| 6 Essential Elements For Kickstarting Your Business Posted: 20 Feb 2022 06:05 AM PST  Your marketing launch is the most important element of startup success these days, to get customer attention in this world of information overload. Yet it is the one element that too many entrepreneurs focus on only as an afterthought. Every entrepreneur assumes their product or service is so great that "word-of-mouth" will carry the day for them.
Even great products need great marketing "content" to fuel the ascent of their online message. A few years ago, I saw a classic primer on the key elements of great online content that I like, in "Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition," by Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com. Michael delivers field-tested guidance on how to create the core elements of great content for your announcement, your webinars, blog posts, Facebook contests, newsletters, Internet TV, and other initiatives. It's all about content that will bring the masses to your business: - Highly relevant. To get to the core of what's relevant to customers, you need to know them well. Use your content as a way to make a connection between your business and things that matter to them. The more frequently you can deliver content that meets the needs and desires of your customers, the more relevant you will become to them.
- Educational. Helping customers discover new ways to solve common problems can quickly build you a loyal following. Your content must continue to deliver new ideas. In simple terms, this is where you share your knowledge, as well as the guidance from other experts, for free.
- Easy to digest. A conversational tone should be the basis for all of your content. Highly relevant and educational content if irrelevant if you can't make it easy for people to understand. Common approaches include the use of metaphors, tell stories, and always stay on topic.
- Visually appealing. The eye is just as important as the mind when it comes to customers. The old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words," is still alive and relevant. Make sure your paragraphs are short. Use callouts and bullets to help the reader speed through your content.
- Conversation inviting. Great content is conversation. If you want to connect with customers, put aside your writing formalities. Your language doesn't have to be perfect. It's pretty simple to do. Simply speak out loud. Then write it down. The message should spark a side conversation between friends, and a follow-up comment to you.
- Lacks a sales angle. Great content shouldn't have any obvious marketing messages or sales pitches embedded inside of it. If your content is about your specific product or service, that's not great content; it's marketing collateral. People won't flock to marketing materials.
Creating these core elements is a lot easier if you can team with outside experts to help you. They have what your readers seek – important, worthwhile knowledge, and some influencers already have a large following of their own. They are a shortcut that can put you far ahead of your competition. Some experts are so instrumental that they are called "fire starters." These are people who have so much influence that their endorsement can ignite your efforts nearly overnight. The best potential fire starters have the eyes and ears of people who closely match your ideal base. Nurture these relationships, and provide generous value to them in return. Every marketer throws around the word "content," but few have mastered the art and science of creating useful, thought-provoking, and viral content. Great content doesn't happen by accident. Start early in your planning, build your own skills, or find the best expertise you can afford. There is nothing more devastating than a good business that fails to launch. Marty Zwilling |
| 10 Qualities That Will Make You Stand Out In Business Posted: 19 Feb 2022 06:05 AM PST  To be successful starting a business, you don't have to be a fabulous person, but it helps. Some people, and some entrepreneurs, have that something extra that you can't quite put your finger on, like the judges are searching for on American Idol. But the entrepreneurs that have it, including Elon Musk and Richard Branson, seem to be able to effortlessly get team members, investors, and customers to follow them anywhere.
In her classic book on this subject, "The Essentials of Fabulous," Ellen Lubin-Sherman, who has been tracking fabulous people most of her life as a writer and journalist, tried to net it out. She identifies less than a dozen primary qualities for fabulous people in general, and I have honed and tuned these to ten that apply especially to entrepreneurs, in my experience: - Be passionate about life, as well as your business. Entrepreneurs who have passion in business, as well as their life, may drive us all batty, but there is never a dull moment. These moments are always being transformed into options to be explored. They make life interesting and an adventure, and everyone loves an adventure.
- Be delightfully authentic and honest. Authentic entrepreneurs are destined and determined to have fun, as well as move forward in business. They have an unerring confidence that's inspiring yet attainable. They savor relationships, and are generous with themselves and their smarts, so they attract a savvy following.
- Be revered for an amazing positive attitude. Rather than cave when things get tough, optimistic entrepreneurs go analytic, looking for pivots that keep their goals in sight. They are disciplined, upbeat thinkers, but they don't take themselves too seriously, and know how and when to laugh it off. A negative attitude takes everyone down.
- Be warm and completely accessible. Warmth comes from your smile, and facial expressions that indicate genuine interest. Investors and partners look for entrepreneurs that will look them straight in the eye when speaking, and give their full and undivided attention while you're speaking. Everyone looks for "rapport talk" rather than "report talk."
- Have impeccable manners and flair. Entrepreneurs who are always looking for opportunities to be gracious and considerate are going to be liked, admired, sought after, and trusted. In business, that means staying connected, showing up on time, with no signs of boredom or preoccupation. It's not always about you, so dress and talk for them.
- Be competent and confident. Competent people accomplish more in business because they're driven by a pronounced sense of purpose. They are willing to put themselves on the line, and have confidently done their homework to know what it takes. They are reliably consistent, and unafraid to ask for help.
- Able to just "get it." Entrepreneurs who "get it" are emotionally attuned to peers and customers, so that their gut-level instincts become informed judgments that move the business forward. "With-it"-ness takes work, like reading the right blogs every day, challenging yourself to stay abreast of the latest technology, and social media marketing.
- Have a big bandwidth. Can you talk, with equal engagement and respect, to your company's CFO and the guy who pumps your gas? Look for opportunities to praise and nurture the people with diversity. Get comfortable out of your circle of interest and expertise. Go for that black belt in networking.
- Be vivid virtually. Developing a superior virtual presence requires a mastery of several mediums – phone, email, text messaging, as well as handwritten notes – but the payoff is undeniable. But don't overuse virtual communication to the exclusion of face-to-face time In all cases, don't forget your sense of aplomb, mastery of tone, and the spell-checker.
- Attract a superstar board of advisors. The right board is a group of individuals who may not know one another, but know you, and know your business domain. Plus, they need to be willing to put their brains and their expertise at your disposal as long as you need it. No entrepreneur is an island, so take the initiative to build an advisory board.
Paying attention to all these things is how you become a fabulous entrepreneur, another entrepreneur idol. I'm sorry, but there is no magic, and it doesn't happen overnight. Of course, it will never happen if you don't start or don't believe. But it's worth the effort, unless you have something better to do? Marty Zwilling |
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