Internet Marketing For Solopreneurs

Are you having a hard time explaining what coaching is to potential clients? Many of my clients ask me how I describe what coaching to my own potential clients and connections. Every few weeks I have a client, who is a coach, ask me how I deal with explaining what coaching is to someone who I want to become a client.

Well, first of all, I do not explain what coaching is to my potential clients. And I don’t recommend that you do that either. It will take a lot of time, your potential clients will get confused, and most importantly of all, they are not interested in coaching.

Your potential clients are interested in what’s in it for them, in what you can do for them. They are interested in results they will achieve when working with you.

For example, at networking events, I tell people I network with that I help business owners get more clients for their business. This is short, very much to the point and makes the person interested right away. This is because I just told them how they can benefit from working with me.

Notice, I didn’t start explaining what coaching is, how it works, etc. What I want the person to remember is how they will benefit from working with me. That’s it.

Take the focus away from yourself and tell your potential customers who you work with and how you can help them. For example, if you are a parenting coach, people you are networking with would much rather hear that you “help parents get along with their teenagers” than hear a long explanation of what parent coaching involves.

Having a clear message about what you do that you can deliver to potential customers is going to make a huge difference to your business. When your potential clients hear about benefits they can get from working with you, they stop and listen. And if they like what they hear, they hire you.

My How To Create A Marketing Message That Will Get You Clients Audio Recording gives you the step-by-step process for creating a marketing message for your business. You can get it at http://www.marketingsalad.com/marketing-message.html

Biana Babinsky

I received this question from a coach recently:

“I am a career coach and have been coaching one-on-one for the past few years. I decided to start creating group programs and a few months ago I offered a Coaching Group option to my newsletter subscribers. Basically, I envisioned it as a group of 5-10 people who would get together on the call twice a month and ask me questions about their careers. I promoted this a lot - through a networking group, my newsletter, web site, seminar sites - but could not get a single participant. What am I doing wrong? How can I get people to sign up for my coaching group?”

Biana’s Answer: What strikes me from your description is that you are just offering a Career Coaching Group. That is not enough for me to make a decision if I need your group and if it would work for me.

Is the group for people in their 20’s, just starting their first jobs? Is it for people in middle management trying to move up? Or is it for people trying to switch jobs? Or maybe it’s for people who are unemployed and need help landing a job asap?

As you can see, there isn’t much information about who exactly you are doing this group coaching for, so your potential customers are not sure if it’s for them. And if they are not sure, they will not sign up.

So how can you create a better group coaching offer? Don’t just call it a coaching group, name it something meaningful, name it something that will communicate value and give people an idea about who it’s for, so that they can self-select either in or out.

For example, my How To Make Thousands Of Dollars With Teleseminars program tells you right there, in the name the value and who it is for. It teaches people how to create extremely profitable teleseminars. So, if you are in the market to learn how to create effective teleseminars, you will know from the name that this program is for you.

So do not call it a coaching group. Instead, create a very specific program for your target market that helps your target market solve one of the problems that they are experiencing. To get the most people register for your group you will need to offer them something they really want. For example, if your target market are college students looking for their first job, how about a program on landing a great job right out of college.

The next things you want to do is to create a compelling sales letter for your program. And then you need to create a good marketing plan to market the program.

You need to give your target market enough information about your program, so that they can say: “This sounds like a program that will help me solve the problem that I am experiencing. I really need the solution and this program offers it to me!”

Once you get your target market to think this way, you will get many members for your group!

For step-by-step directions for creating effective and extremely profitable group programs that your target market needs, grab my How To Make Thousands Of Dollars With Teleseminars at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zteleseminars

Biana Babinsky

I was asked on one of the calls I did recently about what steps I would recommend to take for a coach who wants to take their coaching from a part-time hobby to a full time profitable coaching business.

It takes time to re-adjust and what you need to re-adjust the most is your way of thinking about what you do. When you have a hobby, your priority may not be making money. When you run a business, your priority is to have a profitable business that brings in income.

You also need to re-adjust the way you think about marketing. Marketing is the cornerstone of your business and helps you bring in clients. If you are not marketing your business you will not be able to have a successful business, it’s that simple.

Here are some marketing tips to help you take your coaching from a hobby to a successful coaching business:

- The very first thing to do is to decide on a good target market for your business. Before you can bring in clients consistently, you need to decide on WHO these clients are. After all, if you do not know who your clients are, how are you going to bring them to your business?

Make a decision about who your target market is. Knowing your target market will help you make other decisions and will help you simplify your marketing. And we all want to simplify our marketing :)

- Decide on marketing techniques you’d like to use to market your coaching business. It is great if you want to use blogging, and social networking, and article marketing, and public speaking, and e-mail marketing to promote your business. However, don’t start using them all at once!

The best way to market your business is to pick one technique, master it, start using it on a regular basis and then move on to the next one.

And remember, you don’t have to use every marketing technique you have heard about. For example, I have clients who enjoy public speaking, who speak often and for whom public speaking is one of the most effective techniques for getting clients.

On the other hand, I have a client who says that she would never ever do public speaking, it’s just not for her. Her favorite marketing technique is blogging, she is good at it and she uses her blog to generate interest in her business.

Pick the techniques that you enjoy applying and you will be more successful with them.

- Have a marketing plan! Create a plan for bringing in more clients, marketing your business, etc. You are much more likely to take action if you create a plan and put it on paper.

Members of my online business mentoring program have access to thousands of dollars worth of resources on creating a marketing plan, picking a profitable target market and using online marketing techniques to promote their business. Get immediate access to all these resources by joining us at http://www.MarketingSalad.com

Biana Babinsky

One of the most popular questions I have been receiving this year from clients, colleagues and online friends (some of whom I met on social networks) has been Is Social Media A Fad?

I even had a discussion on this same subject at a non-business event a few months ago. One of the participants found out what I did for a living and we had a great discussion of social media, how it affects the way we do business and if it is here to stay.

As someone who has participated in social media and social networking online for the past fifteen years and recently taught a social networking teleseminar, I know that social media is not a fad. However, I can see why this question keeps coming up over and over again. Social media and social web sites have become the “it” things on line in the past 6-8 months, just like blogging did a few years ago. And because of their “it” status there have been many articles in mainstream publications about social media and how business owners use it for business development.

As a result of those articles, many people who have never used social media before decide to give social media a try. But since they are new to the social media scene, they are not sure how long social networking is going to stay around for. They do not want to spend their time on something that may just be a fad, so they are looking to make sure that social media and networking are here to stay.

And from what I have seen in my many years online, I can tell you that social media is here to stay. Social networking started as soon as people started using the Internet. I remember communicating on Bulletin Boards, then through mailing lists, then message boards. I started using social networking as soon as I got online. The very first social networking medium that I ran was a message board.

Since then I have joined and left countless mailing lists, message boards and social networking sites. While the media that I use changes with time (new networking sites, new mailing lists, etc), social networking stays. While we might not use the same social networking websites five or ten years from now, we will still be using social networking. Just like I used it fifteen years ago. And this is why social networking is not a fad and is here to stay.

More social networking articles:

- Getting Results From Social Media Sites

- What To Do With Your Social Networking Traffic

Biana Babinsky

P.S. What do you think? How do you use social networking?

After reading my my blog posts on list building, many coaches have asked me what comes next. Once you get some people on your list, how do you leverage your list to get clients, make money and improve your business?

Just like with using any other marketing technique, in order to get the best results from your newsletter, you need to create a plan to get clients, make money and get results with your newsletter list.

Here are some things to think about and include into your plan:

- You Need To Bring In More Subscribers Every Single Day. Your target customers subscribe to your list and they also unsubscribe. Your goal for your newsletter list is to have as many people as possible see your message and learn about your business. Therefore the more people you can attract to your list, the better.

- Publish Your Newsletter On A Regular Basis. Your subscribers will not do business with you and will not buy from you unless they hear from you. The only way they will know about your expertise and about what you have to offer is by reading your newsletter issues.

Research shows that people need to hear from you on average 7 times (sometimes many more!) to buy something from you.

If you want results from your newsletter, such as more clients and more money, you need to publish! Publish your newsletter on a regular basis with useful information that your subscribers want to know about AND promo’s of your own products and services. A win-win for everyone.

- Create Products In Different Price Ranges. While lots of people are interested in coaching, the vast majority of them will never become your one-on-one coaching clients.

Some can’t afford one-on-one services, others may be able to afford them, but are not at the stage where they can justify the money they are going to spend.

But many more people would be willing to pay for group coaching, ebook, audio and other products because they cost much less than one-on-one service packages.

Create your own products and offer them to your list - that way you are using your list to build passive income streams for your business.

In my Grow Your List Home Study Course I discuss how to use your list to get clients, make money and create passive income streams. Check it out at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/znews

How do you use your list to get clients?

Biana Babinsky

Lately I have been getting many questions from coaches on how coaches can get more web site traffic to their coaching web sites. I am going to do a series of posts on my favorite online marketing techniques to get web site traffic.

