social media marketing

Is Your Business Blog Viable?

By Christian

Such an important question, don’t you think? Yet how many of us fail to ask ourselves this question and give it a serious, comprehensive answer? Don’t shortchange yourself. This is something to take seriously. Not every business blog works, and not every idea is successful. Importantly, there are always reasons for failure of success!

Most people who read this site are interested in blog tips, social media for business and generally taking your business to the next level using these tools. Rock on. But is your business blog viable to begin with? Because if it’s not, no amount of blog marketing (or any marketing for that matter) will make it work.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What am I selling?

Psst…the answer is not “widgets”. That’s the product. You know…the steak. You sell the sizzle, not the steak. This is Sales 101 of course, but amazingly most business owners are not truly in touch with what they’re ACTUALLY SELLING. What engages your customers? What gets them to act? Why do they buy from you? What emotionally causes them to tell their friends about you? What is your sizzle? What makes you different? If you can’t answer this clearly and succinctly, you don’t know what you’re selling, and that is dangerous.

Do people want what I’m selling?

If you take the principle of “selling sizzle” you can quickly realize that there are many potential reasons people buy from you other than the actual product (or service) you’re selling. People buy for emotional reasons, not practical ones. Are you struggling to make your sales goals? In other words, are you failing to make the money you know you deserve from your business? Then you are either not selling something people want, or you are not IN TOUCH with why people actually buy from you? Do people buy from you because you’re conveniently located? Because you have a great smile? Because you have the best price? Because they truly believe you can help them with their particular problem more than anyone else can? What is it that’s actually causing the sale? Make sure your marketing is in alignment with that, and you will get beautiful results.

There is a restaurant (I won’t mention the name of the franchise) in my town that is the dirtiest restaurant in maybe the whole city. The service is horrible to an almost comical level. Yet they are the most profitable restaurant in the entire chain. Why? They have a beautifully convenient location. They are horrible in almost every way, except location. When it comes to location, they are invincible. We could discuss the ethical ramifications of this of course, but my point is that they know what they’re selling. They’re not selling a sanitary or enjoyable dining experience, and they make no attempt to do so. They are selling poor quality food at a high price to people who don’t want to drive a few minutes out of their way. Clearly, their are a lot of people who want this, because they rake in the cash, and they don’t challenge their business model. They are selling convenience. What are you selling? And…do people want what you’re selling?

Am I Hoping or Executing?

When it comes to marketing, a lot of business owners simply throw a bunch of stuff out there and hope something sticks. There’s something wrong with this approach of course. First, it’s expensive. Second, when something works, the scatter shot approach isn’t very good at indicating to you what works and what doesn’t. So you have no choice but to continue doing everything, for fear of losing whatever IS working. This is horribly inefficient.

Are you blogging? Why? What is your plan? What…specifically…do you hope to achieve from your blogging efforts? A blog is a fantastic communication tool, a way of creating a powerful community, a way of testing ideas, selling products and services, even creating new income streams that were never possible for your business before. But if you don’t approach it deliberately, you’re simply putting up a blog and hoping it works.

Instead of putting all the effort into blogging and marketing your business and blindly hoping for the best, do the research up front. Do it now. Talk to your people. Talk to your customers. Determine what you’re really selling, the most effective way to engage your audience on an emotional and effective level, and decide how you want to use your blog as a way of reaching people in a helpful and powerful way.

A business blog is not magic, it’s a powerful tool. Like a surgeon’s 10 blade. With deliberate, careful and trained use, it can create results that are amazingly helpful and even life-changing. But the same tool when used recklessly can do a lot of damage. It’s not the tool that produces any magic. The tool is simply a mechanism for producing a result. The magic comes from you. Do the ground work. You know…the boring stuff! It will pay you huge dividends.

Do You Have What it Takes to Be a Success in Social Media?

By Christian

social-media-strategy-for-business-success — What does it take to be successful in social media? I hope to offer you some helpful thoughts in this post. Let me know what you think!

