You may have tried networking, Internet marketing or advertising only to come out in the end with fewer clients than you expected and yet, having more expenses. Or maybe you’ve tried to get publicity in the past only to find little or no response.

You want to attract loyal customers, increase your profits and enjoy more freedom in your life, but everyday it’s getting harder and harder to be seen. Well, PR can help.

Being able to put your best foot forward to show the public and your target market you’re the person they should be paying attention to, is what Public Relations is all about. Some people might be hesitant getting involved in Public Relations, but here’s the thing: whether you know it or not, as an expert in your field, small-business owner or entrepreneur, you’re already engaged in a public relations campaign.

PR is in everything you do: it’s how you answer the phone; it’s how you respond to emails; it’s your voice mail message; it’s in anything and everything you do where you engage with the public. If you want your business to be a fun and lively experience for your customers, but when they call, you answer the phone with an unenthusiastic “Hello,” how do you think that small little detail positions you?

Ask yourself “What is it I’m committed to helping people with, and how do I achieve this?” Then make a detailed list of all the places and platforms where you interact with the public. Be thorough and don’t leave anything out.

Comb through your website, your answering machine greeting; listen to how you or your staff interacts with callers; check to see what your automatic email signature looks like; inspect all of your website copy for spelling or grammatical errors; and anything that the public could see. All these things are part of the PR campaign you’re now knowingly engaged in. How have they positioned you thus far?

Take it step further by Googling yourself, your company and the topics surrounding your expertise and business. What do you find? Is your name and company coming up in conversations when you search those topics? What are people saying about you? Do you approve? Do you agree?

With the advent of the Internet you’re now afforded a perfect opportunity to position yourself in the way you want to be seen and start achieving what it is you’re committed to. A great way to begin is by writing by-lined articles and submitting them to free portals, which will link back to your website. These portals will help build your online presence and will position you in the way you want to be seen.

You can also create an online press kit, which will increase your online presence, as well as help keep you organized and give you a professional edge. Then keep the ball rolling by landing media placements. There are quite a few free resources out there that journalists are using to find sources for their stories, segments and interviews.

These sites like PitchRate.com allow authors, small business owners and entrepreneurs connect with the media in a way that makes the journalist’s job easier at the same time as it boosts the exposure of the source.

So take it one step at a time and begin by figuring out what you’re committed to helping people with and how you can achieve your goal. Once you have the answer, use Public Relations to position yourself for success. There’s nothing else out there that can compare and you have all the resources at your fingertips.

- Drew

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

It’s no secret that the public relations and web marketing game is ever changing and that positioning yourself to be found online is becoming more and more important.

Ninety percent of journalists are finding all their information and sources online, and your potential clients are doing the same thing. No one flips through the Yellow Pages anymore. If they have a problem they need solved, they’re searching the web for a solution. So building a foundation online should be at the top of your priority list.

Here’s how to start:

Online Press Kits
These are key to positioning yourself as the media’s go-to expert. They can help you reach page one of the search engines. Most importantly, you’ll be easier to find. Most online press kits offer a platform where you can store and organize all your materials — your bios, your headshots, story ideas, media angles, and more — that the media will need when using you as a source.

Like having a resume when you’re on the job hunt, an online press kit tells the media you’re serious about being chosen.

Article & Press Release Portals
These are a great way to start positioning yourself as an authority figure while building links back to your website to increase your search rankings. Article and press release portals, most of which are free to use, allow you to distribute your articles and press releases all over the Internet. When potential customers and members of the media search keywords related to your expertise, your article or press release will position you as an authority on the topic.

When writing an article, your best bet is to identify a problem and provide solutions using your knowledge on the subject matter. For press releases, share the news and happenings of your business while highlighting your expertise. Always include a professional bio with your contact info and links back to your website so readers will get to know you and be able to get in touch with you.

Media Coverage
Link farms, link sharing sites, video portal sites, article portals, and press release portals are all legitimate and fairly effective strategies for building links to optimize your website and help you increase awareness and boost your exposure. But those sites almost never have the Google Page Rank or website traffic of a popular news or entertainment website.

The truth is, one placement on a coveted media website can produce more referred traffic and help move you higher up the search rankings than submitting dozens of videos, articles, or press releases to online portals. An online placement in a major media outlet can drive traffic to your site for years and the referred leads from a media website like CNN are usually already qualified because you’ve gained many of those visitors’ trust through the implied endorsement of being interviewed as an expert source.

