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How Do I find Ideal Clients in This Economy?
Posted Aug 16th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Branding, Business With | 4 Comments

It’s easy to find out who your Ideal Clients are, no matter what the economy is like. Here’s how.

How do I find ideal clients in this economy? That was a question one attendee asked in a recent panel I hosted, and it’s not the only time I’ve heard such a question. How can I survive in this economy? How can I convince people to buy in this economy? How can I make this work in this economy? The heartache and discouragement rise like a damp mist over the moors.

The answer comes in two parts:

1. Stop thinking about the economy. Now, I know that sounds over simplified because everyone these days is stewing over the economy, right? And it is true that some industries naturally falter in tough times. The fine dining business, for example, has been struggling. So, go ahead and take a look at what you’re doing. Is it valid when wallets are tight? Do people still need your coaching? Your advice? Your expertise? Fact is, people need more help in tough times than ever before. So, stop thinking about the economy and start thinking about your perfect prospect. Does he or she still need you? If yes, then move on to #2.
2. Are you clear on who your Ideal Clients are? That’s Square One in marketing. You need to know your Perfect Prospect no matter what economy you are in. Then you can focus on reaching them and only them. It will add so much power to your marketing that finding them won’t be a problem because they’ll find YOU.

Finding out who your ideal clients is is easier than you think. If you’re still stumped, think about the one person you love to work with and who gets tremendous value from your services. Start with them.

Guest Author: Still puzzled about who your perfect prospects are? Pick up your free assessment at http://LetsGetRealmarketing.com. Award-winning author Rosey Dow is a casting director. She casts the missing clients who will take your business to the next level. That’s why she’s called The Prospect Profiler.
The Visa Business Network Invites Mirna Bard to Help Mentor 100,000+ Business Owners
Posted Aug 14th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Blogging, Business, Facebook, Social Media, Social Networking With | 10 Comments

A couple months ago, Visa Business Network’s Outreach team discovered my blog and reached out by completing the form on my site to let me know that they find my blog to be very impressive and a valuable resource to businesses. They asked if they could feature my blog on the Visa Business Network as part of their public blog roll.

And what was even more exciting was Visa’s invitation the following week, inviting me to be one of the expert mentors for their 100,000+ active member community. Of course, I accepted and anxiously waited for their announcement this week. Yeah!

Recently, the Visa Business Network launched enhancements and new features to their community site to help small businesses connect learn, and accomplish goals. Visa quickly realized that social media is playing a huge role in business and wanted to provide its community with a better way to connect, learn, and grow.

The new features include:

Business Goal Toolkits – These are step-by-step “how to” guides that lead small business owners through the process of setting and achieving business goals.

Small Business Mentor Program – Small businesses will now get personalized help and guidance from other successful small business owners through a question and answer forum. Through the mentor program, members are able to collaborate by asking questions related to their goals and receive personalized advice and responses from small business peers and mentors with experience across a wide range of industries.

Mentors were invited based on the following criteria:

- Expertise in the topic/goal area

- Previous mentor experience

- Small business experience. Since this is a community of peers, owning or working for a small business is required

- Previous active online community involvement

- Ability to help provide initial goal content

- Enthusiasm for selected goal and helping small businesses succeed

“We are thrilled to have our new mentors on board as we launch the Visa Business Network with new features. Our mentors are leaders in their respective fields and will lend their expertise to small business owners on the Visa Business Network, who are looking for guidance as they work to grow their businesses. The mentors will be vital both as a resource and participant in the growing Visa Business Network community, and we look forward to working with them to encourage and foster small business growth.” Rich Yang, Head of Small Business Marketing

I will specifically be mentoring businesses on creating and promoting Facebook business pages to help businesses grow and thrive on this giant social networking site. My answers will enable many business owners to gain more clarity, eliminate confusion, and reduce overwhelm when it comes to promoting their businesses on Facebook. So, I invite you to ask away!

Content Ranking – