Executive Coaching Business Blog

If you have been following this blog for a while you’ve heard me talk about the power of YouTube videos and how they can help people find your business.

It’s amazing how much easier it is to get your video to show up in the organic search results on the first page of Google than it is your webs site. To see a couple of my videos ranking on page one, go to Google and type in Where to Find Clients or Boston Marketing Consultant and click search. You’ll see them right there on the front page.

So, how can YouTube help you grow your business?
First, you need to understand that YouTube gets over 3 BILLION views a day – do the math and you’ll see that equates to over a Trillion views per year. And, this number is only going to keep on growing.

Second, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth 100 times that. Ever watch an infomercial?

Third, setting up a YouTube Channel for your business and posting your videos on it is completely free.

And last, YouTube is one on the best ways to market your products and services, get your name out there, become a leader in your industry and, the most important part, reach your target audience.

Showcasing Your Business Products and Services
The president of the Untied Regional Chamber of Commerce, Jack Lank, is always saying to me, “People do business with people they know”, and he’s right.

Having your videos on YouTube allows you to easily “get people to know you”, in particular, the people who are searching for the products and services you sell.

Your videos can:

• Tell people about you and your business

• Showcase your business location
• Feature your products, services and product lines
• Relay special offers
• Illustrate how people can get more from your products and services
• Give instructions on how to use your products and services
• Show people why they should choose your business (and you) over the competition

Setting Up Your YouTube Channel
Setting up a YouTube Channel is easy. Go to YouTube.com, click Create Account in the upper left-hand corner, fill in your information and click the “Create my account” button at the bottom of the page.

Once you confirm your account (via email) your Channel will be setup and you can start uploading videos.

You can see what my YouTube Channel looks like by clicking here: YouTube Channel Example

Creating Your Videos
Before you break out the camera and start shooting, take a few minutes to write down a script. Determine what the purpose of the video will be, how you will convey the message and what you want the person to do after they watch it.

Keep your videos short, focused and to the point. One topic per video works best and videos under 3 minutes in length get the greatest response.

Don’t Like Being in Front of the Camera?
No problem! You can create slideshow type videos right online at www.animoto.com.

Again, before you get started putting images together, script out your message and keep it on target. Remember that most of the images you find online are copyright protected and you must have permission to use them in your video.

There are several “royalty free” image websites that will allow you to use their stock photos, animations and graphics in your videos for an extremely reasonable price.

Get On YouTube and Get Found
Start today and get found. YouTube videos are changing the way people find products and services along with the businesses that sell them.

Take one step at a time. Create your YouTube Channel today and then schedule time in your calendar to create one video about your business.

See you on page one of Google!

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As always, I welcome your comments and feedback – please click the Leave a comment link below to share your thoughts.

Have you noticed the strange looking square black and white objects showing up all over the place?

No, these are not inkblots – and there are no hidden images or subliminal messages.

They are called “Quick Response” codes or QR Codes for short and savvy businesses are using them to drive up sales in a big way.

QR Codes Details
QR codes are a type of barcode but what makes them unique is they are two-dimensional. This 2D matrix means they can hold thousands of alphanumeric characters of information making them a great way to encode, for instance, the address of a website.

They are coming onto the scene strong because people with SmartPhones can scan a QR code and receive instant information about a product or service, get a discount coupon which they can use immediately or be directed to a website where they can learn more about the business and their products.

And, just in case you’re wondering, over 50% of the people in the USA have a SmartPhone. In addition, SmartPhones sales numbers are expected to exceed the number of PCs sold in 2011.

The Quick Way to Boost Sales
More than half of US companies now use QR codes for one simple reason. They get people to take action and that means more revenue.

QR codes are being used to get people to like Facebook Business Pages, offer on the spot discounts and special incentives for taking immediate action, linking prospects to product information on the fly, and most importantly, getting people to “make the purchase” while it’s fresh on their mind.

QR codes are another tool you can quickly take advantage of to drive up your sales and increase your customer loyalty. So, think about this…

How could your business benefit from using QR codes?

What information could it give to your prospective client to help them complete the sale?

How can QR codes help you build an online following?

Where can you place them in your business to help people instantly find the information they need?

When you think about it, the possibilities are almost endless. You can place QR codes for your products and services just about anywhere. I have one in my email signature line that connects people to my website.

Getting Your QR Code
Getting your QR Code is pretty easy to do.

You can generate your own for free online or you can pay to have them made. The free services allow you to generate a code and start using them right way. Paid services will generate them for you, give you some instruction on how to use them and also give you the capability to track and manage your QR codes.

You can search for a free QR code generator or I’ll be happy to create one for you – simple give me the details by clicking here: www.RequestQR.com

Whichever way you decide to go (free or paid) start taking advantage of this revenue boosting tool today!

