Editorial Calendars for content marketing are basically a map to your publishing future. An editorial calendar allows you to plan out the type of content you want to publish over the next few weeks or months. If you’re serious about getting somewhere you’ve never been, you would use a map (or these days perhaps a GPS) and if you’re serious about creating relevant content it’s a must to use an editorial calendar as your GPS.

If you don’t immediately see the benefits of having a map to guide you to your future then here are some additional benefits of an editorial calendar.

Keeps You on Track
The calendar can help you to successfully execute a content marketing strategy. It can be hard to stick to something no matter how desperately you want to achieve it (New Year’s resolutions, anyone?). Work gets in the way, life gets in the way, and you wander off the path you tried to set for yourself. The best laid plans, right?  An editorial calendar is a concrete plan that lets you layout your steps, tell yourself what you want to do, when you want to do it, and how you want to do it. When things are mapped out so perfectly in front of you it’s a bit harder to get lost.

Don’t Lose Ideas
Ever have a great idea? Ever lose it by the time you actually have time to sit down and write it? A content calendar will allow you to plan out your ideas as you get them. If you have a great idea today but won’t have time to write about it until next month, put it on the calendar. Sum it up and plan to publish it in week two of next month.

Gives You Control
This is pretty self explanatory. You wouldn’t stand up to give a speech without planning out what you wanted to say. If you did, you would feel lost, like you didn’t have any control over what was happening. Take control. Plan out what you will say tomorrow, next week, and next month and the future won’t seem as scary.
Once you’ve recognized all the benefits of this handy tool, you will want to start right away, but there are some things to consider first. You will want to decide how, what, and who? How often will you publish, what type of content should you publish, and who should manage that content? Each business has different needs so you need to consider what is going to work best for you. You will also want to decide how far in advance you want to plan; do you want to do a daily or a quarterly calendar? With a daily calendar you can lay out themes that you’d like to cover each day such as; event promos, picture of renovations, tips from fans. For quarterly, you can plan more in depth content such as a quarterly e-book, or a video blog.

Once you have decided these few, basic things, you are ready to get started. Need ideas to put on the calendar? If staring at an empty calendar scares you, have a brainstorming session to come up with ideas and start filling it in. A road map with nothing on it will get you nowhere.
Utilizing an editorial calendar can only make things easier on you. Once you have a map, you can begin to execute your content marketing strategy without getting lost along the way.

Let’s face it, we all wish we knew the future. Think about how much easier life would be if we had a road map telling us which way to turn tomorrow and which roads to take next month. The future can be vast and scary. Creating and publishing content for your business can also be scary, especially if you are looking into the future without a map. Luckily, when it comes to publishing content, you can have a road map of the future; all you have to do is create it.

Editorial Calendars for content marketing are basically a map to your publishing future. An editorial calendar allows you to plan out the type of content you want to publish over the next few weeks or months. If you’re serious about getting somewhere you’ve never been, you would use a map (or these days perhaps a GPS) and if you’re serious about creating relevant content it’s a must to use an editorial calendar as your map, or GPS.

If you don’t immediately see the benefits of having a map to guide you to your future then here are some additional benefits of an editorial calendar.

Keeps You on Track

The calendar can help you to successfully execute a content marketing strategy. It can be hard to stick to something no matter how desperately you want to achieve it (New Year’s resolutions, anyone?). Work gets in the way, life gets in the way, and you wander off the path you tried to set for yourself. The best laid plans, right?  An editorial calendar is a concrete plan that lets you layout your steps, tell yourself what you want to do, when you want to do it, and how you want to do it. When things are mapped out so perfectly in front of you it’s a bit harder to get lost.

Don’t Lose Ideas

Ever have a great idea? Ever lose it by the time you actually have time to sit down and write it? A content calendar will allow you to plan out your ideas as you get them. If you have a great idea today but won’t have time to write about it until next month, put it on the calendar. Sum it up and plan to publish it in week two of next month.