I’ve spent time with a number of you by now. I’ve had a great chance to learn a lot about my own business and how to grow, but I’ve hopefully learned a bit about how I might be able to help as well. One thing I’ve encountered more than anything else is insecurity. A lot of people out there feel social media marketing for their business is not something that’s going to work for them. Sure it works for Gary Vaynerchuk, and it works for Brian Clark, and it works for Michael Martine, and it works for thousands of other business owners, but it’s not going to work for YOU.

If this sounds like you…if you feel you may not have what it takes to be successful using social media to grow your business, I’d encourage you to look at the facts.

Social Media For Business: Fact #1

A lot of my clients shy away from social media for business marketing, because they fear an exorbitant time commitment, but this is a huge misconception. Yes, you can waste time with social media…you can waste time doing ANYTHING. Fear of wasting time is not a reason to avoid a valuable tactic for growing your business…it’s simply a reason to make sure you do it effectively. Does this makes sense?

Social Media For Business: Fact #2

Social media is a constant learning experience. That’s what this is…a constant learning experience. It’s true for you and me, and it’s true for everyone out there. There is no such thing as a “social media expert”, and if you come across someone claiming to be one, run in the other direction. Someone who actually knows everything there is to know about social media…are you kidding me? Twitter has only been around for a very short time…there not been enough time for anyone to become an actual expert. Find people who’ve had success, people you want to model. Learn from them and find your own path.
One thing I’ve seen holding people back is the idea that they want to get everything figured out, and then they’ll dive in. It’s unlikely that will happen, because the platforms and rules are always changing. The way to get results is to just get started.

Social Media For Business: Fact #3

Social media is a magic bullet. A really slow bullet…

Can social media change your business inside out? Yes
Can social media open up new revenue streams you never even thought of? Yes
Can social media make you more effective, in less time than ever before? Yes
Can you accomplish all this in a short amount of time by paying someone else to “take care of it”? Nope.

If there is one concept that many people need but don’t like, it’s accountability. The success of Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents is a perfect testament to this phenomenon. Fact is, building a social media network means building trust. And trust is a funny little bugger. It simply cannot be manufactured. Can’t be done. It has to be built. One tweet at a time. One post at a time. One comment at a time.
I get asked to “do social media” for clients somewhat regularly. Yes, some clerical tasks can be delegated, but social engagement cannot be diverted to someone else. You’re either accessible to your community or you’re not. If you’re not, you’re missing out on huge opportunities, and social media tools allow you to leverage your time considerably, so you CAN be helpful and accessible to your audience. It’s a win-win.

Social Media For Business: Fact #4

You have what it takes! Can you do it? The answer is “yes” 🙂

It doesn’t require a high degree of techiness or nerdiness.
It doesn’t require knowledge of html, or any of that web programming crap. They have tools now that take care of all that.
It doesn’t require that you even know what Twitter is. Just a willingness to learn.
It doesn’t require that you have any expensive equipment. If you’re reading this article (unless someone printed it out for you, lol), you already have what it takes to get started and go quite far.

And here’s a bit of what it WILL require:

Paradigm shift, plus go ahead and put your seatbelt on, because you’ll have another total paradigm shift real soon. I experience one at least once a week.
A realistic budget. I really struggled with putting this on the list. If I’m being honest with you though, approaching a totally new and very dynamic marketing strategy and expecting to do it for free (as many do for some odd reason…go ask your local newspaper for a free ad, and see how far that gets you) is not a strategy I advise. Many of these tools are free to acquire. Acquisition is one thing. Effective implementation over the long term is an entirely different thing. Social media highly effective? Yes. Free? Not usually, unless you’re a veteran and highly, highly competent. And even the vets in this industry get help and use premium tools daily.
Time. Yes that’s right! Social media is not a space ad. You can’t slap something up and get results. It’s about networking, building relationships. Results will come, and they can blow your mind, but they will not come overnight.
Willingness to learn new skills, consistently.
Help. This relates to “realistic budget”, but not all help needs to come from an outside consultant. Much help can be obtained through free sources like online forums and reading other blogs. Looking to others for solutions…people outside your immediate organization, will need to become a regular event.

