The following short story is a great example of how thinking “out of the box”  can get you new business even in a tough economy.

A savvy restaurant owner knew the value of asking the question, “What other businesses do my customers patronize?“

Realizing that competition was fierce in their neighborhood this owner used imagination rather than pure marketing dollars to spread the word of her terrific food. Here was her Guerrilla strategy:

She distributed coupons for two free dinners to all the hairstyling salons within a one mile radius of the restaurant. Of course the stylists checked out the restaurant. Because the food was as fantastic as advertised … the hairstylists talked it up to every one of their customers at the salon!    And as you know lots of information is exchanged at a local hairstyling salon or barbershop.  News spread fast and her business became the talk of the town!

Creative huh?   Ask yourself what other other businesses do your customers patronize and see if you can use this strategy in your business.

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Want to learn more low cost, high impact strategies for getting new customers and start a new business coaching others?

The next 12 week Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification starts Monday January 11 at 7EST.

If you found this helpful I hope you will retweet.

For a downloadable version of this list–>  click here

1. Blog regularly and set up Ping.fm to distribute content to Facebook, Twitter and other sites

2. Create downloadable PDF’s with valuable content and active links back to your site (like the one above)

3. Use signature files on all emails with call to action

4. Approach online partners and retweet each other when appropriate

5. Post in discussion and newsgroups in your industry

6. Write articles and submit (google “article submission”)

7. Set up your own Twitter account and share valuable information

8. Give testimonials to others with your web address

9. Create offline ads with your web address

10. Optimize your site with SEO to get better search rankings

11. Set Up Your Facebook and LinkedIn pages and make connections

12. Host a teleclass and send students to your site for information

13. Create A Trackable Marketing and Traffic Calendar

14. Create a viral offering such a joke or flash movie with your website on You Tube

15. Put your domain on all marketing materials

16. Write a book and put your domain on the cover and inside

17. Be a guest on a radio show and send people to your site

18. Write an article for a magazine or blog with your web address in the resource box

19. Speak in public and give a useful handout link to site

20. Mention your web address every time you are talking business

“There’s an elephant in the room… so it is hard to get around it. Yet we squeeze by with “How are you?” and “I’m fine…”   And a thousand other forms of trivial chatter.  We talk about the weather.  We talk about work.  We talk about everything else… Except the elephant in the room.  We all know it is there…”  Excerpt from “The Elephant in the Room”  by Terry Kettering

Many online entrepreneurs mistakenly leap into action and rush to build their web sites – without giving it sufficient time, thought and planning – enticed by the gobs of money they’ll earn and the relatively low cost of entry.  They falsely believe that they can create a profitable business even though they lack the vital information and tools to carry them through successfully.

And although most of them are smart, passionate, hardworking and innovative people – ones who share dreams similar to your own – they nevertheless learn, and ultimately live, a hard and often unspoken truth:  the majority of online businesses fail.

So why do so many e-commerce businesses fail?

The obvious answer to the first question is that companies unexpectedly cease to exist for a multitude of reasons. However, despite common lore, businesses seldom go under due to one shattering event (even though it’s often cited as the official cause).  Rather, online businesses (and all others) go bust because many mistakes – most seemingly small – were made over an extended period of time.

While it is beyond the scope of this blog post to go in to all the key reasons businesses fail, the following was illuminated by my friend and business guru Michael Gerber, author of the E-myth and it is essential to understand.

Myth: Believing that being a good “craftsman” is all that’s needed to run a successful business

These folks erroneously believe that being an exceptional “craftsman” (e.g. financial advisor, quilt maker, therapist, coach, fund raiser, speaker, etc.) makes them qualified to operate a business that specializes in that work.

They spend most of their time performing “the work” of the business rather than leading, planning, organizing, systematizing and/or marketing their business!

Most of us know people like these … those who must be at work everyday in order to conduct business.  They do it all: pack boxes, write invoices, make sales calls, answer the phone, fix equipment, design their own web sites, write their own ad copy, troubleshoot problems, empty the trash, meet personally with every client, and so on.

They have no written procedures, documented processes or automated systems for doing anything.  Rather, their valuable knowledge, innovative ideas and sound methodologies remain only in their heads.

