Results Revolution » HALO Business Advisors

Cheap or Free Small Business Marketing Ideas

Marianna Hayes Chapman — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:31:28 +0000

Are you looking for a way to inject some traffic, build word of mouth buzz and boost sales for your small business?

Whether you are a small retail business, restaurant or professional service business, there’s never a bad time to generate an increase in cash flow, especially during the often slower summer months.

Well, have we got some ideas for you!

This Thursday, we’re sharing THIRTY cheap or free, quick to implement marketing ideas that will work for your small business – it’ll all be during our webinar on Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 9 a.m. CDT called “Cheap or Free Small Business Marketing Ideas.” This webinar will be presented by marketing coach and small business expert Marianna Hayes Chapman, with questions and personalized advice being given throughout the webinar by marketing coach and small business expert Andy Chapman.

I’m not messing around here – these are the sorts of ideas that you can learn in the morning and implement by the afternoon. They are quick to implement, no or very little cost, and they are EASY!

Here are some of the categories of ideas we’re going to cover:

Getting more from existing customers.
Offline ways to get more from your web site & e-mail marketing
“Guerilla Marketing” ideas for 2010 – offline, free & easy!
How to get more buzz and sales from social media.
How to get the media to talk about you and your business.

The ideas presented in “Cheap or Free Small Business Marketing Ideas” are so easy that even those of you who are still shying away from social media or who can’t update your own web site will LOVE this webinar and the ideas it holds. The marketing ideas are smart and affordable marketing angles that will move the needle for your small business. They are practical, do-it-yourself, and realistic for the busy small business owner.

We know marketing is only one piece of your day, so yes, these will be REAL ideas. This isn’t really a strategy session – it’s an idea session. No theory – just specific explanations of thirty – yes, that’s right – THIRTY marketing tactics that you can use to grow your business THIS WEEK!!!

Around here, Andy often tells me that “activity brings sales.” What he means is that when we are ACTIVELY marketing our business, we notice an increase in sales. And we notice that same thing with our clients. Sometimes the smallest changes lead to enormous results. And that’s what we’re all about – RESULTS!!

This webinar is perfect for small businesses of all sizes including retail, hospitality, restaurant and professional service businesses. These ideas will work in any environment – no matter how small or large your community.

And let’s face it, this is me trying to sell you something in a blog post, but c’mon…for only $29, you really should show up. If you get ONE idea that generates a sales boost for you, you’ll more than pay for the cost of the webinar in about half a day… I’d say your odds of winning at this investment are better than nearly anything else out there right now, so go ahead, register… because space is limited, so don’t miss out!

Join the Results Revolution and our founders for this hard-hitting hour of amazing small business marketing ideas that will get you REAL RESULTS for your small business – THIRTY marketing ideas presented by Marianna Hayes Chapman! In addition, while Marianna teaches the session, attendees can submit their questions, and Andy Chapman will monitor the question and answer forum, so unlike most webinars, you’ll have the benefit of constant interaction and personalized ideas for your business.

Join us this Thursday, June 3 for Cheap or Free Small Business Marketing Ideas (only $29!!)… You’ll be glad you did!

Honda Crosstour – A New Mobile Office Option

Marianna Hayes Chapman — Fri, 21 May 2010 21:27:07 +0000

I’m a car person. Or at least I aspire to be. I usually get a new-to-me car/mobile office every couple of years, mostly by necessity. In my mind, I make practical car-buying decisions – like never buying new. That practicality, of course, balances out my tendency to want to “look good” in my car. I justify my choices by telling myself that I need to feel comfortable in my car because I spend so much time in it – upwards of 50,000 miles a year between work and play. My car is quite literally my mobile office in many respects, and it also needs to make a good first impression (note to self: maybe I should remember that and try to keep my interiors more orderly).

In my short professional life, I’ve driven a very nice limited edition Ford Explorer, some sort of sporty Lincoln 4-door, a mommy wagon for the baby years, and now a sporty Volvo SUV.

In my opinion, however, it’s definitely getting time for an upgrade… it’s been over three years, after all.

When thinking about a new(er) car/mobile office upgrade, there are a lot of features that are out there now that would make our life soooooo much better/easier/more convenient/efficient. All of which lead to an improved bottom line and happier, more sane business partners/married people/parents (in our case since we do all of that together).

Here are a few of the features I have in mind:

1.   Extra “power” outlets for our various equipment, so that we can practice the standard traveler’s motto: ABC – always be charging.
2.   Audio input for iPod/MP3 player.
3.   Fuel efficiency. At 50K miles a year, a couple of miles per gallon improvement in fuel efficiency means a lot.
4.   Handsfree Bluetooth phone capability – the safety and convenience of this feature multiplies itself with the miles, in my opinion.

