 If you are trying to build a personal brand in order to build trust and authority in your niche, then one vital strategy is to try and get to a point where your visitors feel as though they know you. This way, they will be far more likely to trust your future posts and far more likely to want to listen to you when you suggest buying a product. READ MORE: Download your free weekly social media planner Think about it: who would you be more likely to listen to in regards to buying a product, a friend or an advert? The answer is the friend and that's because we feel as though we know them and thus can trust their judgement. If you can be seen in the same way, then your suggestions will carry much more clout and you will seem much more persuasive. READ MORE: Download your free weekly social media planner So how do you go about establishing this sense of trust and of knowing? Here are a few options: Write in the First Person The first tip is to occasionally write in the first person. You may have learned in school that writing in third person was preferable for business as it sounds more professional and authoritative but if you want your readers to feel as though they know you and as though you are personally recommending something, then writing in first person makes a lot more sense. Use 'I's and 'Me's and generally write as though you're talking to that person. READ MORE: Download your free weekly social media planner Be Honest Don't just write in first person, make sure you're being honest too. If you have concerns about a product then say it. Not only does this fill in your personality but it also shows that you're willing to 'tell it how it is'. The same goes for talking about issues in your personal life which has the added bonus of making you more relatable. Include Images Including images of yourself is a great way to help people feel as though they're getting to know you. If you're writing about the benefits of a certain exercise, then why not include an image of you performing that exercise? This is also a good way to get graphics for your site without paying for stock images. READ MORE: Download your free weekly social media planner Go on Camera Better yet is to put yourself on camera. If you are confident enough, then going on Facebook Live or YouTube is a great way to reach a larger audience in a way that will leave a more lasting impression. To Your Success! Lindsey x 
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 What makes a successful entrepreneur?
Of course, the answer to that is many different things but one of them is definitely their ability to know what is going on within their own industry, within the world of business in general and especially with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. Successful business owners keep up-to-date with what is going on and stay informed of the latest trends, market shifts and opportunities so that they can take any advantage they can get to make their business grow. So, how do they stay in the loop so successfully? Successful Entrepreneurs Talk to Other Entrepreneurs People in business for themselves don’t exist in a vacuum. Besides their customers, suppliers and all of the other support systems that they have around their business, they also have friends and colleagues that are also entrepreneurs and keeping up with these people is one of the best ways that they have at staying informed. Whatever the virtual water cooler happens to be for these entrepreneurs – usually a forum or social media network – they share information, give advice and keep each other updated about business. Successful Entrepreneurs Read One thing that you will notice about those successful in the business world is they tend to read publications, websites or even social media posts about their business – and that includes books by some of the most successful motivational authors. Successful people like to stay informed and they like to learn new things. There is so much information on the Internet that you could spend decades learning about a subject and still not know everything about it and being as informed as possible is equal to being as successful as possible. Successful Entrepreneurs Use the Information to Improve Their Business All this information that they gather isn't just going to sit stagnant, either. They are going to use this information to improve their business, increase their revenue or bring in more customers. Successful entrepreneurs know when they learned something useful and work to implement it as quickly as possible. Successful Entrepreneurs Help Others Another thing that you’ll see the more and more successful entrepreneurs doing is helping other people. They have been where the starting entrepreneur is and remember what it was like to enter the fray with only the basics. Most successful entrepreneurs are more than willing to share their knowledge. To your success! Lindsey x  In the world of entrepreneurship there are times when your strategy is going to fail.
Obviously, your goal is to minimise this is much as possible and work as hard as you can to make a strategy work so that it doesn't fail. But sometimes, there is nothing you can do to avoid it and you must cut your losses and move on. But before you go on to the next opportunity, you should know how to make the most of a failed strategy and learn from it so you’ll be better in the future. Find out Why It Didn't Work Your first task is to find out why the strategy didn't work. This might be difficult but it will be vital to not making the same mistake in the future. If you just shrug your shoulders and move on, you could make the same mistakes in the future that cause the strategy to fail. But if you know what mistakes you made, how to fix them or avoid them in the future, you’ll have a big head start towards connect opportunity. Keep in mind, it is usually a combination of several factors that make a strategy fail and not just one single problem. Don’t Let Discouragement and Negativity Keep You from Moving Forward Just because a business strategy failed doesn't mean that you, personally, are a failure. In fact, the very fact that you failed shows that you’re willing to take a risk and put yourself out there. Most successful people fail several times before they get it right. If they had stopped after one or two failures they would've never gotten to the point they are today. A good example of this is novelist Stephen King. He had hundreds of rejection slips posted on his wall before finally getting published and now he’s one of the most successful novelists of the 20Th century. Find out What Did Work Finally, you’re going to break down the strategy as you’re looking for reasons that it failed and find out what things did work. You can use those same things in the future when you’re ready to begin a new strategy. Knowing what worked and what didn't can be a powerful asset in your next endeavour and understanding what actually did work can teach you just as much is figuring out what didn't work about a strategy. To Your Success! Lindsey x  Are you a morning person? Many people enjoy getting up at the crack of dawn and having a cup of coffee while they browse the web and others prefer to sleep in as long as possible, but the most successful people in the world embrace the mornings and in fact there are certain habits that the successful people all seem to share. READ MORE: Quick and Easy Website Tweaks to Automate Your Sales Funnel Here are five powerful habits that will help you become more successful: Get up Early: Have you heard the adage early to bed, early to rise? The rest of it is that it makes people healthy, wealthy and wise but in this case it really does make you more successful. If you read about the most successful entrepreneurs out there, you will notice that they get up very early and start their day – and they usually get quite a bit accomplished in the morning as well. Start with Exercise: Studies have shown that people who exercise in the morning are much better equipped to handle the day. You’ll be able to use your brain better, you’ll have more energy and you will simply be better at all of the tasks that you attempt after a half hour or so of exercise. This doesn’t have to be extremely strenuous; it could just be a jog through the park or a bike ride. The important thing is that you exercise. READ MORE: Quick and Easy Website Tweaks to Automate Your Sales Funnel Eat a Good Breakfast: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and you probably know that because experts have been saying it for decades. If you aren’t a breakfast person, you’re not alone. There are lots of people out there who prefer not to eat breakfast and just wait until lunch rolls around. But eating breakfast could help you be more productive and if you try it once you might find that you really enjoy the results. Do the Hardest Thing First: When you get started in the morning don’t go with the easy tasks first. Tackle the hardest project that you have; the one that you’re dreading above all of the others. Once you get that one out of the way you’ll find that the other projects are easy to accomplish and your day will go much smoother. READ MORE: Quick and Easy Website Tweaks to Automate Your Sales Funnel Prepare the Previous Day: The night before, try to prepare as much as you can so that you’re ready to sit down and get to work as soon as morning comes. Before I go to bed I always put a 'to do' list together and it gives me something to work from the next day. It's such a great feeling being organised and ticking off your work tasks as you go through the day. To Your Success! Lindsey x www.digital-duchess.com   If you’re thinking about advertising your business on social media, there’s never been a better time. If you’re running a business online you’re probably already using social media to build brand awareness - yet most people using Instagram are spending a ton of precious time posting updates instead of attracting targeted leads.