You also won’t find them outsourcing work, forming beneficial strategic alliances, delegating tasks to employees or seeking wise counsel from other professionals.  Why?  Because many entrepreneurs believe they already know what they need to know – AND they don’t want to know what they don’t know!

“If they don’t fail outright, most businesses fail to fully achieve their potential. That’s because the person who owns the business doesn’t truly know how to build a company that works without him or her… which is the key.”

Michael Gerber

So what happens? They try to go it alone. They get sick. They get sick and tired. They spend half a day at the Department of Motor Vehicles. They get stretched too thin. They feel rushed and overwhelmed. They worry that they can’t do it all.  They worry that others won’t do “it” right.  They know that they should let go, but can’t.  They worry about what it might cost them to let go. They fail to fix serious flaws. They ignore their customers. They have a short term, “put-out-the-latest-fire” mentality. They miss golden opportunities. They feel like they need to get away. They take a much-needed vacation. Their businesses come to a screeching halt…

And when they return they discover that the work has piled up and they’ve lost money, frustrated customers and missed golden opportunities.

What You Can Do…

• Realize that being good at “something” does not mean you’ll succeed at running a business that does that work.
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Objectively assess your business/marketing skills and knowledge… Begin by taking a Self Assessment.  Answer the questions honestly so you can identify your business strengths and weaknesses.
• Play to your strengths, passions and skills. Do what you do best and let others help you. Build a team of people – employees, consultants, strategic partners, and the like – who are more skilled than you in key areas.
• Seek, and offer, support from others outside of work… family, friends and colleagues. Take advantage of the vast resources available on the internet.
• Automate! With all of the affordable technology available today – software, phone systems, online automation, etc. – there’s no excuse for going it alone.  It’s never been easier to communicate with prospects, troubleshoot problems, and stay in contact with customers and the like, even when you’re not there.

For more on this topic read chapter one of Mastering Online Marketing by Mitch Meyerson and Mary Eule Scarborough

Although specific estimates vary, online researchers agree that email recipients make quick decisions on whether or not they will open and read promotional emails. Obviously, if they like, want, need, and/or are actively seeking the products being offered, they’re far more likely to open them. But emails come with their own special challenge, the subject line – that short, information burst that can make you or break you.

Like direct mail envelope “teasers,” emails’ subject lines must grab the recipients’ interests and increase the chances that they’ll open the messages. That’s why you’ll want to work on getting yours just right.

Start getting ideas scanning your own inbox.  Jot down any that catch your interest and then see how you can tweak them to suit your needs. You can also look at headlines in your local newspaper, magazines, websites, and the like and see it you can covert any of those into intriguing subject lines.

Then use these tips to fine-tune your choices.

1. Keep them short and to the point. Less is definitely more in this instance, especially since overly long subject lines will get cut off from view anyhow.

2. Don’t divulge too much information. Add intrigue.  Build curiosity. Make them want to open your email to find out more. For example:

-       Zach, have you heard this yet?

-       The Psychology behind the $40 Pet Rock Craze

-       When $100 per hour is just okay

3. Use your recipients’ first names, unless it’s awkward or sounds forced. For example:

-       John, will you help me?

-       Mary, you’ll want to print this email.

4. Ask questions, such as:

-       Is procrastination killing your business?

-       Do you believe in this deadly marketing myth?

5. Include your product or service’s number one benefit and make sure it’s relevant to your target audience, like”

-       One tip for losing ten pounds in one week

-       5 Free Ways to Sell More Houses

6. Avoid sending off “hooey” and spam alarms with exaggerations, or hints of high pressure sales tactics, such as:

- Triple your…

- My dear so-and-so

- Your e-commerce business

- Earn thousands at home

- Making Money the easy way

- Immediate action required

Adapted from Guerrilla Marketing On The Internet by Mitch Meyerson, Jay Levinson and Mary Scarborough

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Guerrilla Marketing Coach Certification Program Starting January 2010

In this 2 minute video you will learn three tips that will definitely help you in tough times.

As you surely know the downturn in the economy has made times are more challenging for the entrepreneur.  But not for Guerrillla marketers.

Any savvy marketer knows that developing powerful partnerships can be the key to surviving any economic storm.  So in this post lets look at how you can successfully connect with influential marketing partners in your industry.

Before choosing a JV partner make sure that you:

•  Know exactly what they want most from the venture… It may not be what you assume.