Enter Patty Peck Honda. We got an e-mail back in March from Bob Aubrey (@bobaubrey1) over at Patty Peck Honda (@pattypeckhonda) wanting to setup an initial consultation with us through HALO Business Advisors (our business marketing consulting business that specializes in new media/social media marketing). Through a series of consequent conversations, we ended up on a Spring Break test drive of the Honda Pilot (fantastic, but more on that later).

When we returned and gave our feedback, Bob Aubrey, the GM at Patty Peck Honda, recommended that we try out the new Honda Accord Crosstour for a while. It was a car he had been driving for a few days, and he asked us to drive it and give him some feedback.

Bob, here’s your feedback. (And I think Andy will be supplementing with his own feedback shortly.)

To be honest, I was slow to the party. I loved the Pilot – and I like an SUV for kiddie-hauling. But more than that, I’m a skeptic by nature, so I was looking for all of the problems in this new model – sure that its newness would surface problems, mistakes, functionality flaws, etc.

After two months in this car, I can’t imagine a better long-term solution for the mobile-office folks out there, or for me. I have claimed the car as my own, and relegate Andy to the old car.

This car has everything that I mentioned above as important features for the mobile office/car. It has great fuel efficiency, it’s amazingly roomy, it has power outlets everywhere and the hands free phone and voice command features keep my eyes on the road. Even more, it’s sporty, nimble, stable and fun to drive. It makes a great first impression. The cargo space looks big, and it functions even bigger – it’s got a LOT OF ROOM BACK THERE! It’s got the best seats ever placed in a Honda – although I definitely recommend the leather on the Crosstour. It’s a supportive, luxurious seat that passes muster, even on long trips, even with my very sensitive back issues. Bonus: the reverse view camera, warning sounds and mirrors that adjust to help me not back into anything while moving in reverse are the answer to all of Andy’s prayers for me to never hit anything while backing up ever again.

If you’re looking for something different – yet reliable – take a look at the Honda Crosstour for your mobile office, commuter car or SUV alternative. Yep, I said it: it’s an SUV alternative. With a backseat big enough to hold two car seats and a third happy camper – or three adults comfortably, this car is a winner all around. And since it’s based on the Accord, you know it’ll be reliable for a LONG time…

Thanks to Patty Peck Honda for believing in their product enough to wait for me to come around – that’s the stuff real relationships are built upon. And thanks to Honda for building vehicles that are immensely practical – and fun – for the workshifters, digital nomads and mobile office mavens of the world. We also just happen to be a pretty savvy group of influencers on social media that can share your products with lots of other people, too. I’m so glad I was encouraged to try a vehicle I never would have before – makes it easy to talk about it.

Disclaimer: Make sure you also say thanks to Patty Peck Honda for sponsoring the Results Revolution, which makes all of this great information available to you.

Another disclaimer: While I like frequent car upgrades, Andy drove the same 1992 Honda Accord until February of this year when we finally sold it to someone who asked to buy it basically once a month for three months. So, here’s to wishful thinking that I’ll ever get a new car………

Samples: Another Cheap or Free Marketing Idea for Small Business

Networking at a conference: Pre-planning is a must.

Marianna Hayes — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 18:19:39 +0000

With your target objective (mission) and goals in clearly defined, it's time to start planning, researching and taking action. With our planning for the National Main Street Conference, we really only had about two weeks of firm planning time.

Here is how I broke down the planning: logistics, action items tied to goals, contacts and packing.

For me, the list proved to be a bit daunting. I am a perfectionist, and on occasion bite off more than I can chew. This conference wasn't the only thing on my plate after all. I have small business owners that I consult each week and projects and other speaking engagements to manage. Knowing all of this, I must say I did a fine job of making my lists, then editing myself.

I cannot state this any more strongly for those planners among you: there are plans that will save the world – but require the moon's sacrifice in order to happen. And there are the plans that work, that achieve real, measurable results – because, quite simply, the plan was edited into reality.

I am a journalism student by training, so with list in hand, I took out my trusty red pen. I found it helpful to actually categorize my action items by those tactics that would produce the most bang for my buck with no regard to my personal comfort level. Some of the items would require me to get outside of my actual personality in order to produce the greatest results for the least effort. (Now that is what I call LEAN THINKING.) The categories led me to basically edit into oblivion every tactic that wasn't an all-star. What we ended up with, I believe (and I may be wrong), we've ended up with a more flexible schedule that will allow us to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves while securing PRE-conference certain appointments and plans that have us well on our way to achieving our target objective.

Let me explain:

Tactic that got the red ink:
- Drinks and appetizers for a large group of folks, many of whom we don't know. Would have required a fair amount of planning, organization and time spent inviting, etc.

