Want to Win a Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide? Here’s How.

The conversations at Extreme Bio Makeover Salon page at Facebook are alive and inspiring, and I’d love for you to join us.  To make it super enticing for you, here is my offer.

“Like” the Extreme Bio Makeover fan page by Sunday, July 31, and you’ll be entered for a chance to win your very own printed copy of Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide (a $49 value) and the two Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Tips Booklets (value $10) that are packed with 147 powerful ways to boost your profits and build your business through the power of free publicity absolutely FREE!  I’ll choose two lucky people to win.

Here’s how you can qualify:

1. Take five seconds from your day
2. “Like” Extreme Bio Makeover fan page by Sunday, July 31.
3. Make a comment or share a link to your own online bio
4. All those who “Like” this page are eligible to win, provided they make a comment or share a link to their online bio

That’s it! What could be easier? Five seconds gives you the inside scoop on how to prepare your story so the right people will listen so you can get seen, heard, celebrated and COMPENSATED for your expert status.

Everyone at the Extreme Bio Makeover Salon will then be able to read more about YOU with ease and speed.  That could very well invite more of the right clients to do business with you sooner versus later.

And, when you are among the two people to win, you’ll receive popular and well-reviewed tools that can help you prepare your story in an even more compelling way than you are sharing it now.

Everyone is a winner here.

So what are you waiting for?   Come on over to Extreme Bio Makeover Salon and enter today!   There are 70 “Likes” on this new page today.  How fast can that total grow?  Can’t wait to report back on August 1 with the results.

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From Jack in the Box to Old Spice and Beyond, Targeting the Ideal Decision Maker is Always a Great Place to Start

Did you know that I started my marketing/public relations career working for Jack in the Box restaurants?  It’s true!  I worked for the company from 1987 through 1993.  

While my career was just starting out, I remember thinking at the time how wise was the marketing leadership team.  Through market research, the company determined that going head to head with McDonald’s wasn’t the right strategy.  Research showed that adults without kids were the company’s primary customers.   These people wanted serious food that catered to more sophisticated tastes.  The product development team then began a pattern of menu innovation that catered exactly to what the ideal customer wanted.  After the food safety issues of 1993, the company brought Jack back through the miracle of plastic surgery in 1995  to save the day and give the company a whole new attitude.  It’s working pretty well so far.

The “Jack’s Back” campaign is the longest, ongoing advertising campaign in the fast-food industry. Centered around humorous and entertaining television commercials featuring Jack, the campaign has received numerous awards including several Clios, Beldings, EFFIEs, and Bronze and Gold Lions from the Cannes International Advertising Festival for the best fast-food advertising in the world.

Now, the people at Old Spice are serious about targeting their ideal customer — women.  It turns out that women are rushing to buy Old Spice in quantities even the market research people could never have imagined.   The story that ran over the Associated Press about the resurgence of Old Spice has been traveling far and wide, thanks to the viral spreading of the message via YouTube and other social networks.  The campaign is one that my 13-year-old can recite with amazing accuracy and personality.  And he’s not the only one.

These stories bring up the importance of identifying your ideal customer with crystal clarity. When you know who you serve, you can create and share messages that are likely to resonate with them.  And when you deliver the message in a meaningful, memorable, and magnetic way, great results can manifest.

Survey Monkey can be a very effective resource to guide solopreneurs to learn a great deal about their customers.  And, don’t underestimate the value of simply reviewing your client list for the last two years to  identify the characteristics of the customers you have already served and enjoyed serving.   If you can describe those clients in very specific terms, you can target your message to reach and favorably influence  more quality people just like them.

Main Street Media Savvy Question of the Day:  How clearly can you describe the ideal customer or client for your product or service?   And, are the messages you are sending out to the marketplace well targeted to appeal to their very specific needs, attitudes, and sensibilities?   When you get that right, a whole lot of other things will flow just right in your business, too.  Just look at Jack in the Box and Old Spice for inspiration.