 Gives You Control

This is pretty self explanatory. You wouldn’t stand up to give a speech without planning out what you wanted to say. If you did, you would feel lost, like you didn’t have any control over what was happening. Take control. Plan out what you will say tomorrow, next week, and next month and the future won’t seem as scary.

Once you’ve recognized all the benefits of this handy tool, you will want to start right away, but there are some things to consider first. You will want to decide how, what, and who? How often will you publish, what type of content should you publish, and who should manage that content? Each business has different needs so you need to consider what is going to work best for you. You will also want to decide how far in advance you want to plan; do you want to do a daily or a quarterly calendar? With a daily calendar you can lay out themes that you’d like to cover each day such as; event promos, picture of renovations, tips from fans. For quarterly, you can plan more in depth content such as a quarterly e-book, or a video blog.

Once you have decided these few, basic things, you are ready to get started. Need ideas to put on the calendar? If staring at an empty calendar scares you, have a brainstorming session to come up with ideas and start filling it in. A road map with nothing on it will get you nowhere.

Utilizing an editorial calendar can only make things easier on you. Once you have a map, you can begin to execute your content marketing strategy without getting lost along the way.

The post Content Editorial Calendars Increase Productivity appeared first on Little Cottage Services.

A case study is an excellent method of describing a real-life success story, allowing other customers and potential customers access to a peer’s detailed experience with your business. Case studies require interviews, testimonials, research, product or service breakdown, your client’s sales results (if relevant, and if they will part with that information) and your product’s overall value proposition, among other details to build the story.

Start by outlining your plan. What are the elements of a case study?

1. Background: Describe the customer’s business, their history. This is where you will highlight what makes your client remarkable. Your case study can also be a place for you to promote your client.
2. Client’s Challenge: What brought the customer to you? What methods or solutions did the customer try before deciding to use your product?
3. Solution: This is where you will tout your product or service (using your own terms), describing how it works in terms of this customer’s usage, and how it addressed the customer’s need better than anything else.
4. Action & Results: Otherwise known as the bottom line, this is your closing section, where you provide quantitative data to substantiate your client’s utter delight with your solution. If your client will allow it, you can cite their sales increases over time, volume of inventory moved and so on.

Once this information is compiled and polished, you will have a marketing gold mine, as well as material that can be cultivated and repurposed. Look at the elements of the case study. Can any of these individual components be broken down into an interesting, useful blog post?

Look at the following example of a case study I wrote about one of my clients. It’s simple, but full of information about how this client benefited from my services. I can use this as promotional material on my own website, but I may also link it to relevant partner sites. This is terrific publicity for my client and my business. It’s a win-win.

The post The Case for Case Studies appeared first on Little Cottage Services.

How do you conduct an Engagement Marketing campaign?

There are four easy-to-follow steps to enchant your clients.

Step 1 – Explore your market ~ Planning makes perfect.
Here’s where the magic begins. Discover what makes your brand unique. Create a magnetic persona for your brand. (Just don’t refer to yourself as a wizard or warlock. You don’t want to frighten the nice people.) Also, identify your ideal customers. This homework will set your campaign in the right direction.

Step 2 – Entice your customers ~ Invite customers to connect with you
This is the point where the magic goes public. Introduce yourself to your ideal customer. Invite them to participate in your community by joining your email list.  But don’t stop there – make sure to meet with your customers, fans, and the curious public face-to-face. Collecting information from people personally and directly is a powerful way to build long-lasting relations! And voila! the spell has been cast!

Step 3 – Engage your fans ~ Treat every customer like royalty.
Now watch the magic cast its spell! When customers arrive at you website, make them feel extra-special. Serve them the very best content your heart can muster. Gain their respect. Earn their trust. Watch them become loyal customers. Stay connected through emails that offer useful tips or valuable offers. Use social media to develop your connection to everyone through regular postings. Include links back to your site, so they keep plugged in. Show them your new products or services. Ask people to submit texts, photos, videos – or whatever – as part of your contest. Give them every opportunity to evangelize for you.