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As always, I welcome your comments and feedback – please click the Leave a comment link below to share your thoughts.

Should I use Facebook for Business?
I interact and work with business owners regularly and lately this is one of the top 5 questions I have been getting asked.

Rather than answer this, I’d like to rephrase the question to:

Is there and advantage to using Facebook as a client acquisition tool?

The one-word answer is yes, but let me give you some important information you need to be aware of.

First, there are more than 750 million active users on Facebook and 50% of them login on a daily basis. The amount time these folks spend online is also staggering: Over 700 Billion Minutes per Month.

Second, big business in America is using Facebook as their “marketing tool of choice” because they know that’s where their customers are. As a matter of fact, many big companies have stopped sending people to their website and are now directing visitors to their Facebook Business Page.

Third, people are choosing to frequent both online and offline businesses based on the information they receive from their Facebook friends and Facebook Business Pages.

For these three reason alone, Facebook is now considered the most important client acquisition platform of the decade.

Any business, small, medium and large, can take advantage of this amazing tool to communicate with their customers, get free positive publicity and drive-up sales and profits.

But we’re not done yet. Let’s talk about how Facebook is making it easier to connect with your fans and explode your sales.

Facebook Applications
Simply put, Facebook applications allow you to create special programs that run inside the Facebook environment.

These programs can be a game, a contest, a trivia quiz or something that allows the user to share their interest with other like minded folks.

In addition, Facebook applications can be a sleek, streamlined client acquisition tool for the business owner.

For instance, my team and I are currently working on several applications which not only incentivize people to “like your page”, but they also automatically (with permission) capture the person’s email address into a database and ask them to share your page with their friends.

We also have an application that works outside of Facebook on a web page which allows people to, for instance, sign up (also called opt-in) for a newsletter using their Facebook credentials. They simple click a button and they are registered – they no longer need to fill-in-the-blanks and submit a form.

Facebook applications are a real game-changer and early adopters are going to reap great rewards by building a substantial community they can engage and market to on a continual basis.

Summary
Your customers and prospective customers are already on Facebook and using it on a regular if not daily basis. So, here is some food for thought: The faster you join them the less likely they will be to follow your competitors.

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As always, I welcome your comments and feedback – please click the Leave a comment link below to share your thoughts.

Now That You Know – Take Action!
As the summer seasons winds down to an end here in northern hemisphere it’s time to look forward and develop a plan for growing your business.

For weeks I’ve been giving you my all-time best marketing tips and reminding you of the basic marketing fundamentals that will grow and sustain your business, and now it’s time for you to “Take Action”.

But, let me be blunt.

I’m not talking about setting a “pie-in-the-sky” goal that will fill you with joy and then letting it get lost in the shuffle or buried under a pile of stuff on your desk.

I’m talking about developing solid plan of action to promote tour business for the next 12 to 18 months and putting into a system that will keep you accountable for meeting your goal.

Sound good?


Here are the five steps:

1 – This step will make you completely accountable for reaching your goal. If you skip it, you’ll be in the same place you are right now in a year. So, here we go…

Get out your calendar (right now) and schedule a two to three hour block of time (within the next 2 weeks) to focus on developing your marketing strategy for 2012. Title it: 2021 Marketing Strategy

2 – During this first session, determine what strategies (online, offline or both) your will expand and implement in the next 12 to 18 months. Be as detailed as possible and identify what you will continue to do, what you will eliminate from your current plan and also identify the new strategies you will put into place. Include in this session your budget however do not worry about the implementation timeline.

3 – Schedule another two to three hours block of time (within the next 2 weeks) to develop the implementation plan for your 2001 marketing strategy.

4 – During this second session, the first thing you’ll do is determine the milestones and projected completion dates for each item in your strategy. Next, get your calendar back out and enter the specific actionable tasks which need to take place each week in order for you to achieve your goal. This could be items which need to be worked on daily, weekly or just a couple of times a week.

Whether you plan to do all the work yourself, or outsource it, get the tasks and milestones it into your calendar. This will help you hold yourself accountable and actually drive you to get things done.

Note: Make sure your delivery dates are attainable, even if this means changing the projected end date. You don’t want develop a plan you have no chance of fulfilling. Be reasonable without being too aggressive. Remember your goal here is to grow your business and make is sustainable, not burn yourself out and make matters worse.

5 – Follow the plan. What you’ve done is set an attainable goal. You now know exactly hat needs to be done and when it has to be completed. Simply follow the plan, one day at a time, and you’ll be on your way!

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback – please click the Leave a comment link below to share your thoughts.

