Blogs

Building a brand is all about consistency. Your customers expect to have the same (or darn close to the same) experience whenever they come in contact with your brand.  After all, consistency leads to reliability and trust.

Since I've been doing a lot with visual maps these days, I've really gotten into studying how visual schemes impact your brand.  Here are a few tips that might help you.

Design Schemes and Associations

Think about this - what if you bought one of those red cola cans at a convenience store only to find when you drank it, something orange came out of the can.  That's pretty crazy, right?  You'd probably storm back into the store and confront the cashier at the counter with your red can.  The experience would make you second guess ever buying another from that store, or possibly, ever again.

In fact, that actually happened...sorta. Remember when they came out with clear cola?  It crashed and burned badly...why? Because we expect cola to be dark brown.  And when a very popular condiment maker came out with green ketchup, it ended up making appearances as a collectible on eBay, not on kitchen tables.

Something very similar happens with brands online.  Certain colors and design schemes are associated with certain products. If the product has the wrong color or design, it's off-putting to potential customers.

An important part of creating a consistent brand image is to choose a visual scheme that will always be associated with your name or your company’s name.

Your Visual Brand Language

To create a design and color scheme for your brand, you need to create a visual brand language, or VBL.

So what's that? A VBL incorporates design elements such as shape, color, materials, finish, typography and composition. All of these items together should work smoothly to communicate your company's values and personality.

For a good example, take BMW's front grill. When you see it on an advertisement or website, you automatically think of BMW and all the qualities associated with this luxury car designer. This distinct design feature is used as a visual marketing tool by the company to trigger feelings and associations in the minds of its target market.

An important key to creating a VBL is to remember that it isn't static, but something can be changed and used in different ways.

Think about Google's logo - basic letters on a clean white background. During different times of year or during promotions,  incremental changes are made to this basic design theme. Your VBL can be something flexible as well.

Visuals for Your Niche

Your own images need to create a brand personality that fits with your niche. Think about your target market and what they like. Consider your products and look at how other companies in your expert niche create their brand personality.

For example, some niches tend to showcase stark, hard line visuals, while others use soft, curvy lines. Each image a company uses fits with its personality to create a sense of consistency across all of its marketing and content creation.

Your Brand's Logo

The single most important visual element is your logo.  Recently, I went to my friends over at Logo Nerds to come up with a new design for me.  I knew the one I had was not fitting well with my niche and I wanted it to make a stronger connection with my brand.

To create a logo, you need to go back to your brand's unique selling proposition. What is your brand's promise and personality? These should be communicated through your brand's logo. Your logo should be based on this foundation and it should harmonize well with your other design elements.

The best practice when designing a logo is to start by choosing a primary and secondary color. The primary color is for your symbol, icon, or lettering. The secondary color is for the background. Take advantage of color meanings and associations when choosing colors.

The Importance of Visual Branding

A common business mistake is to bring in outside visual experts as an afterthought rather than a central part of your business's initial planning.  Remember when I mentioned redesigning my logo?  I have seen people make the mistake of trying to design their own, but that sometimes doesn't send a clear message about who you are and your professionalism.

Here's another resource for you.  Pam Wilson has an amazing blog that teaches a lot about visual branding.  Be sure to check out her Big Brand System here for great tips.

Remember - your brand's visual plan is just as important as your unique selling proposition or your products: it's part of your company's basic image and it can help you communicate clearly about who you are and what you do for your target market.

WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE?

You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it...

About the Author: Tanya Smith is a creative online business strategist and coach specializing in showing independent service providers how to simplify, save time & stand out with simple strategies that engage more quality leads and clients. Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market. Get free tools to simplify and stand out online at: www.tanyasmithonline.com

Most of the people I know are high achievers; and a large portion of them are "control addicts".   But the bad part about being in control of everything is that you often end up doing everything in your business.

This kind of behavior creates failure, not success.

One solution is to consider outsourcing - hiring an independent contractor to help you get things done.  Outsourcing can help lift a huge weight off your shoulders.

And it's not just a resource for larger businesses.  Businesses of every size are starting to acknowledge the need to spend more time perfecting their expertise while they free up time by giving work away.  This serves to help you build stronger relationships with prospects and retain current clients.

Why Outsource?

Outsourcing can help you make the most of all of your resources—people, time, money and energy—because you and your staff can focus on the what's most important to your business. When you outsource, in essence you're allowing other companies or individuals with different skill sets (e.g., accounting, human resources or information technology) to do what they do best for YOU. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

As a result, you have more time to be laser-focused on your specialization which then enhances your credibility, and you become more attractive to people who are looking for the precise solution that you or your company offer.

Fitting Outsourcing Into Your Lifestyle

Outsourcing can definitely require an attitude shift and a willingness to give up a bit of control.  Realistically, it can feel uncomfortable at first.  But staying in a comfort zone is often what leaves some people stuck at the same level year after year.

Really think about your hesitation; what are your concerns about outsourcing?

Here are some common objections:

• Reputation. Business owners might worry what their customers, clients, staff and other stakeholders will think about their decision to outsource. You might also be concerned that the outside specialist will make some kind of drastic error that will harm your reputation.
• Security. Outsourcing may require that you consider sharing certain information to get certain tasks done.  Businesses may not be sure how to protect their intellectual property and other key data from fraud, tampering and other damage.
• Offshoring. A lot of outsourcing is done at the local or national level, but more and more is taking place using foreign associates. You might be concerned about language barriers, health and safety standards, work quality or the impact on your national economy.

With each of these concerns and any others you may have, take some time to answer the question, “What’s the worst thing that could happen if we outsourced?” and then ask yourself, “If that happened, then what?”

Many businesses have outsourced successfully and made mistakes that you can learn from. Do your research and be confident and intentional about your decision to move ahead.

How to Get Started with Outsourcing

Look at the activities you are spending time on that divert you from the core of your business. What’s draining you? Is it administrative tasks, technical support, accounting, human resources, internet technology or something else?

Determine how much time it's taking you to get these things done.  Are you generating profit by doing these yourself?  Could the work be assigned to someone else who has expertise?  What would it take to give up the work?

Start with these questions and begin looking into options for outsourcing to quality contractors.

Need help getting started?  For a complete course on how to find the right outsource partner, check out my brand new online course, "Outsource Your Service Business" on Udemy.com.  I will walk you through the entire process step by step.  For a limited time, you can get it at no cost here: http://udemy.com/outsource-your-service-business.

Ready to focus on what you do best and outsource the rest? The move to outsourcing requires a shift in thinking, some preparation and a slight learning curve, but in the end, you will emerge with a stronger focus on the "main thing" in your business. And it might just be the answer to growing your business to the next level.

In this 20 minute interview, I'm speaking with Attorney Aurelia Mitchell-Durant of AMD Law Group (http://amdlawgroup.com) about Pinterest and the key issues service providers need to be aware of when using this social tool. Aurelia is an expert in international branding for businesses, as well as brand protection. Some good stuff here.

Catch the interview audio here

Here's a few of the tips shared during the interview:

1. Keep the images you use intact in their original format (i.e. don't make the mistake of claiming something is yours when it's not)
2. Look for signs on the site where you're pulling images from that it's acceptable for you to post the image (i.e. is there a "pin it" button?)
3. Remember you can always  ...

Check it out and let me know what you think. Anything else to add to the list?

The right business branding strategies could spell real success for your business. What convinces people to invest in you or your products or services is how well they know, like, and trust you --- branding positions you for this.

What is a Branding Strategy?

Having branding strategies can provide the fundamental steps and it will help identify the most valuable tools to create a powerful business brand. In general terms, a strong brand is one that people recognize and believe to deliver quality. Have you ever found yourself at the store choosing one product over the other because it is the more recognized or trusted brand? I know I do. For example, there is a certain type of soap I always buy because I have come to expect it keeps my skin moisturized, smells great, and doesn't melt in the shower. I know when I see the box on the shelf that it's the brand I recognize and trust.

Recently, I did a survey and one of the comments was this:

"...what I see always is your name and that spells 'quality'"

It is a branding strategy's objective to identify what could turn your business into a trusted brand name. How do you influence people to trust your brand and its reputation? What should you do to communicate the objective and mission of your company? What is the message you are trying to send out to produce loyal, ideal customers? A sound business branding strategy will aim to find answers to these questions so you can establish a brand for your company that would excel in the market.