Today I want to discuss article marketing, one of my favorite online marketing techniques (for my step-by-step plan for doing article marketing, you should also see the Article Marketing Home Study Guide ). I get traffic (as well as leads and sales) from my articles every single day. The best part about articles is that you need to write and submit your article once, and you will be able to get traffic and sales from it for a very long time. I am still getting traffic from articles I submitted to article directories years ago.

I like to use article marketing, because when you use article marketing, your articles perform triple duty. When you do article marketing, you will, as expected, bring more traffic to your web site.

But, article marketing will also help you promote your expertise. When you write articles your target market will read them, get to know you and get to know your expertise. When you write, you are seen as an author and an expert.

The third benefit you will get from article marketing is better search engine rankings. It is no secret that having lots of links from other good sites pointing to your web site will improve your rankings. When you submit your articles to article directories, the directories will publish the articles, giving you links back to your web site. In addition to this, every time your articles are reprinted, you get back links from the blogs and web sites that reprinted them.

And the best thing about article marketing is that it is absolutely free to apply. Writing articles, submitting them to directories, all of that is free.

Here is how to maximize the power of article marketing and use your articles to get free web site traffic:

- Write Effective Articles. Effective articles are the articles that will do the triple duty for you: they will help you get more traffic, promote your expertise and help you with search engines.

In order for your articles to promote your expertise and be read by your target market, they need to be on topics that your potential customers are interested in reading. If your potential customers find your article useful, they will visit your web site after they finish reading it.

And in order for them to be reprinted they need to be of interest to people who republish articles on their blogs and web sites.

- Create Article Resource Boxes That Maximize The Amount Of Web Site Traffic You Can Get. Your article resource box is extremely important. A Resource Box is the paragraph about you that comes right after the article. You need to make it interesting in order to get people reading your article to click on the link in your Resource Box and visit your web site. After all, you are writing the article to get free traffic, right?

To maximize the traffic, make sure that your Article Resource Box is benefits-oriented and that it compels people who are reading the article to take action and click on your link.

- Submit Your Articles To Article Directories. By doing this you are offering your article for reprint to other people, who are going to reprint it on their web sites and their blogs. When your article appears on their blogs and web sites, your name, expertise and web site address are exposed to more members of your target market.

Now repeat these three actions with 10, 20 or even 100 articles and see your traffic and sales increase dramatically.

Want my step-by-step action plan for doing article marketing? It is available in the Article Marketing Home Study Guide at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/zarticles

More articles on getting free web site traffic:

- Get Free Web Site Traffic By Blogging

Biana Babinsky

Lately, I have been hearing from many coaches and consultants who are experiencing a slowdown in their businesses. They are reporting to me that it became much harder to get one-on-one clients and that even product sales have slowed down.

There are many reasons for this to be happening. It could be that many potential clients are taking summer vacations instead of working. It could be that customers are concerned about gas prices and the economy and are trying to save money by not getting professional help. Or it could be the regular business cycle - there are many different reasons for a business slowdown.

I recommend that you do not concentrate on finding out why there is a slowdown. Rather, you should concentrate on how you can bring more clients to your business. Here is what I recommend:

- Review Or Create A Marketing Plan For Your Business. Summer is the best time to review your marketing plan. Are you accomplishing what you have set out to accomplish? Are you filling your marketing funnel? Are you marketing every day? Are some of your marketing strategies bringing more customers to your business than others?

A marketing plan review will help you streamline your business and bring in more clients.

If you do not have a marketing plan now is the best time to create one. Your marketing plan will help you organize your marketing actions and spend less time on marketing while getting better results. Your marketing plan is your map to getting clients and creating a successful business.

When business is slow the businesses who survive are the ones who can do more and better marketing in less time.

- Do More Of What’s Working. As you review your marketing, you will see that certain marketing actions bring in more potential customers than others. There is no reason to do things that only bring in a few customers. You want to find actions that bring in the bulk of clients and repeat these actions over and over again. So when you find something that is working for you and your business, do more of the same.

For example, if networking with your target market online brings in great results, increase your networking time or find additional places to network. When you keep doing what’s working, you get more clients, it’s that simple.

- Bring In More Prospects. In slow business times it helps to bring in more prospects to your business. It could be that in the past you were able to convert 1 out of 20 prospects into a customer. But now it could be that you are able to convert only 1 out of 30 prospects into a customers.

If you need to get 10 clients for your business, in the past you only needed to bring in 200 business prospects. In order to get the same 10 clients now you will need to bring in 300 prospects. You will be able to do that by using marketing strategies that will help you attract more prospects to your business.

