Focus on doing a few things well

The internet gives so many amazing opportunities and you can feel like a kid in a candy store – overwhelmed by the great-looking choices. However, you will have more success if you strategically choose just a couple of those opportunities – for example: A website, plus Twitter, plus Facebook – and just those really well.

Engage your audience

Generating traffic to a social media page and ultimately to your website sounds great! It’s easy to think that web traffic equals more business. But that’s not true. What you really need to do is engage your audience to show them that it’s worthwhile to do more than just LOOK at your site. They need to act… by contacting you for the product or service you offer.

Measure your efforts

Many businesses use the approach of overwhelming the web with content to drive more traffic to their site. But it costs less and has a greater impact if you carefully select a few targeted marketing sites and then you measure your efforts from those sites. Be sure to also measure your own website as well as changes in customer buying patterns from your offline marketing efforts too. Pay attention to demographics, calendar trends, and other potential buying influences. In other words: Measure everything and use that data to adjust your marketing decisions.

Improve yourself

Investing in your business is a “no brainer”. By putting some of your profit back into your company, you create a stronger brand with more skilled employees, better products and services, and better marketing. But what about you? Are you investing in yourself? Identify some of the skills you use every day and spend the time and money to improve them. Managing others? It doesn’t hurt to take a management course. Doing your own marketing? Why not study marketing and sales writing? Don’t become the weakest link in your own business.

Businesses should grow. If they don’t, they stagnate and die. To help your business grow, schedule time and set aside a budget to revisit these best practices every week.

Here are 4 ways your business can become the authoritative industry leader almost overnight:

1. Become a guest blogger at other sites

Businesses run blogs to keep their readers informed. You can run your own blog (which is always a good idea) but you should incorporate an aggressive marketing campaign to blog at other related blogs as well. Find some blogs that your target market reads and submit a brief email proposal about a blog post idea you have for them. If they agree, deliver a great blog… and don’t forget to include a bio about you and a link back to your site!

2. Teach a course

Find out how you can teach other people about what you do. It might be in a community college classroom setting, it might be in a workshop at your next industry convention, it might be an online course that you offer through your website, or it might be a video series you offer for free on YouTube. (It sounds counter-intuitive because you’re teaching your competitors but remember: Industry leaders TEACH others). There’s another bonus, too: You get build stronger relationships with others in your industry and that always helps!

3. Become an industry spokesperson

Position yourself as an industry spokesperson to the media. Submit industry-related press releases to the media, join HelpAReporterOut (HARO), and get in touch with local media outlets whenever a story impacts your industry.

4. Write an industry report

Write a report that reveals information and tips about your industry that most customers don’t know but should. You can take a fairly neutral approach (you don’t have to blatantly promote your business) and that will give you even more credibility. Post the report on your site and on a site like Scribd.

By becoming an industry leader, great things happen: Your website will rank higher because search engines love sites that are authoritative; you’ll generate some great free advertising with lots of newsmedia that references you; prospective customers will choose you over your competitors; and you’ll build great relationships in your industry.

Web-savvy small businesses know the value of search engine results and they endeavor to “own” all ten search results on Google’s first page. (That’s the page that people look at most. If they don’t find what they are looking for there, they rarely click to the next page. So it makes good marketing sense for your business to own your “Google Top Ten” search results.)

Here’s how to own your Google Top Ten search results:

1. Optimize your web site

Make sure that your site shows up at the very top of search engine results all the time. Optimize it if it does not.

2. Create an off-site blog

If you don’t already have a blog on your website, create one at a different address – perhaps a .net or .us version of the domain you use for your main site. (If your budget is tight, use a free service like Blogger.com
or Posterous.com). Add content to your blog regularly and Google will rank it higher.

3. Make sure your social media reflects your business name

Some small businesses share Twitter accounts and Facebook pages with the owner of the company, so those social media accounts aren’t always optimized for the business name. Create social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
(and elsewhere, if appropriate) that contain your business name.

4. Start a YouTube channel

A YouTube channel that is set up in the business name (and filled with great videos, of course) is an effective way of owning another of your top ten search results in Google.

5. Press Releases

Press releases written about you and distributed to authoritative release distribution websites can rank quite high in Google (even on the first page), especially if a local newspaper picks up the story.