Creating Your Business Name, Logo, or Website

For starters, think of a logo that will readily connect with consumers about the nature of your business. Choose images that are associated with your business and perhaps the products they represent.

TOOL ALERT: One of my favorite logo creators? Try Logonerds (this is my affiliate link, and I use them for almost everything).

Coming Up With Slogan or Tagline

One advantage that you can have by including a tagline is that it is not permanent, unlike the logo. So if your company later decides to employ a new marketing strategy, you can readily adapt your tagline to highlight this new marketing plan.

Applying Colors and Images

Integrating Differentiators In Your Services

Learning how to effectively employ these key business branding strategies will help boost your company's marketing efforts and get you that much closer to the success you want.

WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

About the Author: Tanya Smith is a creative business strategist and coach specializing in showing service based solo entrepreneurs how to simplify, save time & stand out with simple strategies that engage more quality leads and clients. Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market. For instant access to your free branding templaes, visit us at: www.tanyasmithonline.com.

Aren't you always hearing "I wish I could attract more money into my life?" I think I've said it myself a few times...I've heard it a lot of times. Especially with that mega millions lottery in the U.S. a few short months ago! And we all heard a few stories coming out of that one, didn't we?

I've checked around and couldn't find anyone who answered 'no' to this question. The reason is - like it or not - much of what determines how much enjoyment we get out of our business or even life depends on the amount of money we have. Sure there are people out there who will tell you they don't want to be rich and that money is the root of all evil blah, blah but these are really misguided beliefs about money that have developed over time. (By the way, the scripture actually says "the LOVE of money is the root...", but we won't get into semantics for this article. Check it out.)

But seriously, who wouldn't want to be able to afford the things they want and need? You already have the ability; you just have so much poverty thinking and baggage in the way, you can't make room for prosperity in your life.

Much of what I share about branding and putting automation systems in place has to do with money - either making more of it or saving it. If you are in business, you need money to keep the business going; otherwise, it's a H-O-B-B-Y, or something else.

It's important to put aside any negative limiting beliefs others have dumped on you about money (did you cringe just now because you read that word again? if so, that's a sign of those ill-gotten beliefs kicking in).

If you are one of the few who had parents with a positive money mindset, consider yourself blessed. But if you are in the majority of people who had parents who believed in hard work, education and the idea that anyone who made money easily was simply lucky, lazy or immoral, then keep reading because you need this.

Money is, of itself, not bad and the amount of it you have is in essence a result of a few key beliefs some people engage in very well. (Trust me, it's taken me quite awhile to get this. I wasn't the fastest cookie in the jar on this at first, especially when I was newer to business).

Let me share just a few brief principles here...
Develop A Wealth Mindset

If your head is full of the conviction that rich people are greedy or power-hungry or must have done something illegal in order to gather the riches that they have, then you don’t have a wealth mindset. And if you don’t have a wealth mindset, then no amount of hard work you do will make up for your lack of money. Just like the poor dad in Robert Kiyosaki's 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad, you will ALWAYS be struggling.

Here's something about rich people that you may not know. Rich people are people who have a strong conviction that there is nothing wrong with being rich and that they deserve it. Not only that, people with a true wealth mindset actually believe that money can be a source for good. It supports families and provides them with food, clothing and shelter. It launches successful businesses that in turn support and replenish communities.
Change Your Motivation

Money can help us get whatever we want. However, there are lots and lots of motivations for being wealthy, some of them good, some of them not so much.

There are people who believe the world is full of abundance and money is instrumental in that cycle of abundance. So it is natural that they think being wealthy is a worthwhile goal. They see it as being within their reach. And for these people, it generally is easier to achieve, because their belief system is in complete alignment and harmony with their sub-conscious mind, which always wants to push us towards well-being. Isn't that cool how God did that? ... creating us to be well? do well? It's our own choices and actions that often take us down a different path.

Something I learned studying NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) for a year with a master practitioner was "mind and body are part of the same system and affect each other", so what you have been programmed to believe shows up in the way you act and make choices. But...you can change these beliefs. It's a choice you have to make though. Choose to live the way you are now, or prayerfully choose to change direction.