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Peeling Mom Off the Ceiling’s Leslie Irish Evans Reveals How She Added 1,500 Facebook “Likes” In 30 Days

With all the fuss about making strategic use of Facebook Fan pages to grow influence and build business, today I am happy to share a guest post from Leslie Irish Evans who added 1,500 Facebook “Likes” in less than a month.   You can check out her Fan page here.

Leslie’s tell-it-like-it-is approach is one of the reasons harried moms around the world turn to her for Peeling Mom Off the Ceiling advice through her blog and her radio show. Now her truth telling shows you how you can follow her lead to attract Facebook “Likes” of your own.  Take it away Leslie!

As a speaker, author, and radio host, I know the importance of generating good “buzz” about what it is you do. And as a long-time Facebook user, I’ve watched this social media giant completely transform the way “buzz” happens.

It was with great excitement that I set up my Facebook business page, bearing in mind the great “Field of Dreams” line:  “If you build it, they will come.”  I built it … but, would they really?  Indeed, they did. I credit the five following steps to making it happen:

Step 1: Learn to Love Facebook Ads

How did I go from 500 “likes” to 2,000 in less than one month? I paid for them!  Money may not buy you love, but it can buy you likes if you play your cards right.  Facebook advertising can be very affordable (you get to determine your price, your budget, and the demographic you want to pitch to) and it’s a great way to generate followers who self-select to be a part of your marketing. Think about it: for mere pennies a head, you can have people who say “Yes, I want what you’re selling.” How great is that?

Of course, throwing an ad up on their screen is only the start of things. You have to make the ad interesting enough for them to click on it, and then you need them to find your page enticing enough to click “like.”

Step 2: Come Up with a Snappy Title

Want to join “Stress Relief Tips for Busy Moms”? Me neither. Yet that’s what I could have named my page, because that’s basically what I do.  That kind of title, though accurate, lacks spark.  Here’s how I came to name my page (which is also the name of my internet radio show).

During my massage career, I was attending a seminar where the leader said we needed to be able to say what we did in one sentence. In front of the whole classroom she said to me: “What do you do?” On the spot, I blurted out “I peel moms off the ceiling!” Thus, “Peeling Mom Off the Ceiling” was born.  Much more fun and funny than “Stress Relief Tips for Busy Moms”, yes?

Step 3: Get the Coolest Graphic You Can

My graphic rocks. No, seriously, check it out. It was pure serendipity that I found this picture of a crazed mommy trying to do everything at once on a stock photo site.  The graphic precisely shows my target audience in a fun and humorous way, and the picture of the mommy alone was the “profile picture” for my business page for several months. But once I made the choice to work with a professional graphic designer, who took that image and made an entire customized banner for my page, I saw many more people “liking” my page. It looked much more polished and professional. Clearly I was a person who meant business!

Step 4: Continuously Generate Strong Content

So, you’ve set up your Facebook ad. You’ve got a snappy title and a kickass graphic. They click. But, do they “like”? And, more importantly, do they stay? This is probably the most important step, and the one that requires the most dedication. Keep your page active and interesting, and provide value to your guests. How? Make sure you know your target audience. Mine is busy, stressed-out moms. You won’t see me pitching band saws to them.  In fact, you won’t see me pitching much at all (because constantly being pitched to is a drag and will get you “unliked” very quickly). I let them know once a week what’s going to be on my radio show, but other than that I tell funny stories or link to interesting things.  Keeping my page interactive is what keeps my guests coming back for more. How can you do that?  Ask them questions.  Where are you posting from? What’s the weather like where you live? If you had a magic lamp … , etc. If your guests feel ownership and involvement in a page, they will be more likely to stay, to pay attention, and to tell their friends.

