Three Key Things a Successful Business Needs.

So you left your J-O-B without a plan and without a single dime?

Now what?

Technically, 85% of new businesses are bankrupt before they even get started. Why do you think that is?

There are three key reasons for this.

1. There is no plan of any kind...no marketing plan...no business plan.

People get laid off their jobs, cannot find a job right away, and so they decide that they can just go out and get clients of their own doing what they did before, or they can start a small business with a "bright idea". They have a big dream and have absolutely no idea what they are going to do to reach that dream.

2. There is NO marketing budget.

With all the free online marketing that can be done today, people tend to think that they can just do social media and email marketing and make a million dollars. They have no training, no coach, and are simply wandering in the dark.

Here's the secret: You NEED a marketing budget.

3. There are no clients.

These new business owners in starting their business have no idea where to find clients. They think that if they just broadcast on the internet through their social media, they will attract clients and make a million dollars. NOT!

Think about it for a minute.

If you have a plan, then you have a way to get clients and once you get clients, you have money, and then you can have a marketing budget. NOT!

How are you going to target your market? Who is your market? Will they buy what you offer? How much are you going to charge for your "stuff"? What can you do to be successful in your business?

These are questions that I hear on a daily basis.

It is kind of like "which comes first, the chicken or the egg?"

First comes the business plan or a good marketing plan.

Second comes the budget that includes a marketing budget.

To get started, the money must be in place. You will need at least six months of cash on hand to keep you afloat in order to make your business a success. The first thing I do with my business clients is ask them about their money. Then we set up a simple 12 month cash flow projection for them. It is amazing how revealing this simple task is. The business owners are always astounded when they see all the things they didn't think of for their marketing plan.

Third comes your target market.

If you have put hard work into your research and know your potential market, what they want, what they will pay money for, and how much they will pay for it, you have the basics in place.

Having all these things in place will be even more powerful with a Business Coach. Don't try to be a lone wolf and go it alone. You cannot go it alone and be as successful as you can be with the assistance you receive from a coach.

These are the things that have inspired us to launch our Marketing series dealing with marketing from the inside out, and how to develop your own unique brand.

The series begins on March 8th and the last episode is June 14th.

Sign up today!

https://siftingthroughthenoise.eventbrite.ca (Registration ends Tuesday, March 8th

at NOON)

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

     https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

www.2csuccess.com

What a Blessing?!

Next to getting married to a wonderful guy...

Being "Fired at Fifty" was the best thing that ever happened to me!

January 4th of 2011, I walked into my office where I had been working as the director of sales and marketing at a senior care organization with my marketing plan in hand, ready for the new year.

I no sooner entered the office than I was invited into the conference room and asked to sit down. I didn't even have my coat off! This was not good.

As my then boss proceeded to tell me that he had kept me on as long as he did because of my work ethic and I was the hardest working person he had ever met, my mind went back to the first six months of working there. I remembered that within the first six months, I had been instrumental in increasing their sales an additional $22K per month.  I remembered that I was the seventh in a long line of sales representatives with that company. I remembered that the company had only been in business for seven years, and I had been there for two and a half of those years.

What does that say about my boss?

I was told that I was being "laid off". But let me tell you that if a company does not have another job for you, you are being "fired"! The words "laid off" are just glossing over the truth.

Well, I thought that I could just go out and get another job. After all I don't present myself as a frump. I don't have dementia. I'm smart.

Out of the myriads of resume's that I sent out, I received four job interviews and one offer at $10/hour! Ugh! I was in shock!

The flood gates opened!

Once I settled down a bit I had a conversation with my eldest son. I did not know what to do. He suggested that I was great at sales and marketing, so why not start a radio show on marketing?

Brilliant!

In 2009 I had started my "Eldercare 911" online radio show for the senior care business. I could just start a marketing show.

Yay!

After some considerable brainstorming, The Marketing Mentress was born!

As I began networking for my business, I discovered that sixty to seventy percent of the people sitting around those tables were bald, had grey hair, or they used a bottle like me. They were in the same position in life as me, fiftyish and out of work!

