Dramatic Design

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Beauty is Only Skin Deep…Sometimes!

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Denise Michaels Excellent AdventureDenise Michaels’ Excellent Adventure

Denise had a wonderful blog going–lots of great information, regular blog posts, images to enhance her posts…she was doing a LOT of things right!  She wasn’t happy with the look of her site, though.  It was boring and really didn’t depict the tone of being and “Excellent Adventure.”

She needed a beautiful skin (fresh WordPress theme) that would be as visually beautiful to her readers as her words were fun to read.  Denise knew what she wanted, but needed someone with the design skills to make it come alive.  Being a Marketing Coach, she had some great ideas and was able to communicate those ideas well.

She wanted to carry over some of the look from her other sites, Mentoring With Denise and Testosterone-Free Marketing (which is Denise’s best selling book), just to name a couple.  We were able to do this by carrying over several elements and yet, make it fresh and exciting.

I desperately needed help making my blog look custom and special. It also had to be easy and encourage visitors to stick around and share with others. I’m pretty good at using the Internet – but not so hot at bending it to my will.  I needed an expert and Kim was the perfect person to make my blog dreams come true.  She’s knowledgeable, patient, highly skilled and open to fresh ideas.  If you want a website that creates the look and feel of your business’ or organization’s brand – you can’t go wrong with Kim Smith of Dramatic Design.  Contact her today!

Denise Michaels

Author, Testosterone-Free Marketing

www.denisemichaels.com

To take things up a notch, I also added some sharing buttons, following capabilities, and cleaned up the sidebar (the archives are now a drop-down menu and take up less room).  As with all good websites, I’m sure there will be tweaks and changes down the road, as a website is an ever-evolving, ever-growing thing.

It’s been great working with Denise!  I can highly recommend her book, Testosterone-Free Marketing and have come to appreciate her as a coach and as a friend.  Be sure to visit her blog for some great reading!

Give Me 120 Geeks & I’ll Give You Barcamp!

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Bar Camp Grand RapidsI recently attended a live event in Grand Rapids with a friend.  It was the fifth annual Barcamp for our area.  I had never heard of Barcamp, but I was intrigued to see what it was all about.  They describe it as an “un-conference” because unlike every other live event that I’d ever been to, there was no schedule of events, no keynote speaker, no agenda of things to be accomplished.  I wasn’t so sure if I would like something that was so unstructured, but I gave it a shot.

barcamp presentersOkay, now when I say “unstructured,” this is what I’m talking about…at the left, you will see a sample of our schedule.  It was a blank grid when we all arrived.  Basically, if you want to talk to a room full of people for 30 minutes, you sign up for a block of time.  Most of the talks had to do with programming or designing, but not all of them.  I actually attended one block to learn about “Tichu: The most addicting card game ever!”  It was really fun!

While I’m not a programmer, I can appreciate the work that programmers do.  I consider myself a designer and/or developer.  I take the structure that exists (WordPress, in most cases) and create a look and feel that brings out the personality of a business owner or a business that will be appealing and user-friendly to that particular target audience.  There were a few people at Barcamp who did something similar to what I do, but most were even geekier than me (that’s NOT an insult, by the way).

BarcampGR 5I made some good connections at Barcamp and met several people who I plan to follow up with in the near future.  Live events are a very valuable experience in every line of work.  I believe that there is something that we can learn from everyone–even if it’s how not to do something or that you respond better to people who aren’t overly arrogant.  See where I’m going?  I just try to keep my mind open and look for something positive in whatever situation I happen to be in at the moment.  I enjoyed BarcampGR and will most likely go again next year.  I may even get up and talk next year…could be fun!

Marketing 101 for Small Business Owners

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Marketing for Small Business OwnersI am very excited to announce the launch of my new self-study course — Marketing 101 for Small Business Owners.  The course is written in plain English and is very easy to understand.  It takes you by the hand through the steps of defining and marketing to your target audience–one step at a time.  The lessons are sent right to your email inbox about once a week, which gives you plenty of time to work on the assignments in each lesson.

In working with small business owners for over 10 years now, many of the same questions come up over and over, so I address these questions as a part of the lessons.  You will learn all the basic steps that will start you on the path of reaching your potential clients using low-cost and free tools that will be shared in the course.

I’m very excited about this course and invite you to read more about it at Dramatic Small Business Marketing, a new site that I created just for this project.  The course runs for 5 months at only $19.95 per month–less than $5.00 per lesson!  This price is pretty much unheard of and may make some waves in the marketing circles, but I’m okay with that!

