FREE Online Marketing Report

Avocado

Consulting, Inc.

Create A Successful Online Business http://www.MarketingSalad.com

Online Business Coaching And Mentoring

How To Get More Clients Online

By Biana Babinsky

http://www.MarketingSalad.com Online Business Coaching And Mentoring For Business Owners

Copyright © Biana Babinsky and Avocado Consulting, Inc. Get Biana’s FREE Report, “How To Get Clients Online” at http://www.AvocadoConsulting.com

Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



About This Report This report is Copyright © Avocado Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.

Legal Disclaimer By using the report provided by Avocado Consulting, Inc. you agree to the terms of use outlined below. Materials or information in this report may be used for general informational purposes only. Avocado Consulting, Inc. assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in these materials. These materials are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Avocado Consulting, Inc. does not warrant the accuracy, availability, or completeness of information provided by web sites to which this report links. This report is provided as an educational resource only, and Avocado Consulting, Inc. shall not be liable for any special, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation lost revenues or lost profits that may result from the use of these materials or information.


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



Introduction Do you want to get more clients, sell more of your products and services and make more money online? The Internet has evened out the playing field between big businesses with millions of dollars in their advertising budgets and smaller businesses with only a few hundred dollars earmarked. Being able to get online has enabled business owners to reach people who would have never heard about their businesses otherwise and get many more customers as a result. Selling your products and services online makes a lot of sense – all you need to start selling online is a web site, a shopping cart and a payment processor. You can also drive hundreds, or even thousands of buyers to your web site for little or no money. Applying online marketing techniques requires some marketing knowledge, but it does not cost a lot of money. In fact, it will not cost any money to apply many of the techniques I will be discussing in this special report. It is important to know that that it is not enough to put up a web site to promote your business and expect an avalanche of sales to come immediately. If you want your web site to become a real sales machine, that brings you clients every single day, you need to use online marketing strategies to drive traffic to it. The more targeted traffic you can drive to your web site, the more clients you will be able to get. In this report we will discuss a few different techniques to help you do just that.

Strategy #1: Change Your Mindset I have taught hundreds of business owners how to market themselves online and get clients. What I always find interesting is that some people who have hired me to work with them didn’t need to be taught about marketing. They knew a lot about


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



marketing, what kind of marketing techniques were available and how to apply them. What they needed help with was changing what they thought about marketing. Many business owners feel that marketing has an aura of sleaziness around it. They think that marketing is something used car salespeople do to sell cars. If this is your perception of marketing, would you do it? Of course not! If you feel that marketing is sleazy you will avoid it like the plague. Unfortunately, you will also avoid doing what you love and getting highly paid to do that. The good news is that marketing done right is not at all unsavory or disreputable. Marketing done right is not about high-pressure sales tactics or uncomfortable situations. Rather, it is about introducing you to your target market and sharing information that your target market needs. Once your target market sees that you are an expert at what you do, you will not need to do much selling. Your target market will be much more willing to work with you. This is not really about celebrity status, although there is an aura surrounding experts such that people subconsciously feel they can achieve success through osmosis, just by being in an expert’s presence. But expertise denotes excellence, and your target audience will clamor for your expertise to achieve that same level of excellence for themselves. Here is how to create a marketing mindset that will help you get clients, fill up your teleseminars and multiply your profits honestly and ethically: •

Understand what marketing really is. Marketing is a process designed to introduce your target customers to your business, inviting them to request more information and to get to know you.

•

Realize that your potential clients need your help and that your expertise has value. Your potential clients have real problems and they need real help. When you market, you let them know that you can help them. What can be more valuable than that? You are not trying to sell them something they don’t want, but something they want and need!

•

Create a plan to introduce yourself to people in your target market. Create a plan that will help you reach many people in your target market and let them know how you can help them solve their problems.


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



•

Find a marketing technique that you enjoy the most. You will do your best when you do what you like best. Review different marketing techniques such as public speaking, social networking, article marketing, search engine optimization, blogging and many more. Which ones do you like best? Which methods feel the most natural to you? Start by using the ones that you like. You will get better results, gain confidence in your skills and the process, and will enjoy marketing more.

