Katie Darden – Page 15 – Career Life Institute

Diversify Your Marketing Strategy

Marketing is always a "hot" topic for business owners. Jay Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing, shared some of his marketing strategies for business owners at the Eureka Inn last spring, and they are well worth reviewing.

Investing your time, energy and imagination into your marketing is essential for your success. Just as synergy works between people, implementing marketing combinations has a greater chance of creating a successful business.

Some of the marketing strategies Jay Levinson highlighted are:

Have a Marketing Plan. It should only be 7 sentences long—which forces you to focus.
Develop a Marketing Calendar. Project over the next year what you are doing each month to promote your business. This prevents emergencies and makes decisions easier.
Create a marketing niche for your business. Be sure all your promotional materials reflect what you stand for.
Make sure the name of your company is easily understood.
Create an Image based on truth and honesty. You want your Image to identify you and to let people know what to expect.
Create an eye-catching logo that stands out and use it on all your promotional materials. Use color to your advantage. Most people remember something they see better than something they hear.
Develop a theme for your business—a set of words that summarizes your company and what you stand for. This should be something you can live with in the future. Your theme will get stronger over time.
Your stationary makes a statement about the quality of you and your company.
Your business cards are a great marketing tool. People enjoy getting lots of information on a small space. Be sure to include your fax number, e-mail, web-site, etc. You could even include your theme.
Have Inside Signs—information in your office that promotes several things you are doing or other services you are offering. 74% of all purchases are made at the "point of purchase." Make it easy for your client to purchase from you.
Have Outside Signs—that represent you well. Look for places where you can put up your business cards, flyers or signs about your business.
Provide EASY access to your business—preferably 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This can be done by having e-mail or voice mail: a way for folks to be in contact. Be flexible, and make it convenient for your clients/customers to contact you.
Think of your business as a package. Make sure it conveys your identify. This includes your reception area and office, how your telephones are answered and how your clients/customers are greeted. "Neatness" is a quality that reflects how you run your business.
Remember "quality" no longer sets you apart—it's now the price of admission. "Innovation" is the key for the 21^st Century.
Recognize the importance of "word of mouth" marketing. The moment of maximum satisfaction is within the first 30 days. Happy customers will be glad to share their good fortune (and your brochures) with people they know. Create a flyer or brochure that can be sent to new interested people. Think about other places potential customers are likely to patronize and put promotional pieces in such places.
Community involvement is a great way to meet new potential customers and clients. People prefer to so business with people they know. Let people know what you do and promote your business wherever you are.
Referrals are your greatest source of new customers. Ask for referrals—3-5 names of people who would like to be on your mailing list or who would benefit from you service. And don't be shy about following up on these referrals. Once a year, send letters to your old customers and ask for referrals. (Send a reply envelope to make it easier for them to respond.)
Stay in contact with your clients and offer follow-up services or products as needed.
Share with groups (such as Business Connections) about what marketing strategies worked or didn't work for you.
Guarantees are mandatory in the 90's; you must always stress your guarantee.

Interviews that Get the Job: Do Your Homework!!

Getting a job is really pretty simple. The one who's hired is usually the applicant who convinces the prospective employer that s/he can provide what the employer wants.

That's why it isn't always the person with the most or best experience, background, or references who gets the job. There are always other factors that enter into every hiring decision, too, including personality, salary issues, availability, budgets, etc. Notice, however, I said the successful candidate "convinces" the employer. The hiring manager needs to believe that YOU are the best candidate. And that's key to understanding how to approach any interview.

So what's the secret to being able to "convince" the interviewer? Certainly negotiation skills are useful, but first you have to get to an opening for the negotiation. So, the first step is being prepared – and that means understanding what the employer needs and also what s/he thinks s/he needs.

Research. . . Research. . . Research

The first step will always be to research the company and the industry. Most companies have some kind of literature they send to prospective customers, or a customer service section of their business. Starting there, you can find out about other publicly available documents (annual reports, etc.). You’ll also begin to get an idea of the "corporate culture" through your interaction with existing staff.

It's perfectly acceptable to call and talk with people who work for the company, just be respectful of their time and let them know why you're calling. In fact, one of the first things you should do when you're interested in a particular company or industry is to set up one or more "informational interviews" with key members of the company to find out more. Ideally this should happen long before they have an advertised opening.

By being proactive you'll be prepared when the opportunity arises. You’ll have already established a contact inside the company and you’ll know some things other applicants probably won’t know. Informational interviews allow you to gather an incredible amount of information in a non-threatening environment since they are usually conducted as research, and have nothing to do with prospective employment.

Let's say, however, you never got around to the informational interviews. Many people start their research after the announcement, and there are still many ways you can do that. In addition to information provided by the company, you can check at the local library and with the Chambers of Commerce in your area. This will give you some information about the public side of the business.

If you've been building your personal network, then you may have some contacts who have direct knowledge about the company, or who can put you in contact with someone who does. You might check with suppliers, competitors, or customers to find out what their experience has been.

Next, find out as much as you can about the advertised position. Why is there an opening? How long did the last person in the job work there? Why did s/he leave? What do other people in the department think about working there?

Create Solutions to Their Problems

As you do your research, be on the lookout for how your skills or experience give you an edge — did you successfully handle a similar project in a prior job? Do you have an idea that could make things work more easily? Do you recognize unique challenges facing the company or industry (and more importantly, do you know how to turn them into advantages)? Be sure to let your prospective employer know how you can provide value, make their jobs easier, solve their problems.

The more knowledgeable you are about the business, the more convincing you will be in the interview. You'll be able to ask intelligent questions and to tailor your answers to the specific issues the company may find challenging. Letting people know you've done your research tells them you're a self-starter who took time to find out about them. Have you ever noticed how much more attractive someone is when they take a genuine interest in you? The same principle works in an interview setting, too. The more interested you are in the company, the more appealing you will be to them.

