Planning Your 2013 Marketing

Yesterday at the combined BI and Women of Today meeting we had a great discussion and I wanted to share to both those of you that were there as well as those of you who could not make it.

Here are some simple steps when you plan your 2013 marketing:

Step 1 – Review Your Business Definition

Step 2 – Review and Tweak Your Mission Statement

Step 3 – Review Your Target Market

Step 4 – Access Your Business Growth/Financials

Step 5 – Look at Your Marketing Methods and Access Each One

Step 6 – Plan Your 2013 Marketing

Step 7 – Plan Your Marketing Day

Step 8 – Hire a Coach to help or fine tune your plan

When planning think about 1 thing that has been working this year for you and one thing that hasn’t worked

If you need help with any of these steps my Christmas Gift to all of you is a free 30 minute session to go over any of these steps! You can book at www;doodle.com/sherrylynn

Here’s to successful planning!
Sherry Lynn

Things to keep in mind

Plan everything you do based on reaching your target market
Choose the right methods and places to advertise that will reach your target market
Track each marketing method, campaign
Ask where every client heard about you or your campaign
Followup
Treat online connections like real people

Why YouTube Should Be Part of Everyone's Marketing Plan!

YouTube is one of the most visited sites on the Internet right now. Millions of people visit that site every day. People love to watch videos. So all you have to do is make a video in order to tap into the power of YouTube for Internet Marketing.

Too many people wrongly believe that they can’t make a professional enough YouTube video because they can’t afford to have it edited or shot by a professional and/or they don’t know how to do it. So, this holds them back from making any video at all. This in my humble opinion is a big mistake for someone wanting to build their business.

It’s very easy to make a very basic video and post it on YouTube. It’s actually no more work than just signing up for an account with YouTube and then recording it on your webcam.

You can do something as basic as just showing your Website (or any Website) and just reading a basic article or giving a tip. You may also want to give an industry update. For example if you are a Mortgage Specialist you could give some news about the industry or current rates. If you are a healthcare practitioner you could give a tip and then lead into promoting an event. Always use a topic that is in line with what you do and not something random.

Do not try and write a script as it will look like you are reading and sound a bit robotic instead of genuine but you can make cheat notes. I would recommend putting them on the wall behind you at the level of the webcam so that it still looks like you are looking at the camera somewhat. This way it you get stumped or want to make sure you cover it all you will have a guide. Just like when you gave a speech in school!

The one thing you do need to make sure you do is to include a link back to your website or blog/blogpost/online article or place where you want to make sure people can find you after the video. When your video is done playing, other related videos will immediately pop-up. So be sure to have about ten seconds at the end of your video where a link to your site is displayed.

Because of the search feature on YouTube you will definitely get people watching IF you use the right keywords and enticing video description. You will get tons of traffic to your site too if you remember that back link!

Stay Tuned for a post about how you can use your videos on your website/blog!

If you need help with your YouTube marketing book a free coaching session and we an chat about how I can help. You will pick up some great tips too!

Twitter Changes You May Not Know About

Did you know Twitter has made a change to your profile you may not have heard about?

On NBC-TV’s The Today Show, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo announced sweeping redesign to the Twitter platform with a focus on the look of Profile pages and a significant update to the mobile and iPad apps.

Profile’s can feature a large Header Photo on the right hand side similar to the new Timeline Cover Photo on Facebook.

The minimum dimensions of the new header photo are 1252 x 626 pixels and the maximum file size is 5 MB.

Twitter has begun to transition users into the new look and you can make the change now by uploading a new Header Photo at twitter.com/settings/design. On that page scroll down to “Header Upload,” select an existing image from your files and upload. Press save and your new header image will be in place.

After you upload your new header pic you may also want to change your background colour or image to match your colours or branding.

If you need help with sizing or deciding on a header pic or colours I can help!

Check out my new page! http://www.twitter.com/networkingwomen

You may notice that my website and blog have changed as well.
I would love to know what you think of my new branding. People that know me know that I am a country gal (Goat and Horse farmer and lover which is why I have chosen the country look!)

Happy Tweeting!
Sherry Lynn

Don’t Lose Your Computer Files – Read My Story!

A young man that has an intense headache.

I have had it happen. On day I was working away, everything going along just fine. There was a storm brewing but I knew I was safe as my computer was plugged into a battery backup with a surge protector plus if anything did happen I had an external backup drive that automatically backup every 3 days.

Well, out of nowhere a huge crack of thunder and lightning scared the you know what out of me and the hydro went out – and so did my computer. I thought it was add as it was on a battery backup that should have given me 15 minutes to save my work and turn off the computer until the storm passed.