Step 4 – Evaluate your performance ~ Review and Improve
Measure the success of your ‘magic.’ Make improvements to your campaign. Start by conducting an honest evaluation of the campaign. What worked? What needs tweaking? Never forget that evaluation is a critical part of building an even more successful ‘round two’ campaign. Set some new goals and start the magic all over again!

By following these four steps, you’ll begin to enchant your followers, friends and fans. They’ll enjoy your fun approach to marketing and – even better – you’ll turn some into loyal customers. And that’s the best return on investment.

The post Engagement Marketing in 4 Simple Steps appeared first on Little Cottage Services.

Your friends are right. Entrepreneurs are in a class of their own. They’re ambitious dreamers with drive and pizazz. They’re charismatic, big picture architects with a flare for marketing and self-promotion. Bottom line: entrepreneurs have amazing personalities that command attention. But you’re also busy and often harried; conditions that can hamper even the most sparkling personality. A laser focus on sales and that all-important bottom line can force you to forget what motivates the client to buy in the first place, and more importantly, what motivates them to buy from you. Remind yourself and your client why they are supporting a small business by reconnecting with them on a relational level.

Here are a few ways you can refresh your enigmatic persona. These are tactics that differentiate you from big business because they give you a name, a face, an attitude and allow you to  connect with your customers.

Start a blog
A blog is your opportunity to shine, demonstrating your knowledge, skills and talents. When customers and prospects visit your blog, hopefully, they’ll begin to see you as an informational resource and a partner, versus someone constantly trying to close the sale. Blogs need not be complicated or lengthy, but they should be current, relevant and appropriate. Setting one up is easy. If you need assistance, ask an engagement marketing consultant for help and tips on getting started. Compile a list of topics pertinent to your industry and your clients. Listen to their concerns, and develop content based on what they need. The key is to create a blog that is interesting, but this won’t happen if you’re not interested in your customers. Do this while simultaneously retaining your “expert” status. Attend conferences, read books, network and keep tabs on the competition. Blogging enriches your marketability by making you a partner, and (bonus) drives traffic to your site.

Take a sales break
We all know time is money, and with limited staffing and resources, you have to make every second count. But small business sales dynamics require the personal touch that large corporations lack. Definition: step out of sales mode every now and then. This act can be as simple as remembering to ask about a client’s sick grandmother, sending a birthday card or stopping in to deliver coffee. If you do something extra nice, like take a client to lunch once every few months, focus the conversation on non-sales topics. This kind of behavior builds rapport, which leads to trust and likability; and a good business owner knows that clients prefer to buy from someone they like.

Send a newsletter
Proactively reaching out to your clients via email is a friendly way of accomplishing many goals. First, it reminds your clients that they have opted into your list serv, and as promised, you’re using it properly. It’s best to send a newsletter at least once a month. Mention recent holidays and wish your audience well. Keeping the tone topical and timely is essential, as is positive energy. Include a preview of your most recent blog post to encourage visitors. Touch on new products and offer exclusive savings or specials, so the recipients know they’re getting something for giving you their email address. Primarily, your newsletter serves as another relationship building tool. It will give you one more platform to show off your unique charm, plow through the doldrums and dazzle like only you can.

Remember, your clients are attracted to the benefits small business can provide: personal service, familiarity, flexibility, absence of red tape; but most of all, they like you. Don’t let the daily grind and number crunching make you forget how much you like to interface with your clients and friends, or why you decided to build your own enterprise. Infuse your blog, newsletter and face to face meetings with your personal charm. Have fun, be quirky and go with your gut. The big advantage you’ll always have over big business is you: being yourself is no small thing.

The post Connect With Your Customers – Being Yourself is No Small Thing appeared first on Little Cottage Services.