Instead…
- Made lunch appointment with a state coordinator to discuss upcoming opportunity to speak for the first time in this state.

We did set some meet-ups and lunch dates in advance of the conference, all scheduled for the first two days. This leaves us time to build new relationships over a meal, coffee or drinks later in the conference schedule, if needed. We used the list that the conference provided of registered attendees as well as our existing contacts in order to schedule valuable encounters.

We also took the time pre-conference to promote our attendance at the conference on social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Twitter. We also offered some valuable information and information of our attendance via the Main Street members only listserv to which we are members. Even now, you can follow the conference at the Twitter hashtag we created at #MainStreet09.

We have an on-site goodie in store, too… stay tuned, so you don't miss valuable small business owner survey results that will be available to conference goes FIRST, before we post it on our web site.

Small business tip: Making plans BEFORE you get to the event in order to maximize your time AT the event.

P.S. For real live blogging of the actual conference sessions, etc.
check out the official conference blog which is very well done so far
at Main Street Live 09. You can get an insider's perspective as the staff of Michigan Main Street live blogs the conference on their blog (What can we say? They are our star student!). And you can follow the conference on Twitter at #MainStreet09.

Making the Most of a Conference

Marianna Hayes — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:08:00 +0000

Andy and I arrived in Chicago this morning to mix and mingle among the conference goers at the National Main Streets Conference happening now through Wednesday of next week. Notice, I didn't say that we came here to attend the conference. Because we really didn't.

Hopefully, that statement doesn't highly offend those of you reading this, but this is a key point to attending a conference, trade show, market, etc. where lots of folks you know or need to know are also attending. As we (Team HALO) live blog this event throughout the next few days, you'll hear us talk a bit about the content of the conference – mostly from interviews conducted from attendee viewpoints, some of our own application (it is our blog after all), and possibly some speaker interviews. However, most importantly – and of most value to you – our small business constituency – will be our play-by-play application of our success and failures as we seek to make the most of the opportunities that present themselves this week. It is our goal to do all we can to meet, greet, find follow-up opportunities, etc. so that we can most efficiently and effectively help you, the small businesses across America that call Main Street your home. Our live blogging will mostly consist of the steps we've taken to achieve our goals – and the steps you can also take to achieve yours in similar circumstances.

So, let's dive right in… what are our goals for this conference, after all? As with any business venture, great or small, we will never know if we've arrived or how best to get to our goals if we have no road map. Goals are specific and measurable and targeted – when accomplished, they add up to success. Let me put our strategic planning in perspective for you:

Context: For the first time in three years of attending this conference (I know, we're young tikes still at this Main Street stuff), we are not presenting. We originally had a scheduling conflict and were not planning to attend this year at all. Then, at the last minute, plans changed and opportunity availed itself. We had approximately two weeks to plan our trip and set our goals.

We could not set goals without admitting that for one year concluding about six months ago, our business suffered periods of inconsistency in service stemming from personal matters that are now resolved. Having taken steps to protect our business from these sorts of issues again, then restructuring our business entirely to meet the demands of a new economy and the budgets of small business owners, re-defining our mission with laser sharp precision and marking the past six months as evidence of the measurable results we provide (not to mention the other eight great years prior to the fumble), Andy and I confidently went about the business of setting goals and a budget for attending this conference. With no presentation to prepare and no scheduling limitations (I must admit this left me feeling quite liberated), we set a primary objective and five goals for our conference attendance.

Target objective (basically the same as our 2009 mission statement): Open doors that allow us to encourage and equip hundreds of Main Street businesses towards success and profitability in 2009-2010.

Here are a couple of our goals for achieving that outcome through conference attendance (we can't give away all our secrets, can we? Maybe later.):
1. Meet and secure follow-up opportunities for further discussion (relationships are all we are looking for – not business deals) with three targeted people of influence (we identified them and set a plan for meeting them).
2. Leverage our attendance at the conference to raise awareness for our work with Main Street businesses across social media networks and at the conference in general.

Small business tip: Both budget and goals should be well researched and
well defined prior to making any firm commitments like registration
fees, hotel reservations, etc. Wise business owners (and non-profit execs) test the waters as
much as possible PRIOR to spending any money. A target objective with 3-5 measurable goals sets the framework for success.

Stay Tuned: Next post will give you a sneak peak into our pre-conference planning.

P.S. For real live blogging of the actual conference sessions, etc. check out the official conference blog which is very well done so far at Main Street Live 09. You can get an insider's perspective as the staff of Michigan Main Street live blogs the conference on their blog (What can we say? They are our star student!). And you can follow the conference on Twitter at #MainStreet09.