Can you afford to ignore the fact that almost all your customers are online looking for you already…talking about you? Stepping into the conversation is welcome and encouraged, and that’s all social media is in a nutshell. It’s just people talking.
Do you have what it takes? The answer lies in your social competency. Have you ever shook hands or had a nice conversation with someone? If the answer is “yes”, then yes…you too can be successful at social media marketing!
Does social media marketing scare you? Have you implemented it in your business yet? How is it working? Are you getting the results you want? Post questions or comments…in the comments! I’m happy to respond and will even cover questions in future posts if called for 😉

Selling Without Selling

By Christian

David Risley is one of the bloggers I read regularly, and if you’re not completely familiar with his site you should get over there and subscribe right away…if you’re interested in marketing yourself effectively online that is 😉

I run this “make money online” blog from a very different angle than David and most other writers in this space. I’m not a media guy. I’m not a marketing guy, and I’m CERTAINLY not a tech guy. I’m a sales guy.

I’ve spent years in the field selling and training others to make money for themselves. I’ve spent the last three years adapting all that experience to internet marketing, and it’s been a beautiful journey. That’s my angle…direct sales. It’s what I do, and it’s what I teach.

An article David Risley posted a couple days ago speaks to how essential direct sales is to blogging. I highly recommend you check it out. I love seeing a well-known blogger like David Risley talking about this, because it makes me feel like this very important idea is catching on. Unfortunately it has a long way to go before being mainstream though.

Stuff is Changing, but Not the Way You May Think!

I am convinced a fundamental truth is coming out more and more, and it’s essential to pay attention to it…here it is:

The WAY people search for information and buy things is changing. This is a permanent, global change. However, the REASONS people buy things haven’t changed at all…and aren’t going to.

What does this mean to you…the business owner or professional who wants to thrive throughout this economic downturn and all these paradigm shifts that we’re witnessing? It’s simple. It means you need to become a competent sales professional. You’re in sales! You need to become very good at engaging people and selling to them.

Social Media is a Tool, Not an Excuse

As a sales trainer, I’ve trained over a thousand people to go out and make more sales. What do you think is the biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome?

Lack of sales talent?
Time management?
Teaching others how to “close, close, close”?

It isn’t any of these. Fact is, sales is pretty damn simple. And you know what? It still is. There are absolutely some things to learn, but it’s not rocket science.

The biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome with my sales training clients is EXCUSES. Here’s the brutal truth: people avoid sales like the plague. Even sales professionals avoid it. It’s called “call reluctance”. They come up with all kinds of creative ways to avoid selling.

In fact, people pride themselves on their aversion to sales! CEO’s talk openly about how they hate to sell. People talk about how they avoid selling as if it’s a good thing. This is such a misplaced mentality, and it shows clearly how misunderstood the art of selling is.

But here’s the rub…more and more people are realizing they HAVE to learn how to sell. Because if you don’t sell, you’re out of business. You have to make sales to stay in business, yet most business people hate sales. See anything wrong with this picture?

Here’s something I hope will offer some comfort: It’s not sales you’re afraid of, it’s BAD sales. Good sales is simple, natural and fun. And high-paying! You have to learn how to do it. It takes training, and it takes practice, but anyone can learn it. People misunderstand what sales is because they’ve spent their whole lives avoiding it…they’ve never learned it.

As Risley mentions in his article (if you haven’t swung out to check it yet, please do), many bloggers out there are still fixated on making money with advertising. Thing is, that works to a certain degree. If you’re getting a lot of traffic (I mean a lotta lot of traffic), you can make some scratch with advertising. But there is SO much more opportunity out there. The bottom line is that not all niches are high traffic niches. So if you’re niche isn’t a high traffic niche, are you S.O.L.? Well, if you aren’t willing to learn direct sales, then yes, you’re S.O.L.