And finally, while an interview is your opportunity to "toot your own horn", leave boasting out of the conversation. Be respectful of the knowledge and abilities of those who are interviewing you, offering support without appearing to be a know-it-all. After all, you do want to get to the negotiating stage, right?

Protect Yourself with Adequate Boundaries

As a sole proprietor (well, in my case I have a partnership, but it's still nearly the same) it's vitally important to remember that without YOU, the business doesn't exist. The most important thing you can do for your business is to take care of yourself. It's harder for women because traditionally we're used to taking care of everyone else, first.

So I'm issuing a challenge to all of us: set really good boundaries regarding your work. These can be boundaries about what kinds of work you'll accept, the deadlines you're willing to work under, the expectations others have of you, or simply, how long your workday is. I don't have to tell you where you need to place them – you already know that!!

Boundaries are a simple and powerful way to honor the quality of what we bring to life, and ultimately, what we bring to the workplace, and they help insure we don't end up getting "burnt-out" because of the overwhelming requirements we've taken on. The really interesting thing about boundaries is that we're the only ones who can set, enforce and protect them. Expecting others to understand or honor them requires that we do, too.

Most of us think we have to "power through" on the deadlines, forgetting about lunch, breaks, or sometimes, about sleep. Believe me, the work will still be there waiting for you, regardless of whether you take a break or not.

I've finally begun to really understand how important time away is. I still work many more hours than I thought I would as a small business person (of course I used to work that many hours in corporate, too), but now I make sure that I "close up shop" so to speak at or before 6:30 when my husband comes home from work.

And I've begun to take weekends off, too. In fact, I'm experimenting with half-to-full day Fridays off to compensate for having to teach classes in the evenings. It's fun, and in the past month I've been able to finish a quilt for our new grandchild due in February. Taking this time has given me the chance to finish something that's important to me, my daughter and the new baby. And I've had time to recharge my batteries. What I always notice when I take those breaks from work is that I'm so much more refreshed when I pick up the work again. My creativity comes back, along with my sense of humor!!

I read an alarming statistic not long ago that indicated heart disease, traditionally a "man's" ailment, is on the rise in women. I think that's because we're all facing the same kinds of stresses now that men always faced in the working world. Plus, most of us have even LARGER loads because of our own traditional roles as women. And those of us who work alone don't even have someone to talk about it with!!

So let's be smarter, and learn to be very firm about how and where we set our boundaries. In fact, to be REALLY radical, make your boundary three times bigger than you think you need. That way you'll have a lot more room for the unexpected that always seems to crop up. And be firm about "educating" your environment about exactly where those boundaries begin. A boundary helps to protect the Self in a way that nothing else can. When you set your boundaries out far enough, you have plenty of time to ACT rather than just REACT. You protect yourself and the other person, too.

I have a CPA friend who works from home. When she's working on a project, she puts a money clip on the bulletin board outside her office so that her husband, who also works from home, understands that she's unavailable for chitchat during that time. When the money clip has been moved to inside the office, he can come talk with her about whatever he thinks is important. A creative boundary that supports them both!!

In many of my previous jobs, my downfall was not allowing enough room (time, money, flexibility) for the emergencies. When we set our boundaries and honor ourselves by sticking to them, the "crisis-management" decreases and we stop feeling so jammed up. And when we feel more relaxed about ourselves, it's so much easier to share that wonderful creative spark that's uniquely our own. As women, that sense of contribution is important, so honor yourself, set firm boundaries, and let that spark be more available.

Creating a Magical Journal

Most girls begin some form of journaling during the tumultuous teenage years. And for many, their best friend truly was their diary – it was there when they had boy problems, it didn’t gossip on them, it listened when Mom and Dad and the whole world didn’t understand. At that time, too, keeping it secret from prying eyes was no small feat when little brother was as persistent as glue!

Many of us may have set the diary aside as we found the world requiring more and more of our energy. The good news is that a journal can still be your best friend and confidant, there when you most need to explore the questions that inevitably come up.

At a recent “Creating a Magical Journal” class I asked the group, “Why journal?” Their answers covered a wide range of personal exploration, and included:

to chronicle progress and goals;
to find out “Who am I?” and “What do I want, like, feel…?”;
to describe beauty/pain/what I see;
sharing/communicating;
to tap into my inner wisdom;
to express emotions;
clarification for the conscious/subconscious mind;
dreamwork;
questioning;
creating structure;
recording wisdom/ideas;
to process difficulties.

While most of us think of the journal as a place to write things down, it can also become a magical place to explore many different options as we take the time to create a journal that reflects who we are. The first step, as always, is being willing to step outside the box that we believe defines us.

A very simple way to do this is to expand the tools you use in recording your thoughts and ideas. Incorporating colored pens and pencils into the journal process gives your mind the excuse to begin playing more – remember when we were only 5 and the whole world of possibility was there in our box of crayons? Try writing (or printing) in your journal with a crayon – you’ll get a whole different sense of what you’re doing.

Another simple step is to use those wonderful pictures that come in the magazines we get each month. When you’re finished with the magazine, go through it and cut out the pictures that inspire or delight you. You can create a collage for your journal cover, illustrate a specific issue, or (my favorite) you can simply glue them into your journal in random places. When you get to that page of writing, ask yourself how the picture that’s there relates to what you are expressing. You will be surprised by how that can create a new avenue of ideas.

A friend and teacher once told me, “A life worth living is a life worth recording.” Whether you are using your journal for your own dialogue, as a record for your children and grandchildren, or as a place to develop the ideas and answers that support you in the world, your journal is truly as sacred as the spirit of your life. Be flexible, be creative, be adventurous, and be sure to enjoy the process!