•  Are fully aware of your own goals… and that you’ve communicated them to your would-be partner.

•  Both feel that you can better achieve your objectives working with each other

The Platinum Rule

We’ve all heard of “The Golden Rule” – Treat people the way you would like to be treated.  And while the concept is sound, it becomes problematic because it assumes that everyone has identical desires and perceptions.

Authors Tony Alessandra and Michael J.O’Conner rephrased the tenet and renamed it “The Platinum Rule.” It goes like this, “Do unto others as they’d like done unto them.”  This requires a real understanding of others and what motivates them… and there’s no better way of learning that than by asking them. Otherwise, we risk offending others by incorrectly presupposing the answer based on our own sensibilities.

Following are some quick tips for developing healthy joint venture partnerships…

•  Do your research ahead of time… make sure they’re the type of person you like and their business is healthy and respectable.

•  Approach them with a “what’s-in-it-for-them” stance…  not how great you are.

•  Be specific…don’t leave things “squishy” regarding anything – this is how misunderstandings begin.

•  Respect their time… let them know you value theirs as much as your own.

•  Develop simple deals… especially ones which don’t require either of you  to “look over the others’ shoulders”.

•  Give before you get, particularly if you’re just starting out… people are understandably more leery of opening up their hard-earned business resources before you’ve proven yourself.

•  Avoid using a “sales pitch”… it’s no way to begin a give-and-take partnership.

•  Don’t obsess over who’s getting more out the deal… make your best deal and forget about it.

You will find that solid  partnerships can be the key to thriving in a challenging economy. Go out an find one today!

Mitch Meyerson, author of 9 books including: Mastering Online Marketing, Guerrilla Marketing On The Internet, Success Secrets of The Online Marketing Superstars, When Is Enough Enough and Six Keys To Creating The Life Your Desire. He is currently working on his newest book, Success Secrets Of The Social Media Marketing Superstars.  You can find his books at www.MitchMeyerson.com

Become A Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach: www.GMarketing Coach.com Starting Soon.

by Craig Valentine, 1999 World Champion Of Public Speaking.  He is the co creator of the World Class Speaking book and Certification Program.   Get Your Free World Class Speakers Audio Toolkit

If you want to drastically improve your very next presentation, it is important to understand 4 of the pitfalls that keep most speakers in a ditch out of which they can never seem to climb. If you see where these traps are, you can easily avoid them. As a result, you will clear your pathway to a powerful and persuasive speech.

Here are the 4 costly mistakes:

They close their speech with the question and answer session

Never close your speech with the Q&A session, because people remember best what they hear first and what they hear last. If you end with the Q&A, you lose control over the last message your audience receives and much of your hard work is undone. It is still a good idea to have a Q&A session, but it is not a good idea to end your presentation with it. Instead, hold the session about 80-90% into your speech and then close the speech in your own powerful way.

They open their speech with a whimper

Most speakers open with statements like, “I’m so glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me to speak at this prestigious occasion. First I’d like to thank Bob…” What is wrong with that kind of opening? Frankly, it’s boring. It’s boring because it’s expected. Instead, come out in an unexpected way by jumping right into your message. Take the “sitcom” approach and start the show first and then transition to the opening theme song.

One good way to do this is to immediately dive into a story. That will catch your audience off guard and you will have their attention. Another effective way is to ask a question. For example, I start some speeches with the following question: “What do you think is the number one thing that stands in the way of most people living their dreams?” This immediately gets my audience’s attention and prompts them to think and to get involved with the speech. Questions work extremely well because they take your audience members from passive spectators to active participants and that definitely raises the energy. Once you finish your planned opening, it is then fine to go back and thank the people who brought you there.

They lip-synch

I once had a CFO of a biotech company say, “Craig, we need you to coach us with our presentation. We already have the presentation, but we just need to know what to say.” That might seem confusing but I knew exactly what he meant. He meant that the company already had a slide presentation but they needed to know what to say between those slides. Once I worked with them, they came to realize that they had to look at their major points first and then determine if slides were even needed to reinforce them.

Most presenters who use slides simply verbalize the same points that are made on the slide. The key to understand is this; if you say the same thing as your slides, then one of you is not needed! You are doing the equivalent of lip-synching your presentation. The best time to use slides is for real visuals such as charts, graphs, and diagrams that help clarify what you say verbally.