Unfortunately, having a positive mindset about wealth is not something adopted the majority of people. Most people go through life with a 'poverty mindset' and keep striving and striving to meet their immediate needs for fear that they will somehow not have enough.' So they do things like lowering their prices, sounding weak in their offers, giving away services they worked long & hard to invest in building.

Does this sound like anyone you know?

Well, to sum it up; if you desire wealth because you believe it's your ticket to achieving good things for yourself and for others, then it will be much easier for you to become wealthy. Your desire to free yourself from the slavery of having a day job, or working your business 24/7 so you can really live and spend more time with your family and be involved in your community is certainly a worthwhile goal. And you should remind yourself every day how worthwhile this goal is.

Sometimes a little structure and a plan can help...Saturday, 5/19/12 I'm holding a half-day virtual bootcamp called Reclaim My Money Power. If you are an entrepreneur sick of making weak offers, want step-by-step strategies to transform your mentality and you really want to design a wealth legacy for yourself and your family, come join me. You can find out more here:http://reclaimmymoneypower.com. No pressure - I really put this together for all my friends who have been asking. Consider and if it's right for you, I'll see you there.

There’s a pretty well-known online marketer whose favorite quote is “Hope is not a marketing plan”. In other words, you can’t just pick a marketing strategy and “hope” it will work. Instead, you have to put together a detailed marketing plan where you lay out your bevy of strategies for meeting your business goals. I don't mean a comprehensive list of daily tasks...rather, it's about breaking down each tactic you want to use and the process you’ll put in place for its implementation.

Start With Your Business Model

Not every marketing strategy will work with every business model. You’ll hear lots of promos about “proven” tactics, but that doesn’t mean they are the right ones for you. First, examine your own business model then outline some of the characteristics of that model and your market, including:

• A detailed description of the key features of your target customers
• Where customers will come from - is it organic search, paid search, joint ventures, offline sources, affiliates, etc.?
• What are the buying triggers for your prospects buying triggers? Where or when do they usually make a purchase decision? For example, it could be from a personal referral, a product review, a trusted expert's endorsement, through surfing content sites, through email suggestions, etc.

What Are The Most Popular Marketing Strategies?

Now, look again at your business model and the most popular marketing tactics used by your competitors and what I like to refer to as "role models of excellence". How do they convert from prospective client to paying client? For example,

• Do they have sales pages that lead to freebies that put prospects into an email series
• Do they host regular free teleseminars that include a special offer at the end
• Are they using straight SEO and traffic generation
• Are they engaged in multiple joint ventures and recruiting affiliates

Which Attraction and Marketing  Strategies Will You Focus On?

If you try to do several marketing campaigns at once, it's hard to do either one of them just right. It's probably better to focus on one to start with. Test it out, see if it’s working, and then look at adding more strategies. There are endless methods to choose from. Try choosing the easiest marketing strategy so you can put it in place and get moving straight away. You should always have at least one easy tactic you can use that doesn’t require a lot of thought and planning. For example, you can create an autoresponder series that starts every time a person signs up for your list. It’s a very passive form of marketing that requires almost no attention once you have it up and running. Then you can start planning out more campaigns.

Try Working Backwards

In order to put your marketing plan down on paper (or computer), start by looking at all the steps involved from the end result back to the first step. What are the activities you need to complete in order to implement and maintain each strategy? Now put those steps into order by priority and use a process you can follow. Which steps are interdependent? Which ones need to be managed first? You can even use a mindmap to lay out a visual of the process, which makes it easy to move things around. Freemind is a great, free tool for creating mindmaps on PCs. SimpleMind is another one that works well on iPads (this is one I use frequently) and it has a desktop version as well. You can export any of the mindmaps to a pdf so that you can print them and post them by your computer.

Make sure you set deadlines for achieving each step in your marketing plan.The success of much of your strategies will be dependent on a specific timeframe, like the length of time between emails or follow-ups. Get it on your calendar and set firm dates for yourself. Your marketing plan will help you determine what actual tasks you'll need to do from day to day. For example, if you know that your emails need to be set up in daily intervals, then you’ll need to put the outlining and writing of those emails down on your to-do list every day. Just don’t make the big mistake many impatient, overambitious marketers make by trying to do everything at once. Focus on a single strategy at a time, set deadlines, and follow it through to success.

