TJConsulting Virtual Assistant » niche marketing

We can help! Virtual support – product development and delivery.

Diane Scott — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 10:01:32 +0000

Do you need some help with the assembling your products? Whether it’s written or audio/video a virtual assistant can research;

book editors

copywriters

book publishers

graphic designers

They can find the best people to carry your ideas forward, those who are most suited to you and your product.

A VA can manage the team involved in the production keeping the project on track and moving forward. Ensuring the development doesn’t ‘stick’ at any point and make people accountable for various parts of the process.

Virtual support can review at a halfway point, to make sure things are moving in the right direction and proofread the finished article before passing on to you for your final approval.

With new products available, a virtual assistant can add them to your shopping cart and link them to your website for maximum effect (or provide the necessary link/s to your web developer.)

If the product is an electronic one, a virtual assistant can arrange for it to be delivered electronically after the customer has paid. Instant access to your product!

Following the purchase, a VA can assist with drafting text for a ‘thank you’ web page for your approval. They can draft copy for autoresponders for each item you have available for sale.
When copy is approved by you, a virtual assistant can implement and include relevant links for your product.
Virtual support can help you to consider the use of tracking links, identifying the links that are most effective and therefore the best ones to employ.

If your production is audio, a VA can transcribe and create a written product for distribution (or use a transcription service to assist).

If you have employed a graphic designer, virtual support can communicate with them to create the appropriate image for your product, suggesting ideas so that the image is matched to you and your product before your final approval.

When your offer is a physical item (CD, book, ) rather than an electronically available one a virtual assistant can research and set up the shipping of merchandise by a fulfilment house. They can then submit your products to enable shipping. Virtual support can draft copy documents to dispatch with the goods and submit for your approval.

Now you have your product and all systems in place for delivery to your customers, next week we will see how your virtual assistant can help with the public release and launch.

If we can help in any way, email us here, or telephone Tamara on 0203 468 8594.

Need some inspiration for your blog? 10 tips for content

Diane Scott — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:00:38 +0000

If you find that you need a little more help writing content for your blog the following tips may give you some ideas, of where to go to be inspired. Using some free tools that are available on the Internet to grow your knowledge about your niche and encourage conversation with your followers.

Google Alerts – You can set up Google alerts to find out what people are saying about a company, its products, the industry you are in or your niche. The alert can be edited to find web pages, newspaper articles or blogs. Google checks regularly for results in your chosen fields and sends an email to you daily (or as the news happens if you have elected for that).

Blog directories – Technorati and Alltop are good sources for finding what other bloggers are saying about your niche. Both have comprehensive lists that are categorised supplying you with a wealth of information from the blog world.

Subscribe - Follow and subscribe to other bloggers who are experts in your field. This will keep you informed and in the know. Find out what they are discussing so you can gain inspiration from their writings.

Share – When you link to others don’t remain invisible. Have your say, whether you agree or disagree, and add your perspective to the comments. Adding to the conversation makes you more valuable. The Internet loves a good argument and controversy. Encourage readers to comment and interact with with you.

Poll – There are free web poll generators available for you to build your own poll. Ask your niche to vote on things that are relevant to your niche. Results form the poll can be used as content ideas for future blogs. Polldaddy, 99polls, Vizu and if you have your blog feed into your Facebook account you can place a poll on your fan page.

Blow – Blow your own trumpet about anything you are doing! If you are speaking at a conference, hosting an event, launching new products or services, tell your readers about it and post it to your blog. If you have a press release written and distributed place that on your blog too.

Tips – Share information in the form of information and tip lists about things that will be of interest to your followers. Ask them for their views to provoke comments, to not only spread the word but to start a conversation.

Categories – Make a list of your topics that you are blogging about, and then define into sub- topics. Transfer this listing to your calendar so that on any particular day you can see what you will be blogging about. You won’t need to think up an idea, you’ll already have it on your calendar.

Ask – On Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook you can ask questions and get an immediate answer, giving you another source to build your blog.

Top 10 lists – Place a list of what you consider to be the top 10 blogs in your niche, on your blog. People on the list will like the fact that they’ve made it on to a top 10 list and may write on their blog about it. It’s a good way to get known and build a reader following.

After a short time of blogging you will be receptive to all manner of snippets that will feed your blog writing. Keep a notebook handy, online or a paper one, to note down any happenings that could make good blog posts. You may find that a high percentage you may not use but the list can be a useful source of inspiration when you need it.

Emails: read or shred and how to make a difference to open rates – pt.2

Diane Scott — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:00:42 +0000

You can read part 1 of this post here. Below is the continuation – part.2

Email personalisation when used by companies gains higher order values than generic emails.

