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For business owners, finding new customers is job No. 1.

Here's how to get the job done.

Referrals

Social Media

Strategic Alliances

Press

Referral Generation

Plan

Be Referable

Target

Educate

Motivate

Follow-up

Referral Generation

Adjust your mindset: You’re not asking to get

“hooked up,” you’re empowering your

audience to “hook up” their friends/associates.

People are naturally motivated to refer

valuable businesses to their friends and

associates, for the benefit of those people.

Referral Generation

Moments of Truth: Not every client

interaction is ripe for asking

Identify moments of truth when the value

you offer is most present in your client

interactions.

1. After a successful launch/refresh

2. After an increase in revenue

3. After statements of gratitude from your clients/partners

Referral Generation

Ask an Open Ended Question: Avoid

YES/NO

Replace “Do you know anyone…”

with “I’m so glad you’re getting so

much value from our work together.

Who do you know who might benefit

from a passive and residual income

stream?”

Referral Generation

LISTEN

Once you ask the open ended question, your clients may take a second to think about their answer. Wait and listen until they have some ideas. Quietly jot down a list of everyone they mention, and remain quiet until they let you know they’re done.

Referral Generation

Control the process

Set an appointment/date to go over

referrals.

Write an email template. This will not only

speed things up, it also allows you to control

the message.

Referral Stats

65% of new business comes from referrals – New York Times

92% of respondents trusted referrals from people they knew –Nielsen

People are 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend – Nielsen

Non-cash incentives are 24% more effective at boosting performance than cash incentives – University of Chicago

Offering a reward increases referral likelihood, but the size of the reward does not matter – American Marketing Association

The Lifetime Value of a new referral customer is 16% higher –Wharton School of Business

83% of consumers are willing to refer after a positive experience –yet only 29% actually do – Texas Tech

Social Media

The best way to build an active and engaged

audience on social media is to focus on the people

who already know you best. By sharing content

that’s relevant to them, and taking the time to

interact and respond to any feedback you receive,

you’ll be able to grow the size of your audience and

build stronger relationships in the process.

Social Media

Identify your Target Audience.

Knowing your “Avatar” is half the battle.

You also need to think about the problem your

product or service solves.

What language would a customer use to

identify the problem?

What is the best way to engage with this

customer?

Social Media

Small businesses succeed on social media when “Accurate Search” finds conversations that include keywords that are appropriate to their products & services OR the problems their P&S solve.

When we find people using these keywords, we can easily learn which social networks our customers are using. We can also determine the type of content they want and the best time and frequency to post. This makes us much more effective at reaching our audience on social media.

Social Media

#Hashtags and Keywords

Once you’ve determined your relevant hashtags, monitor

them to find the conversations you should be a part of. The

hashtags I follow include #smallbusiness (my target

audience), #IncomeStore (our company name for

monitoring), and #onlinemarketing (conversations where I

can add my expertise).

Social Media

You can also find the influencers

you should be liking and following

using hashtags. Influencers are

experts in topics related to your

business and often have a large

following. Engaging with them can

help you gain exposure to a

bigger, equally targeted

audience.

Social Media

Engage Once you’ve found social conversations that are

relevant to your business, you can start to engage potential customers and share your expertise.

Make sure to add to the conversation without disrupting it. If people are sharing and commenting on articles related to your business, look for opportunities to share your perspective. If people ask questions you can answer, offer your help.

Social Media

Calls to Action Posts that provide a call to action are more likely to get

engagement (likes, follows, shares, retweets, favorites) from your audience.

Your call to action shouldn’t always be related to your product or service. People often use social media to be entertained, to find valuable information, and to interact .

Make your content engaging by asking your audience a fill-in-the-blank or True/False question.

Half your content should be solely focused on engagement, with only about 20% of your content focused on the promotion of your business.

Social Media

Social Media

STATS

85% of fans on Facebook recommend brands to others.

43% are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it on social media.

77% are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from friends or family.

81% of purchasing decisions were influenced by friends’ posts vs. 78% influenced by brands’ posts.

79% of U.S. consumers who’ve “Liked” a brand on Facebook did so in order to receive discounts or other incentives.

49% of U.S. consumers say friends and family are their top sources of brand awareness, up from 43% in 2009.

~ Nielsen, Market Force, Jack Morton

Strategic Alliances

Strategic alliances are cooperative agreements between two or more businesses that join together to help each other reach mutually beneficial objectives.

Each contribute skills, knowledge, experience, and resources so that they can accomplish together what neither can readily do on their own.

The key to creating a really good strategic alliance is thinking outside the box. The more you think outside the box, the more opportunities you will discover.

Strategic Alliances

Get Friendly First

Strategic alliances usually come out of friendships and

professional relationships that have already proved

productive and worthwhile. Get to know a company, the

people, their work and their reputation before you align

with them. Their reputation will be your reputation.

Strategic Alliances

Make Sure Your Values Match

Talk to clients about your potential strategic alliance

partners. Ask questions about the values of your potential

partners. Make sure their values match yours. You want to

make sure they have integrity, are customer-service

focused and are respected in their profession.

Strategic Alliances

Educate Yourself

Learn everything you can about the other companies

(and the people in them) with whom you are aligning,

and become an expert at what they offer so that you

can know who are the right clients for them and what

they can offer your clients.

Strategic Alliances

Keep Your Eyes Open

Instead of just thinking only about how to bring in clients

for your company, now you have to be looking out for

how to bring in business for your strategic alliance

partners.