In that case, integrating Instagram into your marketing mix is a good decision. It’s become pretty obvious that social media advertising is a powerful and influential way to share information with new and current customers but it isn’t always easy attracting your target audience with posts and updates. You would think it would be easy, especially with people are on their mobile devices all day, but if you’re just posting to a broad audience your message can get lost on deaf ears. Users are accustomed to seeing ads popping up everywhere and on almost every social platform but because Instagram’s ads show up in the user’s feed with the same format as a regular post, users are more inclined to click through. Billion dollar industry revenues aside, marketers and small businesses should integrate Instagram into an overall marketing strategy. Instagram is great at generating curiosity around both physical and online products or services and it’s used to keep fans informed about your brand, people and company values. It serves as a two-way feedback loop between customers and products, organisations or companies. Fortunately for small business owners this growing social media platform has become a measurable driver of both sales and lead generation. Knowing the power of Instagram has made it one of the most popular social media platforms in the world and learning to leverage it to grow your business is another key part of your marketing success. To Your Success! Lindsey x  When it comes to building and using a mailing list, there are certain tools that can help and certain tools that are an absolute must.
Key among that second category are autoresponders. Autoresponders are tools that you use to manage your email list and that allow your members to sign up and unsubscribe while giving you a convenient place to store your email addresses, to send out emails, to create autoresponder sequences and to build your opt-in forms. If you are serious about making money online then there is no other way for you to do this without having an autoresponder. The question is: Which autoresponder do you go for? There are two big options here: AWeber and GetResponse. Here is how they differ and which is ultimately the best for your goals. Cost When it comes to cost, there is no clear winner as they both use somewhat 'non-linear' pricing structures. An AWeber subscription fee will set you back $19 a month, $49 a quarter or $194 a year. You can save money by paying up-front though but either way you'll have to pay an additional fee depending on how many users you have. If you have under 500 there's no additional fee but for accounts with 500+ there's an additional $10 charge. This goes all the way up to $130 if you have 10,000+ and there's an 'unlisted' fee for accounts with over 25,000 addresses. GetResponse meanwhile only has a monthly pricing plan which starts at $15 for 1,000 members and goes all the way up to $250 for 50,000 members. 25,000 will cost you $145. So the 'winner' here really depends on how many subscribers you have. Ultimately though, GetResponse will be a little cheaper in most scenarios which gives it an edge. In the long term, the winner will also depend on what the 'unlisted' fee for AWeber is for 25,000+ members. It just says to 'contact AWeber' which is worrying. Features In terms of features, who wins? Both have all the tools and options you might want but according to the majority of feedback on the web, AWeber is slightly easier and more intuitive to navigate and use. AWeber also claims it has the best delivery rates with little to none of their emails ending up in spam. They also have very highly rated customer service. GetResponse might lose a few points in these regards though but is certainly serviceable. And they do have some useful tools of their own too - such as a squeeze page builder. Overall, the two tools are both very capable but AWeber might give you a little extra clout for a slightly higher fee. You may have noticed from the emails I send out, they are all coming from an AWeber account. I absolutely love this autoresponder as it is so easy to use, it has great design templates for your email newsletters and I find it really reliable. However, it all depends on your budget and what you want to get out of your email marketing. Check out both their sites and work out which is the best one for you: www.aweber.com www.getresponse.co.uk To Your Success! Lindsey x  If you're sitting on a mailing list of 1,000+ right now, then chances are you're probably feeling pretty good. A lot of business owners would give their left arm to be in your position as the potential for earning from this is huge. It's taken work and dedication but you did it and you deserve to give yourself a pat on the back. READ MORE: Email Marketing: From Hot Mess to Mega Success in 7 Days But just having a mailing list is not enough. This is only a small part of the puzzle. What's actually more important is to keep your subscribers engaged. That means making sure they keep reading, it means making sure that they are keen to find out more about what you're selling and it means having them primed to convert and buy your products when the time comes. Let's look at how you can go about doing that. Post Regularly If you have a mailing list and you message your members once every month, then you can't expect them to be all that interested in what you have to say. There is a momentum here, so you need to keep up that relationship and ensure that you stay in the forefront of their minds. Avoid a situation where they see your name in their inbox and think: 'who?'. READ MORE: Email Marketing: From Hot Mess to Mega Success in 7 Days But Not Too Regularly On the other hand though, don't message four times a week to the point where they're sick of hearing from you. Leave them wanting more, not feeling desensitized to your message and anything you possibly could have to say. Provide Value This is the most important point of all. Make sure that your emails provide value in some form or other by being entertaining, informative or useful. Try to give some kind of tip in every single message that will have a positive impact on their lives and this way they will end up looking forward to what's coming next. READ MORE: Email Marketing: From Hot Mess to Mega Success in 7 Days Tease Being a tease is a good thing in the world of digital marketing. Tell your readers what is coming up next and try to build some anticipation at the end of each message. Think of this like a serial novel being published in a magazine and end every chapter on a cliff-hanger! Ask Questions Another useful strategy is to ask questions or even to ask your members for favours. This is a very personal way to communicate with an audience, so take advantage of that by actually interacting with them. If they feel they're contributing, then they'll be more likely to want to help. READ MORE: Email Marketing: From Hot Mess to Mega Success in 7 Days To Your Success! Lindsey xx   If you're looking for a quick and highly effective way to reach a massive audience, then Facebook advertising is an excellent option.
