Pages at the Prop October Featured Author: Book Your Ideal Clients

"9 Surefire Ways to Share Your Message and Attract Your Ideal Clients Using a Book"

Click HERE to get your Tickets for the October 13th Event Today

Writing a book is one of the best marketing actions any business leader can take to gain credibility, expand their influence, and increase profitability. With a thoughtfully planned self-published book, you can:

·  Package your knowledge and experience

·  Expand your influence and change lives

·  Instantly establish your credibility and expertise

·  Attract media attention and speaking engagements

·  Monetize your message and generate new income streams

·  Leverage your time to consistently communicate your message

Join us Tuesday, October 13, for "Pages at the Prop" featuring marketing consultant Nicole Gebhardt for an intriguing look into creating a book designed to attract the right people to your business or organization. Nicole helps authors, experts, speakers, coaches, and consultants capture the hearts and minds of their ideal clients in unexpected ways. As a Best Selling Author herself, experienced marketer, and Certified Publishing Coach, you'll soon discover why book publishing is usually her #1 business recommendation. 

Nicole is the author of Book It! Turn Your Book into Paying Customers, Closed Sundays, and SEE IT! 7 Days to Remarkable Clarity on Your Ideal Clients and Why They Buy. At last count, she's also helped her clients publish 26 business-building books. 

Nicole Gebhardt I teach small business owners how to attract their ideal clients and build the business they really want. www.TheRemarkableWay.com 765-427-2130; Lafayette, IN

P.S. Publish a book to grow your business: BookItAuthors.com

A CRM Might Just Save Your Business

Sending out a warning into the air just won’t work
 to provide your clients with urgent and important information.
Photo credit: alistair Cotton, www.123rf.com

This has been a really trying week here in our office. You see, we have had our website hacked. And we have been frantically trying to get it fixed. You might think that is because we don’t want to miss any potential clients, and it is. But even more important to us is that we don’t want to share any viruses or any bad digital thread with any of our existing clients and contacts.

And, we have several programs with open registrations, blog posts and other bits of information out on social media and in email communications that link back to our site.

Now, you might wonder why I am telling you all of this. Well, we have figured out the protocol for when bad things happen and we have to notify our clients urgently. We know we can’t just stand at our office door and yell out into the street. We have to be effective!

When it’s urgent to reach your tribe…be smart and use your CRM

It’s your CRM. Yes, once again a CRM is key to making business work. With all your contacts in a CRM like AddressTwo, you can very quickly send out an urgent message and reach as many people as possible. With a subject line that lets them know there’s a problem and you have an important message, your open rate (ours did) will soar.

This solution is not limited to letting people know your website is down – or is dangerous to their digital health – but also any time there is a problem, great news, or important information they need.

If you are making regular touches through a weekly email or monthly digital newsletter, your contacts expect to hear from you and your subject line should let them know you are sending a message for them. But when these random important communications go out, you have to let them know there is a special event, reason or warning that you are sending and your subject line is the place to do that.

Of course, you can put the information out in your social media, but social media connections are sporadic. The latest statistic I’ve heard is the only 7-10% of your fans see your posts on Facebook and tweets are swallowed in a blink of the eye. So using your email list makes sense. It’s fast, effective and easy.

The case for a contact list in a CRM

Sure you have contacts in your email and you may even have groups set up for emails, too. But building a contact and client list in a CRMmakes life really easy. You will recognize that when you have an urgent need. And the beauty is that it grows right along with your business. It’s not a fill it in and then continually have to update. No, you build it one person, one contact, one client at a time and before you know it, you have a herd, or a tribe, whichever way you want to think about it.

Choose the technology app that serves you best and can grow with you. Choose one and use it. Don’t get caught out with new somethings that are bright and shiny. Stick with one until it no longer serves your purposes. Learn all the features and utilize every tool inside it.

You’ll find your day-to-day operations and those random, urgent situations can both be handled quickly, easily and professionally.

-Jack Klemeyer

Grow YourBusiness Coaching

Make Your Opinions Matter - and Work for You

Everyone has opinions, don’t they? Some you agree with, some might make you angry and others have you saying, “Well, yeah, that’s right!”

Opinion pieces are great PR,
just be sure to handle them correctly.
Photo credit: Igor Zakowski, www.123rf.com

Opinions are read. Have you ever noticed that? And when someone voices an opinion that touches you – whether in strong agreement or strong opposition – you REALLY read it, and then you share it and talk about it with others. You might even send someone a link or a copy of the piece.

This all has a point, especially for small business owners. Opinion pieces and letters to the editor are a great way to get some PR. Besides getting something off your chest, you get your name and your business out into the public eye, too.

And, the real bonus is that you never know who will take an interest and where that piece will go!

Case in point:

Recently a small business owner was expressing an opinion about a small business statistic here in Indiana. He was emotional about it – offended and frustrated. Since I know him quite well, I took the liberty of penning a letter to the editor and sent it to him with the suggestion that it be submitted to several local media outlets.

He agreed so I polished it with finishing touches and off it went. Several publications picked it up and it appeared in print and online.

Over the next several days, he received quite a number of phone calls, emails and comments about it. He was surprised, pleasantly, by the attention. But the most significant result was a call that landed a new client and project.

And it was all because he expressed an opinion that resonated with the community. He took a position and staked a claim.

Expand the reach

There’s more you can do with a published letter to the editor or opinion piece. If you have a mailing list, you have the opportunity to share the published piece with your herd. Use your CRM like AddressTwo to send out an email blast sharing the piece. You can either share the letter or, better yet, share a link to the piece (if it’s online) or in your “In The News” page on your website.

Which illuminates another point. Add the letter to your website with a comment – or an invitation to participate in a dialog. With a static link on your website, you can include the link in your social media editorial calendar for as much or as long as you want.

Do you have an opinion?

Of course you do, we all do. But I want to caution you that this PR opportunity is NOT the place to spout. It is the chance to bring an issue to light and (HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART) offer a solution or make a suggestion. If you just write a letter to complain, that’s how you may be viewed – as a complainer.

If, on the other hand, you offer a solution or make a suggestion – or, in the above case, offer to participate in a solution – you have the chance to be seen as a leader and problem solver. If your solution is practical and cost-effective, you have hit potential gold. That is because people will stop and consider your solution. If they agree, they may comment or connect with you. If they don’t agree, they may comment or connect with you. Either way, a conversation is started.

And, you can include published letters to the editor in your credentials, too. You are published!

You have a voice – and an opinion. Use it in a productive manner and you may just change something in your sphere of influence for the better and build relationships with new people and new clients. Everyone benefits.

Elaine Whitesides, Whitesides Words