What's your advice on how to get the best mileage out of media coverage?
If you get media coverage - TV, radio, newspaper, blogs, etc - that sends traffic to your website, you need to have a way to "capture" that traffic. You need to get visitors' permission to contact them again in the future.
How you do this is up to you. For me, email marketing is queen. You might choose to have them subscribe to your blog, connect with you on Twitter, or like your Facebook page.
What you don't want to do is give visitors that many options! Have a clear call to action.
"Welcome New York Times readers! This is Scoutie Girl and my goal is to empower you to live a more creative life & change the world with your money. If you like what you see, please sign up for my free program on creating more action in your life."
You can do that with a special message on your website, a hidden page created just for them, or a new blog post. Just put it where people are going to see it and give them a good reason to do what you're asking.
Now that flood of traffic turns into a boat load of new fans, followers, or subscribers. Instead of hoping they come back & buy something, you can gently work them towards a purchase on their own time (but your schedule!).
What are your best strategies for getting over that "hump of fear" to get those scary biz things done?
I like worst case scenarios. When I'm having difficulty getting over a fear, I think of the worst case scenario.
What's the worst that could happen if I email that A-list blogger? What's the worst that could happen if I fire this client? What's the worst that could happen if I delegate this task to my assistant? What's the worst that could happen if I invest $1000 into this program?
Last year, I desperately wanted my husband to be able to quit his job. Increasing my income to that level was pretty easy. Making the decision to go through with him quitting was not! But, the reality was pretty simple: what's the worst that could happen if he quit?
My business could fail and we would both have to go get jobs. Maybe worse yet, we might have to move in with my mom. Maybe we have to get a loan.
Those things were all pretty damn manageable. On the other hand, if he quit his job, I might be able to make twice the money I was making. I might be able to help twice the clients. Easy decision.
On average, I think people are pretty resourceful. If you pose the worst case scenario to yourself, you'll quickly think of ways you'd get out of it or over it. All that fear starts to fade away.
Aside from Twitter and FB, what do you think the best newest social networking sites will be for 2011?
Great question! It seems the hot trend in social media is location-based networking. Slightly ironic, don't you think?
Instead of connecting with places & people from all over the world, people are connecting with their own intimate surroundings via technology. This is great for micrbusiness!
But it also just reinforces the fact that your business is not just about the internet. It's not just about how many Facebook fans you have. You have to deepen your roots and plant yourself firmly in a real home.
Look for more sites like Groupon & Living Social... look for more ways to use Twitter & Facebook in your home area... look for more ways to connect with new people right where you are and look for how that affects your wallet.
That's the big trend in social media for 2011!
------------
Tara Gentile empowers you to live more creatively and challenges you to change the world with your money on Scoutie Girl. To move from procrastination to accomplishment, take her free 8-part mini course on creating more action in your life.
-------------
2 comments:
Awesome interview! With loads of useful information!
Wait a minute, you can fire clients????? huh? Say that again? I want to know more about that!!!!!
It's funny, just this evening I was thinking about wedding invitations because I need to start thinking about making some or getting some made for our big day in July, and for a second I thought that it might be fun to be in the wedding invitation making business, but just as soon as I had the thought, I pictured having to work with my first "bridezilla", so to speak, and how that would take the fun out of everything, and then I caught the line in this post about firing clients, and did the Scooby Doo double-take. (wuuurrrrrh????)
I am sure I will be pondering that one snippet for quite a while now!
Thanks for posing these fabulous questions, Alicia! I never would have thought to ask the one about social networking. You mean there might be more than Twitter and Facebook some day? :)
-Kristen
Post a Comment