Here are the five biggest reasons for this and why you should consider it for your business. It's PPC PPC means 'Pay Per Click' and is also the format of another very popular advertising network: Google AdWords. The appeal of PPC is that you don't pay anything if your ad isn't effective. You are only paying when someone actually clicks on your advert meaning you get free exposure for your brand and meaning that you won't pay a penny if your ad doesn't encourage anyone to actually visit your site. If you then make sure you dissuade anyone who isn't likely to be a customer in your ad, you can almost guarantee ROI. It Fits Any Budget Due to the nature of Facebook ads, this also means you can always afford them no matter your budget. You set the amount you are willing to pay out each time someone clicks on an ad and the only drawback for making this number low is that your ad won't be shown as often. Even if you only spend a few dollars or pounds a week you can still try it out. It's Highly Targeted An advantage that Facebook has over Google is that it lets you target specific demographics. In other words you can choose to only show your ad to people who are single, married, above a certain age, female… etc. All this data allows you to avoid wasting money on people who aren't in your target audience and while Google AdWords is targeted in a different way (it lets you address people searching for particular subjects) it doesn't provide quite the same control. Facebook now also allows you to target people by their precise location. It's Social Another great advantage of Facebook ads over Google AdWords is that it incorporates the power of Facebook's social aspect. People can like your adverts and share them, or you can use them to direct people directly to your Facebook page to get more likes there. If social media marketing is a big part of your strategy then the two are highly synergistic. It's Easy Getting started on Facebook is incredibly fast and simple meaning that you can have an ad campaign up and running in no time to start generating revenue. To Your Success! Lindsey x  Twitter may have been around for years and has millions of users around the world, but many people still don’t really know what the site is and how to use it.
Many businesses have a limited knowledge of Twitter and that means they are missing out on massive opportunities to increase their popularity, market their goods and services, and also create a loyal group of fans. To improve your business marketing on Twitter there are a few fundamentals you need to get to grips with first: What Is Twitter? Twitter is among the most popular social networking sites on the Internet. Millions of people all over the world use it everyday to send tweets (short posts that are 140 characters long). Everyday thousands of people are signing up to the site to write tweets, follow celebrities, catch up with breaking news and to boost their businesses. How Can You Use It? Twitter allows you to follow other people whether that is celebs, experts in your industry or just your friends. It also allows you to get involved in world-wide conversations on subjects that are trending on the Internet. As a Twitter user you can create an awesome profile for yourself or business and build a community of followers which will allow you to market your products or services and make lots of sales. You can also link your website or blog to your Twitter account to improve your visibility and website traffic. What Are Its Benefits? The power of Twitter is immense as it’s one of the most powerful marketing tools on the Internet. You can reach and engage with people all over the world- you can get close to celebrities or experts in your industry and learn loads from them. It’s also a brilliant tool for helping to build a brand as well as a tribe of loyal followers who will look forward to what you have got to say on a daily basis. If used properly then Twitter can help you grow and improve your business on a massive scale. So, if your company doesn't have a very good Twitter account at the moment or it has been lying dormant for a while, then now is the best time to have a look at it and make it start working for your business. It could be one of the best things you do for your business! To Your Success! Lindsey x  If you are using a landing page or squeeze page to try and get subscribers for your email list, then knowing how to write persuasive text will make all the difference to your success.
If you do this well, then you can make your mailing list sound like a fantastic opportunity that anyone would be mad to turn down. What's more, you can sell the 'value proposition' and help your visitors to imagine how signing up might benefit them. So how do you go about doing this? If you don't naturally have the gift of the gab, how do you get that audience eating out of your hands? Use a Narrative People love following a narrative. We are naturally compelled to find stories about other people interesting and that's why we'll often find ourselves watching trash on TV. When writing a landing page, your main objective is to try and get people interested right from the start and to hook them in before they leave the site. Using a narrative structure is a great way to achieve that and to compel your audience to read on, so tell them how the information you're sharing helped you and get them to emotionally invest in what you're saying. Skip the Introduction Also important for getting people to engage from the start is to skip past the introduction and to get right to the point. Don't build anticipation for what you're about to say or set the scene, just hit them with what you're going to share or with a surprising statistic. Appeal to Facts Speaking of which, quoting facts and figures is a great way to support your point. Again, it's a natural inclination for us to trust numbers and this is a great way to lend more credibility to what you're saying. Use Headlines Having lots of bold headings is a good way to break up your text and make it less daunting and easier to read. Moreover, it means that you can still reel in those readers who are just 'skimming' over your content. This is how a lot of people read, so your objective is to tell the whole story through your headings if possible. Sell the Value Proposition Finally, try to focus on what it is that you're actually selling. How will your product or service benefit your readers? How will it change their life? Believe in what you sell and through your writing make your potential customers believe in it too. To Your Success! Lindsey xx  Marketing your business takes up so much time and effort.
It's can sometimes seem overwhelming, so much so, it can be so easy to just put marketing to one side in order to focus on other areas of your business that you feel are more important. However, I believe there is no other area more important than marketing your business properly. Marketing your company is a crucial part of growing your business. It is so important to keep on making sure you write your blog posts, encourage sign ups to your newsletter and post on at least Facebook and Twitter every day. Now, I know posting on social media can take up a lot of your day. Social media sucks you in and before you know it you have lost three hours of your busy schedule. That's why I really recommend you invest in some form of automation software. It was driving me absolutely bonkers not having anything to help me schedule my content. When I first started my business I would stress out if I was in a meeting or out with my husband or friends and I knew it was time to post on my social accounts, but I couldn't. The best thing I did was sign up to www.hootsuite.com This social media automation website saved my sanity. I can now go about my daily business and not worry about my social media posts because it is all done for me. You would not believe how much stress has been lifted from me. I can go to the cinema, go out to dinner or go on holiday and I know my tweets, Facebook messages and LinkedIn articles will all be posted without me manually doing it. Every Sunday I will sit down for an hour and schedule my social media posts for the week ahead. Using Hootsuite is so easy as I can manage all my social media accounts at the one time on the one dashboard. I absolutely love it! When I go away on honeymoon in a couple of months I will scheduled all my social media for the three weeks I will be visiting Mickey Mouse. Now, don't get me wrong, you have to put the hard work in to make sure you have valuable content your followers want to read or watch. Before I launched my business I wrote a load of articles and created free reports to give away on my website. I made sure I had enough content to populate my blog and autoresponder, and enough content that I could post at least once an hour on my Twitter feed. Every day I write at least one blog post. You might think that is a lot but you can do it too. At night spend an hour less in front of the TV and write some content. When you are sat on the train on the way home from work, stop looking at Facebook and get writing. I am actually writing this blog post while my colour is being applied at the hairdressers. If you want your business to grow you have to make time to market your business. So this week I urge you to try and write something everyday and at the weekend take a couple of hours to plan your week ahead and schedule your social media. I guarantee you that you will be a happier person as a result, and your business will be in better shape because of it. To your success! Lindsey X  Once you've gone to all the effort of setting up your social media accounts the real work begins.
If you thought it was hard choosing a profile picture, writing your bio and picking a cover image… well now you have to make sure that you are regularly posting high quality, interesting and engaging content on a highly consistent basis. Forever… No biggy then! While delivering consistently high quality posts on Facebook is hard though – and can present something of a steep learning curve – the good news is that you will only get better over time. And to help you get a head start, here are some pointers that can help you to start being more engaging and interesting right now. Write for Your Audience Should you be funny or serious? Professional or chatty? There's no single answer to these types of questions – it all depends on the specific market that you're hoping to promote your products and services to. And for that reason it pays to keep this in mind at all times. If you struggle to do so, then take a piece of paper and pen and profile your ideal customer. How old are they? What gender? What sort of job do they do? What are their hobbies? Goals and dreams? Write these things down and give that person a name. From this point on, imagine that every single post you write is being written for them. This will help you to find the right tone. Remember: you won't please everyone, so focus on pleasing the right people. Be Interesting It sounds obvious right? But you'd be surprised how many businesses forget this one key fact. How many times have you seen articles like 'The 10 Best Ab Exercises'? Probably a million right? So you're hardly going to click on it. On the other hand, if you're writing things like 'Why Sit Ups May be the WORST Way to Build Abs' then you just might pique someone's interest. Always ask yourself: would you read it? Ask Questions Asking questions will allow you to engage with your audience, which is what 'engaging' means. Remember: most people are narcissists and as such they love a chance to make their opinion known. Stay On-Topic While you can veer a little bit, remember that the people who are following you are doing so for a reason. They're interested in the niche/industry you operate in so make sure your content stays focused on that and doesn't meander. To Your Success! Lindsey x  Video marketing your business is a really powerful way to boost your credibility and your sales.
There are a range of different ways you can use a video to promote your business. Which one you choose will ultimately depend on your specific business objectives. Here are 12 to choose from: Talking Head Video This is what most people think of when they think video. Basic “head and shoulders,” direct to the camera, standard shot. The talking head video is popular because it works. Interview Video Besides you talking, you can add another person to the mix and make it an interview video. Interview videos can be two or more people on camera. Interview videos can be easily created using Skype, Google Hangouts or Oovoo.com. Live Webcast Video This provides the ability to interact with your viewers live. If you have a webcam and an idea, you can produce a live webcast, anytime, anywhere. PowerPoint Video Because of its simplicity, the narrated PowerPoint video is a very popular format. You can use PowerPoint or Keynote for Mac. Tips Series Video If you want to establish a presence on YouTube, a tips series is ideal for you. Also, video tips help to establish you as an expert in your niche and build your credibility. Live Demo Video (on-camera) On camera demonstrations are among the most effective videos you can produce. It can be as simple as teaching live to the camera. You can use resources to help you teach your point, like a whiteboard for example. Sales Video This kind of video consists of a PowerPoint with a voice over or simply text and narration. Launch Series Video These videos usually come before a sales video in a launch sequence of three or four videos. The idea is to provide value and establish credibility before releasing the final “pitch” video at the end of the series. Customer Testimonial Video Testimonial videos are powerful. You can promote a specific product or service by embedding these on your website or on a sales page. Teaching/Webinar Video You can use a recorded webinar, using Camtasia or any other software of your preference, as a video for sales or distribution. You can post the video webinar on YouTube, or on your own website. Animated Video Video creation sites like nawmal.com and GoAnimate.com have opened up new possibilities for creating your own cartoons. Video Email It is a great way to connect and engage with your customers, colleagues or prospects. It can be made by simply using your webcam. It is incredibly easy to record and send a video email. There are free websites providing this service, such as MailVu.com or Eyejot.com. Video email provides a powerful, personal touch that makes you stand out. To Your Success! Lindsey x  Video marketing makes you stand out from the crowd. It is that simple!
