there will be a group starting the week of Dec 7 for those who have some down time over the holidays to focus on their business for 2010.)

Here are my updated profiles. I took the approach of here's the problem, and here's how I can help. (Feedback and new connections are very welcome!)

• www.linkedin.com/in/deidrerienzo
• http://biznik.com/members/deidre-rienzo

On today’s group phone call, we discussed how our fellow group members use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Biznik for business. This conversation was really useful because by hearing the experiences of others, it helped us to get a better idea of how social networking can fit into our businesses. We discussed things like how often we Tweet, how we manage our time, and what kind of results we've gotten.

Do you have a social networking strategy? Do you spend a specific amount of time per day? What kind of results have you seen?

Vote for my First Virtual Assistant

Several years back, when I knew that if I wanted to grow my business, I would need help, I hired a local singer/songwriter to help me with odds and ends. She was smart and quick and better than me at research, especially.

Then she moved to Boston, and because it wasn't so easy to work virtually at the time, we went our separate ways.
Hers was to continue focusing on her folk music and she has since won several awards for it.

And now she has been nominated in the "Folk Act of the Year" category of the Boston Music Awards and I just voted for her.
Will you too?

Vote for Amy Fairchild here (under "Folk Act of the Year) -- deadline is Nov 30:
http://www.thebostonmusicawards.com/contests/bma09/vote/

Become a fan (and listen to her music) on her Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/amyfairchildmusic

Say it, Write it, Post it: Public Speaking as a Self-Promotion Tool

A few years ago I found myself in a professional conundrum. The head of a nonprofit agency approached me to lead a workshop - his organization provides services to small business owners, and he wanted me to conduct a talk about branding. Of course! I said, thinking what a great opportunity this was, plus I was flattered to be recognized for my experience in the industry.
 
Talking in public is a great tool to include in one’s marketing toolbox:
• it positions you as a expert in your field
• audience members sometimes turn into leads
• promotion of the event gets your name out there
 
But soon I became aware of a big problem. As the time drew nearer to give the workshop, I lay awake each night in a panic at the thought of standing up in front of a room full of people. I tried to dismiss this anxiety, but it became worse, so much so until it became an actual terror. Eventually I was forced to tell my contact that I was unable to follow through with my commitment (although not before I was able to find him a highly-regarded replacement speaker).

How to make yourself ask for more money

I heard a great tip last week from Monique Elwell, CEO of Conversify, a social media marketing start up.

Monique told me she got into the habit of buying a really expensive piece of jewelry right before going into a negotiation with a prospect or client. I asked her why and she said, "It made me ask for more, for what the work is actually worth, and prevented me from convincing myself that I shouldn't." Listen here.

Do you have any tricks like that?

Growing your business with marketing, week 46: Chill marketing

This is Week 46 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See the Project Companion Blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

46 weeks into this venture, I can say with surety that the best kind of marketing doesn't feel like marketing at all.

Hop over to the Virgo Guide for the skinny on how vacations can be profitable, how work can feel more like vacation and how none of it ever has to feel like marketing.

Marketing Plan Group Update -- 10-word blurb!

Welcome to Week 45 of my adventure of following the Start Up Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and Week 8 as a member of the Marketing Plan Group. In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a website copywriter, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and what I’m learning from my group experience.

Now that I am self-employed, I get tremendous support from other self-employed people like me... which is one of the reasons I love being a part of the Marketing Plan Group.

Last week, on our group call, we worked on finalizing our 10-word blurbs, which I talked about a little bit in a recent post. I made progress on the blurb by talking to my buddy and doing my worksheet, and then, on the call, Ilise helped iron it out.

I'm proud to say, my new blurb is: I help small business owners turn their ideas into words that connect with their audience. I think this really works for me -- because I don't just write website copy, newsletters, and articles. I help small business owners get their ideas across, and I love that my new blurb expresses that.

This week's lesson and homework is about working on our online presence. More on that next week!