Step 5: Back to Facebook Ads

Wait, wasn’t this Step 1?  Yes, but this time you’re coming in with a different intent. You did your first ad and with your snappy title, your awesome graphic, and your delightful content you’ve generated a following.  You’ve got a few hundred “likes” going and people seem to dig it. What’s next? Buy some “word of mouth”! We’ve all heard that “word of mouth” advertising (i.e., friends telling friends about your product) is the best way to go. Personal recommendations carry extra cachet in the marketing world. Can you count on your new page guests to tell their friends about you? Probably not. But you can do the following:  design a new Facebook ad that targets friends of people who already like your page. You genius, you! You now are targeting your same demographic, but this time when the ad appears on the page it will tell your prospective guests about their friends who are already there! Making this one little fix sent my number of “likes” into the hundreds-a-day category.

There you have it! Five simple steps to generate buzz and get people talking about you and your fabulous products or services. Thank heaven for social media and the ability to be our own buzz boss. Now go get busy getting “liked”!

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Do You Love to Save on Admission Fees to Cool Social Media Match Making Evets? Let Me Make it Easy For You

If you are planning to attend the June 9  Salty Waffle Social Media Hook Up and Match Making event, you can save $15 when you type MSMS in the “enter coupon code” box when you register.  Why not gather a group of your friends, colleagues and co-collaborators and register today?  You might meet some new people, learn a thing or two to make your social networking efforts pay off, and have some fun in the process.  Sounds good to me!

Remember, if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting the same results.   If it is time to shake things up, you know it.   Hope to see you there.

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Nicole Donnelly Moves from Successful Path in Retail Soft Goods to Social Media Software and Beyond!

In this age of reinvention, I enjoy watching how successful entrepreneurs move from one quality, money-making venture to the next.   Today, my attention turns to Serial Entrepreneur Nicole Donnelly.

Donnelly is an entrepreneur who is parlaying her success in retail soft goods to a host of new initiatives relating to social media management software and more.

Nicole launched Babylegs and grew it over a five year period from zero to the millions of dollars.   Today, the company she launched and sold to a major hosiery manufacturer enjoys worldwide retail distribution of leg and warm warmers for little ones.  She credits the meteoric growth of Babylegs to the power of connection with the right people to carry a relevant message forward.  

Now, she shifts her focus toward guiding other entrepreneurs to become capable, confident, equipped, and connected to engage and profit from the strategic use of social media.   Her company — creatively named Salty Waffle — is the umbrella organization that serves the the hub for all of Nicole’s latest business ventures, including her new book, Ride Like a Penguin, her new social media measurement application called BigRuby, Salty Waffle Social Media Boot Camp, and the Salty Waffle Social Media Hook Up.

I asked Nicole about how she named her company.   Donnelly told me she is a life long lover and baker of waffles of every possible variety and flavor.  It is actually something she is well known for among her family, friends, and business colleagues.  She said, “Waffles bring people together, day or night, to connect, enjoy, and brainstorm about ideas big and small.  Since I live near the water  in West Seattle, there is always a hint of salt in the air.  When baking up a sticky brand name to serve as the umbrella for my latest business initiatives, Salty Waffle rose to the top of the list.”

Love that.

If you want to taste what Nicole is baking up beyond tasty waffles, don’t miss the Salty Waffle Social Media Hook Up.  This speed dating, social media hook up event that offers guests interested in social media the opportunity to meet up with passionate social media players who know how to make social media work for just about any business.   It is also a fundraiser to benefit EO Accelerator and Ravenstone, both of which are classified as 501c3 non-profit organizations.  A silent auction of fine art will fill the coffers for both worthy organizations.

EO Accelerator guides business owners to grow from $250,000 to achieve the $1 million revenue mark, and Ravenstone guides fine artists in the business of successfully running their businesses.

Here are the event details so you can mark your calendar and gather up a group of your friends to attend, enjoy, and savor the practical knowledge that can propel all of your businesses forward:

DATE & TIME:
Wednesday, June 9
5:30pm-8:00pm

LOCATION:
SODO Commerce Building
66 S. Hanford Street
Seattle, WA 98134

COST & REGISTRATION – Click on the link!