Pinterest is the latest social networking craze, but not only that - it has some potential to be a useful tool that drives traffic to your website. For example, you can add pins to your boards that link back to your website.

Need a little help? Here are a few simple steps you can take to increase pins and links to your blog or website.

#1 Pin Using the Bookmarklet Tool
If you’ve installed the Bookmarklet tool onto your browser then simply visit your blog or website and click the button to “Pin This.” It automatically includes the link with the image you’ve pinned so that if anyone clicks on the image or pin in Pinterest they’ll be taken to your website.

#2 Add a “Pin This” Button to Your Website or Blog
There are a few ways you can add a “Pin This” button to your site. You can use the code provided in the “About” menu under “Help.” Choose “Goodies” (http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/) and you’ll see a few options to add buttons to your site. If you have a WordPress blog there are also a few handy plug-ins that do the trick. Once the button is on your site, then you simply visit the page you want to pin and “Pin it” to your board.

#3 Use the Add+ Feature
You can also use the Add+ button located at the top right of your Pinterest page. Click it and you’ll get a drop down menu with a few choices. Enter your URL, click “Find Images” and choose from the selection of images shown. You’ll notice one image is displayed with the words “Prev” and “Next” underneath. Click “Next” to scroll through your images until you find the one that you want to pin.

#4 Write a Clear Pin Description
If you prefer, simply type the link you want people to visit in the description area of your Pin. The thing to remember here is that when people repin your image, they can and probably will change the text in the description area to match their own purposes. The link and description will remain intact only on your boards. Depending on your goals this may be okay.

#5 Make Your Site Pinterest Friendly
As my recent post about the 80/20 rule of content sharingsaid, you shouldn't be adding Pins from your own site too often. Remember, the point is that others will be motivated to pin images from your site onto their boards. That's a much more organic, less pushyway to get links to your site.

The more Pinterest-friendly your site, the better. That means making it visually interesting and adding “Pin This” buttons to your site.

You can build your Pinterest followers by becoming active on the site. Comment, “like” other pins, create boards and repin – USE the site. And remember to spend time integrating your activities on Facebook and/or Twitter to grow a larger following.

Want to know more about using Pinterest for your business? Check out my latest webinar: 4 Myths About Pinterest for Business, Tuesday, 6/12/12. Replay will be available for a limited time!

If you've been hearing a lot about Pinterest, it's because it has caught on like a really catchy phrase...it almost seems as though it just came out of nowhere and now it's breaking record speed for popularity, length of time on site (average? 90 mins+!), and more.

If you are a business owner, chances are you have not yet figured out how Pinterest could be used in your marketing strategy. Sure, you have established goals for each of your individual marketing tactics, like your content marketing. You have even created a step by step plan to achieve those goals, possibly with the incorporation of social media (why not, everyone else is). But I bet you didn't think that posting pictures could be much of a marketing boost, right?

Pinterest is boasting faster growth numbers than some of the more popular social networks when they first started out - i.e. Twitter, Facebook, etc. At my last reading, they had nearly 12 million monthly unique visitors and it hasn't even in existence very long. Creating a Pinterest profile could very well help you be exposed to new leads, drive traffic and boost your business growth.

Pinterest is actually catching on so fast, I suspect, because it's heralding the next social media phase - visual imagery. Remember when it was all about written content? Then we heard video? Pictures and visual imagery are hot right now because they speak to people emotionally. Visual aspects of how you market are becoming more and more important. And it would be very smart to develop an image sharing strategy to tell your story, to convey your branding, to make faster connections.

Here are a few ideas to help you get started using Pinterest in your marketing approach:

#1 Blog PlugIns

#2 Content Marketing

#3 Social Networking

Remember to test and track your efforts. Add Pinterest to your analytics. Pay attention to who is pinning your content and repinning your pins. Track your Pinterest traffic and integrate your efforts with other traffic generation strategies you're using.

By the way, you have to be invited in order to set up an account. If you need an invite, simply visit me on Facebook and let me know you need an invitation. You'll be able to view my Pinterest tab there also (remember? integration :) ).

WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

About the Author: Tanya Smith is a creative business strategist and coach specializing in showing independent service providers how to simplify, save time & stand out with simple strategies that engage more quality leads and clients.  Her company Be Promotable provides fresh actionable strategies and virtual resources to promote business owners as power players in their market.  For instant access to your free 7 secrets to online time management report, visit us at: www.tanyasmithonline.com.

