Turn the corners of your mouth up.  Creating a smile triggers the immediate release of endorphins, even when you don’t feel like smiling.  Endorphins can create a feeling of happiness.

Happiness is the antithesis to stress. It is a feeling of euphoria, which in turn begins the relaxation process. Other ways to create stress relieving happiness is listen to a joke, watch a comedy or think back and relive a happy moment.

Breathe – a few minutes of breathing exercises can lower your levels of stress. Breathe into your belly just like a baby. One well known breathing technique is to breathe in for a long – count of 4 hold for 4 and exhale for 4. Here is another way to get fast results through breathing. Try putting your thumb lightly against one nostril and your forefinger against the other. Push your thumb to close its nostril off and breathe in. Then close off the other nostril with the forefinger and open the opposite to breathe out. Breathe in. Then use the thumb to close off and open the opposite nostril to breathe out. Breathe in and continue in this manner for up to five minutes to clear your head and feel much more relaxed.

Eat chocolate! There is a reason we crave chocolate when we are stressed, not only is it a comfort food for many of us but it also boosts the feel good hormones.  Choose dark chocolate that is at least 70% cacao.  If you are not used to dark chocolate work your way up to the 70% mark.  An extra plus is that dark chocolate is also rich in antioxidants.  Tastes great and is good for you in many ways.

Business Cards
Business cards are one of the most basic yet essential tools to any business. Your company’s should provide a list of the services they provide as well as a strong Quality Statement.

Brochures
A well developed brochure can not only persuade new clients to work with your company, but it will be their tool to convince their management team that your company has the capabilities and commitment to quality that they look for in new suppliers.
•    An overview and short history
•    Capabilities statement
•    Your quality statement
•    Customer quotes and testimonials

Sell Sheets
Sell sheets are the best way to provide more detailed information on your company’s core capabilities. Sell sheets can be developed to target specific industries. Sell sheets include:
•    Capabilities statement
•    Your company’s quality statement
•    A customer case study on how your company partnered with them to find cost-saving, revenue generating solutions, and improved the client’s business.

NOTE:
These should be customized by specific industry or market segment as well as specific benefit to customer to make them more meaningful and effective.

News Stories and Press Releases
It is valuable to include copies of recent news releases and published stories about your company in a sales kit. You should also include recent stories that highlight the need for the services that your company is providing including stories on new technology that your company is using.

Promotional Items
Promotional items are a great way to keep your company top of mind. Creating a unique gift in your company from concept to completion is also a great way to show what you can do. We recommend creating a unique item such as a pencil cup or paperweight that demonstrates your unique capabilities and something the client will need and/or use daily. Have your logo screen-printed on the item for name recognition. These can be used as leave-behinds by your sales team and at trade shows.

Thanks You Cards
Thank you cards are one more opportunity to keep your name in front of prospective clients. Personalized cards with your company’s logo and quality statement invites prospective clients to call you back.

If you don’t have a list, you can purchase one or more. However, make sure you’ve done your homework or marketing plan first.  When you do, you should have a full demographic and economic profile of your ideal target client.  Then, you can go “happy hunting” or purchase a list. (To make sure you purchase from a credible list provider, check and see if they are a part o the Direct Marketing Association, or even Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association.)

Now that you’ve got your list, how are you going to use it?

Databases and the information contained therein (like email addresses) is a precious commodity – equal in value to the actual product or service you make.  If you abuse it, you won’t have a client base with which to sell to.  So be mindful of HOW and with WHAT tools you are marketing to it with.

A popular tactic to market with presently is an electronic newsletter or promotion known as an “eBlast.” There’s a whole host of rules you must follow when designing and distributing these, so don’t ignore them.  (Refer to How to structure your Electronic Promotion.)  A more traditional approach is direct mail.  Either one, depending on your target customer, should always communicate these things:

1.    What your product/service is? (Features)
2.    How it can help them? (Benefits)
3.    And most important, tell them how they can get it (Action)

(1) Who you are

(2) What you do, and most important

(3) HOW you can help their business.

The right messaging will drive business to your door (via the corresponding vehicle (i.e. from a search engine to your web site to an email lead)) for your sales team to close.

1.    Focus on Solving a Customer Problem
So many blogs are mere rants about how bad or good something is and don’t have much merit.  Those that are the most successful are ones that seek to solve a customer problem.  Take note of challenges or problems your customers face or ones in your own industry, and write about how to best solve them.  Within your copy you can work in how your company has overcome these or how one of your products or services may be able to help.  Don’t be afraid to incorporate video or graphics to illustrate your point.

2.    Be consistent
Many companies only write a blog when it suits them.  This doesn’t sit well with building a group of followers or new base of customers. Instead of panicking over writing one a day or even one a week, allocate time once or twice a month to sit down and write a group of blogs on a given set of topics the meet the criteria we describe in #1 above.  In this way, you can get it done while staying in the mindset (or right side of the brain as we often say) without having to overly tax your mind and body.

NOTE:
Most blog tools like WordPress allow you to time release your bog entries.  Think about when you would like to tell people about what your thinking and use the calendar tool within your blog tool to set the date.

3.    Measure & Modify
Even after creating stunning thoughts and releasing them to the world, many companies don’t measure how their blog is doing. Have you gotten more people to subscribe to it? Have you linked it to your social media sites like LinkedIn to redistribute it and spread the word?  Consider monitoring your blog by incorporating Google Analytics into it to measure traffic.

More importantly, have you obtained new customers or customer inquiry from your efforts?  Having your sales or customer service associates ask how the client learned about you, or asking an existing customer if why they like your blog, is a start. Making note of it in your CRM system or customer tracking software is another.