Every day the number of Internet businesses is growing and so is the list of competitors, so why would consumers choose your business through the Internet? Could video make the difference and increase your sales? Here are 10 reasons why I think you should use video to help boost your business: People Will Get to Know Who You Are Today, it's estimated that over 40% of Internet traffic is devoted to videos, so advertising your business through video could really work in your favour. The easiest way to make yourself known is through videos or images, because these draw the attention of viewers. Potential customers are more likely to remember who you are if they see you on video. It's more likely a person will watch a video than read a page By using a video, you can quickly capture the attention of potential customers. People are so busy these days that more people would rather watch a video than read your content on your blog or website. Videos always make an impact People can learn faster about a product through a video than by any other means. An example of this would be when someone wants to know what a certain movie is about. By watching its trailer, they get the information they want and are left with a desire to watch the whole movie. In business, videos work the same way. Watching a video is much faster than reading all the content. It builds confidence Internet commerce is increasing all the time. More people are looking for someone to trust when it comes to spending their money, and videos can generate that kind of trust. It is easier to show people your team-work, your facilities or your products, through a video than through text, and when people can SEE what you have to offer then they are more likely to trust you, and ultimately spend with you. Make a difference On the web, you will find many competitors, and in many cases selling the same product. The main difference resides in how you promote yours. Using a video is the best way of doing it. So many businesses aren't using video to promote their goods and services, you can make such a difference by creating just a couple of videos for your website and social media accounts. It generates traffic It is very easy to share the content of a video on the internet. You can pop your video on a variety of websites and social media platforms and they will generate free traffic towards your website, blog or Facebook page. Sell more The increase in traffic you can experience will have a direct impact on sales. Even if the video reaches just a few people, it has a higher chance to convert into a sale. At the end of each video you can include a call to action urging viewers to either sign up to your email list or to visit your website. Free advertising Advertising on TV is so expensive- advertising on the Internet is not. Yes a video takes a bit of time to create, but once you have completed it and posted it on the Internet it is a FREE advert for your business. And the best part is that many more potential clients could see you on the Internet than they would ever see you on your local TV channel. Reach a specific target audience The majority of people who surf the internet are looking for information. If you want to find a video about a specific topic, you are 100% sure that you will find what you are looking for. For that reason, video marketing is a very easy way to reach those people who are interested in the product you are offering. This method allows you to interact with your customers in a way for them to see you as an expert, which mean you can also build trust. Your videos can convey any kind of message you want Your videos are only as limited as your imagination. You can create adverts, presentations, testimonials or product reviews, or you can create a range of these different videos. Each one has their own benefits. Video marketing is huge at the moment and you don't have to have a huge budget to make a difference online. So what are you waiting on? No excuses.Try making a video this week and watch the difference it will make to your business. To Your Success! Lindsey x  Some of you will be wondering who the heck I am and what gives me the right to tell you about how to market your business online.
My names is Lindsey Archibald, or Lindsey Archibald Crumlish, as I just recently got married ;-) I live in Glasgow but I come from an awesome small town in Scotland called Denny. Thanks to my dad always telling me to reach for the stars when I was a kid, I always knew I wanted to be a journalist- especially a TV news reporter. My teachers at school thought I was crazy. "Nobody from Denny has ever been on TV news," was their reply when I told them what I wanted to do after leaving school. And despite my grades being good, they just didn't think I would make it in such a competitive industry. Well, for the last 15 years I've been a journalist working in, and presenting on, TV, Radio, Newspapers, Online and Marketing. A few years ago I was actually asked back to my old High School to give a talk about my career and present awards at the annual prize giving ceremony. I was greeted by the teacher who told me I couldn't make it in the media industry, to her credit she walked straight over to me and apologised. Now, part of me wanted to tell her where to go, but it was enough just to see her squirm when she met me haha. Over the last decade and a half I've had the most amazing career. I've reported and presented for some of the biggest media companies in Britain, I've worked in New York, interviewed some of the biggest celebrities, sports stars and politicians in the world, had my own TV show and got to travel the world while writing about my experiences. However, it has not all been a bed of roses. I've had to fight for every opportunity I've been given in my career, I've had to endure a cut-throat industry filled with many pressures and I've had to maintain my determination and belief even when my world fell apart when I lost my job back in 2009. The TV company I was working for went into administration and I found myself sitting on a train with my belongings, and career in a box. I was devastated. I had my own TV show. "Where the hell do I go for here?", I kept asking myself. TV jobs like that are few and far between. After a few weeks of futile job hunting, I wondered what I was going to do to make money. So, I decided to start up my own business. It was an online magazine aimed at professional businessmen who loved their luxuries. The magazine used technology which made it look like an actual magazine on your screen, you could flick through it while watching videos and listening to interviews. My first magazine looked amazing. It was packed full of celebrity columnists and got great publicity. Despite me attending every business class known to man, within seven months my business had failed. I had invested thousands into the business but I got my sums wrong and spent too much money on the design of the products, while paying staff who didn't bring in any advertising sales. I was left with nothing but debt and the feeling of absolute failure. I was embarrassed and devastated after all the hard work I'd put in and the faith people had shown in me that I would succeed. So now I had no TV job, a failed business and debt to deal with. I had to pick myself up off the floor and press reset on my career and go back to where I'd started- Radio. I loved every single minute of being back broadcasting and I was so grateful to certain people who had given me a chance to get back to doing what I'd loved. From there I started building my career again and ended up back on TV. But a few years ago I decided on a complete career change. I wanted to work online. So I left TV to join a national newspaper as their deputy online editor. It was the best career decision I've ever made. I could combine all my journalistic experience with the marketing knowledge I'd gained in London years previous, along with my online knowledge I'd gained from my failed Internet business. As a result, I now feel able to share with you everything I have learned on my roller-coaster journey. From my successes and failures, I am determined to make sure you don't make the same mistakes I made, and instead focus on the techniques and strategies I've learned over the years that can help you in your business. All successful people and business owners have failed at something in their lives but the key is to keep going and eventually you will be a success at whatever you do. Online is the future to your success and that's why I am here to help you take steps towards a better business and hopefully financial freedom. Don't be a Digital Dinosaur! To Your Success! Lindsey x  Social media is a fantastic marketing tool and there are many ways you can monetise a large number of followers or likes and be highly successful as a result.
At the same time though, social media also has some significant limitations. Chief among these is the fact that it means you're relying on a third party to give you access to your fans. If Facebook change their terms and conditions (which they often do) your 'page' can become worthless to you overnight. What's more, if someone leaves Facebook, you'll lose access to them. A mailing list is a much better and more direct way to communicate with your followers but unfortunately it is also harder to build and grow seeing as people can tend to be rather protective over their personal details. The goal then, is to take your social media account and to convert those followers into subscribers. Here's how you can go about doing this: Share Posts One of the main ways you can turn your social media followers into subscribers is to share content. This way, you'll get them to leave the social media site and go somewhere where you can embed an opt-in form. By creating quality content you will allow your followers to believe you are an authority in your chosen industry and they will want to sign up to your email list. Talk About Your Offers and Products With a social media account you have a captive audience and you can use that to build interest in what you're offering. If you often provide discounts and special offers from your mailing list then you can just talk about all the exciting offers and provide links to your mailing list. Likewise, if you have a forthcoming product, you can talk about the benefits and suggest people subscribe if they want more information. Engage Using social media gives you a great chance to engage and discuss things with your audience. Make sure you ask and answer questions and create discussion. This way, people will feel more 'involved' with what you are doing and will want to take that further by signing up to become a 'VIP' member. Provide Value Most importantly, make sure you provide value by making interesting and entertaining posts regularly. This way people will assume your mailing list will offer value too! Until the next time, have a successful day Lindsey x  Social media is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that can help you to reach a potentially unlimited number of people with the very minimum investment in terms of time, money and effort.
But while social media might be incredibly powerful, it's still only going to be as good as the strategy you have in place and if you haven't first established yourself as a credible authority then you'll find that everything you do falls on deaf ears. To improve your effectiveness then, you should make this one of your biggest focusses. Here are ten ways to build that credibility… Create a Blog Then fill it with well-researched, in-depth and informative posts and share them on social media. This is content marketing 101 and one of the best ways to establish trust and authority. If you can't write, hire someone who can to do it for you. Build Followers Unfortunately, if you have a social media account with 14 followers, you will have a hard time convincing people to put stock in what you say. Of course it shouldn't necessarily matter but it does. People see this as an indicator of your authority – so get to work growing that number. Be Personal People like to know that there's a real human being behind a social media account which can help to build trust and therefore credibility. Every now and then posting a personal image will help to build that connection with your fans. But Not too Personal… That said, a drunken rant or a Tweet about your toilet habits can also seriously undermine your respectability. You might think it's amusing/poignant but your business account is not the place for that kind of content. Branding Your social media pages should have strong branding that utilises high definition images and well written information. Make sure that everything says 'quality'. Spelling Does a misspelling necessarily mean that your interesting fact isn't true? It shouldn't do really but to a large portion of your audience it does. Post Regularly If you go days, weeks or months on end without posting then your social media will look like a ghost town which suggests it's not a professional account. Network One of the easiest ways to be persuasive is to appeal to another authority on a given subject. If you can get a referral from another big social media account then this will help you greatly. Participate Communities on social media give you a chance to answer questions and demonstrate that you know your stuff. You should consider this almost as an opportunity to 'advertise' your expertise and knowhow. Deliver Quality Most importantly: make sure that all your posts are interesting/entertaining and that you are consistently delivering quality and value. To Your Success! Lindsey x  YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the Internet, but it is one form of marketing that many businesses don't bother with as it means actually creating a video.
Video marketing can be extremely powerful for your business as it looks really professional and it can make you look like an authority in your chosen industry. However, to be good at promoting your business on YouTube there are a few things you should do and a few things you should definitely not do. Do’s · Ensure your content is always fresh and provides real value to your audience · Ensure your videos go along with your keywords and have catchy headlines · Make sure your channel looks attractive with a good header · Upload videos regularly · Collaborate with various YouTube channel owners to promote each others videos Don’ts · Avoid trying hard to make your videos go viral. · Do not dwell on viewer numbers as a way of gauging your traffic. · Avoid putting your most popular content at the top as your other videos won't get many views. · Do not mix up consumer and corporate content. · Do not ignore feedback whether it is positive or some being critical. To Your Success! Lindsey x  Growing your social media followers can be a really tough and frustrating experience- that’s because you don’t get thousands of likes or followers overnight.