These massive, global entities employ hundreds, sometimes thousands of marketing professionals. Their teams are expansive and specialized, spanning functions like market research, analysis, communications, branding and more. Most companies have even created specialized marketing divisions focusing solely on social platforms. Also, these powerhouses have good reason for popping up everywhere. Their audiences are huge, diverse and perpetually being wooed by fierce competition. Conversely, your business, is you. If you’re lucky, you have an employee or two, or maybe you work with a contractor to help with day to day tactics. Even if your audience and client base is respectable, it likely doesn’t number in the millions. As useful and lucrative as your social media activities may have been thus far, your efforts probably have not catapulted your sales and visibility to a level that might rival Coke; and here’s why. You’re not Coca-Cola.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with thinking about and planning for resounding success. But every big dreaming entrepreneur must adopt the acute understanding that social media success for small business differs starkly from that of big business. Staffing constraints, messaging and product availability will dictate which social media platforms are right for you, and often, less is more.

First, make social media a part of your overall marketing plan for 2013. Decide which social sites your clients and potential clients frequent. How? Perform simple keyword searches within Twitter and Facebook, and discover who is chatting about your industry. Then, instead of making thin attempts to be everywhere, all at once, focus on enriching your visibility on the most important sites. Or, if you already have a presence on Facebook, for example, capitalize and expand upon the fans you’ve generated there. Don’t branch out to Google+ until you have the content and extra time to expand. This planning stage is also an excellent time to ask yourself:

• Who am I trying to reach and why?
• Should I be seeking new clients or improving my existing relationships?
• What are my competitors doing? Where are they?

Next, be sure you are using social media to drive traffic to your own site or services. Create a simple blog, if you don’t already have one, to build your product or service’s credibility. This will also give you a platform to show off your own expert capabilities, personality and to position yourself as a resourceful partner. Update your blog at least a few times per month and post links on your social media page(s). This creates another level of attraction for your growing fan base. Even if they may not have arbitrarily clicked on your web link, an exciting or relevant blog topic could just entice them to get one click closer to your business or e-commerce.

Finally, do not become overwhelmed by the burgeoning number of social media sites. This can lead to a frantic scramble to develop a page for each one. If you are a small, or even one-man operation, you simply won’t have the time or material to make valuable updates to every site on a regular, useful basis. The result is virtual crickets. In other words, you’ll inadvertently stop updating and sharing, and your fans will stop visiting and clicking through. Instead, dedicate yourself to your vision, whether it is establishing new relationships, driving loyalty or diversifying your core audience. Determine which social site will help you accomplish this. When you have a solid plan in place, make your presence on the right social sites work for your 2013 business goals. Save the social media glut for the heavy hitters that really need it, and those who can afford it.

The post You’re Never Going to Be Coca-Cola – Social Media Success for Small Business appeared first on Little Cottage Services.

During the month of December, we see the word, “Believe,” everywhere. Whether it means belief in holiday magic, spirituality, love or peace, believing is the warmest log on the holiday hearth. To this point, recently, I discovered another inspiring video, compiling scenes from artist’s Bob Ross’s PBS show, “The Joy of Painting.” The overlying theme in the catchy song is belief in one’s self. Bob’s message reminds us that belief starts in the heart, convinces the brain to get organized and ultimately, causes our plans materialize in the real world. With his gentle voice and soft demeanor, Bob showed us that anything can come to life with some oil paints, a blank canvas, a plan and a whole lot of heart. He reminds us that we are the creators of our own world. The world is your canvas and for all intents and purposes, 2013 is a blank one. By believing in yourself and following some steps to build your success in 2013, there is no limit to the landscape you can paint.