The best way I found to bring more prospects to my business is by getting more targeted traffic to my web site. I will be discussing how to bring more of your perfect clients and prospects to your web site during this Thursday’s teleseminar, How To Get More Clients To Your Web Site. You can register for it at http://www.marketingsalad.com/clients.html

Biana Babinsky

Over the years I have helped hundreds of coaches get clients and sales from their newsletters. Since I have worked with hundreds of coaches on improving their newsletters, we have had quite a few conversations on how often to send out a newsletter.

Before working with me, many of my clients have sent out their newsletters once every two or three months. Sending out your newsletter once every two or three months will not bring any results - this is way too rare for building relationships and getting your subscribers interested in what you have to offer.

If you are struggling with how often you should send out your newsletter, here are frequently asked questions about the frequency of sending out your newsletter:

Q: I don’t want to bother my subscribers too often, and sending out my newsletter more often than every two months feels like I am bothering my subscribers and wasting their time. What should I do?

Biana’s Answer: First of all, you are not bothering your subscribers by sending them your newsletter. They requested it by subscribing to it and they want to hear useful and interesting things from you.

You are the expert, and they want to read information and tips that come from you, the expert.

Q: I only send something out when I have news in my business, such as a new service. Why would I send out my newsletter if I have nothing new in my business?

Biana’s Answer: Your newsletter is not just about your business. While you should use it to promote your business, you should also use it to build relationships with your subscribers and sharing useful information with them.

You need to send out your newsletter more often in order to build relationships and connect with your readers. Also, if you do have a new service to promote, promoting it just once will not do much. Your potential customers need to see your information at least 7 times before making a purchase. Therefore, you should promote your new service in a few of your newsletter issues in order to get more clients.

Q: Every time I send out my newsletter, a few people unsubscribe. So if I send out my newsletter every few months, I will get fewer unsubscribes, right?

Biana’s Answer: Think back to the purpose of your newsletter. Its purpose is NOT to get fewer unsubscribes. Its purpose it to introduce you to many people in your target market, promote your expertise and sell your products and services.

As I mentioned in the answer to the previous question, your potential customers need to see your message on average 7 times before deciding to buy from you. They also need to remember that they heard your message earlier. If they only see your message every two months they will not remember it at all. So if you only send out your newsletter every few months, very few people are going to believe you and buy from you.

Learn the exact information that I use to help my clients get clients and sales from their newsletters with the Grow Your List Home Study Course at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/znews

Biana Babinsky

Many of my clients have been asking me for free marketing techniques to bring more targeted traffic to their web sites.

There are quite a few methods to spread the word about your web site for free or inexpensively. However, I recommend that you first decide WHO you want to bring to your web site. This will make a big difference on how you apply marketing techniques later on.

Once you have decided who your target market is, you need to use online marketing techniques to drive your target market to your web site.

Here are my favorite online marketing techniques. All three of them are free to use to bring traffic to your web site:

- Article Marketing. Article marketing consists of writing articles that your target market is interested in reading. Once you have created these articles, you need to submit them to article directories.

Every time your article gets published in an article directory, or it gets re-published on other people’s blogs and web sites, it gets published with a link back to your web site. Thus, every single person reading your article can click on the link and visit your web site. This will help you get more web site traffic.

Read articles on Article Marketing: http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/articles/articles.html

- Business Blogging. Blogging is really big now, and this is because lots of people are now either blogging or reading other blogs, or both. Blogs are also popular because you can use them to communicate with current customers and attract new customers to your business.

Start a blog that is of interest to your target market. Post to it often. Make sure that your blog is listed in blog directories and that you optimize your blog posts for search engines.

Read articles on Using A Business Blog To Market Your Business: http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/articles/blog.html

- Search Engine Optimization. A lot of people are using search engines to find what they need. Make sure that each page on your web site is optimized for search engines, so that people who are looking for the information available on your web site can find it.

Read articles on Search Engine Optimization: http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/articles/seo.html

Biana Babinsky

One of the most important things that you can do to make your business successful is to build your list. When you have a large list of potential clients, you are able to sell more products and get more one-on-one clients.

So, how do you start and build your list to get more clients? Here are some of my articles to help you do just that:

- How To Use A Newsletter To Get Clients, an overview for starting and publishing an effective newsletter.

- Two Things You MUST Do To Build Your List, many business owners overlook these two things and are not able to grow the list as much as they would like.

- How To Get More Web Site Visitors To Subscribe To Your Newsletter, turn MORE of your web site visitors into subscribers by using these tips.

- How To Grow Your List, an article on growing your list and getting more subscribers.

Biana Babinsky

About Biana: Biana is the online business expert, who teaches coaches, consultants and other business owners how to build a large newsletter list and use it to get MORE clients. Get her Grow Your List Home Study Course at http://www.avocadoconsulting.com/rlinks/znews for more information on building your list.