Being featured in the media is instant credibility because you’ve been chosen for your expertise, and your potential clients can’t help but want to know more. It’s also great for your search rankings. Top media outlets have extremely high rankings; so if they’re linking back to your website, you’re online rankings will increase, making it easier for clients — and other media outlets — to find you.

Like I said before, the public relations and web marketing game is always changing but increasing awareness and boosting exposure should always be your goals. With technology and the media rapidly evolving, always keep on the lookout for the next big thing that arises that will help take you and your business to the next level.

- Drew

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Prolific writer Seth Godin’s new book, Lynchpin, asks us “are you indispensable?” According to Godin, lynchpins are the people in business that get things done and make things happen: they figure out better products, streamline processes, and make everyone’s job easier.

Godin wants us all to be lynchpins: he writes “You have brilliance in you, your contribution is essential, and the art you create is precious. Only you can do it, and you must.”

The book is very positive and upbeat, and does make one think. However, I fear that the word ‘indispensable’ is going to become just another buzzword that loses its meaning. I emptied the wastebasket! Look at me, I’m indispensable. I remembered to turn the ‘open’ sign on! Hello, world, I’m indispensable.

So let’s put that word aside, and spend some time thinking about what we do, and what our business does, that is indispensable. But let’s think about it in a more micro way:

-what do I do that no one else does?

-what do we do that no one else does?

-what can I do today to create more unique differentiation between my business and my competition?

This is a great way to seed a word of mouth program. Spend some time thinking about the unique qualifications of everyone who works for you, and then think about your business and what you can do that your competitors can’t.

Don’t edit yourself…that comes later. Hopefully, you’ll come up with an interesting list of employee and business characteristics that can you can build into an interesting word of mouth campaign. The important thing about this exercise is this: you and your business will never find one or two things that make you indispensable to everyone.

But you can find some things that will make you indispensable to a few people. And this is likely to be enough to generate some good buzz about your company, once you become indispensable to one or two people.

Do you have employees that are fluent in a foreign language? Do you have free gift wrapping and no one else does? Do you provide free shipping or deliver to customers’ homes at no charge? Do you guarantee an estimate within 12 hours? These are all things that can make a difference to someone in the course of their day. It won’t be every day, but it will make a difference on day.

And here is where the word-of-mouth effort comes in: you need to let people know about these unique things about your business. Perhaps it comes in a ‘do you know’ feature on your newsletter (“do you know Leslie in shipping speaks fluent Russian?”), or have your employees mention something at point of purchase (“did you know we have free shipping?”).

Phrasing your unique attributes as questions will allow for customers to respond to you, which increases the chances they’ll remember and recall these things.

The bottom line is: being indispensable can be overwhelming. Being special, and connecting that specialty with one or two customers, can be indispensable.

- Kim

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Public Relations giant Edelman recently published a study that starts the tolling of the death knell for social media and word of mouth. In their report, the Trust Barometer, the agency found that  the number of people whose friends and peers as credible sources of information about a company dropped from 45% in 2008 to 25% in  2010.

Also declining in credibility were consumer and customer employee testimonials. The credibility of CEOs, Academics and Financial Analysts all increased.

Some argue that these results suggest that marketing investments in word of mouth, both online and through traditional channels, could become all for not. In fact, Advertising Age suggests that the growth in the use of online social networks like Facebook and Twitter have created such large networks of casual acquaintances that trust in word of mouth is eroded.

The study has some lessons for small businesses, which I’ll go into in a moment. However, I have to say, with all due respect, that the study’s findings are problematic.  Here are a few of my concerns:

• The finding that only 25% of people find friends and peers credible is questionable given the sample size Edelman used for this study. The firm surveyed only 500 adults, and didn’t provide any demographic information that would show how the sample represents Americans as a whole (which is standard in many survey reports).  It also doesn’t say whether this was a random sample or not (and statistical evidence is only appropriate in random samples.
• The study asked about credible sources of information about a company. That phrase, ‘a company’ probably means very different things to different people. To many people I know, it means companies like Exxon, General Motors, and General Foods. It doesn’t mean Cheerios, Ace Hardware, or New Seasons Market. A company can be, but isn’t necessarily, a brand that people talk about regularly. I wonder how asking about ‘credible information about products or services” would change the answers.
• Edelman’s President and CEO, Richard Edelman, says that the lesson of the study for marketers is that people have to see message in different places and from different people before they believe it. In fact, they need to see it in five different places. There is nothing mathematical in the study to back this up, and it could be seen as a blatant shill to get advertisers to return to traditional media as part of the ‘big five.’