Strategic Alliances

Hire Them

I strongly encourage you to hire whoever you are

considering entering into a strategic alliance partnership

with. This allows you to know how they work with their

clients and it also allows you to genuinely say that they

did a great job for you.

Strategic Alliances

Explore the Possibilities

Get together with your potential strategic alliance

partners and discuss how you would like to work

together, what products or services each of you provide

and how you can support each other.

Strategic Alliances

Create A Strategic Plan

It is best to get clear ahead of time what you are going

to do for each other and put it in writing. Create a plan

for how you are going to help each other build your

business. Give special attention to cross-promotional

marketing.

Strategic Alliances

Cross Promote Each Other

Send out a letter to your clients about your strategic

alliance partners. Promote them in your e-mailings, and

link exchange with them on your website. Post about

each other in your blogs, and on your social networks.

The ways to cross promote are many.

Strategic Alliances

Sell For Each Other

When you meet with clients and potential clients make

sure you discuss with them what your strategic partners

have to offer. Answer questions, provide contact

information and make the initial call for your client and

introduce them to your strategic alliance partner.

Strategic Alliances

Share Resources

Let each other know about opportunities you come

across that will benefit each other. Be observant in your

business activities; notice what kinds of marketing and

other opportunities you come across that would be of

benefit to your strategic partners.

Press

A press release is your ticket to publicity.

Have a good reason for sending a press release.

A grand opening, a new product, a record-setting sales

year, a new location or a special event are all good

reasons.

Press

Make sure your press release is appropriately targeted for

the publication or broadcast you're sending it to. The

editor of Road & Track is not going to be interested in a

new baby pacifier you've invented.

Press

To ensure readability, your press release should follow the

standard format: typed, double-spaced, on white

letterhead with a contact person's name, title, company,

address and phone number in the upper right-hand

corner.

Press

Below the information, put a brief, eye-catching headline in bold type. A dateline, for example, "Los Angeles, California, April 10, 2010" follows, leading into the first sentence of the release.

Limit your release to 1 or 2 pages at most.

It should cover the six basic elements: who, what, when, where, why and how.

The answers to these six questions should be mentioned in order of their importance to the story to save the editor time and space.

Press

Don't embellish or hype the information.

You are not writing the article, you are merely presenting

the information and showing why it is relevant to that

publication in hopes that they will write about it.

Pay close attention to grammar and spelling.

Competition for publicity is intense, and a press release

full of typos and errors is more likely to get tossed aside.

Press

Know exactly what you're going to say before you

telephone the reporter. Have it written down in front of

you -- it's easier, and you'll feel more confident. Don't be

a pest. You can easily be persistent without being

annoying.

Press

If you reach the reporter on the telephone, remember

that he or she is extremely busy and probably on

deadline. Be courteous, and ask if he or she has time to

talk. If not, offer to call back at a more convenient time.

If the reporter can talk to you, keep your initial pitch to 20

seconds; afterward, offer to send written information to

support your story ideas.

Press

Be helpful and become a resource by providing reporters

with information. Remember, they need your story ideas.

There are only so many they can come up with on their

own.

Always remember that assistants get promoted. Be nice

to everyone you speak with, no matter how low they are

on the totem pole. After you establish a connection,

keep in touch; you never know where people will end up.

Press

The secret to success in the PRESS is to be sure you're

telling a story that's worth printing. The best publicity

draws on one of a handful of tried-and-true themes.

Newsworthy stories have something that hits you as a

reader and that rises above "just the facts." Here are five

can't-fail angles that the media loves:

Press

1. Underdog. Do you have a David versus Goliath story to

tell? Everybody loves an underdog: You were small and the

odds against you were great, but you took on the big guys

and won! If play this card, you might attract more attention

than you ever thought you could.

Press

2. Superman. Do you have "first, fastest, brightest" story to

tell? You don't have to be faster than a speeding bullet or

more powerful than a locomotive, but it would help. If

you've got a truly unique story -- you're the first, or the

biggest, or the strongest, or the loudest -- then you have a

certifiably newsworthy story.

Press

3. Cinderella. Do you have a rags-to-riches story to tell?

Stories about the GWOG (Guy Working Out of Garage) who

strikes it rich always command public interest. Late Apple

co-founder Steve Jobs may represent the quintessential

example of the small entrepreneur rising to greatness, but

there are countless other examples.

Press

4. Dear Abby. Do you have a "free advice" story to tell? You

can't beat free counsel for building trust. Brainstorm the best

tips you have to offer customers in your industry. That is the

basis for an interesting article.

Press

5. Scientist. Do you a story based on hard facts and figures?

You can assert all you want, but numbers make it real.

Research -- real, proprietary research carried out by you

and featuring your own data -- can be a great way to get

attention. Conducting a survey works just fine.

Press

by Jim O’Grady, Entrepreneur Magazine

As journalists, we hear this question from entrepreneurs all

the time: "How can I convince you to write a story about

my business?" The simple answer: Get our attention.

In 1939, a pastry company hired a man to eat 13 donuts

while hanging upside-down on a plank extended from

the roof of a Manhattan skyscraper. Given American

litigiousness, a stunt like that wouldn't work today--but we'd want to write about it if it did.

Press

Think of the press as your audience and as a market. Just

as you tailor your message to reach different segments of

your customer base, you need to customize your story to

appeal to each publication you pitch.

We've put together a starter kit of methods to make your

pitch stand out from the deluge that swamps journalists'

e-mail inboxes daily.

Press

Give us a Narrative

Make it New

Make it Weird

Tug at Our Heartstrings

Make it Timely

Be Honest

Go for Shock Value