Finally, be sure to ask and note which topics have been the most popular.  Consider making more blog entries about those. And, for those that haven’t been so useful, ask yourself and current customers why.  Remember, it’s a tool and it’s there to help your business grow.

The biggest reason most company’s sales begin to flounder or peter out is that the company has not re-written or even updated its marketing plan.  By doing so, you’ll be able to examine what’s working, what’s not, then learn and decide what you can do to improve things.

We often recommend that you have an outside firm like ours to facilitate you through this process.  If gives you an objective, third-party point of view, and more often than not, a new perspective on how to do things better.

Some firms even provide an incentive clause if you implement their plan, but remember, to do this, you have to openly and willingly provide intimate details (e.g. financials and goals) with which to measure your new performance against the old.

So do you need a marketing plan?  DEFINITELY!

P.S.  Creating and/or updating yours every 12 to 18 months is your best insurance against sales dips and the economy.

Organic SEO includes:  writing content relevant for readers, using keywords, page titles, page descriptions, and links – both back links from other sites and relevant directories.

In easier to understand language, the best way to achieve good Search Engine Rankings:

1.    Write good content –
Don’t make your site a “corporate valentine” to yourself.  Talk about what you know and how your company can help other companies within the copy of your site.  Customers and referring web entities will see this and be more inclined to point others to your site as a resource. Plus, if your copy doesn’t match your over all messaging (goals, mission statement, and products &/o services) people will soon ignore your site and make it irrelevant.

2.    Keywords, Tags, and Page Descriptions
Most folks don’t know what most of these are, but they use them every time they search for something on the web.  Before you have your web site built, ask your marketing department, agency or web developer if they include these and how they determine what they should be.

Most people have heard about keywords, but what they don’t realize is that they are often 3-5 words strung together that describe a product, service or outcome that your potential customer wants met.

Example:  Metal wrench for fixing dairy machines
But remember, you cannot put these key words or strings in on the back side or coding part of your site, and then not have them within the actual page content.  This disconnect will merely serve to frustrate users who will not stay on your site long and thus create a “bounce rate.”  Search engines track these and will “black list” you on those terms, so it’s important to get it right.

Like keywords, page descriptions are just as important.  Keep them clear and concise and aligned to your page content.  Feel free to also add what markets and geographic areas you service as well.

Example:
ACME Machining is a Wisconsin manufacturer that makes metal wrenches for the dairy, construction, and machining industries.

3.    Build and Foster Links – For years you’ve been forming relationships with vendors, suppliers, trade associations, professional groups and publications (who you probably advertise with.) Work with them to link back to specific areas of your site (not just your home page) to market your core capabilities and products.

Example:  If you offer laser facials, have the publication link your ad to your information page on it, or a special coupon page for their readers.

NOTE 1: A good SEO firm will also help you get listed in many local web directories.  These are often unknown to you but will drive more traffic as they point users/customers to your site that already has relevant content. So again, content is king.

NOTE 2:
We’re definitely believers in online advertising as well as print or traditional advertising.  However, we believe you should test our your site for 1-3 months before your invest in web advertising.  Search engines have gotten quicker at indexing information and you need time to see if your organic methods are working.

PPC or pay-per-click advertising is a superb method for testing out ads based on key word strings and/or advertising campaigns.  Set a budget monthly for an amount you wish to spend as part of your overall strategy before using this method.

Social Media (i.e.  Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) is also a great advertising tool, but like your web site, it must first be built to have relevant content.  It should also be linked to those areas of your corporate web site and not just be used to promote – think about using it to HELP your customers solve a problem. Finally, connect it to your blog and eNewsletters (eBlasts) to redistribute that information.

A media plan is a component of the Marketing Plan.  It is designed to specify which media tools or outlets (e.g. Television -> Local ABC affiliate) is best to communicate to your target audience.

A Marketing Plan is quite different.  It’s purpose is to provide the strategy to selling your product or service to your customer.  Moreover, it has several key components — one of which is the Media Plan. Some of the core components to a Marketing Plan should be:

• A SWOT Analysis
• Defining Your Best Customer
• Marketing Tools you are to use
• Marketing Tactics to convey or communicate your message (often where the Media Plan is placed)
• Set goals and metrics to measure success

In short, a good marketing plan will contain a media plan, but creating a media plan does not mean you have a Marketing Plan.

A very simple cure to this is to have brand standards manual in place.  For small businesses, this is often a 5-20 page document that explains how your brand is to be used.  It dictates:

1.    Short statement on who you are, what you do, your target customer, and the benefits of doing business with you.

2.    The conditions under which how the logo should be placed in any advertisement (e.g. print, web, television, radio, and electronic) – consider having prepared and providing 3-5 sample ads that can be tailored.

3.    What fonts and other colors may or may not be used in combination with it.

4.    Your branded message – often known as a slogan or tagline.

5.    Notation on what types of ads you would not like to be associated with or adjacent to.
Example:
A medical spa with rejuvenating therapies does not want to be next  to a funeral ad or a competing spa.

NOTE:

Have your agency create your Brand Standards before you have the need.  This will save you a tremendous amount of time and money, not to mention frustration of your company being promoted wrong.

If you offer more than one product, first be sure to promote and establish your parent or corporate brand.  We often advise our clients to choose one product or service they provide, and build their core brand from that first.  Too many messages out there on a myriad of products or services you sell before establishing your brand, can kill it before it evensine has time to germinate and grow.

Having a marketing plan in place that examines, discusses, and sets forth specific objectives will make this journey a lot easier.  It sets not only your brand standards (use of your logo, compatible colors, fonts etc) and messaging (what is said and how it is to be used), but the goals and tactics associated with each so you’ll know what tools to use and when you’ve been successful.

Without doing this, you’re just shooting from the hip hoping you’ll hit something.