However, there are some lessons for small business. People are looking for…and using…information to make decisions.  Every decision is not an emotional one. You can become a great source of information for decisions. To do this:

• Make sure you, and your employees, are experts about what you sell.
• Have access to industry reports to share with customers who are making important decisions. This can be kept in a ‘resource area’ at your store which could simply be behind a counter.
• Print out relative ‘consumer reports’ to give customers added confidence in their decisions.
• Ask for customer testimonials and post them in your store, on your website, and/or in your newsletters.
• Have access to experts you can call when customers have questions you can’t answer (your salespeople, manufacturers, etcetera).
• If you can’t answer the customer’s question right away, get their contact information and call them back when you find out. It’s a great way to reach out and build a personal connection.

And I guess the final recommendation: take every piece of research that you didn’t conduct with a grain of salt.

- Kim

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

We all love it when a customer raves about our business. But what about when customers don’t rave about our business…or when they have a bad experience? What happens if they talk about this bad experience?

This idea scares so many businesspeople that they won’t even start a word of mouth campaign. Losing control of the message is a disincentive for some. However, in recent conversations with a few great small businesspeople, some great tips on dealing with negative word of mouth have come to light.

One small business person, Salt Lake City Realtor Dave Robinson, believes in transparency: the idea that instead of covering up something bad that someone says about you, you try to go back and fix it. Dave thinks its inevitable that someone is going to say something bad about your business.

Dave believes it is better to play offense since there is no value in just playing defense. “And how you address the complaint is really what’s important rather than trying to not have them out there.” He contacts people via email, phone, or through social networks to try to resolve any problems that come up.

Lisa Hartwick of Hartwicks Kitchen Store uses social media to address both positive and negative comments. When someone posts a positive statement at Twitter for example, she’ll respond with a message like “Thank you so much. I’ll make sure I pass the word on to the rest of the team. We appreciate your business. But if you ever should not have a great experience with us please let me know directly.”

Lisa sees the value of negative feedback is to learn what you’re doing wrong and to improve. The website Yelp.com, for example, allows customers to review different businesses, and it also allows businesses to respond back. One person stated that Hartwick’s store was “too much” in terms of the amount of merchandise.

The customer felt overwhelmed in the store. Hartwick felt that there isn’t much she could do to respond to that, as that is how the individual personally felt. However, recommending to the poster that she simply ask for help might be away to diffuse future criticisms of the store.

Keep in mind, too, that running a business is not a perfect science. Things go wrong, and many customers realize that a single incidence of a problem with a business is not necessarily indicative of how the business works on a daily basis. The value of sites like Yelp.com is that customers can scan many reviews and get an idea of the general tone of the reviews: whether they are predominantly good or predominantly bad.

So don’t be afraid of negative feedback: take time to fix the problem, and then let people know the problem was fixed. We can all learn from our mistakes, and turn those mistakes into positive messages about our businesses.

- Kim

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

It’s that time of year again…everyone is coming up with their New Year’s Resolutions. If you are committed to starting, building, and nurturing a word of mouth campaign, here are some resolutions to get you started with a great campaign.

1. Ask one person every day to tell someone about your store. The best way to get started is the personal touch…find someone who loves your business and ask them to tell others about it
2. Ask one person every week to tell you about their experience at their business: what they like, what they don’t like, and what they’d like to see at your business. See if you can address what they don’t like. Then be sure to tell them you fixed the problem.
3. Add a ‘forward to a friend’ button on your e-newsletter. And ask people in the newsletter to send it to someone who might be interested in the information.
4. Spend five or ten minutes a day monitoring the online world to see what people are saying about you. Set up a twitter or yelp account to help you do that. Respond to all comments about you kindly and generously.
5. Find ways to encourage customers to generate information for you: through product reviews that you can post online or at your store.
6. Set up a free fan page on Facebook for your business. Easy instructions available: http://grabbinggreen.com/section/7/Build_Buzz
7. Join a local business organization like the Rotary, and get involved. Local people will support…and talk about…other local businesses. You can also arrange for cross promotions that can bring new customers to your store.
8. Find a charity whose work your admire, and see what you can do to help their efforts.
9. Encourage your salespeople to believe in your business as much as you do.
10. Remember: word of mouth isn’t something you start and then forget. You need to commit a small bit of time to it each and every day.

I wish all readers of the MarketingForSuccess blog a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous…and local…New Year. I’ll look forward to sharing some terrific retailer stories with you in January.

- Kim

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Do you want to start a word of mouth campaign but need a good way to jump in?

One way is to give people information that they’ll be interested in…and once they are interested in it, they’ll also be interested in  sharing with other people they know.  Often this information is about your business, of course. But the information can also be not directly related to your business but to local business in general.

Many people know in the back of their minds that patronizing local business is good, but do they realize all the benefits local businesses bring to a community? Think about sharing this information with them and give them some food for thought…and I bet they’ll tell their friends.

Great reasons to shop local businesses:

• Local businesses spend more money in the local community, since local businesses are more likely to buy from local suppliers. Shopping at a local store helps grow other businesses and the tax base of the local community.
• Local businesses fuel innovation: entrepreneurs are often involved in developing new ways to do business more efficiently. From packaging to advertising to customer service, small businesses are more nimble and can be much more creative in solving customer problems.
• Local business owners give more money to local charities than non-local owners.
• Nationally, small business owners are one of the largest employers of Americans.
• Local businesses utilize public services more efficiently than chain stores, making them better citizens of your community.
• Customers have more choices when living in a community with lots of local businesses: customers don’t have to settle for what is offered everywhere in the country, but local tastes can be addressed.
• Local business owners are invested in your community’s future.
• Many local businesses are within walking distances to offices and residential neighborhoods, creating more sustainable communities.
• Local businesses create a unique character for the community. This local character attracts people who want to stay and live in the community because of its specialness.
• For every $1 spent at a local business, about  73 cents stays in the community. For every $1 spent at a chain store, about 43 stays in the community.
• Local business owners are your friends and neighbors: support them, and they’ll support what you do.

How  do you get the word out? Share this information in your newsletter or on your website. If you’re on twitter, send out a few tweets! Post this information in your store window or on a bulletin board in your store, or print up a flyer that your customers can take with you. You can even share the flyers with other local businesses…maybe you can all get together to promote shopping local!

Thanks to Local First and Stay Local for sharing great information about local businesses!

- Kim

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

One way to develop some word of mouth for your business is to position yourself as an expert in your field. You don’t think you’re an expert? Of course you are: you’re an expert about your own business.

Do your customers come to you for advice about what you’re selling? If they do…you’re an expert. Think about taking this a step farther and position yourself so others in your local community and in the online community to come to you for advice.

With a little effort, you can position yourself as an expert in your field, provide information to others about your field, and get coverage for your business in the local news and on the Internet.

This is great for word of mouth because people you don’t even know will take the information they hear and read and use it to make purchase decisions and share with others. People who already talk about your store will be excited that they were the first to be ‘in the know’ and will likely tell their friends about the coverage you get.

How do you position yourself as an expert?

First, figure out what your area of expertise will be. You know a lot about your specific business, but the next step is finding out what people are interested in hearing about. This specific area is probably a subset of your general knowledge.

Here’s an example: I consider my mechanic EuroAsian automotive an expert. Not only does his shop do a great job of fixing my car, the shop has undertaken many improvements and upgrades to make it environmentally friendly. I don’t really care how my car works. I do care how the mechanic recycles their oil and is a certified green business.

So if I was a reporter, or another business owner interested in going green, I would go to my mechanic to learn more about environmentally friendly businesses. And in the meantime, the shop gets some good publicity.

If your expertise covers several different areas, get your staff to become experts in the different areas. In the mechanic example above, the shop owner is probably the go-to guy for information about the environmentally friendly practices, and the shop manager is the one to go to for information about how cars work (which as I mentioned doesn’t interest me, but it may interest others).

Reporters are always looking for good sources. You might want to write a quick letter or email to your local newspaper and television stations offering your expertise to them. In order to become an expert in cyberspace, consider writing a blog that addresses industry issues.

Join a website called Help a Reporter. This site is a database of experts that is used by reporters who want specific information for their stories.. When you join, you’ll get a daily email with reporters looking for sources. If you have something to offer, contact the reporter. If you’re too busy that day, just delete the email: they’ll be more opportunities down the pike.

Sharing your expertise is a great way to start the word of mouth process: give it a try!

- Kim

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Could you get twice as many clients to pay twice as much for your products and services?

Yes, it’s possible with the 4 marketing ideas detailed here. You could potentially double the fees you charge and more than double your annual revenue just by applying one marketing strategy.

Let me ask you a question; what makes a stock go up in price?

Say, for example, gold stocks. A few years ago, gold stocks were in the dumps; now they’re headed for the heavens.

What’s changed? Are the companies that mine gold doing anything different?