They don’t master the essence of public speaking

Bill Gove, the first President of the National Speakers Association, once said that public speaking is being able to “tell a story and make a point.” That indeed is the essence of public speaking. If you want to become the kind of speaker others line up and sign up to see, then make an effort to master storytelling. People make decisions with their emotions backed up by logic. Stories reach those emotions and get people in a frame of mind to take action. When you become a master storyteller, you help other people see new stories unfold for their own lives. Like the old saying goes, “Facts tell and stories sell.”

If you avoid the 4 pitfalls that trap most speakers and you work on the suggestions above, you will find yourself far ahead of most of the people who ever stood up to say anything.

Craig Valentine is  starting a brand new Coach Certification Program for Speakers and Entrepreneurs September 21 For the Full Story–>  World Class Speaking Coach Certification Progran

If you are like me you have heard about the 80/20 rule for years. You know it, it’s called the Pareto Principle – 20% of your activities account 80% of your results.

Well as Bob Dylan said about 40 years ago, “the times they are a changing”. In my opinion the more accurate reality of this notion is the 90/10 principle. Why?

Simply this… Technology has seduced us all into many new activities that didn’t exist a few years ago (creating websites, watching videos on I pods, viewing webinars on our computers). It’s endless and very very addictive.

While cool and exciting, it has also turned us into culture of multi-taskers. I think we are developing what I call “technological ADD”. You know it — you live it. You listen to teleconferences while you are checking your email and IM’s, scan through hundreds of channels on your TV while eating and talking, talk on the phone while cleaning, text while driving (I hope not) …this list goes on and on. You may even get restless just doing two things at once because we are so addicted to these new forms of stimulation.

How Does This Affect Your Business?

Big time. Your audience is distracted too and they are hardy even listening when you talk (remember they are multi-tasking). And with Twitter and other social media platforms thousands of people are all talking at the same time!

So if you want to get results you must be more specific and strategic than ever about what you focus your time on. I propose we change the 80/20 principle to the 90/10 principle.

What does this mean for you? Become much more intentional with how you spend your work time. Ask yourself: What 10% of my activities account for 90% of my results? Then focus on these everyday and learn to say no to distractions!

It isn’t easy, but as they say in the recovery world “one step at a time”. If you do you will be surprised at the results.

Place a comment and let me know if you agree or not.

by Mitch Meyerson, Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coaching

www.MitchMeyerson.com

Last weekend I was invited by Keith Ferrazzi, author of Who’s Got Your Back? to a private dinner with him and about 20 other successful entrepreneurs at the NSA Convention in Scottsdale, AZ.   Hosted at the Tuscany Restaurant at the Marriott this dinner was all about really connecting with others, something that is becoming less common in today’s rushed world.

Keith stood up before dinner and set the tone for authenticity, purpose and fun.  There were stimulating conversations on the trends in social media and even political discussions on how we got into this recession.

During this dinner and Keith’s presentation at NSA I really experienced on a deeper level how important it is to have key people in your life that you connect with on a very real level.  People who “have your back”.

Here are a few key points in his presentation.. But I encourage you to get his book — it is excellent. (Click here)

1) Relationships are the “secret sauce”,  the key to success in business and life.  Develop a small group of 3-4 key people (he calls this a lifeline group) who are really there for you for support, encouragement, feedback and accountability.  Take safe risks and stretch with these people.

2) There are 4 mindsets for cultivating deep and meaningful relationships:   1) Vulnerability  2) Generosity  3) Candor and 4) Accountability

If you think about each of these concepts you can see they chart towards more connected relationships that will ultimately combat the superficiality that often exists in today’s fast paced world.

3) These are not just principles, you need to “walk the talk”.  The thing that struck me about Keith that evening was that he doesn’t just write about relationships he builds them on a daily basis by giving, engaging and raising the bar on living a big and fulfilling life.

What can you do today to take you relationships to the next level? Who’s got your back?

Mitch Meyerson  is the Founder of Guerrilla Marketing Coaching and Author of 9 books

In this 3 minute video I will explain the guiding principles that allowed me to become the featured expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show and how you can use them to create bigger results in your life.

For more info on my books and programs visit:

www.MitchMeyerson.com