Copy can be written, for your approval, that regularly connects you with your affiliates and can supply them with banners and links to use for promoting your business. For Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, virtual support can write social media updates that affiliates can use to advertise and promote. They can write examples of blog posts that can also be used to spread the word about your product.

By implementing a timetable, promotions can be scheduled and materials organised that will be required to run the proposed campaign.

A VA can manage your programme by supporting your affiliates, answering any questions and help them with any difficulties they may have. By keeping in touch with them by email they can provide tips to help promote your product. Contacting affiliates by phone, providing a personal touch, can help your team, knowing that there are real people within the business, there to assist them, in what can be a rather ‘lonely’ internet world.

A virtual assistant can run regular reports to check on affiliate sales and follow up with contact to them to help with promotion or congratulate on their performance!

Are you thinking of starting an affiliate programme for your business? You can email us here, or telephone and speak to Tamara, on 0208 468 8594.

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Virtual events allow you and your business to present your message and brand, easily and effectively, providing your audience with the information they require.

Your virtual event needs to be easy to use and without the requirement to download, leaving you free to run your business. You can then concentrate on what message you want to get across rather than how to use the programmes.

With the recent rise in the cost of travel and transportation, the virtual event, can reduce your expenses in getting your message to your audience, by removing the need for people to travel.

With the requisite travel removed, so too, the overnight accommodation and extended time away from your audiences’ employment. All these, in any business, will be costed against a real world conference or trade show producing a substantial cost to a company.

Reports say that you may well have 4 times more sales leads from a virtual event than a physical one. Together with a database of attendees to use again and again, which will lead to more sales.

There are 2 basic types of virtual events:

The virtual show – This would ordinarily occur in a large conference hall or similar and brings a large physical production, that may have taken months to plan and augment, to your computer-using audience, wherever they may be. They can listen and watch your presentation, digest your information and immediately put it into action.
Your ability to showcase your latest products so easily and inexpensively will reduce your costs and benefit your audience by removing the hassle factor of travelling to a physical event.

Your presentation can avoid boring slides and using the tools available can be turned into a very interesting and flash production.

Just as your audience can be anywhere in the world, likewise your expert speakers can do their presentations from their own offices or wherever they can receive a signal for the Internet connection (even in the nearest Wi-Fi zone when the internet is down). Without the problem of time and travel, which is factored into a physical event, you will be able to provide quality content and speakers who will be able to concentrate on their presentation without the drain on energy of hours spent travelling.

Although you may have a list of attendees for your ‘live’ event, or a boxful of business cards, attendees of virtual events will have logged in with an email that ‘exists’ and provides you with a ready made database of visitors to your event.

The webcast

Revolving around either a single person or a group, no matter where they are located, the use of several different technologies can be used to deliver your message.

Webcasts work on different browsers and platforms, enabling all of your audience to view and take part without the need to download programmes.

Your webcast can also be recorded and distributed after the event, with an ability to reach an even larger audience.

Recording of your event removes the need to take notes and allows reviewing of content at an attendee’s convenience. Removing the hassle for attendees to attend a live event allows you to supply a consistent and engaging message.

Your webcast can be a two-way thing with attendees able to ask questions (or instant message), which lets them learn more and add to your presentation. Your audience can be allowed to communicate with each other also. The extra interaction adds to the value of the webcast for people viewing the presentation after the event.

See next week’s blog for more on virtual events.

ON24, a virtual event company, their research shows that between 20% and 95% savings are achieved when the event is a virtual one. When you realise it doesn’t just stop at savings made by attendees and all the travel and accommodation costs, the people who are arranging the event also gain from the ease and speed of arranging a virtual event, together with additional benefits of spending less time on the project.

In creating a virtual event you have produced a permanent record for future use, whether in a learning base, or for repeating at a future date to another audience or to re-purpose the information to use outside of the event.

A virtual event generates excitement, meaning extra customers and more leads. ON24 research reports that 4 to 5 times more leads are generated from a virtual event than from a physical one.

Your database of attendees will supply you with information of not only who attended but with any other information you wish to gather from them (eg. location) which may assist you in the promotion of your products.