It takes patience to watch your account grow- and patience is not my strong point. I want things to have happened yesterday. As a business owner you probably feel the same, but when it comes to boosting your social media profiles there are a few things you can try. If you want to grow your social media account then you should be actively looking for new ways to get extra followers. The more followers you get, the larger the number of people that each of your new posts will be automatically broadcast to. But how do you go about growing your followers when you're starting from the beginning? Add People This is one of the simplest and easiest ways to get more followers – simply head onto your platform of choice and then go about adding as many people as you can. What you'll find is that a large proportion of those people you add will respond in kind and immediately add you back. It can be slow going but it's an almost guaranteed way to extend your reach and influence. Reshare Retweeting, repining or resharing is one of the very best ways to grow your following. Why? Because once again the people you help out will often want to do the same for you and that way you can expose yourself to their audience too. Team Up If you find the above strategy doesn't work then you should try agreeing to team up before you go ahead. Give a shout out to your followers in exchange for someone else doing the same for you and you both will stand to benefit. Use Smart Hashtags Using the right hashtags means people will easily find your posts when they're looking for related topics. Check what's trending then post about that. Encourage Sharing Some posts are simply more shareable than others. Amusing videos are always a good way to get a share or retweet – as is writing a positive review (as the company you are reviewing will often want to spread your message). Cross Pollinate If you have a captive audience already then make sure you leverage that opportunity. Ask your blog readers to follow you, your YouTube audience, your mailing list – even customers who you see in person! Build Followers This sounds like a catch22 but the more followers you have the more followers you will continue to gain. The reason for this is simple: people like to join accounts that look popular. For this reason followers attract followers and once you build up enough, it will become self-perpetuating. To Your Success! Lindsey x  Writing a press release can be such a simple and easy way for your business to get coverage. However, the mere thought of writing a press release and sending it to a newspaper, radio or TV company is enough to strike fear into most people. Don't be scared. I've been a journalist for 15 years, working across TV, Radio, Online and Newspapers and every day of my working life I've had to search for content to fill my news bulletins or web pages. Press releases can lead to thousands of pounds or dollars of free coverage for your business. You can connect with your target audience and also create buzz about your upcoming offers, products and launches in such an easy way. You can actually distribute your release by hiring press release distribution and circulation outlets and use them to tweak, and submit your press release to all major blogs, content syndication and media outlets. However, you can also submit your press releases through free distribution channels. I can't stress enough how awesome a press release is for positioning your business so as to get mass exposure. They also make your business seem like an authority in your industry. You have to make sure though that what you say is interesting; otherwise it will get deleted at the other end. As a journalist I have been sent thousands of bad press releases over the years which I have binned from my inbox. Your press release has to grab the journalist's attention. Here is what makes a good press release: Date and Time: On top of all your news releases, you should put the date and time, either indicating when the information should be made available to the public, or simply write “For Immediate Release” if you want to make it ready for immediate distribution. Headline: You have to have a catchy headline. Create the summary of your message or storyline in a few words. The aim of this is to instantly capture the attention of your clients and potential customers. Subhead: This can be used to give further details on the headline and allow the readers to collect more information about your branding message. Date: Add the day of release and place of origin of your document (city or state). You can simply add your website address or even include your company’s address. Introduction: In the first paragraph at the beginning of the press release that should explain the basic elements of the press release such as how, where, who, when, why and what. Body: Use this to expand on the introduction and dive into your story. Support your assertions with statistics, details and trend information to help you pass your message across. Include some quotes from yourself in the press release or from whoever you are talking about. Biography of company: Write the background of yourself and/or your company and the services it offers. This would be just a few sentences at the end of your press release. Closing marks: Make sure you have the word ENDS in block capitals at the end of your press release to mark its conclusion. Your contact information: You should include your contact information, website URL and any other details people can use to contact you. You would be surprised how many press releases I've received without any contact details on them. All that work gone to waste. One page: And finally, please make sure your press release is just one page of A4. Us journalists are super busy and we have limited attention spans, so please make your release no longer than one page, otherwise it will probably be overlooked. No matter what line of business you are in you will have information that will benefit people. Become an expert in your field by submitting regular press releases to the media. If you don't think your story will appeal to a national TV, radio or newspaper audience then please don't worry as there are so many local newspapers and TV channels that, like me, are always looking for ways to fill their shows, columns and news bulletins. Don't be afraid to get in touch with the media- it could be one of the best things you will ever do for your business.   Writing copy for all your business marketing materials can be really difficult, especially when writing might not be your strong point. Today I’m going to tell you about 15 words that you MUST use in your sales copy in order to have any chance of boosting your business. How you get your message across to potential customers is vital. To help grab their attention and persuade them to buy your product or service there are a few words I believe you should be including in your blog posts, adverts, emails, leaflets and brochures. The first of which is the word… New We all love something that is brand ‘new’ to the market. We all want to be the first to get our hands on the latest service or product. The word ‘new’ grabs our attention and adds a certain amount of urgency. You I would also use the word YOU. Being personal in your advertising or marketing copy is crucial as it’s important to build up a relationship with potential customers as they are more likely to buy from you. Using the word ‘you’ helps ‘you’ to do that. Easy is another word which is great for sales. We all want our lives to be easier so if you have a service or product that can do that then make sure you get that across in your sales literature or conversations. Now It’s a great word to use in copy as it gives your clients and potential customers a sense of urgency. At some point you will want them to take action to send you an email, join your mailing list or give you a call. But when do you want them to do it...Next week...Next Month...No you want them to do it NOW! No Risk If you can ease your customer’s worries it will increase your sales. We all get a bit edgy when parting with our cash for goods and services so if you can take away that small doubt or reduce the risk then the better it will be for your bottom line. Guaranteed is another good word to use. Once again by using this word you are eliminating the risk factor. If you add the word ‘guaranteed’ to your sales or advertising copy then that you should increase your profits by a fair amount. Free We all love FREE stuff. Offering something for free can