When the storm was over I turned my computer backup and just got the dreaded black screen of death as they call it. I quickly ran my computer down to the computer store as I needed it back fast to get my time sensitive job done.

Guess what? The hard drive was fried. I told him to go ahead and put in a new hard drive and pull my files off the backup drive. To make the situation even worse, my backup drive was fried too (which was also on the surge protector!)

I had a heck of a mess on my hands. I had to create the job again from scratch and each time a client wanted a change to a file I had created I had to do that over too. This went on for years – seriously!

The reason I am telling you my story is that if you do not have an backup protocol in place I want you to seriously consider this service that I have found. My PC Backup. And you can sign up free.

MyPCBackup uses a small desktop application to backup all of your computers online.

Your files are constantly backed up and you can access them at anytime from any device in the world.

SIGN UP NOW - Before it is too late!!

I am telling you my story because I care! I do not want what happened to me to happen to you!

Sherry Lynn

Get Your WordPress Site Ranked High On Search Engines!

SEO is a complicated matter!

Clients are asking me about SEO and how to get their WordPress websites and Blogs seen. I have an easy solution for you that I guarantee you can grasp yourself even if you have little knowledge of Blogging!

If you have a WordPress site I can add this SEO feature to it for you and train you how to use it, all in one hour for just $99!

This feature will catapult your WordPress website to the top ranks of the search engines and drive massive amounts of traffic to your website 24/7, all on autopilot through an easy SEO method! It literally takes an extra 5 minutes when you add a post!

It Is Like An SEO Expert Standing Beside You, Intelligently Optimize Your Website To Rank High On Search Engines And Automatically Attract FREE Organic Traffic Automatically, Guaranteed!

If you want to improve your website ranking, book Your spot today, I can only help 4 people per week!

Book online here: http://www.tungle.me/SherrySimoes – make sure you put SEO Training and your name and phone number when you book!

Photo courtesy of http://www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Don't Be Afraid of Social Media

Social Media scares most of the people I start coaching. I came across this post on London Linked on LinkedIn by Doug Keating of Apex Business Services. It reminder me how I always insist that my clients learn the art of social media before they decide whether they should hire someone to take care of it for them.

Enjoy these 3 tips from Doug!
Sherry Lynn

How’s business? Is it good enough that you can hire someone full-time to look after your social media campaigns? How about part-time? It may get to that point, and congrats when you are there, but, most small business owners don’t have the cash flow to hire a social media manager, and that’s ok. There are many ways that a busy small business owner can keep on top of their social media without their other work falling behind. Let’s talk about three of them:

1. Keep It Simple

There is nothing worse than feeling overwhelmed, so don’t allow yourself to feel that way. Nothing kills a social media campaign faster than the person running it feeling to pressured. Start with one or maybe two sites like linkedin and twitter (this will depend mostly on what you are selling). Once you are used to those then add another. Repeat until you are using all of the sites you think you need too.

2. Be Consistent

People like routines, especially when it comes to social media. You won’t get many to consistently read your blog if you post Wednesday this week, Monday next week, Friday the week after that, etc. Having a regular schedule gives people something to look forward too. A regular schedule also helps to keep your efforts on track and keep you moving forward. Procrastination is a campaign assassin so schedule in your times to write and post and stick to them.

3. Keep At It

Look online and you will find thousands of blogs, twitter accounts, facebook accounts, etc. that have been abandoned. It’s safe to say that these social media accounts aren’t making the owners any money and are not driving much traffic to their website. Social Media is a long term part of your marketing strategy. Very rarely do companies start on social media and find it drives instant traffic and sales, so don’t be discouraged!

Take Control of Your Receipts and Know Your Numbers!

I wanted to let you know about an excel spreadsheet that I have been using created by Sara Clarke ( a Women of Today Member) that helps business owners take control of their receipts and know their numbers! It is an easy to use format and you can use it year after year! It even tracks your HST so you can see where you are at and can plan for that dreaded payment!

I am not a numbers person and this has made it so easy to see where your business is at. I love it – I even told Sara that I am having fun!

I find myself entering receipts each day now. This is a big change for me – I usually let them pile up and have to scramble to get ready for tax time. I now have a handle on my numbers and when tax time comes I will be ready!

As a marketing coach I need to know where my clients are at and need to track sales so we can asses how their marketing is affecting their sales and this makes it so easy! I am encouraging all of my clients to make the investment!

The cost is only $47 AND if you purchase between now and June 6th Sara will throw a webinar class on how to use the spreadsheet! The charge for the webinar is usually $100 and she is giving it to you FREE… but only until June 6th!