Step 8 Get a Calendar
Calendars come in all shapes and sizes. Yours might be on your smart phone, lying on your desk or hanging on the wall. Whichever type of calendar you prefer, dedicate one to your goals. Organizing your plans for the year will help you avoid piling too much into one month or timeframe. It will also allow you to manage your expectations. For example, you have a big trip planned in March and you’ll be out of town for two weeks. Also, you know you will be busy in September, when your kids go back to school after summer break. These are times to go light on the goal-oriented planning. Design your success around your life and you won’t set yourself up for disappointment.

Step 9 Get Accountable
Involve your friends and family in your plans. Tell at least four trusted confidants what you hope to accomplish throughout the year and explain how you plan to do it. You should also let them know what will happen if the plan fails, and what great things will come to pass if you succeed. This group will become your cheering section. You should also assign each person a role. If your best friend is a blunt, brazen task master, she should be the one you charge with forcing you back on track if you flounder. Maybe your spouse is super organized and great with lists and planning. Make him your weekly check up guy.

Step 10 Review Your Progress
Whether it’s every day, every week or even every month, you must take a look at your accomplishments and progress. When you do something that will help you reach a goal, write it down. Then, as you accumulate these steps, you can reflect upon them and ascertain whether they have resulted in an achievement. Gradual progress leads to big
changes and successes. Don’t go more than a month without reviewing what you have done, and reestablishing what still has to happen.

Step 11 Do something NOW!
Even if it is a small, initial first step, take action. Watch Bob Ross as he deftly dabs his brush on the canvas. His strokes aren’t always huge, broad ones. Sometimes the tiniest nudge or push, as he says, begins the creation of a breathtaking mountain. I love making vision boards, and often, it’s how I start a new endeavor. Grab a stack of old magazines or newspapers and clip out words, phrases, pictures or even full articles. Make a collage by gluing them onto a large piece of posterboard. Then, hang your masterpiece next to your desk, or in a place where it will constantly remind and motivate you.

Bob’s message transcends the simplicity that everyone can or wants to actually paint. With his palette and his friendly tone, he was telling us that we hold the brush that will create our own destiny, but it has to start with belief and confidence. Mistakes aren’t the end of the road. They are just happy accidents, wherein we learn, fix it and keep going. We can do what we set out to do in 2013 and every year beyond that because we are the creators and keepers of our own worlds.

Happy Holidays, my friends. May belief in yourself and your own success be the driving force that launches you into a new year full of hope, happiness and the realization of
your dreams.

The post Paint a Picture of Success in 2013 appeared first on Little Cottage Services.

Although not everyone aspires to become an accomplished, culinary genius, most of us wish we felt more passionate about our undertakings; professional and otherwise. In my last post, I listed the first three steps for success in 2013. Now, we’ll move on to steps four through seven, keeping in mind the tenet Julia Child employed throughout her life and career: figure out what you want to do and throw yourself into making it happen.

Step 4
Come up with a core goal for one to three areas of your life that need attention. Whether it’s your business, your health, relationships, home improvement projects, travel, or other factors, list these areas and then think details. If you plan to focus on your health, your list might look like this:

Health/Diet/Fitness
1.    Get to the gym a minimum of three times per week.
2.    Delete soda and sugary drinks from my diet.
3.    Prepare lunches at home and brown bag it to work. Avoid fast food!
4.    Attend a yoga class at least once a week.

Making these simple, less intimidating goals helps you break down those big life changes into smaller, more manageable efforts.

Step 5
Define what you REALLY want, then give it some stable backing. In other words, decide how you will quantify your progress and your results.

We all want to be more successful, more organized or more patient, but just tossing the phrase around will not make it happen. Without clearly stated measurements, there’s no accountability. Take our muse, Julia Child, for example. She came to the realization that she wanted to not only learn about cooking, she wanted to command the French culinary arts. She enrolled in the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and sought the training of master chefs. She led cooking groups, developed her palette, researched foods and recipes, tested ingredients and sharpened her fundamental and creative knowledge. Later, she wrote and co-authored nearly 20 cooking, memoir and kitchen educational books, and if you click the video link below, you can see the progression of Julia’s television cooking show, where she partnered with countless experts for new ideas and lifelong learning.

