business banter
Whether you are an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, or just thinking about starting a business, this is the place to find out about resources, financial help, support, marketing, public relations and more.
Featured in this Issue
Resources
Why Nobody Cares About Your Business
Ouch! That hurts, doesn't it? It is a phrase written to shock you into paying attention to how your online customers think and how they expect to be treated. It doesn't mean they aren't going to buy your products or services, it means that the way you present yourself to your customers has changed.
With more people shopping, buying or making purchasing decisions online, you need to reframe and rewrite your message. It isn't about your company it is about your customer. First, you need to know your niche market - either through market research, feedback forms or surveys. This is about them, not you. Next, start selling with that niche market in mind.
Here are some things to remember when selling online:
- Identify your customer's problems and provide solutions through your products and/or services
- Use language that your niche uses and will understand
- Edit your web content to short, powerful messages with links to more information
- Make your site easy to navigate
- Take away any obstacles to a sale (broken links, problems with your shopping cart, etc.)
- Communicate with customers or potential customers in two-way dialogues (social networking, blogs, message boards, etc.)
- Be real and talk real. Don't write like a salesman, write like a person. If you start writing fake posts, your customers won't trust you.
- Allow negative comments or complaints about your company on your site, blog, or other forums. Negative comments can give you great insights on what you need to work on or change and if you reply to negative comments with respect and a change of action, you'll go from loser to hero.
- Give away the milk for free. Sorry, Mom! In this market, you must give the milk for free or nobody is going to buy the cow. The web runs on free information so make sure to provide that through free e-books, white papers, gifts, certificates or anything else that makes customers feel that they can use your site as a resource for information.
- Add a section for testimonials or customer reviews. Of course this means you better have a good product or service, but don't you want to have that anyway?
Recommended Links
- Quick Start Business Plan from SCORE
- Free Business Advice from SCORE mentors
- Inc. Magazine Online
- Update All Your Social Networks with Ping
- U.S. Small Businesss Administration
- Finance Primer: A Guide to SBA's Loan Guaranty Programs (you must register first)
- Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center
- HP Eco Ideas
top of page Marketing for Artists CD
Based on Susan Lee's successful Marketing for Artists presentation, this highly informative CD can be viewed on your pc or printed. It includes the following sections:
- Marketing for Visual Artists
- Public Relations for Visual Artists
- Marketing & PR for Writers (information for published and non-published writers)
- Photoshop Tutorials
- How to Photograph Your Artwork
- Portfolio Creation and Organization (hard copies and online galleries)
- Complete clickable links to recommended instructional videos, marketing books and software
- Clickable links to artists resources on the web including grants, mailing lists, benefits for artists & more
Order your Marketing for Artists CD now for only $15 (+$5 S&H)
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