Go to http://martinclarkeassociates.com/extras/ to order!
Remember to tell Sara that Sherry Lynn told you about it!

How to Use Social Media to Promote Your Blog

The largest social media referrers to my site include Facebook and Twitter. I use HootSuite to post to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all at the same time.

Using HootSuite saves time and helps you make sure people see your post. Images inspire clicks, so Facebook tends to pull images from web links. But Facebook and auto-published RSS feeds don’t always choose the image that fits the post.

HootSuite allows you to choose the image you want to share on Facebook. Being able to choose the image you share is important to your branding. This is why I recommend you use HootSuite to simplify sharing your blog posts on multiple platforms.

Using HootSuite to post as your Facebook page and then going to your personal profile to reshare the page’s post helps it to be seen by more people.

While you’re sharing your post, you may as well add LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the “little engine that could” of social media. Other platforms come and go, but LinkedIn keeps chugging along growing every day. For many, it is the main social media platform. So sharing the link there is handy and smart.

Back to Facebook. In the image above, you’ll note that I encourage you to share to your Facebook page, not your Facebook profile.

I used to share it to both until I learned about Facebook’s EdgeRank. Facebook pushes very few page posts into other people’s streams. It favors posts that have lots of interaction such as people liking the posts, commenting on them and sharing them with their friends.

To help your Facebook page get more exposure, use HootSuite to post the blog link to the page. Then manually go into Facebook using your personal account and share the page’s post with your followers. That gives exposure to both your Facebook page and your blog post. Since I’ve been doing this, I’ve seen my Facebook page follower count rise more quickly than it had been.

Share your blog on your Facebook page. Then reshare it using your personal profile.

When I share the page’s update through my personal Facebook profile, I always paste in the same message that I used in HootSuite. Facebook often only shares the link on the page, not the comments about that link. You should consider doing this too. If you don’t add text, your friends won’t have a context for why you’re sharing the link.

Cut your HootSuite update text and paste it into the comment box when you share your page’s update.

You can read the full post here:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/blog-promotion-social-media/

Happy Blogging!
Sherry Lynn

How to Post a PDF file on Facebook

Place your PDF file on a Web host to make it viewable on the Web. Check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to see if the company offers free hosting space, or use an online resource like FreePDFHosting or KeepandShare. Follow the provider’s specific instructions for adding your document to the server and then record the location of the PDF so that you can properly link it. For example, a URL address for a PDF might look as follows: http://www.webhost.com/documents/file.pdf
Log in to your Facebook account and then choose the area, such as “News Feed” or “Wall,” where you want to upload the PDF file.
Click the “Link” icon underneath the text field and enter the address of your PDF from Step 1. Click the “Attach” button when done.
Type in an accompanying message in the text field above and click the “Share” button. Your PDF file now appears as a link and allows a visitor to view your file when she clicks on it.

If you need any help just email me!
Sherry Lynn

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Get a Marketing Makeover!

Planning Your 2013 Marketing

Why YouTube Should Be Part of Everyone's Marketing Plan!

Twitter Changes You May Not Know About

If you need help with sizing or deciding on a header pic or colours I can help!

Don’t Lose Your Computer Files – Read My Story!

Get Your WordPress Site Ranked High On Search Engines!

SEO is a complicated matter!

Clients are asking me about SEO and how to get their WordPress websites and Blogs seen. I have an easy solution for you that I guarantee you can grasp yourself even if you have little knowledge of Blogging!

This feature will catapult your WordPress website to the top ranks of the search engines and drive massive amounts of traffic to your website 24/7, all on autopilot through an easy SEO method! It literally takes an extra 5 minutes when you add a post!

Book online here: http://www.tungle.me/SherrySimoes – make sure you put SEO Training and your name and phone number when you book!

Take Control of Your Receipts and Know Your Numbers!

How to Post a PDF file on Facebook

If you need help with sizing or deciding on a header pic or colours I can help!

SEO is a complicated matter!

Clients are asking me about SEO and how to get their WordPress websites and Blogs seen. I have an easy solution for you that I guarantee you can grasp yourself even if you have little knowledge of Blogging!

This feature will catapult your WordPress website to the top ranks of the search engines and drive massive amounts of traffic to your website 24/7, all on autopilot through an easy SEO method! It literally takes an extra 5 minutes when you add a post!

Book online here: http://www.tungle.me/SherrySimoes – make sure you put SEO Training and your name and phone number when you book!

If you are not integrating social media with your email marketing you are not getting the most out of your email marketing!

These are just a few tips to get people onto your social media sites.

The largest social media referrers to my site include Facebook and Twitter. I use HootSuite to post to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all at the same time.