As I became successful with my LinkedIn marketing and my Marketing Mentress show, I saw a way that I could help others who found themselves in the same place as myself. This is what inspired me to write my book, "Fired at Fifty: Stop looking for work and discover what you were meant to do."

What I was doing with The Marketing Mentress show was branding myself. I was creating huge interest in my brand. People were asking me how I could help them with their businesses.

If I had not been "Fired at Fifty", I would never have written my book. I would never have found a way to help other people struggling to build and brand their own businesses.

Being "Fired at Fifty" was a huge blessing in my life!

If you have found yourself in a position in life where you are struggling with growing your business and getting more customers, you will want to be on our FREE webinar series.

Christine Unterthiner of Pilot Brand and myself have teamed up to help you with your branding and marketing.

The series begins on March 8th and the last episode is June 14th.

Sign up today!

https://siftingthroughthenoise.eventbrite.ca (Registration ends Sunday at 6pm)

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

     https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

www.2csuccess.com

LinkedIn Tip #20 - It's Not Working!

Are you wondering why your honest marketing efforts are not working on LinkedIn?

Every day I see honest people posting messages on LinkedIn, and then I receive messages from many of them asking why their marketing efforts are not working.

So sad.

Here is my humble opinion.

A very good marketing friend explained this to me, and I implemented it as soon as I learned it. It is called "The Rule of 10".

For every 10 posts:

6 posts are reposts of great content from other people

3 posts are your own material

1 post is a pitch

All too often I see people just posting pitch after pitch. "Come join my..." or "Register now...", etc.

People want to be educated and informed first before they will buy from you. They want to see that what you have is legitimately going to work for them. With all the people marketing on the 'net' now, it is more challenging to discern the good from the bad.

It takes time to build that "know, like, trust" with prospective clients. It does not happen overnight.

Many people think that the internet is fast, and that people will respond quickly to their "pitches." But do you like to be pitched at all the time? No! Neither do I.

So think about what you like and how you like people to communicate with you online, and apply the same ideas.

Also, LinkedIn is not all about posting. We need to congratulate people and wish them a Happy Birthday, and endorse them and write recommendations for those we have done business with.

It is not all about "me". It is all about "them". We need to feel the human side of our connections.

Now, the big secret to LinkedIn is in the groups. If you are not using the groups to the max, you are missing the boat big time!

Join the groups that you feel would contain your target audience. Once you get in these groups, start writing educational and informative posts once a week. Remember not to 'pitch'. It is ok to attach your website and contact information, but that is all.

If you are wondering what groups to join, think of it this way. If you are in a health and wellness business, you do NOT join all the health and wellness groups. Why? Because all the people in those groups are looking for the same clients you are. You would want to join groups of executives and HR directors...people who have high stress positions and would be likely open to finding ways to help them cope better, or eat better.

Remember, only pitch 1 time out of 10 posts.

Here is a free webinar series that will help you with lots of great marketing tips:

https://siftingthroughthenoise.eventbrite.ca (Registration ends Sunday at 6pm)

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

     https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

www.2csuccess.com

LinkedIn Tip #19 - Mass Messaging Your LinkedIn Connections.

You received a LinkedIn message where you can see the entire mailing list?

There was a time when you could send a message out to 50 of your connections at a time, and uncheck a little box, so your entire list could not see who else received the message.

The message looked like it was only sent to you, but was not necessarily addressed to you by name.

In all the time that I have been on LinkedIn, I have seldom ever sent mass messages out to my connections. My connections are treasures, and I never want to "burn" them in any way.

When I have sent out a mass message, I have always asked my "peeps" to feel free to ask me to help them as well.

It is never all about me. It is always about how many people I can help.

Then came September of 2015! What a turmoil!

The changes that LinkedIn made to their platform were startling to say the least!

Many LinkedIn users are unaware that along with all the new changes came the inability to send discrete mass messages.

There have been many of us complain to LinkedIn about this, but LinkedIn seems oblivious to making this change back to the way it was.

Over the years there were many users who abused this feature and spammed their connection list. I see these new changes as a way for LinkedIn to put a stop to all the spamming. After all, they want us all to feel that LinkedIn is the most professional platform on the net.

Remember, LinkedIn is a business. It is not just created so we can all have free use. Their ultimate goal is to make money. The new changes are pointing us in the "paid platform" direction.

If you are looking for help with your branding and marketing on LinkedIn and offline, come join our FREE webinars. https://siftingthroughthenoise.eventbrite.ca

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

     https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

www.2csuccess.com

LinkedIn Tip #18 - Why You Need a "Killer Profile"

A LinkedIn "killer profile" is the key to setting up your online brand.

What we do online whether it be through social media or email marketing, affects the impressions our prospective clients have about us.

Branding is part of our marketing persona. This persona must be consistent both online and offline.

It used to be that we could just use traditional marketing techniques to market our brand. 

This is no longer the case. Businesses today are discovering that if they are not online, their competition is online. To protect our portion of the marketplace, we need to be online and offline with a complete marketing package.

What kinds of things are you doing to market your brand online?

What are you doing to market your brand offline?

Whatever we do to market our brand not only must be consistent, but it must be unique.

Ask yourself how you are different  from your competition? Forget saying that you "give the best service", because everyone can say that.

Seriously, what is it about your business that makes you different? This will take some deep soul-searching. Think about what it is that keeps your clients awake at 2:00am. What is their pain? How can you ease their pain?

Take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle of the page. On one side list all the things that are unique to only your business. On the other side list all the things that are the same as your competition. Once you have completed this exercise, take all the items that are unique to only your business and find ways to bring these strengths to the forefront of all your marketing efforts.

Now apply these discoveries to your LinkedIn Profile.

If you are looking for help with your branding and marketing online and offline, come join our FREE webinars. https://siftingthroughthenoise.eventbrite.ca

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

     https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

www.2csuccess.com

My Accidental Branding

Ranching didn't teach me how to write a marketing plan; it taught me work.

Throughout my life I have been able to adapt, survive, and succeed because of my work ethic. It has helped me establish my brand for business without my even knowing it.

Here's what happened.

When I was "Fired at Fifty", I started The Marketing Mentress Podcast show. Within a very short period of time pretty much everyone in the lower mainland of British Columbia knew who "The Marketing Mentress" was.

How did that happen?!

What I did was use LinkedIn to find people to interview on my podcast show. People wanted to be guests on my show and I had them lining up waiting for their opportunity to be interviewed. I was interviewing up to 7 people a week and publishing the podcast through my website and social media. We would do the interview; then I would write a blog about the interview; attached the interview to the blog; attached their contact information to the blog, and then published them all together. I had all my social media connected with my website so when a blog was published, it instantly was broadcast throughout my social media and several podcast sites...ITunes included.

One of the businesses that I interviewed had invented a recyclable fire extinguisher that was 9" x 1.5". It would fit into your glove box. When we published his interview, I attached a caption, "Help! My house is burning down!"  We had 124 listens to the interview and a request from Orange County, California saying, "We need to get these throughout our entire county!"

It was amazing! I had no idea what I was doing!

What I was doing was interviewing 6-7 times a week and these were going out into my network every time I published a show.

Purely by accident I discovered that blogging and posting every day of the week branded myself.

When I reviewed my process, I realized that I had made myself different from my competition, and had created a unique presence on the internet.

People want to be educated and informed first and foremost. Inadvertently, that's what I was doing!

I was getting business through people I met on LinkedIn and through networking meetings.

It was the presence that I had created on the internet that started the base for my branding, but the networking gave my presence uniformity.

Today when I introduce myself as The LinkedIn Marketing Mentress, people know exactly what I do.

-And it all came to fruition by accident.

Well, sort of by accident. My work ethic had a lot to do with the success of my brand.

What are you doing to make yourself different from your competition? How are you building your unique brand?

As I watched many small businesses struggle with their brand and uniqueness in the marketplace, I realized that I had learned the secrets to developing a great brand. I could help these businesses!

Just because I was successful with branding myself in the early stages of my career doesn't mean that I think I know it all. I continue to learn.

Christine Unterthiner has taught me a lot about branding and how to grow my brand. What she teaches goes hand-in-hand with online marketing. We need to establish our brand in order to market our business both online and offline. Because branding and marketing work together to help businesses move ahead faster in the marketplace.

We have come together for a series of webinars that run March 8th, April 12th, May 10th, and June 14th 2016.

If you are looking for help with your branding and marketing online and offline, come join our FREE webinars. https://siftingthroughthenoise.eventbrite.ca

Christine Till

The Marketing Mentress

     https://ca.linkedin.com/in/marketingmentress

www.2csuccess.com

LinkedIn Tip #17 - How Do You Avoid Being IDK'd?

What is the key to being a center of influence on LinkedIn?

When people or possible customers see that we are well connected, they become attracted to us and our business.

So what does this mean?

Imagine this: You walk into a conventional business where you see high activity in the retail space. Customers are busy trying and buying products. The atmosphere is attractive to you as a possible customer, and the likelihood of you becoming a customer is high.

The same principle applies to LinkedIn. When we see that your profile is connected to 500+ people, our subconscious mind tells us that you are a 'center of influence'. It is inviting to other LinkedIn members.

Where LinkedIn is concerned, all it will show to the public is that someone has 500+ connections. It will also show the exact number of connections we have up to the 500+ number. Once you are at 500+, people cannot tell if you have 501 or 30,000 connections.

The challenge is 'How' do we get from 1 to 500+ connections without being IDK'd?"

Back when I first started using LinkedIn, I was faced with this dilemma of getting over 500 connections. I had invited everyone in my contact lists and shoeboxes of business cards, and found myself still short of my goal.

Then I noticed that LinkedIn was suggesting that I 'might know' a whole bunch of people! Woo-hoo! So I thought that I was supposed to connect with all these people. I sat there for hours clicking the 'connect' button for each person.

I managed to get way beyond the 500+ connections, but I also got sent to "LinkedIn Jail"!

LinkedIn Jail happens in this instance when we have 5+ people say they 'do not know' us. 

Hence being IDK'd.

Yup! I got IDK'd!

UGH!

I had to print out the entire LinkedIn Terms of Use, sign them and send them back to LinkedIn.  I also had to send them a copy of my driver's license. It took almost two weeks to gain access to my LinkedIn account.

Never, Never, Never invite people to connect with you unless you know them!

Here is the caveat to avoiding being IDK'd:

Never invite people you don't know to connect with you, unless they are LIONs. LION means LinkedIn Open Networker. You can find these LIONs in groups of LIONs. To find them, just search for LION groups. LIONs will never IDK anyone.

In summary the first thing we need to accomplish after we complete our killer profile is to get our connections up to 500+. To do that, start with inviting the people we know. Then we can join groups of LIONs to invite some of them to connect with us.

We need to remember that we are in control of our LinkedIn profile. In order to maintain that control we need to educate ourselves.

For more information and answers to your LinkedIn questions contact The LinkedIn Marketing Mentress.

If you are looking for help with how to connect without being connected on LinkedIn, Join us on Tuesday, February 9th from 7:00pm to 9:00pm MST at https://linkedinptbutter.eventbrite.ca

Fired at Fifty: Stop Looking For Work and Discover What You Were Meant to Do.

http://bit.ly/FiredatFiftyKindle

Got a LinkedIn question? Feel free to email me and I will answer it in my next blog.

Christine Till

The LinkedIn Marketing Mentress

www.marketingmentress.com

marketingmentress@gmail.com

1-780-904-9557

Take Your Eyes Off Yourself for One Minute!

What has your attitude been toward your business and your prospective customers lately?

Do you feel like quitting?

Or do you have a renewed zest for life and for your success?

It is like the "glass half full" scenario isn't it.

When we think that our glass is "half empty", the world looks gloomy and bleak. Nothing seems to work and everything seems broken. Your family is against you; your friends are against you; your closest associates seem to taunt you because you are "not there yet". 

They ask you why you keep on trying? Why not just quit?

This is the point where most people give up.

On the other hand, change your stinking thinking; take a deep breath and forge ahead into new frontiers with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. Success is just around the corner!

Something I discovered is that when I take my eyes off myself and focus on others, my business soars.

How about you?

That said, I have decided to challenge myself to raise $100,000 for charity this year. I plan to do it through crowdfunding.