dramatically improve your sales leads and build relationships with your customers. Try giving away a free report, a free service or free advice. Yes This is a positive word and if you are using it then it usually means you are answering your customers concerns and questions and ultimately solving their problems and eliminating any doubts they have. Whatever you do don’t use the word ‘no’ as it will have the opposite effect. Use someone’s name. Try and do it as many times as you can whether it be in face to face meetings, on the phone or in emails and letters. The next time you speak to a salesperson see how many times they mention your name. The good ones will always use your name as it makes the conversation or correspondence personalised. We all like to feel special and by using your customer’s name you will make them feel important and that you are really interested in them and what they have to say. Try using the word Limited This, again, portrays the feeling of urgency and will spur the customer on to buy from you. If you have a product or service which is limited then shout it from the roof tops. People like exclusivity, they like buying things not everyone else can get their hands on. Fast I don’t know about you but I always want things like yesterday. The faster the better as I can be really impatient. If you can provide a service or product fast or even quicker than your competitor then tell your customers. If you were given the option of receiving your new sofa from a store within 3 days while another store offered delivery within 3 weeks- which one would you choose? Using the word ‘fast’ will help seal the deal. Important Important is a great word to use. People want to feel important and use products and services that are important. It’s an attention grabbing word and I would definitely use it. Proven We can all be a bit wary when reading sales letters or adverts. They promise us the world and sometimes the offers can be too good to be true. That’s why if you can offer any potential customers proof of what you claim to offer then that will dramatically increase your sales. If you can use testimonials then that would be fantastic. Use testimonials on your website, adverts and direct mail campaigns. Make sure you have permission from your clients before you do it though. Simple Another great word which grabs our interest, we all love things that can simplify our hectic lives. If you offer a product that simplifies a process then that will boost your sales. And finally, Solve All good sales copy must include the benefits of your product or service and you must tell your potential client how you are going to ‘solve’ their predicament or problems. Again it is a reassurance for them and you are focussing on them not you. And there you have it, 15 words that will boost your sales. By using just a few of them I’ve mentioned you will see a difference in your profits. Writing good copy takes a bit of practice but if you use some of the words I have given you then it will become second nature to you. To Your Success! Lindsey x www.digital-duchess.com   Facebook marketing can be incredibly frustrating sometimes as you try to build your page, improve your relationship with fans and, ultimately, sell your products or services. In order to come up with a successful marketing campaign, keep all these 6 C’s in mind:
To Your Success! Lindsey x   Facebook is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to business owners and entrepreneurs. However, for your business to be successful on the social networking site then you need to keep these five easy steps in mind: Who are You? When creating your business or fan page it's important to have a clear mission statement and vision. A lot of brands’ success stories come from these two objectives. You have to explain the purpose of the company and why it exists. In starting his Apple Company, Steve Jobs was motivated by supporting people’s creativity, not by selling computers. So, before you start social media marketing you should:
Take the Six Vitamin C’s of Facebook Every Day: In order to come up with a successful marketing campaign, keep all these 6 C’s in mind:
Post shareable content: Consider these basic rules when creating shareable content:
Learn From Your Posts Consider experimenting and testing then track the results. It's important to learn what Facebook marketing strategy is working and what’s not. Try variating the post frequency, content and time when you post it. Check Out the Competition Learn from the success of other Facebook fan pages. Oreo, Disney, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Skittles are some of the most popular consumer brands that are doing well in this social media platform. Monitor their Facebook pages and view other fan pages in order to see what particular types of content could gain a significant amount of shares. Examine everything on their fan page starting from updates up to the promotional campaigns used. To become good at Facebook marketing it takes time and patience. By following the steps above then social success is on the way. Lindsey x   Will My Marketing Work Right Away?
It's a question I get asked all the time and each time I answer it I get the same startled look- your marketing WON'T work instantly. Many business owners assume that publishing a couple of blog posts will mean a flood of traffic to their website then the thousands of visitors will gladly hand over their cash and buy numerous products and services. I'm sorry but that's not going to happen. Successful business marketing can take between 3-6 months before you will begin to see any real results. Now, that statistic can either knock the wind out of your sails and leave you disillusioned, or it can give you peace of mind to continue what you are doing. Internet marketing takes time as you have to build a relationship with your potential clients. It also takes hard work on your part but let's face it, you only get out of something what you put in. Here are a few tips to keep you on track:
All good things come to those who wait and to those who take ACTION. To your success Lindsey X  Writing an eBook can be a fantastic way to promote your business.
Many companies giveaway their eBooks to help build their email lists, however, selling an eBook can potentially be an awesome way to make some money. In fact, there are many examples of people making thousands of pounds by selling digital products and even millions. In some cases an eBook can sell for over £60 and the cost for online seminars can soar into the thousands. But when you really think about it, this makes very little sense. Why would someone be willing to spend £18 or £60 on an eBook when that same information is most likely available online? Convenience and Delivery One of the key benefits of buying a digital product through the legitimate channels is that it’s convenient. There’s no hunting around for anything and it’s far easier to learn to do something by reading one book as compared with reading up on lots of different websites. Another key thing to consider is the delivery and the packaging. People are very rarely motivated by logic when it comes to buying and more often this will come down to an impulse decision based on emotion. That’s why packaging your eBook nicely can make all the difference. That means paying a designer to create a striking cover and it means using beautiful images inside and excellent formatting. All this will make people really want your product and increases the desire greatly. Trust and Authority Another reason that people buy eBooks and apps is because of the relationship that they have with the creator. We pay for apps because we want to support the developer. And that’s why we’re much more likely to download something illegally if we feel that the software is overpriced or if it comes from a large development studio rather than an individual or a small team. As for eBooks, people are willing to pay for those rather than seek out the information themselves because they trust the author. In other words, they believe that the author knows what they’re talking about and can genuinely help to make their lives better. Compared with following the advice of a complete stranger on the web who they’ve never contacted before, this makes a lot more sense. With all that in mind then, the best way to ensure your product sells is to:
Lindsey x |
AuthorLindsey Archibald is a Journalist, Broadcaster, Digital Marketer, Author and Business Coach. Archives
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