Achieving these incremental goals was not just a random, lucky progression of Julia’s career. These were measurable, intentional accomplishments. This is a simple feat to recreate. List the goal you want to achieve, and then draft a quantifiable outcome and some specific steps. If you want to lose 20 pounds, perhaps your outcomes are a smaller waist size, lowered cholesterol or the ability to run a mile. Decide upon ongoing methods to measure your success.

Step 6
Beyond the “what” is the often more important “why.” Why do you want to be more successful? What’s so important about improving your personal relationships? If you do not identify a compelling and emotional motivation for achiving these goals, they will begin to seem more like grueling obligations.

Look at this step in two ways: what will happen if you achieve your goals? Will your business improve if you buckle down and get organized? Will your clients respect you more if you pursue continuing education and certifications? Conversely, what might happen if you if you do not do what you set out to do? If you fail, will there be some disappointing or even catastrophic result? Make another list, with each goal and a corresponding best and worst case scenario.

Step 7
Break it down. Create a grid of your overall goals, and think about the little steps required to reach these goals. Some goals may require just two or three tasks, others will take more. If you choose to think about your plans in terms of minor successes and even baby steps, the undertaking will lose its intimidation factor.

Watch this Julia Child video and you will feel how excited she was about her life and career. She says, “Cook and cook and keep on cooking.” Basically, don’t quit. Keep practicing. Adopt a strategy and don’t just meet your goals, crush them.

In the upcoming post, I’ll provide the final few steps required to plan for a successful, goal-oriented 2013. In the meantime, start thinking about how you can infuse the new year and your new plans with the same kind of dedication and fervor as one of the world’s most famous chefs. She certainly didn’t get there by chance, and she definitely didn’t get there by doing things half way. Stick to those goals. Don’t quit. Cook and cook and keep on cooking!

The post Keys to Success in 2013 appeared first on Little Cottage Services.

It’s definitely disappointing to miss an opportunity or allow a goal to slip through our fingers. But, instead of lamenting what’s passed, try considering a little advice from a sage of simplistic wisdom: Mr. Rogers. You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind. In other words, think about what you’d like to do or have in the coming year, even if it seems scary. Visualize these ideas, then make them bloom and flourish in your mind.

This is just the beginning. Imagining what is possible is the first step in mapping out success in 2013. To cultivate and harvest these ideas from the garden of your mind, you need a plan, a strategy to ensure you stay on track. Over three blog posts, I’m going to introduce you to 11 easy to follow steps, which will be a starting point for your upcoming year of goal setting, new and great ideas. Use this plan and the ideas planted in the garden of your mind will grow into true realizations of your goals. In this post, we will review the first three phases, during which you will reflect on 2012, decide what needs work in 2013 and come up with some behavioral changes that will help you come closer to achieving all our goals.

Step one:
Take some time to list what went well for you this year. Don’t worry about the economy or other factors you cannot directly affect. Think only of successes you particularly proud of; things you made happen. Really try to focus on points of pride and dreams you may have achieved. Give yourself props for goals reached!

Then, move to the things that you don’t reflect on so positively. Again, avoid beating yourself up and try not to dwell on those things you could not control. Still, it is important to establish an honest, bird’s eye view of your 2012, the good, the bad and they ugly. Use this list to gage your accomplishments, but use the year’s shortcomings as a springboard to the next step in this process. As a side note, this is also a good time to decide whether some of the goals you were trying to achieve last year are even still relevant for you moving forward. Priorities change, so something that may have seemed crucial 12 months ago may be nominal today.

Step Two:
We all have areas in our life that we feel need work, whether it’s your financial situation, your health or even your personal relationships. Decide where you want to improve and grow, then list these areas by the degree of importance. It might be healthy to prioritize these areas of need by month. For example, if your marriage or relationship has suffered due to stress or lack of togetherness, give that top billing in January. If you’ve been struggling with weight loss or adopting a healthier lifestyle, make that your undertaking in February. No, one month may not be enough time to surmount the challenges in your life. But giving them a designated starting point will remind you that these things deserve your energy and attention.