One day I was feeling a little "down" with my business when a sweet friend opened my eyes to a bigger picture. She mentioned that there is a charity in my city that feeds homeless seniors. They are struggling to find the funding they need to keep the meals coming.

I was in shock! I could not believe my ears! Are there really old people on the streets during the Edmonton winter with only a backpack to carry all their belongings?

Upon further investigation, I discovered that there is a friendship center called "Operation Friendship" right here in my city. This center provides three meals a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for these homeless seniors. I also discovered that more than 15% of seniors in Canada are homeless!

Now I was really in shock! I had no idea that these people are being forced to live out in the cold winter.

What could li'l ol me do to help with something of such magnitude?!

Brainwave!

I had seen many GoFundMe profiles of people needing financial help and how successful they all were, so I decided to set up my own page for fundraising to help Operation Friendship.

It would make my heart sing if you would be so kind as to donate just $5.00 to help our efforts. The money stays in the account until we are ready to donate it to our charity. Then we connect it directly to Operation Friendship's bank account to pass along the funds.

Here's the catch:

GoFundMe will not list our crowd funding site for our seniors until we reach at least $500 in donations.

Please make a donation and pass this along to your connections to help these seniors.

https://www.gofundme.com/womanitioninc

You know 200 people, who know 200 people, who know 200 people, and so on. If we share this with all our connections and everyone only donates $5.00 each, we would achieve our goal in no time at all!

Just imagine how we will be helping our own people right here in our own back yards!

Copy and paste this link into your browser. https://www.gofundme.com/womanitioninc

I hear so many Canadians complaining about how we always go help everyone else in the world before we help our own people. This should be one charity that will make our fellow Canadians pleased to support.

Please, please, please help me feed these homeless seniors!

Blessings,

Christine Till

The LinkedIn Marketing Mentress
780-904-9557

LinkedIn Tip # 16 - How Do You Connect Without Being Connected?

The big secret to LinkedIn is in the groups; not in the discussions.

Do you like a little challenge? That is what we have with LinkedIn.

It is like a big networking meeting on the internet...the biggest in the world!

I get invited to join lots of "copy cat" platforms, but when I check them out, I discover they are nothing close to the power of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the most powerful professional platform on the internet, bar none!

Let's compare networking on LinkedIn with real live networking.

You have 30 seconds to make a great first impression at a live networking event.

On LinkedIn you only have 3 seconds to make a great first impression.

1. One second to look at the headshot

2. One second to check the name.

3. One second to check the headline.

If the profile of the person you are checking out passes the three seconds, the next thing they will check out is the summary.

What does your summary tell people? Does it share what inspired you to do what you do and your "why"? Sharing your "why" is the beginning of building a great relationship with people you want to know and do business with. Your summary is a crucial part of building a "killer" profile.

With a "killer" profile, you are set to start getting down to business with LinkedIn. This is no different than how you prepare yourself for a live networking event.

Except they cannot smell your perfume. :-)

Asking the right questions makes a big difference from the first time you meet someone. Is there something you have in common? Is there something you can collaborate on?

Use F.O.R.M as we discussed in an earlier post.

The same thing happens with LinkedIn. You meet someone that you would like to create a conversation with in the groups. Then you check out their profile and search for the "Contact" tab on their profile. Their email address is in that tab.

Now you can send them a message telling them that you hope it is ok to send them a direct email, and then explain how their profile caught your eye because you noticed something special about it, and wondered what inspired them to do what they do.

Ninety-nine percent of the time they will respond positively.

Remember that the biggest secret to LinkedIn is that you build the relationships online, but real business gets done face to face.

If you are looking for help with how to connect without being connected on LinkedIn, Join us on Tuesday, February 9th from 7:00pm to 9:00pm MST at https://linkedinptbutter.eventbrite.ca

Fired at Fifty: Stop Looking For Work and Discover What You Were Meant to Do.

http://bit.ly/FiredatFiftyKindle

Got a LinkedIn question? Feel free to email me and I will answer it in my next blog.

Christine Till

The LinkedIn Marketing Mentress

www.marketingmentress.com

marketingmentress@gmail.com

1-780-904-9557