Campaigns can be aimed at specific customers increasing order value. Using a customer database to determine purchase history,demographic and channel behaviour allows you to personalise your emails and target your customers.

Using the name of the recipient in the subject line of your email almost doubles the ‘open’ rate. Using the name of your recipient in your email marketing gets their attention and increases open rates.

You can take the personalisation one step further by using where your customer lives in the subject line. There are plenty of tools available to automatically merge all the personal details together into a highly personalised email.

Because the name and subject line may be all your prospects/customers see in their Inbox, it’s important that first impressions get across as much as possible to achieve higher ‘open’ rates.

Try different things:

Vary your subject line and check your metrics to see if it’s made a difference to your open rate.

Keep a common element in your emails, so even if some parts of it change you have consistency and don’t automatically get deleted when your email, in the main, goes unrecognised.

Spam filters love ‘special offer, ‘free’(and all the different ways of typing it) ‘limited time’ ‘buy now’ and usually bin your carefully tailored offering immediately, so try to keep these words and phrases out of the subject line.

35 or less characters in the subject line also make for better click through rates. Learn to keep it brief and to the point. Many email clients only show 30 characters so make those count, getting your message across in the beginning.

Knowing your readers, through a good CRM, may help you write your subject lines to communicate to the different sectors. Let them know in the subject line precisely what you are ‘selling’ rather than a vague comment stating your website is updated.

Test your email. Send a test email to yourself to check how it looks like when it arrives in your Inbox. Would you be compelled to open it?

It may be a good idea to include a common word or newsletter name in brackets [] at the beginning of your subject line so readers can easily white list your emails.

Consider what time you publish. Too early in the morning and they may be overloaded with the flurry of emails that have arrived and may delete to keep clear. It’s obvious from my email box that everyone thinks that between 4 and 5 in the afternoon is a good time to send! Probably not so good if you work in an office and want a tidy Inbox for tomorrow. Try different times and check your open rates to see what works for you.

Pricing – the key to sales?

Diane Scott — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:00:28 +0000

Price is key in your client/customers perception of your product.

When you are trying to decide how much your product is worth, how your client/customer perceives your product goes a long way towards whether they make the decision to invest.

Under price and your prospective clients/ customers may think that your product is inferior in some way to it’s competitors. Overprice and you could appear to be too expensive with no extras to warrant the cost.

Many may equate low prices with a poor and inferior item or service. A little research into your market may gain you insight into what your clients/customers are willing to pay or expect to pay for a similar product.

Your customers will regard your product as valuable if it solves a problem for them. Rarity and scarcity of a product and 100% no quibble guarantee can improve your sales and let you price your product at a higher level.

If your pricing is too low you will find yourself working for very little revenue with no time or money to use to improve and develop your business. Get your pricing too high and you could lose out to your competitors when your prospective customers/clients deem that your product does not contain enough value for them to invest in.

Consider the value to your customers/clients and what impact the cost will have on their business.

Check out what your competition is providing in their package and what the market expects to gain from the product. Is there a way that you can fill a gap in the market and supply a product that no one else is providing?

Your pricing structure should be consistent with your position in the market. If supplying to the budget end of the market then low pricing will be essential where as if you customer is ‘high end’ then a low price will send out the wrong message with customers/clients perceptions tainted, thinking your product/service is inferior.

Research your market to determine the impact of your pricing and ascertain what percentage of customers will buy your product at a varying range of prices. Your costings should include a profitability factor so take account of fixed costs such as rent and salaries,the cost of your product to manufacture, making sure that these costs are well covered so you are not working for very little recompense.

What do you hope to achieve from your pricing structure, it’s impact on the market and your position within it?

When you have decided on your objectives the following may help with your pricing.

Cost-plus – used primarily in markets dealing with large volumes, dominated by price competition = the cost of producing your product + % needed to make a profit.

Value-based – focuses on the prices you believe your customers will pay based on what benefits your business offers. This is dependent on your ability to demonstrate and define clearly the benefits.

Target-return – requires the setting of a price to achieve a target return on investment.

Psychological pricing – your customers’ perceptions of your price, positioning and fairness of pricing.

If your customers buy by volume, consider selling with a few pence less on bulk orders.

Offer a low price to gain new customers, gradually raising prices when you gain market share.

However you choose to price your product or service, take time to always measure the impact on your consumers of all of your marketing, using analytics to check what’s working best. With analytics installed on your website you are able to find out what your customers want and how you need to change to fulfill that need.

2011 Let’s plan this year!

Diane Scott — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 11:11:37 +0000

There are many online business owners who have valuable solutions they could provide given the right Internet marketing. With ineffective Internet marketing in place their ideas simply fade away, leaving them wondering where they went wrong, when the web names they admire have made the big time. Entering the market in the beginning, the webpreneurs that we know and admire, had it all their own way by being first in the market. Now, the webpreneurs of today, need strategies in place to help them find their niche and to market to their target audience.