Step Three:
Look at the big picture. No specific goal can be accomplished if you are stuck in some unproductive, old routine. Before you find success in your listed endeavors, you must discern which habits are likely to buoy your ability to achieve, and which ones are roadblocks. Are you a procrastinator? Are you constantly running late? Do you regularly zip into a convenient fast food drive through instead of preparing something healthy at home?

Identify the habits that weigh you down and decide how you will change them. List five to 10 habitual changes that you know are deterrents to your success, and prioritize. For example, if you are perpetually 10 minutes late, or more, a lack of punctuality could be sabotaging every other set goal in your life through a domino effect. Sleeping late makes the morning routine feel rushed. Leaving the house late forces you to skip breakfast, flanks your commute with gridlock, raises your heartrate, makes you angry, prevents you from paying attention to your audiobook, gets you to work late, irritates your boss, frustrates those who depend on you, making you feel guilty, keeping you at work late, sidelining your plans for the gym…and forget about a quiet dinner at home with the kids.

So, if punctuality isn’t your strong suit, take a look at why you’re always late. What can you do to change the behaviors that contribute to your tardiness? Make a detailed plan and tackle it, starting in January. Move on to another big picture change in February, but continue to work on your time efficiency.

These linear steps are the beginning of your 2013 plan to grow ideas and behaviors in the garden of your mind. When Mr. Rogers encouraged children to come up with big ideas and learn, he never said anything about stopping when those kids became adults. You have the power to make things happen, just by thinking about them and strategizing. This inspirational and entertaining video pulls it all together in a catchy song. This guy’s words aren’t just for kids. Adults can do it too; we just have to plan a little better.

The post Growing Ideas for Success in 2013 appeared first on Little Cottage Services.

Are you ready to gain a fresh batch of friends and influence new prospects? Okay, then, let’s get started.

Explore

• Identify your ideal customers and create a profile of them. Who are you trying to reach? If you want to do business with them, then you’ll need to know what they like and dislike. So, grab a blank piece of paper and scribble down your ideal customers’ basic values and emotional triggers. Point form is okay. Doing this step will payoff later, when you start to shape the message you’ll send to them.
• Set a goal for your contest. You can figure this out simply by asking yourself, ‘What do I hope to achieve with this contest?’ When setting a goal, remember to attach a number, so that you can measure the results at the end of the contest. For example, you may wish to increase sales by 30%. Your answer will likely go something like this:
  • I want to build my fans, followers, or subscriber list.
  • I want to generate more sales
  • I want to engage customers.
• Establish a posting strategy within your network. Choose people within your network to promote the message about your contest on their own Facebook page, websites, and Twitter feed. Make sure to say, ‘Pretty please with sugar on top’ to grease the wheels.

Hey, what do you know? You’re almost a third of the way through this project. Pretty easy, huh? Okay, let’s keep going!

Entice

• Choose an offer your ideal customer can’t refuse, based on the profile you created. The profile will allow you to read your customers’ mind, if it’s done well. So, figure out what will entice your ideal customer to participate in your contest. Here are two offers that always attract attention:
  • Sweepstake with a prize
  • Discount coupons or promotional codes
• Identify where they hang-out and create openings where you can connect with them. For example:
  • Let your fans know about your upcoming contest via an email campaign, press release, or Facebook post
  • Drive qualified prospects to your contest through a Pay-Per-Click ad campaign on Facebook.
• Now that you’ve got your mouth-watering offer, it’s time to invite participants to make submissions. Ask everyone who participates in the contest to get involved. Encourage them to submit text-based messages, photos, or videos. By including this step, you provide a way for participants to engage themselves personally. The more they engage, the closer they come to being your ideal customer.