One of the most important things you can do for the longevity of your business is to get it to stand it out from the crowd. Whether that message is delivered from a webpage, printed collateral, social media, a video or directly from your mouth, a message that sets you apart from the competition is what will get you noticed time and time again.

Here are some tips to help your business stand out:

7 Tips to Stand Out From the Crowd
1 – Solve their problem. Think about it, whether you sell a product, service or both, you solve problems for your customers. Businesses that “stand out from the crowd” clear convey this in their marketing and make it very easy for the prospect to see how they can get what they want – their problem solved. Remember, people will pay ten times as much to relieve pain over experiencing pleasure; use this knowledge to your advantage.

2 – Develop (or rethink) a tag line which clearly demonstrates the solution to the problem. In other words, it should show the major benefit of working with you in as few words as possible (i.e. More Time • More Profit • Better Quality of Life!). This should not be about “what you do” but rather about what your client receives from your products or services.

Most likely your competition has got this wrong therefore you can quickly take the lead by simply telling your prospects how they will benefit by choosing you.

3 – Convey the Solution. Clearly show people how easy it is to get their problem solved. People want their problems solved for them in the fastest way possible. If you make this convoluted and have them jumping through hoops just to closed the deal, they will be less likely to pick you. Make it easy!

4 – Quantify the Results. Backup the benefits you convey with proof and testimonials. People need to see (and know) that they will get what you promise. Show them in any way you can that you are the expert, you’ve done it before and you can do it again for them.

5 – Over-Deliver. When you give your clients more than expected you move right to the head of the “Standing Out From the Crowd” class. The good news is, you are probably already doing this but you’re not letting your customers know about it.

Don’t assume they know the extra time you gave or service you performed is part of the deal (if it really isn’t). Tell them that you appreciate their business and want to repay their kindness by giving them the extra product or service as a way of saying thank you.

6 – Guarantee Happiness. This is the most powerful way to stand out from the crowd, especially if your competition isn’t doing it. Don’t just guarantee the product or service, guarantee their happiness. For example, I offer a 30 day happiness guarantee with all my coaching programs. If after 30 days you’re not happy, you get a full refund. That puts all the risk on me to deliver quality effective coaching and it lets you try coaching out of a month to see if it’s the right thing for you. Simple and effective!

7 – Tell Them What to Do Next. Every marketing study I’ve read on this subject and been involved with over the past 12 years indicates the same thing: people need to be told what to do next to get what they want.

The majority of businesses leave this to chance. They think because their email address or phone number is there in plain sight that the prospect will inherently know what to do net. Not true! And, when conducting business in person, most small business owners choke and don’t ask for the sale because they think it’s being pushy. Again, not true!

If you done steps 1 through 6 correctly and the prospect is still with you because you’ve showed them you are the one to solve their problem in the fastest and best possible way, then tell them what they need to do next. You’ll be amazed at the results.

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback – please click the Leave a comment link below to share your thoughts.

Need more customers?

Do you want to start getting them in the next 2 to 3 weeks?

Then stop everything you are doing right this second and pay extreme attention because what I’m about to share with you is staggering!

First let’s state a fact: Each and every day there are people using Google to search for the products and service your offer. Every day!

Next, last month in my blog post titled “The Importance of Online Video”, I told you that you could increase your chance of being found on Google by 50 to 1 because Google blends their organic webpage search results with their video search results from YouTube (which if you don’t know is owned by Google).

Now, here’s the part that’s killer:

When a video about a product or service (like yours) is optimized to directly match the search term people are typing into Google, it has a better than average chance of being displayed on the first page of the search results.

Think about that. Your video, about your product or service, showing up on the first page of Google – What would that do for your business? Think people will still have trouble finding you?

But, could that really be?

Well, let me show what just happened to me in less than two weeks:

While using the free Google Keyword Tool recently, I found the search term (keyword) Where to Find Clients is typed in to Google (and searched on) over 6,120,000 times a month. In case you don’t know, six million searches in a month is enormous!

So, because I help businesses “find clients”, I created and optimized a short PowerPoint video and on July 17, 2011 (just 14 days ago from the day this blog was posted) and I uploaded it to YouTube.

Four days ago (Thursday July 28, 2011), less than two weeks after it was placed on YouTube, it showed up on the first page of Google!

But here’s the really insane part: It showed up in the top 10 most relevant searches out of a total of 392,000,000 Search Results!

That my friend, is really amazing.

You have to go see it for yourself right now – go to Google and type in: Where to Find Clients

Or you can simply click here: Where to Find Clients

Connecting with People Looking for Your Products and Services
So, what’s the lesson here?

Simple.

If you want to get found online, TODAY, by the people who are already out there searching for you, and you want to get out in front of your competition, then get your product/service videos created, optimized and on YouTube ASAP.