Leads generated at virtual events are far more numerous than those made at physical events, with a neat database compiled as a bonus. Unlike physically collected names and email addresses a virtual event attendee will have always supplied a valid email address otherwise they would not be able to attend (and your report will inform you of who attended). A database from your virtual event informs you of which item your lead is interested in so you can promote that offer (about which you will have learnt everything possible!).

In contrast to the whirlwind of a physical event, where numbers and attendees to each specific part of the event are difficult to track and evaluate, the technology involved in a virtual event can report on numbers of attendees, specific areas of interest and sessions attended. Reports track and log your virtual event(s) showing who showed and what time they spent there. The ability to analyse their interactions with others, what they downloaded or viewed is a very useful tool, which can tell you about your audience.

Virtual event technology can provide you with valuable marketing data based on any criteria you or your sponsors decide upon. The genuine information provides you with information to target your marketing efforts. This can be a real time saver for you when you can ‘read’ your market.

Go green.… a fringe benefit, or it maybe one of your overriding objectives to run a ‘green’ company, using virtual technology to promote, teach or gain leads, ticks many of the boxes to help you achieve this end. The savings on fuel, travel, time lost to events, both attending and producing, compared to the physical event has to be of benefit both to you and your audience in helping to create a greener environment.

Some of our events that we have joint hosted on Eventbrite

Within Eventbrite you can list and promote your event, with analytics and data gathered for future reference.

Blog your business to success! Antonia Chitty of ACEInspire & Tamara Baranova of TJConsulting

Using Facebook to Create Business Success Monique Lester of London Digital PR & Tamara Baranova of TJConsulting Virtual Assistance

Without a business plan, how can you, or any one else involved with your business, judge where you are? You can have the best business coach in the world, be motivated and have a fantastic idea but a plan makes the difference between disappearing into the darkness or becoming a shining light in your niche. With business plan in hand, you and others involved with your business can time-line and measure your progress. You can tell when you are ahead in your game or dreadfully out of alignment and therefore need to alter your website to regain your audience and customers.

Business plan:
There are several different ways to create a marketing plan to promote your online presence. Your local Chamber of Commerce may offer free or discounted business planning and development resources to members and non-members or you can try the do-it-yourself way with Marketing Plan Pro by John Jantsch ,powered by Duct Tape Marketing.( It is a simple, practical marketing plan software that makes it easy to plan and carry out the marketing activities you need to grow your business.) Another approach is to find a coach or consultant that specialises in creating marketing plans.

Marketing:
With a business plan in place, now is the time to activate your marketing. If you find yourself without the resources to put the plan into action, use Duct Tape Marketing principles to get things moving until you can hire additional resources. A virtual assistant or online business manager may be an alternative. Paying per hour reduces the costs but gains you experienced help for putting your business plan into action. With a business plan in place, all those involved in moving your business forward are aware of your goals.

Steady as you go:
Now you have a plan in place, you have identified the resources to implement; now it’s time to set off. If you have limited resources, aim for a slow, steady approach and find a rhythm that works with your available resources.

Measure:
The results of your marketing plan and strategies need to be measured and assessed for effectiveness on a regular basis. Do you have an e-newsletter or e-mail signup on your site? How many are subscribed? Or unsubscribe? Aweber and other e-mail/e-newsletter programs generally have reports so you can tell how well different campaigns have worked. Google analytics tracks site visits, page visits and time spent on your site so you can analyse how well each page is working. In the beginning, don’t try and track everything but be aware that the information is there when you are ready. With your reports and knowledge gained from these, you can develop consistency in your marketing to build and grow your business.

“People make a subconscious judgement about a person, environment or product within 90 seconds of viewing it.  Between 62% and 90% of that assessment is based on colour alone” – The CCICOLOR-Institute

Beyond the Words, why colour is important for business branding

We are constantly processing information, looking for meaning to what we see.   Before we had the spoken language, our primary signaling system, our language was colour. In nature, red, black and yellow signal danger, warning to stay away and not safe to eat.  For example: red back spider and wasps.

When it comes to marketing, it’s not just the words and logo that convey your brand message.  Did you know the language of colour is communicated quicker to the brain than words or shapes as they work directly on our feelings and emotions?  That’s the power of colour psychology.