And guess what? You’re more than halfway done! Woo-hoo, you!

Engage

• Craft your message until it sparkles and then deliver it to your ideal customer. Use all your writing powers to fashion an irresistible sales message. Now push it out!
• Meet and greet your participants. Here’s the heart and soul of Engagement Marketing. Remember to always make it super-easy for them to connect with you. Foster a relationship with each one. As you communicate with them, be sure to demonstrate that you are the friendly expert in your field by educating new followers about your brand. Don’t wait until the contest is over; begin demonstrating your expertise as soon as you receive new followers. Continue to integrate new followers into your community.
  • Send them an email with an edifying tip or two
  • Direct them to a blog post that shows them how to solve a problem they face.
• Introduce new followers to your products and services immediately. Don’t forget to showcase your goodies, whatever they may be. But don’t be a pushy salesman. You’re an Engagement Marketer, after all. So, unveil the splendor of your wares in a manner that is persuasive and gracious.

Evaluate

• Measure and optimize your campaign. Look at the goals you set at the beginning of the campaign. Did you reach your goal? If you fell short, why? It’s all good. With each experience, you grow and gain new skills or improve upon established ones. Whether or not you reached your goals with this Contest, celebrate the fact that you completed the project! You actually ran a Facebook Contest. That’s a major accomplishment that you now have under your belt. All right, you! Give yourself a knuckle bump.

Would you like a worksheet to plan this all out? Surprise! I created one just for you. You can get your copy by joining my community.

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Hilarious as these rows may have been, you wouldn’t dream of recreating them, right? Especially with someone you like. Of course not.

Or would you?

You’re an entrepreneur; a sophisticated marketer with contacts to make and sales to close. Your business depends on identifying clients, making friends and giving people something they want. And when you find these friends, the last thing you could imagine is giving them the rude, trashy, Carrington bitch slap. But how often do you inadvertently leave them stinging with a marketing “pitch slap?”

Simply put, pitch slapping is the epitome of ineffective social media marketing. It involves bombarding your audience with generic, one-size-fits-all messaging or even spam. And much like a physical slap in the face, the pitch slap is not going to generate positive word of mouth on your behalf.

People become fans of your business because they believe you offer something they want or need. In social media, many marketers have become complacent, believing that the quantity of “Likes” trumps the quality. Naturally, your business goal is to reach a vast audience and make lucrative sales. Assaulting current and would-be fans with a meaningless pitch will do nothing to help you achieve this goal. This tactic is absent of the relationship building that is crucial to maintaining sales relationships that matter. Fruitful, positive relationships sprout from one another, especially where small businesses are concerned. If a few of your clients become raving fans, they are more likely to unwittingly become your most enthusiastic marketers. Conversely, incessant, mass ads and updates make recipients feel like nameless afterthoughts. This kind of marketing will be met with annoyance, “Unlike” clicks and, ultimately, an unwelcome reputation as a spammer.

Treat your fans like true, valued friends, instead of delivering an electronic five fingers to the face. How? Demonstrate genuine appreciation for their business. Convince them that following your business and buying your product is worth their time and money. A basic strategy is an incentive, or discount program or simple coupon. Offering a free sample or a percentage off their first purchase isn’t just a ploy to get clients in the door. It’s a way of saying thank you. Imagine how valued a potential client might feel when their first impression proves you are truly grateful for their attention.

Wealthy and affluent as the Dynasty cast may have been, the Carrington women’s approach to conflict resolution was nothing short of low brow. Now that you have a basis for comparison, you can avoid the offensive, ineffective pitch slap. Instead, utilize meaningful marketing, customized to your audience’s needs and preferences. Nurturing the right relationships with the right tactics will earn you the right reputation, instead of a reputation as a marketing … well, it rhymes with pitch.

The post I Think I Was Just Pitch Slapped! appeared first on Little Cottage Services.