This week, I’d like to talk about a concept that has always interested me, but I’ve never actually done–Cross Blog Conversations.  There was a very interesting post over on Profitable Mommy Blogging this past week about how to successfully run a Cross Blog Conversation.

These are the steps:

• You write a post that first explains what a Cross Blog Conversation is, then tells your readers who you’ll be conversing with.  Finally, you’ll write a section like a letter composed directly to your conversation partner, ending with a question for them to answer.
• Now, on their blog – they will let their readers know that they have been engaged in a Cross Blog Conversation.  They will link back to your explanation and question.  Then they will write a section directly to you, answering your question and closing with a question for you.
• Now, on your blog – you will let readers know that you’re continuing the Cross Blog Conversation, link to their answer and question – then write a section directly to your CBC partner, answering their quesion and asking another of your own.
• Now it’s their turn.  They link to your question, answer it and ask another.
• Now it’s your turn.  You link to their question, answer it and ask another.
• Now it’s their turn. They link to your question, answer it and ask another, letting readers know this is their last one.
• Now it’s your turn – answer their last question and close the CBC with a special thank you for their participation.

CBCs are a great way to build your traffic with new visitors, as well as helping your CBC partner to share in your traffic.  It sounds like a lot of fun to me!  I would love to partner with someone to do a Cross Blog Conversation on the topic of marketing or website development.  Any takers?

It’s important to keep your client in the loop.  Let them know about the new services that you can offer them and give them great ideas that will keep them coming back.  One thing that works well is a newsletter.  Your newsletter may be through email or it may be a physical mailing.  I use both.  Each month, I include a monthly newsletter when I send out my monthly bills.  My clients realize that I want them to succeed because I’m giving them valuable information–not just trying to sell to them.  Yes, I do let them know if I’m offering a new service that may help them, but I’m not pushy about it.  If they are interested, I know they’ll contact me–because I’ve established a relationship with them.  Here is a sample of my September newsletter.

September News

Can you believe that Summer is almost over?  It’s been a very busy summer for Dramatic Design, which is a good thing!  I’m meeting with two new clients this week and have a few more things in the works.  I’m always thankful for your referrals—it tells me that I have earned your trust and you value my work.  Remember, if one of your referrals signs a contract with me, I credit you with a free month of hosting!

I would encourage you to visit www.dramatic-design.com every week for some marketing tips and ideas.  I have created a weekly meme–“A quiz or survey that is copied from one webpage or online journal to another, each participant filling in his or her personal answers.”   If you have a blog, I invite you to “play along”.  Here are the guidelines:

• Every Monday, write a blog post about what you are going to do to market your small business this week.
• Include the Monday Marketing graphic code (on the Dramatic Design site) in your blog post.
• Sign up with the form below my Monday Marketing post so we can visit your blog and gain inspiration and ideas.

Even if you don’t have a blog, you can still use the ideas to market your business.  Feel free to email me suggestions for future Monday Marketing meme topics or questions.

The point is—you need to be purposeful and persistent in your marketing and do something to market your business at least once a week at the bare minimum.  To be blunt, if you don’t market your business, it will not succeed.  If you don’t know what steps you should be taking to put this plan into action, I can help—but I can’t help if I don’t know you need help.  So, talk to me!

Until next time…

How do you keep in touch with your clients?  What successes have you seen from this method?  What advice or tips can you give to other readers about keeping in consistent communication with your clients?  I can’t wait to hear your feedback!

Last week, we talked about Face Time and the importance of meeting with people in person.  I made a couple of opportunities to do so.  I met with my Business Referral Group on Wednesday and received a referral for a new website.  I will be meeting with that new client next week.  If you are located in the Grand Rapids area, I’d like to invite you to join us–all the details are on the website.

Today, I want to focus a little on Education.  Whatever the business or organization that you are marketing, you will find that your clients will probably need to be educated about your product.  There are many ways to do this, of course.

• Email or hard-copy newsletters
• Blogging
• Marketing materials
• Email
• Phone
• Coaching
• Personal meetings
• Demonstration
• Webinars
• Teleseminars

Each business will need to figure out which method works best for its niche.  For Dramatic Design, I have found hard-copy newsletters, personal meetings, coaching, and demonstration to be effective.  I will give you an example of one client that I met with this week.

We sat down over coffee at a local coffee shop and I walked her through the process of posting to her WordPress blog.  I took her step-by-step through how to add and resize photos, choose categories, and add the HTML coding for her Paypal button (which I also showed her how to create).  We talked about who her target audience was and how she could best reach them.  We talked about her Unique Selling Point (USP) and how she can use that in her marketing.

Once we had that down and she had taken her notes, I took her to a boutique that would cater to her target market.  I showed her how she could approach the store owner about carrying her product by demonstrating the sales call while she observed.

• The store owner was interested in my client’s product, but expressed concern about the wholesale cost being low enough for her, yet high enough for my client to still make a profit.
• I addressed the concern, discussing numbers between the store and client, then suggested that perhaps it could be a special-order item.
• The store owner told my client to email her some information and pricing, so she could consider it.
• I then arranged for my client to send a sample to the store, so the owner could see the quality and unique design that she has created.

This is an example of teaching by personal meeting, coaching, and demonstration.  Now, this was a very extensive example and this much coaching isn’t necessary with every client.  The key, though, is to enable your client through education.  What’s that old saying?  “Teach a man to fish….”

The wealth of information that my client has to draw from will serve her well, if she puts the education into place for her business!  (I will post her website at a later time, as she is still working through the functionality.)

My goal for this week is to educate my clients in the hard-copy newsletter that I will send out with monthly bills at the end of this week.  For my clients that prefer an emailed copy of their invoice, I will email a .pdf copy.

I’d love to hear what you are doing to market your business this week!

Online social marketing is “all the rage” (wow–do people still use that term?), but there’s a lot to be said for actually looking in someone’s eyes while talking to them and being able to shake their hand.  This week, I would like to encourage you to meet and network with people about your business face-to-face.  A lot of people feel a larger trust and attachment to people they can actually sit down with over a cup of coffee with and discuss their project.

This week, I plan on face time networking with at least one client in person and continuing to develop personal networking relationships with my colleagues at my weekly Business Referral Group.  If you don’t have a group of entrepreneurs that you get together with on a regular basis, I would encourage you to seek one out.  It has been very beneficial to me in so many ways!

I’d love to hear what you are doing to market your business this week!