You will feel peace and calm when you look at the black and yellow example?  More likely it has the effect of making you feel ‘on alert’, perhaps tightening of breathe.  Now look at the blue example.  Notice how you instantly feel more relaxed and breathing easier.  That’s because light blue is the colour of calm and green represents peace.

Thinking about your own business branding colours, do you know the reasons you chose them? Perhaps you’ve even let someone else choose them for you arbitrarily?  What subconscious messages is your business communicating through the colours you use in your branding?

Instead of using colour in your branding as decoration or as an afterthought, think of colour as a language, another way to communicate.  To not use this to its full affect, you’ll be missing out on an important element of your brand.

In order to do this, you must first understand your Brand Personality.

Brand Personality

Every business brand has a personality, qualities that define who they are.  When these are translated into colour, your branding message is strengthened.  You are effectively communicating your Brand not only in words and images, but also through colour.  Using the right harmonious colours for your brand’s personality, your brand message will be supported on an emotional, mental and physical level.

Applying it consistently to all your branding literature and products will further increase brand recognition and trust with your customers.  Consumers buy trust.

Who do you think this company is aimed at?  If your company was selling power tools for men, would you use pink in your branding?  I’m going to guess you said ‘no’.  That’s because on a conscious or sub conscious level you know that pink is about nurturing, femininity.

Do you know what your Brand colour personality is?

The next step is ensuring that your Brand Colours will be perceived by your customers in the way that you intend them to be.

Targeting your market

Think about your target market, especially if you are targeting a particular culture.  Even though the psychological affects of colour is the same, we also need to be aware of colour symbolism, which is our conditioned conscious associations to colour.  You may, without realising it, be sending a completely different message.  The last thing you want to do is alienate your target market.  For example purple symbolizes royalty and luxury in western cultures, however in Thailand it is the colour for widows in mourning.

By using applied colour psychology with the cultural awareness of colour symbolism, ensures your company’s values are conveyed not only through words, but through the colours used. You are effectively doubling your branding message, instantly differentiating your brand from your competitors.

Karen Haller specialises in Applied Colour Psychology.  She helps business owners to communicate their brand’s authentic business personality in colour.    If you want to know more about bringing colour psychology into your business or home, visit her blog at: http://karenhaller.co.uk/blog/

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1. Be Human and be You: This might be the virtual world, but don’t distance yourself from your subscribers. People buy from people, as the saying goes. So a good email campaign is based on the same principles as any other sales and marketing drive. Study your audience and what appeals to them. What do they want to read about? What are their concerns and interests? How much time do they have to read and digest your message?
2. Check Your Data: have a close look at your customer relationship management (CRM) information, and any other relevant data. Make sure that what you are saying is relevant, timely and interesting to the market you are sending to. Are the people you are contacting really the ones you need to be targeting? Is email the most appropriate means of reaching them? Weed out old or inactive accounts from time to time, to stop wasting your efforts and be loved by anti-spam regulators.
3. Acquire New Leads: one objective of your marketing is to constantly refresh your data through your website, social networks, CRM, networking and other available channels. Segmenting your data into a variety of lists and categories will help you to make messages as personal as possible. Data can be a commodity in the Information Age, but if you can get a good return on the investment, it may be worth purchasing new leads too.
4. Make a Call to Action: Some companies fire out e-newsletters without ever reviewing why they are doing it. You must be clear on your reasons for messaging your clients and customers: branding, sales, a news message or a combination of the three. But there has to be a call to action. How do you want your audience to respond? What is the most-desired action your reader needs to take? And don’t be afraid to repeat your call to action a few times throughout the message.
5. Quality, NOT Quantity: The frequency of your campaigns and the information contained there is equally important. A sharp, well-prepared, targeted and relevant message can work wonders. Yes, good be just good enough on one hand, but sending just for the sake of sending will not bring you any extra profits.
6. Beware of Spam Filters: Emails containing large images and attachments are often prevented from reaching inboxes by firewalls and filters, so focus on ways to make simple, text-based emails work for you. There are spam testers available online and with most email marketing systems, but use your common sense and try softer methods of selling.
7. Think Mobile: Research by Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2015 more people will access the internet via their phones more than by their desktops (and this can include iPads and similar devices). Therefore, you need to test how your message will be viewed on a small screen. Again, large images, graphics and attachments are not appropriate.
8. Use Hot Incentives: Incentives shouldn’t cost you a lot of money, but as long as they appear valuable to the audience they will actually make you money. Look-out for hot topics and trends, and try to use them to your advantage in marketing.
9. Don’t Just Rely on Email: In 2009, more communications were conducted on social networks than via email, according to research conducted by Morgan Stanley. Your newsletter is just one part of your marketing mix, along with social networks, blogs, articles, and all other offline and online tools. A service like FlowTown can help you collect more data about your subscribers using their publicly-available information on all major social networks.
10. Track Results and Monitor Feedback: Your e-marketing software should offer the facility to track results: deliverability, the number of opens and bounce-backs, click-through ratios. As long as your stats are improving month on month, you are doing a great job. You can also encourage interaction from your subscribers by asking for feedback and comments.