How to use this strategy for your business: Do an assessment of how you feel and what you think about marketing: - Describe a negative marketing experience in which you were the target. How did it make you feel about the person delivering the message? About the product or service?

- What could the person have done differently to educate you about the product or service? How could the experience have been made better? If you were that person, what would you do?

- What kind of marketing do you like? Think about television, radio, magazine or online marketing messages that make you want to learn more about a product or service. Now that you’ve quantified what separates a positive marketing experience from a negative one, use the four steps above to create a marketing mindset that will help you market effectively and take your business to a whole new level.

Need help creating the right marketing mindset? Join the online business success web site, http://www.MarketingSalad.com


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



Strategy #2: Define Or Refine Your Target Market When coaches are not able to get clients, many coaches think about expanding their target markets. They start marketing not just to their target market, but to everyone. “If I can’t get enough people from my target market to buy, I need to make my target market bigger!” This certainly sounds like a reasonable conclusion. The truth is, though, that this is the wrong way to approach the issue. Few people want to buy from generalists, people who work with everyone. Discerning consumers (the type of people you desire as clients) want to buy from those who have worked with people just like them and know what kind of issues they experience. For example, when a business coach looks for a virtual assistant, the coach wants a VA who works with other coaches, not a VA who works with practically anyone. When an accountant looks for a business coach, the accountant wants a business coach who works with other accountants and is familiar with the industry. Your

customers want a tightly niched service provider because they want someone who is familiar with their industry and what they do. And they are willing to pay for this niched knowledge. What these examples tell you is that you need to have a well-defined target market. If you do not have a well-defined target market yet, now is the time to define it. And if you already have a target market, now is the time to revisit it and see whether it is still an appropriate target market for your business. So, what makes a target market an effective one for your business? An effective target market includes people who need, want and can afford your products and services. Remember, for your target market to be effective, all three have to hold. People in your target market must need, want and be able to afford what you offer. I have seen many business owners making a mistake by assuming two out of three will suffice. They find people who need and want, but can’t afford what they have, or they market to people who don’t necessarily want what they offer, even though they need it and can afford it. You don’t want to expend effort on trying to convince people that they need what you have to offer—indeed, that’s the snake-oil-salesman stereotype that gave you Copyright © Biana Babinsky and Avocado Consulting, Inc. Get Biana’s FREE Report, “How To Get Clients Online” at http://www.AvocadoConsulting.com

Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



a bad feeling about marketing in the first place. When your target market consists of people who want, need and can afford what you have to offer, selling becomes easy, and a natural progression. Once they get to know you and realize that you are an expert at what you do, they will want to work with you. I also recommend that you define your target market in terms of people you enjoy working with. Who are your past clients that you want more of? These are usually the clients who you have enjoyed working with, who got results from working with you and who had no problem paying your fee. You want more of these clients, and you want them more often! So start looking for them. Are they a part of a specific sub-group of people in terms of a profession, an age group, etc? Where can you meet more people from this group? Can you use social networking and other marketing techniques specifically to reach people in this group? How can you market to people from this group without casting a wide net? Once you answer these questions, you will have a target market, and some ideas about marketing to it!

How to use this strategy for your business: Define your target market. Having a target market that wants, needs and can afford your products and services will make a dramatic difference for your business. A target market will help you go from marketing without seeing results to marketing and getting the exact results that you want. Here is what you can do: - Review your client files and pick three clients whose names it delights you to see. What made working with them a positive experience? Was it the amount of money they spent? Was it the thrill of solving complex problems with them? Make a written list of the qualities of the clients and/or the experiences. THIS is what you’re seeking in the niche to which you will market.

