Community Connected Commerce

[Patrysha]

About the teleseminar - you charged a fee for that, right? You might try doing a free teleseminar to use as a lead generator in the future and see if that gets you more sign-ups. It could work out very well with a strong follow-up system in place.

Yes, I did. It was a strategy that worked well for me with another project last year (though ultimately that project fizzled...I used it as a template for pulling this one out because it wasn't the system that led to the fizzle last time but me)

I will be trying to see if the response is better to a free one (just brainstorming for related topics on that one).

I am working on a local joint venture project on a smaller scale with a few of my current clients to run from just past Christmas until the end of January. I think I'm seeing a pattern in that I really get jazzed about doing things in slower times...

[TraciKnoppe]

Hi Patrysha - I have a good friend who is doing something very similar to what you've described here in offline markets. Although his model is a bit different, there are many similarities and geared toward local, offline communities. He's given me license rights to his model - but due to time constraints on my end (I seriously need to stop sleeping a FULL 8 hours EVERY nite ), but I believe the model to be a good one.

I believe our goal as social media savvy entrepreneurs, is to approach offline small business owners and help them see the benefit of having an online presence. In my case, I offer social media management packages to business owners where I handle it all for them. I know Tina Williams does this as well.

Businesses know they should be online, but they don't have a clue as to how to go about managing it all. It's folks like us, who can help them come up with a marketing plan and actually help them implement the plan.

Offline small business owners is a HUGE untapped market. To be successful in this market, you need to develop your plan of approach, systemize your methods and decide what services you will offer and then either offer consulting services and/or provide the full services to manage it all for them.

[TraciKnoppe]

One more thing... if you're targeting offline businesses, trying to do online promo events generally are not as successful. These folks need to see you face-to-face in real life. It's all about hitting the streets and meeting them where they are. If they aren't already online, you have to win them over in person.

This is why I have offline conferences in local communities to meet with business owners. Try contacting local area Chambers of Commerce - another great way to contact multiple businesses at once.

[Patrysha]

I started working for offline business owners in 2003. I did quite well on the local level for 2 years, then we moved.

The year after was a complete disaster on the personal level (was inches away from separating from hubby) and I just wasn't finding my groove in business with all the insanity going on.

We pulled it together and went into counseling and all that jazz and it was basically put out there that it was time for me to get a "real" job. So when we moved again at the end of that year...I got the radio station gig. I held on for two years before I bailed on that and got started back in the publicity/offline marketing type things again.

I am reaching out to area Chambers (I was on the board of our local Chamber as a director last year) and am actually booked for a presentation next month in a town an hour away. I'd love to book more of those (only had about 3 speaking engagements in 2009 that I didn't create myself) and am working towards that.

I know that reaching small businesses online is nearly impossible...at least the ones I really, really want to reach and my efforts in that are just a portion of what I've been working on...might as well make use of all the time that I spend on the computer :-)

[Gord Young]

Here's a great interview by Willie Crawford talking to Andy LaPointe about
his book "The New Offfline Consultant"

It's not targeted to local biz necessarily but there is lots of noteworthy content and tips.

He starts with;
Small biz owners want 3 things.

Retain existing customers.

Attract new customers.

Increase profits.

Worth a listen when you have time. Here

[Patrysha]

Very similar to the lines in my book :-)

http://pkmarketingsolutions.com/profitmarketing.pdf

I created and had the book printed for the local trade show earlier this year as my giveaway at the joint venture booth I put together with five other business owners in town.

[Patrysha]

Just a quick update. I met with a potential client yesterday and delivered the proposal today. I am crossing my fingers as all indications are that the funding is in place (subject to budgeting issues) and they want to move forward quickly.

I am praying that this is my Christmas Miracle and that I have the first CCC program up and running within early 2010.

Oh I was also booked for a luncheon presentation and a workshop for a town about an hour down the road.

[Gord Young]

Patrysha,

That's quite an impressive list of accomplishments. You are obviously an action
taker and your love of clever marketing strategies and promotion is apparent.

Their are plenty of people online who would not be willing to go out and do
the face to face selling and meeting with clients. This, in my opinion, is a very
important aspect to consider if you want to work with local merchants. If you
can do this you are ahead of most who will not.

You would be a valuable asset to any company either as a consultant or employee.

Good luck with the new client.

[Gord Young]

The author of this is anonymous but I think it sounds like a quote from
one of the greatest promoters ever....P.T. Barnum

“If you paint a sign that says, ‘The circus is coming to town Saturday,’ that’s advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk him through town, that's a promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flowerbed, that’s publicity. If you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations. And if you planned the whole thing, that’s marketing.”

I like the updated version I found, which includes, “If you make the elephant run through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s guerrilla marketing. If you run a contest and ask everyone to create their own videos about circus animals running amok, that’s user generated content. If they post their videos and forward them to their friends, that’s viral marketing.”

Have you updated your marketing programs? Are you still satisfied to just let the elephant walk through the flowerbed, or are you going after user-generated content? Still just painting signs, or are you doing something viral?
SOURCE

[Patrysha]

You would be a valuable asset to any company either as a consultant or employee.

Good luck with the new client.

Noooooooo....not an employee.....

I tried the employee thing with radio. After 10 years at home it seemed like the right thing to do.

It did not work well. I did top the sales for the station all but one month during my time there, but there were two major problems.

#1. The station thought I worked for them. My take was that I represented them, but the clients were my employers. Being on straight commission it was the clients who paid my wages...

So the manager would ask why I hadn't sold such and such client on the list and I'd be thinking "Uh cuz it doesn't fit their marketing plan, target audience or budget dimwit!" - though I never said it out loud.

It caused me a lot of stress to be working for a sportscaster who had no knowledge of marketing beyond what the radio station offered in training (which was good training but very basic.)

The beginning of the end was at my first year review. The areas I had to improve on "You research too much" and "You're too citified in your approach"

Evidently research is something you do just enough of to sell to the client, not deep enough to actually offer them value for what they buy. Being too citified in a small town...why bother with market analysis and proposals when you can just baffle them with BS, I guess...it's not like their competition is GLOBAL with the 'net or just an hour away in the CITY or anything...

#2 Monetizing the station's assets wasn't their goal...selling radio was their only purpose. Sitting on a $9000 a month database/website system without working to turn it into another profit center just about drove me out of my mind. Oh I tried! But was told more than once that I was hired to sell, not to worry about these things...so all my suggestions landed on deaf ears.

I tried to help the promotions girl with improving the copy of the newsletters to the loyal listener club one day and was reemed out for doing so..."That's her job and yours is to be out of the office in front of the clients"...yah, cuz the quality of what I'm selling (which to my mind included the emails sent out on behalf of my clients) has no bearing on my ability to sell it, right??

Yeah, I have a bit an attitude (internally at least)...so not a good employee.