I’ll be there.  How about you?

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Tammy Redmon Explains How to Post a Bio Tab on Your Facebook Fan Page, Step By Easy Step

Special thanks to Catalyst for Transformation Tammy Redmon for sharing step by easy step instructions for adding a “Bio” tab to the horizontal navigation of your Facebook fan page.  Click here to learn how, and add your bio tab today.

Now, everyone who has a Facebook fan page has no reason NOT to post a bio tab to make it easy for their ideal clients and prospects to learn more about them.

How much content is best to post?  My recommendation is to offer a short blurb bio that gets to the magic of the value you bring.  A fan page for your business is still a  social networking page,  so leave the manifesto on your home page on your website or blog.

Do you agree or disagree?  Would love to hear your thoughts.

And, I’d love for each of you to rush to your Facebook fan page to put these instructions to work for you, while this is on your mind.  Ready, set, go!

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Nancy Asks a Question about Bios of Facebook – Can You Assist Me and Host of Others with the Same Question?

Ever wonder how to post your bio to your Facebook profile?  Here are three easy steps to get that mission accomplished.

1) Click on “edit my profile.”
2) Insert the short blurb bio in the “bio” box
3) Scroll down and click “save changes.”

That was easy enough.  

Now, what I want to know is how to add a “Bio” box across the top of the Facebook navigation so “Bio” appears in the same line with Wall, Info, Boxes, Video, and Blogcast.

I’ve been reviewing some of the Facebook pages for experts I admire, including Leadership Expert and Best-Selling Author John C. Maxwell. In doing so, I have noticed that bio box across the top of horizontal navigation. I can’t for the life of me figure out how to do this on my own profile. And I know I am not the only one who has found herself swimming in even more confusion while sifting through all the “Help” comments posted to Facebook.

That said, do any of you loyal readers know how to add that box in that position on a Facebook page?  I would sure appreciate an assist, and you will be helping aspiring experts everywhere take a bold step forward on Facebook by extending your help.  Can’t wait to hear from you!

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Have You Seen This Video – Social Media Revolution? Absolutely Riveting! Thank You Mari Smith

Relationship Marketing Specialist Mari Smith spoke about the power and influence of social networking last night at the Total Networking Seattle event at Qwest Field to an appreciative crowd of 300 women business owners.   During her presentation, she referenced a video on YouTube called “Social Media Revolution.”  It is absolutely riveting.  Here is the link to make it easy to tune in.  She said that social media has created a fundamental shift in the way we communicate and do business.   This video makes that case.  Watch it, and tell me what you think.  Thanks Mari for a fabulous, engaging, and content-rich presentation that is sure to inspire many into powerful, new actions to connect in new ways and enjoy what you refer to as radical strategic visibility.

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Total Networking Seattle, Mari Smith, and Rising Tides Lifting All Boats

Have you purchased your ticket to Total Networking Seattle yet?  If not, let me make it easy for you.  Here is the link to read all about this networking event that is bringing together business women from Portland, Oregon to Blaine, Washington for the purposes of learning, connecting, and advancing business.  Social Networking Expert Mari Smith will be keynoting, and her session is not to be missed.

Now, not every networking event is a winner, and Score More Sales Founder Lori Richardson offers a pretty compelling blog post in this regard today.  She suggests that people practice a little kindness, and the examples she notes from her own experience will curl the hair on the back of your neck.

I believe the concept that the rising tide lifts all boats, so set fabulous intentions about the great people you’ll meet at Total Networking Seattle or the other great events you will enjoy, and remember to be kind and gracious.

And, if you have an interest in doing business with great people on a cruise ship to Alaska this August 8, 2010, check this out.