There is No Such Thing as “Selling Without Selling”!

So many gurus and “experts” out there are touting social media as a way to “sell without selling”. Screw that noise. If you don’t sell, you don’t make sales! Let’s call a spade a spade. Sound fair?

“Selling without selling” is another way of saying “making sales on accident”. When it comes to my business, I want to know what the heck I’m doing. I don’t want my success to be accidental, because if it’s accidental, then I can succeed one month and totally suck the next month, and I won’t know why. That’s no way to live.

Here are three steps every business owner or professional needs to make right now:

If you don’t have passion and excitement for what you do, do something else.
Embrace that you’re in sales. Take your excitement and passion for your business and use it to put yourself out there and get good at selling.
Study with a professional who knows how to teach you to sell (ahem), and get good at it. Sales is your lifeblood. Always has been. Always will be.

Highest Paying Hard Work; Lowest Paying Easy Work

We’re entering a new era at full speed, and it’s an era where job security is non-existent, opportunity is huge and risks are high. More and more people are coming online to market their wares. Business is highly competitive. To succeed you have to be good, period.

That’s the world we live in. If you are willing to do the work, you can thrive and live very well here. All you bloggers out there looking for a quick buck or some turnkey “automatic” or “automated” solution to making money…go on and keep looking; let me know how that works out for ya!

Almost 10 years now I’ve been in sales and training/coaching people to make more money. Most people are looking for a way to chillax. Why would you want to kick back and chill when you have a BUSINESS that excites you? You wouldn’t. You’d want to go out a raise hell every single day. That’s why I consider it so vital to absolutely LOVE what you do. Because when you LOVE what you do, you can’t wait to get at it every day. You push hard every day for results, because you just really like what you’re doing. That’s where you want to be. That’s where you have to be!

I read in a book years ago that sales is “the highest paying hard work and the lowest paying easy work”. I’m pretty sure it was Brian Tracy who wrote that, but I’m not positive. But it’s true.

I’ve known sales people (in all different kinds of fields) that are barely getting by, and I’ve known sales people who make an absolute killing. What’s the difference? I know many people are still convinced that successful sales professionals have a particular sleazy charm that just comes naturally to them, and in order to be good at sales you need to be born with the “shyster gene”. But it’s not true. First of all, selling is not sleazy…at all, when it’s done well. Second, sales can be learned. And it can be taught. That’s what I do.

The difference is not some innate talent or ability. The highly-paid, successful sales professionals of the world all employ an ancient and proven technique that works every time. They work their tail off, and they love every minute of it!

There is Stuff to Learn

So, quick recap:

The way people buy things is changing, but the reasons people buy things are NOT changing. You need to learn to engage people and sell to them.
Social media (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc) is a tool for selling. Don’t use it as an excuse for avoiding sales. It’s not “selling without selling”. It’s selling.
Embrace that you’re in sales. Study sales. There are a million books. Plus, subscribe to Next Level Blogger.
Make sure you’re in a field you love and that excites you.
Get coaching.
Work hard, every day.

Sales comes naturally to very few people, but it can be learned by anyone. It is the art of engaging people on a personal level and helping them to solve a problem. When done well, it is a invaluable service to others.

Of course when used poorly or maliciously, sales is the same as any other powerful weapon. It can be used for both good and evil. It is the evil use of sales that everyone fears and wants to avoid. The solution is simple. Don’t be evil. If you’re not evil, then learning to sell will not make you evil. It will just enable you to help you customers on a much deeper and more meaningful level. It will also make you rich. Nice secondary benefit, no?

At the end of the day, sales is nothing to be scared of. It is simply a skill set you learn. You learn it through training, study and practice. And when you learn it, it makes your income and livelihood impervious to any changes in the economy. A good thing!

How do you feel about selling? Do you avoid it? Does it scare you? Do you think I’m full of it and that learning to sell is not necessary? I’d love to hear your thoughts!