Archive for the ‘Positioning’ Category

Positioning yourself as an expert is easier than you think.  When you produce any content, one of your goals should be to look at ways you can repackage and re purpose that material into something else.  Here is how 1 article can be used in 10 ways:

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Did you ever wonder how somebody becomes an expert?  Is there a governing body with a magic wand that deems people as experts in their fields or is this something that the average business owner can do?  These are questions that many business owners ask and the answer to all is that positioning yourself as an expert in your industry is much easier than most think.  By simply taking advantage of these three tips, you too can become an expert in your field.

Be Visible and Strut Your Stuff.

Experts are seen everywhere.  They are master networkers and implementers and available to answer questions openly in their area of expertise.  Be seen in social media forums and discussion boards, write articles, write a book and call into talk radio.

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Throughout history, fortunes have been made by people whose first big break came from a friend of a friend or a close contact.  Long before computers and the internet, there was another way to make business connections – networking.  By networking with others, you have the ability to open opportunities and   make connections that could lead to your ultimate success. 

Business is an art based upon human connection and emotion and to effectively develop meaningful relationships, you need to get out from behind your computer and engage in meaningful conversations, support and introductions.

Here are some tips for effective networking:

• Openly engage with others:  Be proud of what you do and don’t hesitate to talk to others about yourself and your business but do not focus on yourself.  Master your elevator pitch and get involved in conversations and allow the other person to talk about what they do as well.  Once you find a commonality, leverage it for additional conversation.

•   Be visible:  Join meetings, groups, functions, and forums.  Any venue that brings together groups of likeminded people that allows you to network with others.  Trade associations, chamber of commerce and local business support groups are a great way to get involved.  Be sure to participate and to be active in your groups.  Get out there, get involved and meet people.

• Become an expert in your field:  Positioning yourself as an expert in your field will allow your reputation to flourish.  Networking will be easier because others will seek you out simply for your expertise on a particular subject matter.

• Give and you shall receive:  These are the BLAST marketing words of wisdom.  Offer free advice, suggestions and help to others looking for it.  Write articles, whitepapers and blog posts to support your credibility as an expert and give your information away freely.

• Keep a contact file:  Networking is about developing systems.  You should have a system for keeping information on the contacts you meet including contact information, discussion, personal information and what they do.

• Develop a follow up system:  Follow up is critical in networking.  Be sure to create a system that automates your follow up.   The key is to develop relationships so follow up is an essential piece of networking and allows you to set up subsequent meetings and discussions to help further your objective.

• Connect others together:  A master networking taps into his or her networks and makes connections for others to come together and do business together.  Take a look at your network and identify needs and challenges and make introductions to others in your network for the sole purpose of helping someone else with no expectation of an outcome.

Networking is essential to good business and has proven over and over again to be the catalyst for many successful deals.  Become a networking rockstar and continue to act in the service of others and to be genuine in your connections with others.  People will see right through you if you are phony and self serving but if you truly enjoy what you do and are authentic, you will become a successful networker.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?

You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D’Andrea is the creator of BLAST Marketing System  and publishes “The Marketing Edge” a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Interesting  in learning more, sign up for FREE Marketing Classes “Marketing Mondays” and learn how to position your business for success.  www.kelliedandrea.com.

Goal setting is a powerful practice used by many businesses and individuals year after year as they begin their planning process for the upcoming period. It usually involves an evaluation of strengths and weaknesses and the development of a plan for improvement and a kick off filled with motivation and high spirits. So why is it that most goals fail? Why do most people and companies aim for their target after it is too late and never achieve them?

Many times you will hear that most goals fail is because of a failure to plan or to write down the goals, the truth is that there are many reasons goals fail and writing them down isn’t going to guarantee success but if you can learn from the reasons for failure below and apply action, goal setting can be a powerful tool to achieve success.