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.

Email marketing: how to impove your results

Tamara Baranova — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:43:54 +0000

Entrepreneurs quickly jumped on to the fact that email is a fast and effective way of marketing a business. But we’ve all become tired of endless spam interruptions, newsletters and various forms of email communications. So you need to become more savvy with your email marketing before you even get started.

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?
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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!

Database marketing: a quick overview

Tamara Baranova — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:27:44 +0000

Database marketing is the gathering of specific information about your prospects or customers. The information stored in such system can then be used to market and advertise as well as to increase awareness about your products or services. The specific information you collect will depend upon the product or service you are selling. Basic information needs to contain contact details and purchase history.

Information is easily collected online but people are usually reticent about giving it to you. So to increase the number of opt-in’s you can add an incentive to your request in the form of a free e-zine, free e-book, or free contest when they visit your website:

Team up with 4-10 similar e-newsletters, all listing each others’ name and subscription information on each issue.
Allow archiving of back issues of your e-newsletter on their websites as well as your website.
Ask subscribers to forward to friends, family and associates thus endorsing your e-newsletter. If they enjoy – they will subscribe.
Consider publishing your e-newsletter on other websites like e-zine articles or e-zine directories. From time to time there are specific e-zine competitions like Next Top Newsletter, which can give your e-newsletter the publicity you need.

A database helps you understand customers’ purchasing habits, which can in turn help you improve your website and write persuasive advertising material. Using database marketing you can:

Find out the things they like and dislike about your business and use this to target your best prospects.
Find out what new products or services they need or want and use this to test ideas before launching a full sales campaign.
Find out how to improve your existing products and services to build customer loyalty.
Find out which benefits or features they like most.

The list of beneficial uses is endless!

Here are the necessary components you need to put in place to get your database marketing right:

A list of your contacts, if any to start marketing to.
A good database system that you can use to collect and manage the data (we recommend using Capsule CRM).
A data collection form on your website with a strong compelling offer.
A system to follow-up with those who filled in the form – auto-responders and e-newsletters (we recommend using Aweber or MailChimp depending on your specific marketing model).
A business process to add new contacts to the database, to regularly review the data and deal with errors, to create and send new marketing material in the form of e-newsletters.

The business process is the key element to it, there is no point investing time and money into setting up of such a system and then never actually use. The same as with any marketing, it will take you some time to get it right, tune in your marketing message and tone, grow the list and build the trust with your subscribers.

What are your top database marketing tips? Please share it with us and other readers!

Quick guide to Facebook advertising

Tamara Baranova — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:14:04 +0000

Facebook has more than 400 million active users. Recently it reported more traffic than Google Search. Most of Facebook users are 18-37 – adults with disposable income to spend.

That’s why advertising on Facebook presents a fabulous business opportunity. You can drive traffic to your website, connect with a huge community of your target customers, promote your services, products and special offers. What’s more – Facebook offers very cost-effective advertising opportunity through its own pay-per-click ads. However you can do it for free by just creating a business page or a group.

Pay-per-click advertising

Facebook allows businesses to purchase image and text-based ads that can be targeted to a specific demographic based on age, location, gender, marital status, interests and more. Therefore a luxury wedding planner in King’s Lynn can target women who are 25-40, engaged, within 20 miles from King’s Lynn and are college graduates. It’s impossible to achieve such targeting with Google AdWords as all you can specify is someone’s location.

Ads are charged on a cost per click (CPC) or cost per mille (or 1,000 impressions, CPM) basis. You can set up a daily budget and a bid per click or impressions. The minimum daily budget is $1. Facebook will show a suggested bid range displaying what other advertisers targeting your demographic are paying. To get good results you’ll need to bid somewhere in the middle of the suggested range.

How to succeed with Facebook Ads:

Great Image – find an eye-catching and relevant image, as ads with images tend to get noticed more.

Catchy text – keep your ad wording concise. Ads are restricted to 25 characters for the title and 135 characters for the body.

Teasing header – be creative when writing your ad. A header that grabs attention tends to improve your click-through ratio.

Soft landing – your ad needs to link to a “landing page” if you promote content outside Facebook. The landing page needs to be 1) compact, 2) clear, 3) with a call to action and 4) containing a means of collecting everyone’s information.

Endless testing – create a few version of the same ad, but each slighly different (image or header or text). Don’t make ads too different as you won’t be able to understand what exactly was working. Then, when running all ads at the same time, you will be able to measure what’s working in order to get more clicks at a cheaper rate.