- Brainstorm and seek help from colleagues if necessary to identify ten outlets (blogs, forums, online newsletters, etc.) where your target audience can be reached. Survey the ideal clients you already have to find out where they spend their online time. For more information on defining your target market go to http://www.marketingsalad.com/niche.html Copyright © Biana Babinsky and Avocado Consulting, Inc. Get Biana’s FREE Report, “How To Get Clients Online” at http://www.AvocadoConsulting.com

Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



Strategy #3: Build Your List The most important ability that a business can have is the ability to contact many people in your target market at once. You want to be able to share your expertise and information about your new offerings with many people at one time. Doing this is the best way to get service clients and product buyers. Let’s talk about goals for your business and why you need to have a list to reach them. I am sure that your goals for your business are to get more clients, sell more of your products, get more clients for your one-on-one services and get more people to come to your teleseminars and workshops. The best way to accomplish these goals is to have a large newsletter list of your potential clients who want to hear from you and who need your products and services. When you have a large list of people who are interested in what you have to offer, great things happen. You get lots of product sales, you are able to get participants for your teleseminars and other events, and you are able to sell your services as well. The larger your list, the better it will be for your business. Let’s say you are expecting a response of .5%-1% of your subscribers. This means that if you have 1,000 subscribers, you can expect 5 to 10 people to respond to your offer. But if you have 2,000 people on your list, 10 to 20 people will respond to the same offer. As you can see, the more people you have on your list, the more customers you will be able to get. Before you start building your list, you need to make a few steps:

-

Decide Who You Want To Be On Your List. Since the goal for your list is to promote your expertise and products, people on your list should be in your target market.


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



When you are building your list remember that you want to promote your list to people in your target market. Make sure that actions that you take for getting subscribers are reaching people in your target market. -

Register For A Service To Send Out Your Newsletter. To build your list you need a service that will let people automatically subscribe, confirm and unsubscribe. You will also use this service to send out your newsletter to your subscribers. There are many different newsletter services to choose from. I recommend reviewing a few different ones and decide which one is right for you.

-

Create A Free Offering For New Subscribers. A free gift will help you turn more of your web site visitors into newsletter subscribers. Two most important attributes of your free gift are:

- The Topic Of The Gift. To convince more people to subscribe to your newsletter in exchange for your free gift, you must create a free gift that they really want. The gift should address one of the biggest issues your target market has. This way many people in your target market will subscribe to your newsletter to receive the gift.

- The Name Of The Gift. No matter what you do, don’t call your gift “free gift with subscription”. This does not say anything and will not convince your target market to subscribe. Instead, come up with a name that makes your gift extremely desirable. For example, a parenting coach who helps parents communicate with their kids more effectively can name a free gift “How To Talk To Your Kids So That They Actually Hear You”. A weight loss coach who helps clients lose weight can name a free gift “5 Keys To Losing Weight And Keeping It Off”. As you can see, the name of the free gift addresses the benefits of the gift.


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



-

Decide On The Format Of Your Newsletter And Start Publishing It. Decide on the format of your newsletter and what you are going to include into it. Get started with publishing your newsletter. You will not see any results from your newsletter until you are actually publishing it. Some very motivated business owners can procrastinate on this last step out of their perfectionist tendencies. If that’s your experience, Professional Organizer Julie Bestry recommends publishing two issues with only one subscriber, before you ever market it. Knowing that ONE person has read it will get you over that hump of fear and let you work out the kinks.

-

Promote Your Newsletter To Get Subscribers. To get more sales from your newsletter you need to get more subscribers; it is as simple as that. Use online marketing techniques, such as social networking, blogging, and article marketing to get more subscribers. We are going to talk about social networking in the next section.

The best way to get more clients, workshop and teleseminar participants and product buyers is by having a large list and publishing your newsletter on a regular basis. Get started on building your list today!

How to use this strategy for your business: Use the steps above to get started with your newsletter. If you are a newsletter publisher already, create a strategy to bring more subscribers to your newsletter every single day. The best way to build your list fast is to take at least one list-building action every day. Here is how: - Pick three list building techniques you want to concentrate on for the next month. Let’s say you picked social networking, article marketing and blogging.

- Create your schedule for the next month and include one list building activity (feel free to include more then one) for every day. Include information on which techniques you are going to be using, as well as specifically how you are using them to build your list. Copyright © Biana Babinsky and Avocado Consulting, Inc. Get Biana’s FREE Report, “How To Get Clients Online” at http://www.AvocadoConsulting.com

Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



- Follow your schedule for building your list and see your list numbers grow!