Back Story on this Cruise and How It Relates to Networking:

I had the good fortune to meet up with Action Plan Marketing Founder Robert Middleton at his Info Guru Summit in late January.  He and I first met online at  www.Biznik.com.  It started with a post on a forum.  A telephone call followed,  A teleseminar was then scheduled that earned rave reviews.

And then, Robert brought together about two dozen amazing leaders in their field for the purposes of exploring the concept of winning collaborations, and he invited me to be among them.

Already some wonderful joint ventures have taken shape as a direct result of this three-day session.  In fact, check out what Tad Hargrave of Radical Marketing has shared with his “Marketing to Hippes” list in connection with this week’s anniversary sale.   Sales of the Bye-Bye Boring Bio Action Guide have been flowing in from all over Canada since yesterday as a result.  Tad and I met at Middleton’s event.

I can only imagine what additional magic will manifest as a result of spending a week on a cruise ship with Robert Middleton and the amazing independent business professionals he serves so well.

Remember, the rising tide lifts all boats, and this boat leaves for Alaska on August 8.  Join us!

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Blending Traditional and New Media for Synergized Results

While on vacation, I am happy to feature Wax Marketing Founder Bonnie Harris as a guest blogger.  Take it away Bonnie!

I always laugh when people say the newspaper is dead and it’s “all about social media” now. If you’ve been reading Nancy Juetten’s Main Street Media Savvy blog,  you know for small businesses in particular, print is still very much alive. So is guerilla marketing, radio, TV and the rest of traditional media. Social media is an inexpensive (free if you don’t count your time) set of additional messaging channels like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Social media can deliver your message , and it can also accelerate and invigorate your results from traditional media. Here’s how to do it.

If you haven’t already, pick your social media outlets to match your customers. Retail does well on Facebook, especially if you’ve got a loyal fan base. Add Twitter to help feed fans to your Facebook page. If you’re a B2B service or product, LinkedIn might be a good bet.

Write down the possible media you may use to promote your business or a particular event for your business. An event can be a sale, a discount, a new product, a new location – anything that’s NEW or SPECIAL. That list should include anything you pay for, like ads in a community paper plus anything that’s not paid for, like calendar listings, Twitter postings, etc.

Now make two lists. The first list is the set of media you REGULARLY communicate with . This should include your social media sites, regular advertising that’s working for you and anything else you’re currently doing. List the frequency you post or advertise there two, if it’s daily, weekly, etc.

This list gives you a really good picture of the ‘maintenance’ piece of your marketing. Take a look at it carefully. Are you capturing all the places your customers turn to for information about your type of product or service? Ask your friends if they would add anything. Maybe you’re not listed in all the local Yelp.com and Yahoo.com directories? Really look at this carefully. Now create a checklist to help you choose the COMBINATION of media that will give you the best results.

List all the possible media you could use, from social media to ads, to TV, to banners at the local soccer game, whatever is available. For your next “event” decide what combination of media you are going to use. For example, maybe you’re going to use your next ad in the community paper to highlight a sale coming up. Then, you’re going to communicate that the sale is coming through Twitter and offer another discount coupon on Facebook.

You’ll also have in-store signage announcing the sale and you’re letting the local shopping bloggers know about it too so maybe they’ll mention it in a blog post. Decide when you’ll start talking about the event and how often you’ll announce it in each chosen channel.

Most importantly, MEASURE your results after the event. Did you get more people than usual? Where did people say they heard about the sale? Did you get more of a “bump” from social media than you thought (or less)?

You should begin understand the right mix of new and old media to use for your business. Don’t worry, no one gets it right the first time. With each event you do, change up your mix a bit. Maybe you’ll tweet a little sooner this time. Maybe once you have more Facebook fans you won’t need such a big ad. Tweak it as you go along and measure it afterwards to find the right “recipe” for your marketing mix.

Bonnie Harris is the founder of Wax Marketing, Inc. She has over 20 years experience promoting businesses and products of all kinds. Read her blog or follow her on Twitter for more ideas!

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