I.    Not Specific Enough – The number one reason most goals fail is because they lack to specific. For a goal to truly have meaning and create a desire to act so you can achieve them, they have to have enough detail and be specific so you know what specifically you are trying to achieve. Too many people choose goals that are too generic, lack definition and have no timeframe attached to it. For a goal to be specific, it needs to be created in the present tense and include a time frame. For example, rather than say my goal is to lose weight, you would state, I am going to lose 10 lbs in 4 weeks. Companies often take a general approach to setting their targets and often fail to be specific enough to reach all of their goals. When you begin your planning process, be as specific as you can and give yourself deadlines to hold yourself accountable.

II.    Too Many Goals, No Focus – Another mistake make companies and individuals make is that they set too many goals and then are unable to focus resulting in failure in all goals. Companies will allow each department to participate in their own goal setting process but will fail to align each departments goals to an over reaching goal that benefits the entire organization. Too many goals will create a competition for resources and demoralize staff because the will not be able to apply focus and priority. Create goals that are attainable for everyone in the organization and watch your company flourish. People like to win and be defining a specific focus and not overwhelming the team with multiple goals, you will have a team that is motivated, focused and goal – oriented who will achieve their goals each and every time.

III.    Executive Only Planning – All too often, executives at companies develop targets and strategic plans that fail to connect or address organizational and operational challenges. These goals often fail because the people at the top of the organization are disconnected from the front lines and do not consider staff challenges, resources deficiencies and limited capabilities that exist in the current environment to effectively be able to build a roadmap to successful goal attainment. Although these plans often include a reward system for the staff once goal attainment is achieved, most staff members will not be motivated by the reward since the task at hand seems daunting, unattainable and unrealistic. Companies that include variou s levels of staff in the goal development and planning process will achieve more staff buy in and will significantly goal attainment.

IV.    Too much focus on the plan, not the execution (action) - A good plan will provide the staff with what success looks like at the end of the journey. It will connect the entire organization and provide the steps that each person within the organization needs to take to reach the ultimate goal. But too often, the focus turns to the creation of the plan and not the actions necessary to achieve the plan. Many organizations go thru months and months of budgeting and planning and end up creating spectacular plans with high focused goals and meaningful targets but they fail to build the action plan or the roadmap to get them there. A plan without action is simply a wish. With every plan, there must be a step by step action plan with deliverable dates, resource assignment and milestones for measurement.

One of the strongest marketing tools you have is your customers so why not use them to help get your message out and help build your business.  A strong testimonial will allow you to instantaneously enhance your credibility, differentiate yourself and improve your close rate.

A testimony is a written or verbal statement about a customer experience that person has had by working with you or your product.  To really be impactful they must be prepared in a way that prospective customers can relate to.   Buyers make decisions based upon an emotional connection and being able to identify with someone’s situation and desire for the same result, will improve your conversion rate significantly.  A well prepared client testimonial can make the difference between a successful sale and lost opportunity.

A successful testimonial should consist of the following attributes:

• Situation analysis   - what were the challenges being faced and what brought them to the need to seek out a solution?

• Solution – what was the solution they decided on and why?  What was different about what you were offering compared to your competitors?

• Outcome – What was the result or outcome?  The more specific this statement can be, the more impactful the testimonial.

Very often you will see testimonials that consists of intangible statements “Company ABC was a pleasure to work with” or “Company ABC has great service delivery”.  These types of statements may be nice to hear but are not effective in the process.  The strongest testimonials include the three statements above, for example:

“I have been struggling with a way to reduce my advertising spending for years and bought the “Build a Better Ezine System” and have reduced my spending by 50%”

See how much more impactful example 2 is compared to the “feel good” testimonial.

Testimonials can be found in a number of different forms:

• Statements on website, sales pages and landing pages.
• Whitepapers
• Case studies
• Letters of recommendations
• Verbal recommendations
• Video testimonials

No matter what the form, if the structure includes the three elements above, you testimonial will be successful in enhancing your credibility, setting yourself apart from your competition and increasing your conversion rate.

©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site?

You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D’Andrea is the creator of the “Build a Better Ezine System” and publishes “The Marketing Edge” a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Interesting in starting a business, grab FREE 5 part mini course offered at www.kelliedandrea.com.