The answer in most cases is no. But perceptions have changed. In spite of past volatility, gold is now worth more because it’s seen as a safer investment than the U.S. dollar, whose value is dropping like a stone.

What controls how much your clients will pay for your products or service?

It’s your prospects’ perception of the value you deliver that determines the price.

In the case of gold mining stocks, a bunch of domestic and global economic factors came into play and created a context where gold became a great investment, at least for the moment. You can’t control the global economy, or wait for it to cycle around to create just the conditions you want, but…

You can leverage your marketing to influence your clients’ perception of the value of your goods or services.

Want to sell more at higher prices? Use this marketing idea >>

There are four key factors in influencing prospects’ perception of value. The first is obvious but is the basis for everything you do.

1. Provide a Top Quality Service or Product

Last weekend my wife and I wanted to go out for nice dinner. She picked one of our favorite restaurants. It’s got a great location on the water’s edge and the chef really knows how to prepare fish and shellfish.

Oysters, salad, main course, desert, a glass or two of wine and the bill was over $130 for the two of us. We could have prepared the same meal at home for under $30, but I paid the bill happily. The excellent food, service and view made it all worth it.

Discover how to get more hungry buyers to pay top dollar with these marketing ideas >>>>

2. Market to People Who Are Hungry For What You Sell

You’re going to pay a lot more for a hotdog at a ball game or for candy at the movie theatre. Even so, people line up to pay these high prices.

What prompts so many people to pay almost double the price they would at the grocery store?

They’re hungry, and it’s convenient. Instead of trying to market to everyone, target the people who are hungry and make it convenient for them to buy and you can charge a whole lot more.

3. Position Yourself as an Expert

Why are some doctors in such great demand? Top surgeons get patients who’ll pay 50% more than the usual fee for a consultation or surgery, because those doctors are considered to be experts in their field.

If you want your clients to pay you more, become an expert in your field. Then share your expertise, so your prospects are aware of how much you know and how much you can help them. Honest advice has a high value. Position yourself as an expert and you’ll be able to get more for your products and services.

4. Make Your Marketing About Your Prospects, Not About You

This is the most important part of hooking your prospects and influencing their perception of value. Typical sales copy about how long a company has been in business is boring and does nothing to boost value.

Describe your prospects’ needs and wants in your marketing pieces and sales copy, so they see themselves in it. The more your prospects feel you understand what they want and need, the more likely they are to buy from you.

The fastest way for most businesses to increase sales and profits is by changing their marketing so prospects understand the great value they will get. When that happens they’ll jump at the chance to buy from you.

Low perception of value by prospects = low dollar sales and
low volume of sales.

High perception of value by prospects = high dollar sales and
high volume of sales.

To change prospects’ perceptions of the value of you products and services, and increase your sales and profits – use this marketing idea >>

- Charlie Cook
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Before you start giving me flak for this blog entry – read this post about one bright, hard working women who does everything well except asking to get paid.

I was talking with a client, Kathy, last week, a women who is a super bright web designer. She was explaining to me how she had taken the marketing ideas I’d been sharing with her and put them to good use. One of her web design clients had called her last Tuesday to say they had an upcoming radio interview and were thinking of mentioning their web site and wanted to know if that was a good idea.

Kathy told them not only was it a good idea but told them they should set up an offer to prompt people to go to their web site, sign up for a free report and prompt them to buy. Her client liked the idea but didn’t have a free report setup to giveaway or have ideas on what to offer.

Kathy spent Wednesday setting taking some of their existing reports and setting up the whole system to capitalize on the potential web traffic. The result?

Shortly after her client was interviewed, visitors started arriving at the site and within the first 12 hours 500 people had signed up and given their contact information in exchange for the free report. Within the first 24 hours they’d generated over $6,000 in sales.

Kathy, was one bright women and had gone well beyond what most web designers would do including writing the copy for the follow up emails – except for one fatal mistake.

When I asked Kathy what she was going to charge her client for this rush job that was above and beyond the call of duty that brought in over $6,.000 of sales in one day – she told me…

nothing. She didn’t plan on charging her client anything. She loved doing the work and just wanted to help them.

When I mentioned this story to my wife, she said it was a problem a lot of women have. In her words, women want to fix the problem and take care of people but when it comes to asking to get paid, they, like Kathy, feel guilty asking for the money they deserve.

Is this right?

What’s the solution?

To help Kathy I detailed the questions to use with her client to set the stage so she would feel comfortable asking to be paid for all the extra work she did.

What’s your experience?

- Charlie
Small Business Marketing Ideas That Work

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..