When people search for your business name on Google, it just makes sense that you have total control over all of the important results that they see. Use these 5 tips to help you own your “Google Top Ten” search results.

1. Locally-focused internet marketing

The marketing used to be for businesses that wanted customers from across the country or around the globe. But local users are going online to find businesses right in their communities. Small businesses that once didn’t need to market online (because they couldn’t serve clients in Oregon or Oslo or Okinawa) now need to get online to attract clients who live right next door.

To get a strong start, identify the keywords your clients are searching for (for example, are they looking for “Orlando Pool Cleaners”) and start integrating them into your web marketing.

2. Google+

The social web started with blogs and has been owned by Twitter and Facebook for the past couple of years. But Google has made strong inroads into the social media scene, and Google+ is being touted by many people as THE social space to participate in during this coming year.

To get a strong start, sign up for a free Google account if you don’t already have one and set up a Google+ page for your business. Don’t feel like you have to be an expert overnight; just get a feel for the site and take it slow.

3. Mobile marketing

Increasingly, customers are using their mobile devices as a primary web interface and as an invaluable shopping tool. There are many ways that you can participate in mobile marketing and adopting all of these at once can be daunting:

• QR codes are scannable graphics that allow customers to access more information and coupons online.
• Foursquare (and other “check-in” sites) allow customers to share tips and advice with their friends when they stop at your store.
• Mobile-friendly websites can encourage users to shop your site no matter what type of interface they use.

To get a strong start, ask your customers how they use their mobile devices when shopping locally.

4. Become a news source

Consumers trust news sources to help them stay informed. You can be a trusted news source by creating a section on your website or blog that informs the public about news in your industry that is relevant to them. Publish often and don’t be afraid to publish content about your competitors – it will position you as a more trustworthy site. You’ll create content that is search-engine-optimized and you’ll develop instant credibility with your clients.

To get a strong start, set up a Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts) to gather your industry-specific news for you.

Conclusion

Your business survival will increasingly depend on your internet marketing efforts. Use these four techniques to get more traffic and more clients in 2012.

The most successful businesses will be the ones who anticipate these objections and overcome them. Here are the three most common objections most businesses face, and tips on how to overcome them.

1. “The price is too high”

There are actually two ways to understand this objection: Either they don’t see the value for the price you’re asking, or, they don’t have the money. When selling, find out which reason it really is.

If the real reason is that they don’t see the value, then you need to go back and do a better job of highlighting the benefits they’ll receive. Be sure to focus on benefits (not features) and be as specific as you can about the result of the benefits. Will they save twice as much as the cost of your product? Will your service help them to make three times as much as they currently make, twice as fast? Be specific.

If the real reason is that they don’t have the money, find some ways to help them afford the product. Can you downsell them to a smaller version of the product? Can you put them into an introductory version? Is there a layaway option or financing plan available?

Don’t get scared off by this objection. Find out what the real reason is.

2. “I have to ask someone else”

This objection is commonly heard when selling to businesses (“I need to talk to my VP of Finance”) and when selling to consumers (“I need to talk to my wife”).

If someone uses this objection, it should alert you to one critical problem in your marketing: You need to do a better job qualifying your prospects ahead of time. Ask the prospect point-blank if they are the ones who will be making a final decision or if someone else will be involved. Point out that it’s easier and faster if you can present to everyone at the same time.

If someone does use this objection, though, all is not lost. It’s an opportunity to get an ally in the sales presentation. They’ll want to look good to the real decision-maker so if you present in a way that not only promotes your products but also suggests that the original prospect had the courage and foresight to start the conversation, you’ll have an easier time selling the real decision-maker.

3. “We have another service provider”

This can be a real sales-killer because it’s hard to convince a happy customer to leave. If a prospect tells you that they have another service provider do the following: Ask them who is already delivering the service they provide. DON’T speak badly about your competitor. Confirm that they are happy with both the service and the price the competitor offers. Then consider one of the following: Tell them that if anything ever changes with their competitor, you would love to have a chance to win their business. Or, if it makes financial sense, offer a deep discount on the first product or service to prove that you are better.

Conclusion

Sales are essential to business. But with sales come objections… but objections are not a problem to businesses that are prepared!