What about your top tips for managing your email marketing? Please share with us and other readers!

Are newsletters a waste of time? Yes and no!

But if they take too much time to write and too much time to read then they do just waste everyone’s time.

The pace of life is such these days that it’s difficult to find the time to read a full newsletter – even if most of it is interesting. (Let’s face it the ‘filler’ articles that make up the bulk rarely are).

How much more difficult to find the time to write the stuff – especially if hardly anyone’s going to read it!

Yet they do fulfil a purpose – they keep you in-touch with your clients/customers on a regular basis (so long as you put the effort in regularly enough). Remind them you exist and are still there when they need you.

How about ‘a little often’?

I’ve noticed that of the slew of stuff that hits my email account the stuff I do read is generally a) interesting and b) bite sized. A punchy subject line goes a long way – especially if it’s backed up with an interesting story. And short. Almost the shorter the better.

There are some real masters of this craft out there who get me almost every time. (Sorry guys – no one is 100% interesting all the time!)

They hit my inbox at least once or twice a week – sometimes more. But I don’t mind. Because they’re short, to the point and interesting.

MicroNewsletters?

THE cardinal rule of Twitter is ‘a little, often’. Perhaps the same applies here – just on a different scale?

So no need to labour over ‘War & Peace’ – and take an afternoon out to write a whole slew of stuff. Take ten minutes to write about something interesting and keep it short.

And to the point.

I did. This took less than 10 minutes.

How was it for you?

Barry James is the creator and founder of Receipt Angel, Followup Angel and Angel Rooms – all parts of Angel Revolutions. He can be found on Twitter as @ReceiptAngel or online at FollowupAngel.net/events

How do you instruct a designer in order to create an effective brand that works for your company?

To instruct your designer effectively give them useful information but also allow them to do their job freely, or you won’t get the best out of them.

How do you allow them to utlilise their expertise while ensuring you get what you want?

Express yourself clearly but in general terms. Too much detail and you’ll be telling them what to design, which is what you’re paying them for and is something they’re better at than you! For example, instead of specifying a particular shade of blue, try to identify the feeling or values you are trying to communicate, such as ‘conservative and stable’.

Make sure they discover all the necessary information.

Even if they have experience in your sector, they should investigate your competitors and market positioning so they fully understand where you are in the marketplace and what you are trying to achieve. Let them know why you think clients buy your product instead of your competitors. What do you like or dislike about how your competitors did? Make sure they do their homework. Moments of design genius come after a thorough understanding of the product.

Get feedback.

How do you know if what has been produced works? The proof is in the pudding – send the artwork to some existing clients and a few people in your target market. You’ll be surprised at how they want to get involved. Try to pull a thread through the feedback so you can give the designer a clear response. These things usually sound worse than they are and are easy to fix.

And last but not least…think about how your logo needs to be applied before getting quotes. For example, the logo might need to be applied to stationery, vans, signs etc. This is necessary to identify an accurate price early on in the process.

Alex is the Creative Director of The Big A [link to site] – design and branding agency in London offering affordable and creative design solutions for SMEs. Follow Alex on Twitter: twitter.com/the_biga