Target marketing – unless you’ve got an unlimited advertising budget you need to think really carefully about targeting your advertising campaign. With over 8 different parameters to play with, there is no excuse not to create a detailed customer avatar before starting the campaign!

You can find more tips and articles on how to create a winning Facebook Advertising campaign here.

Facebook Groups and Pages

You can create Facebook groups and pages, which users can then join or become a fan of. You can suggest the page or group to your friends first, then ask them to do the same in turn. You can also promote the links via your website, email signature and newsletter. Groups and Pages represent a great opportunity to really connect with your consumers, advertise your offers and promotions to people who are actively interested to hear from you (by being fans). And it’s free to set one up too!

How to succeed with Facebook Pages:

First plan why you are creating a page: is it to promote your business? or a product? or your industry in general? What are you going to talk about on the Page?

You will need to keep the content fresh, by regularly adding news, images and videos on a regular basis. It’s good to link your Page to your Blog and YouTube stream.

Invite existing Facebook friends and e-mail contacts to attract an initial membership base. Then you can create a unique username for the page at facebook.com/username (you need to have at least 25 fans).

Facebook has many applications you can add to your page to enhance its functionality: Twitter, Blogs, Marketplace, Videos, Reviews etc. But nothing compares to the actual interaction between you and your fans. And that’s what it’s all about.

You can find TJConsulting Facebook Page here – feel free to become a fan too if you like what you see.

Follow up Fortunes: why your business needs a database

Tamara Baranova — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:59:19 +0000

We often come across small business owners without a definite plan to follow up on their leads. They keep a collection of business cards from networking events, and have address books where they record contact details. But these are often used at random, if at all, and are sometimes simply forgotten. So what is a database, how does it differ from the card collection and why should a small business have one?

The answer is simple. Would you use a typewriter to prepare a proposal for your customer? Probably not. Same reasoning applies to managing your customer data. The business database is one of the most important assets in your business and, if used properly, it can generate a steady stream of income each time you turn to it.

A database is essentially a collection of information about something, in this case – about your customers and prospects. The main benefits over collecting paper cards are:

Access: you can share access to the information between multiple team members, which you can’t do with cards.

Flexibility: you can access the information wherever you are, without having to carry a big pile of cards with you.

Accountability: you can track how well your business is doing in closing sales and converting leads into prospects.

Security: you can lose the cards or your bag, and all the information with it. If your database is stored online it’s safe and secure no matter what.

Why would you need one? There isn’t a business type out there now that doesn’t need a database! If you do any networking, it’s a pointless waste of time and money without a proper follow up on leads and new contacts. If you are trying to drive traffic to your website it’s a waste of resources if you don’t capture details of your visitors. If you invest in advertising your shop you have to get everyone’s details in order to get them through the door again.

There are plenty of tools out there now, all aiming to make it easier for business owners to manage their data effectively. For example:

SmartSheet –a modern, online, enhanced version of Excel, which can have tasks, reminders and attachments to cells.

Business Contacts Manager –comes with Outlook 2007 in the Professional package and manages your contacts, emails and tasks within Outlook.

Capsule CRM – a “proper” contact relationship management (CRM) system, where you can track contacts, prospects, sales, leads, opportunities, tasks etc.

The principle is the same across all tools: you import your data from any email program’s contacts or business cards. Sort it and arrange it into categories, tags, groups etc.

We recommend using Capsule CRM to our customers. It’s very easy to use, you can share access with many users and you don’t have to be a techie in order to use it effectively. The benefits however are very important:

You can close more potential sales, without forgetting to follow up in time.

You can see at a glance what potential business you have in the pipeline – peace of mind if you feel you are doing great or a warning in time to do something about it!

You can access your data from anywhere with a web browser or a smartphone.

You will seem super-efficient to your prospects as you will always be returning calls, following up and sending the information right when you agreed to do it.

You will be able to spend more time nurturing relationships with your best customers (the 80/20 principle).

You know exactly what you talked about last time, even if it’s been 6 month ago. Great memory? Just a great system on hand.

For those who have lots of paper cards that need to be converted into electronic format we have a special offer: up to 100 cards entered into Capsule, system setup and training – all for £85+VAT. Find out more about the offer here.

Or, if you would like to find out more and get your questions answered, join us together with Oma Edoja (client attraction coach from GetClearGetKnownGETCLIENTS.com) for a free webinar on Thursday, 22 July at 8pm BST. Recording will later be available for sale (so don’t miss out to learn it first-hand while it’s free). To secure your place while the last few are still available click here to register.

Easy guide to business branding

Diane Scott — Mon, 24 May 2010 09:16:48 +0000

Guest post by Alex Hearn, The Big A.

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