For more information on how to use online marketing to build your list get the Build Your List Home Study Course at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/znews

Strategy #4: Use Social Networking This year has been a great year for social networking web sites. It seems that finally everyone has caught on to the power of social networking and is wading into the social networking pool. Because of the natural mix of personal and professional in social networking, even in today’s economy, many people are doing business with people whom they have met on social networks. What does this mean for you as a business owner? This means that it is very likely that your target market is now actively using social networking web sites and you should use them too! But before you start using social networking you must decide what you goals for networking are and what results you are seeking. If you use social networking aimlessly, you may probably have fun, but you will not get results for your business. Here is what you should decide before you dive into social networking: -

Who Do You Want To Meet? As we had discussed before, marketing is all about introducing you to people in your target market. When you use social networking, you want to meet your target customers.


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



You want your target customers to know who you are, and you can introduce yourself to them by filling out your bio and letting your contacts learn more about you on your social networking pages. Different social networking web sites give you different amounts of space for introduction. Some let you share a long bio, blog address, web site address, and much more. Others let you just fill out a few sentences and one web site address. Whatever the space, use it to your advantage to let your contacts know about you and your business.

-

What Are Your Goals For Using Social Networking Sites? Since you are an online business owner and you are working hard to promote your business online, your goals are to get more clients and more newsletter subscribers. But what are your potential customers doing on social networking sites? Your potential customers are there to network, but not to buy immediately. So while you are meeting your targeted clients there, they might not be ready to buy immediately. However, while they may not have a need for what you have to offer right now, they may need what you have to offer down the road. But they will only know that offer what you offer if you continue to keep in touch with them and build relationships. It is extremely important to invite people you meet on social networking web sites to subscribe to your newsletter, so that you can build relationships with them through your newsletter. You need to have a process to get potential clients that you meet on social networks to subscribe to your newsletter so that you can keep in touch with them long after you have met on a web site.

Which social networks should you be using? If you are not using them yet, take a look at Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can connect with me there: - Connect With Biana On Twitter, http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/ztw - Connect With Biana On Facebook, http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zfb


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



How to use this strategy for your business: Decide who you want to meet on social networking web sites and design a process to get your social networking friends to subscribe to your newsletter. Here is how:

- Create effective social networking profiles. Many people make a decision whether they want to connect with you or hire you based on your profile. Take some time to create a social networking profile from a potential client’s point of view. Do research to find out what your potential clients want to see on your profile and then include that information.

- Don’t sell – connect. Don’t spend all of your time on social networking web sites selling your products and services. That’s not what other participants are looking for. Instead, share tips and articles, help others and answer questions. You will promote your expertise and become known to your target market when you do this.

- Do let people know about what you do and what you offer. In order for people on social networks to know what you have to offer, you must let them know about it. While you should not be selling all the time, it is perfectly fine to let others know about what you are up to from time to time. For example, when you are networking on Twitter, it is fine to promote your offerings about 10% of the time.

For more information on using social networking to get clients, get the How To Make Thousands Of Dollars With Social Networking Home Study Guide at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/znetwork


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



Strategy #5: Offer Products In Addition To Services It has always been extremely important to offer products in addition to services, because it is easier to convince your potential customers to spend $20-$50 on a product rather than $200-$500 on a service. In today’s economy, it is even more important to offer products in addition to services. Many of your potential clients still need the solutions that you offer, but they may not want or be able to pay for your one-on-one services given the current state of the economy. However, since they need what you have to offer, they will be more willing to pay for your products, such as seminars, teleseminars, and e-books. Having products and services in different prices ranges will help you introduce your expertise to a wider audience, reach more people, and, ultimately, gain more clients. Here are different information products you can create to offer your potential customers: -

E-books And Special Reports. E-books are longer, and special reports are shorter manuscripts. These manuscripts are usually sold in the PDF format. The best thing about e-books and special reports is that the selling as well as the fulfillment process can be completely automated. This means that once set up, you do not have to do anything for selling and fulfillment. Everything is completely automated, so all you have to do is a happy dance when the notice of sale pops up in your mailbox.

