Posted on February 23, 2011
Many virtual professionals I know have gone through that phase where they just put one foot in front of the other and hope that things go well.
The problem with that is that if you don't have a plan in place, you can experience a lot of issues:
- you can go off track
- worse, you can go nowhere
- you can't measure your successes
In order to know whether things are going the best way possible in your business it's important to determine where you want to go, how you want to get there, how you are GOING to get there, and how things look when you arrive. That's called strategic planning, and every business owner should practice it.
It's not as difficult as you might think. Whether you are tackling your client intake process, your marketing calendar, your revenue planning, or your newsletter, you need to go through these four steps to make sure that your process makes sense and that it will work for you.
Determine where you want to go
Sit back regularly and look at your business. Break things into chunks if it's easier for you, for instance - if you decide that you want to communicate more regularly with your audience, think about increasing the frequency of your newsletter. If you do it quarterly, plan for monthly. If you do it monthly, plan for twice a month. If you can, try to figure out if you can produce it weekly. Don't just make a decision, really look at your calendar to be sure that what you are deciding to do fits with your schedule (because once you commit to it you will want to be sure to be able to produce it easily). Read More...
Posted on January 20, 2011
Marketing can be very time-consuming and expensive for solo entrepreneurs. Running a solo practice typically means that the owner takes on every role in the company. In addition to the wearing of multiple hats, there is generally a very small budget to work with. Cross promotion is a great way to help solo entrepreneurs reap huge rewards with little to no money out of the pocket.
Cross promotion uses a combination of partner visibility and word of mouth to boost your sales, credibility and company brand. It is working with other business owners or companies to draw attention to your products and services. The best benefit that cross promotion offers is that every participating party benefits.
Here are a few cross promotional ideas to get you started:
1. What's on your receipt?Print joint promotional offers or messages on the back or at the bottom of your sales receipts.
2. Banners or Link Exchanges.You can post banners or links on each other's website or blog. It is important for you to look for businesses that share the same target market as your company but offer a different product or service. You also want to make sure that what you are placing on your website is tasteful and professional because you don't want your website to start looking like an online flea market. Read More...