System #1: Customer engagement

System #2: Customer Relationship Management

What is a system?

It all starts with the BRAND

Sticky notes are not the best way to keep track of a prospect you need to call. There is a better way - thankfully. It's called a CRM.

A CRM is a sales and marketing term for "customer relationship management". It's a system to keep track of important information about your clients, customers, sales prospects and a way to centralize your business communications and resources.

I love technology. You may already know that from some of the resources I share. But I really didn't discover the power of a CRM until I started realizing that I had too much paperwork floating around with my client's notes, names of people I needed to follow up with, and even keeping track of any missing payments to my client accounts.

So here are some benefits of using a CRM:

• Organizes your business records
• Creates a safeguard of all your key contacts
• Automates your appointments
• Helps you develop a "pipeline", which is the path you work each client or prospect through to work with you
• Gives you an easier way to pay attention to your customers
• Makes it easy for people to pay you

I had a dream last night. In the dream I invested in some type of postal supplies shop - you know, like the ones you see on every corner now? This guy from an office next door kept coming in to say he was there to help me. Seemed like a nice enough man. At first, he offered to lay a customized floor tile that looked like a stamp for me in front of the counter. He described how it would have my initials, my favorite colors, and it would really light up the place. I was convinced and I said, "sure, that would be nice". Then after he put it in and I realized it wasn't just one tile, it was half the floor. Cha-ching.

Next, he came in and offered to change the locks on my door. I said, "yes, that's probably a good idea". And of course, he upgraded the entire door. Cha-ching...again. After a series of these offers, I realized I'd drawn up quite a bill. That's when I finally sat down to look at the total costs of my initial investment, the add-ons, and the history of success the shop had before me. Guess what? The previous owner sold it because she hadn't made a profit.

It was a pretty dismal outlook. I had the same dream at least once more the same night. It was like I had to go through it all over again, even knowing what the end would be. Then I woke up.

I realized that this was a pretty accurate picture of some decisions I've made before as a business owner. Not researching the so-called investment first, saying yes to everything that looks short-term shiny, looking at the total profit/loss picture only after I've spent all the money...

Notice I didn't say anything about "adding value" or "profit generating" decisions? What investments are you making in yourself and in your business that will add long-term value and generate profit? Got the wake up call yet?

WANT TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE ON YOUR BLOG OR USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE, E-NEWSLETTER OR WEB SITE? You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is a premier personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free video download, 5 Secrets to Developing Your Unique Brand Proposition at: www.bepromotable.com.

I often hear the question, "how do I develop a personal brand statement?" and my answer stays the same most of the time. A strong personal brand statement can be one of the best tools you can have and certainly one of the most critical ones for your branding and marketing toolkit, whether you are a business owner, or a professional working for someone else.

• When and how you will use it - e.g. interview for a job? networking situation? speech?
• Who you're talking to - e.g. language needs to meet the needs of the audience; the message is the same, but the approach should be adaptable

1. Who you are - let the recipient of the statement know your identity, your name
2. What you do - the core service or opportunity you provide
3. Who you do it for - your target audience and/or ideal client you work with
4. How you do it - your style, your unique approach, what distinguishes you

Let me give you an example of how this might work -

"Hi, I'm Tanya Smith of Be Promotable, the No Guesswork Branding & Marketing Resource for women solopreneurs. We show our clients practical, step-by-step online marketing strategies to confidently promote their business and get them noticed."

Now you try it. Add your own P.B.S. with the 4 parts in the comments and I'll share feedback...come on, you can do it!

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is a premier personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free video and audio download, 5 Secrets to Successfully Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: www.bepromotable.com.

Solo professionals are like big businesses when it comes to the need for a solid marketing strategy. The distinctive thing about solopreneurs, however, is that you get to be the head decision maker for every part of the business. That means it is all the more important to take your strategies from complex to simple whenever possible.

Now is a great time to develop your branding and marketing plan. While you definitely need to consider mapping out a strategy that is more comprehensive to cover you for at least the next twelve months, here are four simple questions you can answer in order to set a basic foundation for promoting your distinctive brand and services you provide:

How will I generate leads?