-

Audio Products can be delivered through two different channels. They can be instantly downloaded from your web site in a popular audio format (MP3, Wave, etc.), or you could burn them onto a CD and physically ship the product. The former option is less expensive for you, which means you can keep your overhead, and therefore the customer’s price lower. However, depending on your target audience, the added expense for what is perceived as a more tangible, and therefore deluxe experience, may be better.


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



-

Teleclasses And Teleseminars. Create classes based on material you have written about. Teaching classes over the phone is an excellent way to create additional income streams based on your materials. Teleclasses are a great example of repackaging your material and selling it again and again. Material taught and discussed during teleclasses can again be reused to create special reports, e-books and audio products.

-

Workshops. Workshops (teaching classes in person) can be used to teach to many people at once, instead of doing one-on-one sessions. You also gain a back-of-the-room sales opportunity for tangible books and courses on CD or DVD.

-

Community and Membership Web Sites. Creating a community around your expertise and products and services is another way to repackage your material. Your community web site is a powerful way to increase your sphere of influence and create a group of people who are interested in you and your expertise. An example of such a site is my online business coaching web site, http://www.MarketingSalad.com/

As you can see, you can increase your profits and promote your expertise by repackaging your knowledge and materials as products. You can create a whole product empire by turning your existing products into new products. It is extremely important to have products for sale in the current economy, so that you can offer information at different price points to your potential customers.

How to use this strategy for your business: Decide on a few products that you want to create and get started! Create a few products that are of interest to your target audience so that you can offer them for sale during the next few months.


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



In fact, you may find a wealth of products already in your “sent” folder, among the emails in which you’ve provided advice to your one-on-one clients. Mine your “sent” folder, your prior articles and your whole hard drive for products just waiting to be sold. You have many choices when it comes to products - e-books, special reports, tips booklets, study courses, audio clips and full length audio products. To learn how to create your information products and make money with them, get the How To Make Thousands Of Dollars With Information Products Home Study Guide at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zmultiple

Bonus Strategy #6: Take Action! Nothing will get done until you make a decision to take action! Don’t wait until tomorrow. Get started today and you will see that you can get clients for your business, even in today’s economy! Let’s review the five marketing strategies discussed in this report:

- Change Your Marketing Mindset - Define Or Refine Your Target Market - Build Your List - Use Social Networking -

Offer Products In Addition To Services


Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



Create your own plan of action based on these steps and take action with it! Share your new marketing plan and get feedback and support at http://www.MarketingSalad.com

Thank You For Reading The Report! Thank you for reading this report. Use the marketing methods I have discussed in this report and make your business successful! I look forward to hearing about your achievements. For more help and support with getting more customers for your business, join me at the online business mentoring web site at http://www.MarketingSalad.com Copyright © Biana Babinsky and Avocado Consulting, Inc. Get Biana’s FREE Report, “How To Get Clients Online” at http://www.AvocadoConsulting.com

Avocado

Consulting, Inc.



About The Author Biana Babinsky is the online business consultant, author, expert, and entrepreneur. Online marketing is her passion. She has been in the field for the past ten years and loves every minute of it. During this time, Biana have seen numerous fashionable web trends come and go, so she focuses on using proven, long term techniques in her work. Biana holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science from Cornell University, and a Masters degree in Computer Science from Purdue University. Biana loves to write. She is the author of numerous articles, e-books and special reports and she publishes the Internet Marketing For Solopreneurs blog at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/marketing/ Here are other resources available from Biana: - Get More Clients Online Home Study Guide is your how-to guide to marketing your business online. The course describes, step-by-step, the online marketing system that you must set up for your business if you want to get clients online. Check it out at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zmarketing

- MarketingSalad.com, the Online Business Coaching Community. Join a group of business owners who are on a mission to build their online businesses and become extremely successful! Join us and get access to monthly online business teleseminars, workbooks, how-to guides and marketing support directly from me, Biana Babinsky. Learn more at http://www.MarketingSalad.com

- Effective Online Marketing Newsletter subscribe to receive tips and articles on promoting your business online and get the special report, “How To Get Clients Online” absolutely FREE: http://avocadoconsulting.com/free_newsletter.html
