As you know, networking is not my most favorite activity and I did have some struggles with it - read today’s article to find out more.

However, talking with lots of different people only reinforced for me the important place that my Ready Made Marketing Plans^TM have in the world of online marketing.

Seminars, such as Ali’s, are great for giving you motivation and pumping you up with lots of enthusiasm and confidence.  However, when you get home and start to implement many of the new things you’ve learned, you get stumped because you still don’t know the exact steps and resources you need to get specific marketing tactics up and running.

The workshop ended up being a form of a survey for me and it clearly showed me that there is a need for the products and services I offer.  So that alone was worth the trip down!

You can start or grow your own business, wherever you are, with whatever you have, right now.

It’s called “Business Plan or BUST! A Comprehensive Tutorial for Starting and Growing Your Business.”

http://www.businessplan.riskbuster.com/

The author is my colleague Dan Boudreau, business plan expert, coach and trainer.

I believe Dan’s book will make the business planning process achievable and fun, and you can get started right away!

Dan’s roadmap offers you a clear, step-by-step path to proving or disproving your business case BEFORE you risk equity in a venture.

For more information and to view the entire FREE bonus gift offer, please go to

http://www.businessplan.riskbuster.com/

• send a friendly reminder email to remind people that your special promotion is ending today
• call a new client to find out if they have any questions on their recent purchase
• send an article, with a note, to a client you know is interested in the topic
• order a thank you gift, on the web or by phone, to be sent to someone who just referred a client to you
• submit an article you’ve written to an article directory website
• send a handwritten note to someone you met recently - and make a note in your calendar to follow up with them in one month
• write up something for your blog and post it
• record a podcast of an article you just wrote and submit to podcast directories

On November 18, 2008 there will be a special 24-hour Business Plan or BUST! Best Seller Book Campaign, including an extraordinary bonus gift package specifically assembled for curious and serious entrepreneurs.

If you or anyone you know are thinking about starting or growing a business, this special bonus gift package will bring you amazing value!

Check back here on November 18th as I will be sharing the link to get access to Dan’s great book and all the wonderful bonuses (I’ve included one too!).

Today, November 12th, my friend Masha Malka, has gathered together 91 leading authors and experts to show you new ways to transform your life like never before. You will discover how to achieve more of your dreams faster than ever before with the help of The One Minute Coach; change your life one minute at a time.

If you, or someone you know, is ready to make some breakthrough changes in your personal and professional life like never before do yourself a favor and read more about Masha Malka’s book, The One Minute Coach; change your life one minute at a time.

http://mashamalka.com/bookpromotion/

Networking is not my most favorite activity and mainly because my energy just gets drained being in a room with so many other people for 10, 12 hours each day!  That being said, I AM looking forward to going but I’m glad I booked a couple days for myself afterwards!

I’ve been thinking about my “elevator speech” - how I’ll describe my business when people ask (or even if they don’t!).  It all comes back to what my marketing message is and what I’ve defined as the most important aspects of what I do and what I offer.

I’m going to make sure I tell them all about my new products: Ready Made Marketing Plans^TM which I’ve designed to help small businesses and online businesses learn how to get a specific marketing tactic up-and-running, by providing ALL of the steps and resources and tips needed.

But the main thing is that because I have spent the time to figure out exactly what my marketing message is, I can ensure that each person I meet at the workshop will understand exactly what is unique and relevant about me and my business.  In this way, we can connect and form a relationship if my offerings fill some need of theirs.

If you need some clarity or “brushing up” around your marketing message, I have a great ebook called “Create Your Dynamic Message” for sale on my website, which breaks everything down into easy to do steps to craft a very powerful marketing message for you to use in all of your marketing efforts and materials.

I’ll let you know if I survive the workshop and all the networking!

birthdays

• send a note or small gift (depending on the length and quality of the client relationship) celebrating their birthday or a family member’s birthday
• also, use the date of your birthday to contact people with special birthday discounts, a promotion, etc.

family

• listen to what’s happening in your client’s family life and send along something useful (a book or helpful article) that could benefit your client’s family in some way
• for example, if your customer’s daughter is starting university, maybe send along a helpful book about settling into life as a college student

hobbies

• pay attention to hobbies that are an important part of your client’s, your partner’s or your colleague’s life (we’ve all come across golfing fanatics!) and follow up with a relevant gift, book, tickets and so on

holidays

• share your joy and appreciation of holidays (traditional ones such as Christmas or quirky ones such as Halloween or Groundhog Day) by shooting off a quick card to your list

anniversary dates

• keep track of when your customer bought their first product from you or started a coaching or consulting program with you, and acknowledge these anniversary dates with a follow-up communication

nice-to-meet you

• send a quick email or card to express your pleasure at meeting someone new - at a networking event, seminar, workshop, business lunch, etc.

Gather and store information about your client’s personal information and use this as a basis to keep in touch and strengthen the business relationship.

Masha’s book is going to be released on November 12, 2008 so check back here on that date as I will be sharing the link to Masha’s great new book so that you can find out her formula for fulfilling your dreams in The One Minute Coach; change your life one minute at a time.

1. a website
2. free giveaway and opt-in box
3. marketing tactics based on your core marketing strength

Let’s look at each of these in more depth:

The first component you absolutely need in your marketing framework is a website.  I’m sure you’ve heard this again and again, and are probably sick of hearing about it….but that’s because it is so important!

A website is crucial for building credibility, trust, a relationship with prospects and clients, and also as the key means for building your list.  This leads us into the second component you need in your marketing framework.

The second component is a free giveaway and an opt-in box.  These go hand-in-hand - you need to have an opt-in box on each page of your website that gives people access to a free giveaway in exchange for their name and email address.  This is the way you start capturing names and build a list of prospects that you can communicate with on a regular basis and build a relationship with them.

A free giveaway is a piece of valuable information that your prospective clients would find useful.  There are many different formats you can provide your free giveaway in:  a report, audio lesson, tips & tricks, a checklist, an audio recording and so on.

The third component that you need in your marketing framework is tactics built around your core marketing strength. There are 3 main areas that most marketing tactics fall under:  writing, speaking and networking.

All of us are usually stronger in one of these areas, we enjoy one area more, or it comes easier and we can therefore do it quicker.

Once you figure out that, you will start to add marketing tactics that are built around that core strength of yours, and then grow from there.

So if you’re just starting out or you are not achieving the results that you want, take a look at your marketing framework.  Make sure you have these 3 components working smoothly and rest assured you’ve got a solid marketing base from which to go forward.

An accountability partner is someone who you can bounce ideas off of, share successes with (and learning mistakes!), get support from, and run your proposed weekly goals by.  For me it’s someone that is successful in business, who I admire and respect, and whose judgment and experience I trust.

I think it’s really important to have people like this in our business lives - as being an entrepreneur or small business owner can be isolating - especially as we do most of our business from our home offices.

I’m very excited about my new accountability partner and I know that she’ll help me move forward faster and with more confidence!  I encourage you to surround yourself with positive, supportive people - to celebrate all your successes but also to be a shoulder to lean on when the “valleys” come - like we seem to be experiencing now with the US economy and so forth.

Staying and being positive are key to being a success!  Make sure you’re doing all you can to stay motivated and enthusiastic.