This is one of the most critical steps to developing a solid branding and marketing strategy. Assuming you have already identified who your ideal clients are, you must now figure out where to find them. Immerse yourself in studying your target market - find out what they read, where they frequent, and what they buy - and put yourself in front of them.

How will prospects get to do a "taste test" with me?

Before a potential client will buy BIG from you, they will want to know what your services are like. Depending on the business you're in, you will need to decide what is most effective and most practical to give away. For example, you might offer a free strategy session, or a free audio, or even an e-book. What can you offer that will be of interest and take little effort or investment on your part?

How will I direct them from one point to the next?

Now that your prospect has had a taste of what you do and they want more, make it simple for them to know what is next. This involves some thinking on your part of what your marketing funnel looks like. Whenever you engage a client in your product or service, be prepared to promote the next thing and make it easy. At the end of your teleseminar, share the next program or info product. This is the time where you can extend even greater value to your new customer - at the point that you have already made good on your initial promise!

How will I follow up?

The client engagement process usually follows a certain path - suspect --> prospect --> client --> advocate/evangelist. In order to move people through these stages, you need some idea of how to continuously follow up and stay in touch. Whether this looks like a series of autoresponder emails, a regular ezine, postcards, etc. consider how you will stay in front of your leads. The key is to add value to their inbox, not being pesky.

I now invite you to claim instant access to a free video and audio download, 5 Secrets to Successfully
Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: http://www.bepromotable.com to learn even more about great solo professional business branding tips. - Tanya Smith, The Solo Business Brand Coach at Be Promotable.

This post was originally published on Tanya Smith's blog. Click here to see the original post.

Goal setting always gets to be pretty popular this time of year. You hear a lot of techniques about how to do it and one of the most common ways is the SMART technique. I'm not writing about that here, because it's so overused now, I don't think you'll care.

No matter what you use, the new year always kicks us off with a great start, right? But then somehow you lose interest. There is this cycle that we seem to get into and it goes a little something like this:

• Day 1: Whoo hoo, yeah, I'm on it this time. I'm going to [your goal here] -->
• Day 3: This is great. I can't believe how this is changing [enter positive results] for me! I will definitely keep this up. -- >
• Day 5: You know what, I'm just going to take a little bitty break...I'll come back to it, I promise! -- >
• Day 10: What was that thing I was trying to do again?
• Day 20: Start over again or drop it completely..

Positive

Level

Evident

Appropriate

Self-initiated & Maintained

Self-initiated and maintained. Your goal must be something that you can initiate and maintain. It must not be something dependent on other people. Make sure that your goal reflects things that you can directly affect.

If your goal, or outcome is set each time with these criteria in mind, you will have crystal-clear vision that you can hang on to and it will get you past those tough times when you're ready to let go. OR it will bring you back to what you wanted in the first place...SUCCESS!

Share one of your clear outcomes in the comments below.

About the Author: Tanya Smith of Be Promotable is the "no guesswork" personal branding & marketing coach. Her creative genius has unlocked the potential of many women solopreneurs, helping them to reinvent themselves as power players in their startup business. Claim your free instant access to a free multimedia downloads including 10 Branding Mistakes Made by Solopreneurs and 5 Secrets to Successfully Starting a Solo Business While Working Full Time at: www.bepromotable.com

Every year, my kids and I create a vision board to capture goal highlights for the year using posters, magazine clippings, crayons, glitter, glue sticks -- you name it, it's on the floor on 12/31. We have the music going, candles lit, and complete focus on what we're doing. Here is our process laid out in 5 steps for you. I hope you then enjoy the short video version of my board that was designed using Animoto.com. Head over to Life Vision Boards and get another take on the "how to". They use Animoto as well and you certainly can too - it's a free tool for creating video using images and music. Use theirs or add your own.

5 Steps To Creating Your Vision Board

1. Get yourself to a quiet place
2. Imagine that it is now the end of 2011 and you are reflecting back on your accomplishments for the year
3. Write down a list -- brainstorm freely at first
4. Now highlight the top 3-5 things you really want to focus on for the year
5. Cut, draw, and paste images that represent your goals onto a poster board (you can even make a miniature version on an index card to carry with you)

That's it! Now set a date to get the board finished. ;)