But if that isn’t cheap enough, I’m going to let you in on a really special secret!  I’m coordinating the launch of my course with the annual Mom Masterminds 10 Day May Madness Sale.  This is a super-exciting sale that only runs once a year.  Each participant puts up a valuable product for only $5.00!  You should check out all the great deals that are offered from now till May 19!  I’ve already been shopping!  Some of the things offered include:

  • Advertising discounts
  • Online courses to help your business
  • Ebooks
  • Private Label Rights articles
  • Unique business idea books
  • Keyword Research
  • Social Networking informational products
  • Virtual Assistant services
  • Custom graphics
  • Membership at Mom Masterminds — First Month only $5 AND $5 off the regular price for the rest of the membership!  (This is something that has NEVER been offered before!)

Please, go check out the deals at 10 Day May Madness for yourself–then come back and tell me what you liked best, what you have questions about, or what you bought in the comments!

NOTE: Please be sure to use the links located at 10 Day May Madness to receive the special $5 pricing on items listed in this post.

https://www.10daymaymadness.com/

Gift for You!

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MMotivatorJust have a minute today, but I wanted to send you this free gift.  It’s a copy of the March MMotivator newsletter.  This is a publication that has, until now, been exclusively for Mom Masterminds members.  Starting with this month, however, it is open to the public.  There are a LOT of great articles in this issue–

  • Celebrating Milestones
  • Extra Inspiration from #IndieBizChat
  • Why We Need a Life Roadmap
  • The Organized WAHM: 3 Keys to Getting the Important Things Done
  • Goldilocks and the Three Keywords
  • and Much More!

I’ve been a member of the Mom Masterminds networking group for over a year now and have been thrilled with the support and helpfulness of all the members there.  It is the perfect place to start if you’re looking for a way to make a living from home–or increasing your existing business.  Most of the members are moms, but it’s not an exclusive thing–several do not have children…and we even have a few guys in the group.

If you’re at all interested, there’s a 7-day free trial that you can take (no obligation whatsoever).  I would encourage you to give it a try!  There are tons of great resources there and some pretty great colleagues and mentors who hang around the forum!

Download your free copy of the March MMotivator and let me know if you have any questions!

Customer Relationship Marketing

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Relationship MarketingI’ve been told that I have the gift of gab–and it’s true.  I am able to connect quickly with people and can usually find some common ground to talk about within just a few minutes of meeting them.  It’s not something that I plan out, it just seems to “happen”.  I really enjoy meeting new people and  I love networking events!  I don’t mind “cold calling”.  I even enjoy interviews.  (How weird is that?)

My kids can’t believe how I can start talking to someone like I’ve known them forever.  As an example, during the last airplane trip that we took, I was sitting next to a guy and I found out that he was a pilot from the same airline traveling to his next assignment (the uniform was a dead give-away).  We started talking and before we knew it, it was time to land…THREE HOURS LATER!  For me, this is fun…but I realize that I’m the exception and not the rule.

For those who don’t find it totally natural, just think of it as making new friends.  People will never do business with someone who they don’t

  • Know
  • Like and
  • Trust

As you make and develop these relationships, you will find that being genuine and developing the above will help others to know, like and trust you as a person.  They no longer see you as a salesperson who is just after your money, but rather, as a friend or acquaintance that genuinely cares about them.  People will do business with you–and they will refer others to you.  There is a great article that I read about this–here is  a quote from that article.

A critical component in any marketing campaign is learning, understanding and catering to the needs of your audience. This process takes time and doesn’t lead to an immediate sale. However, through developing relationships with your audience, you gain a far greater understanding of how you can uniquely meet their needs.

A concept that is often overlooked in modern digital marketing is the personal touch. Many companies seem to have forgotten that their audience is comprised of people who have needs, wants and could just use a simple “Hi! How are you today?” without having a “buy now” message shoved down their throat.  Read more about developing a following through altruism.

Are you building genuine relationships with other people?  Do they know that you care about them and you want to help them?  Your product or service could be just the solution they are looking for, but if they don’t know, like and trust you, they will find their solution elsewhere.  When you build those relationships and they do become clients or customers, they are generally loyal and long-time customers and may even become your sales force!  Take the time and get to know your potential clients–you may just make a new friend in the process!

I’m going to be very transparent here.  This is a personal invitation to my clients–leave a comment and tell me if I’m “walking the walk.”  If not, I want to know.  Comments are open to everyone of course.  I would love to hear how you use relationship marketing in your business–be sure to leave your URL when you comment!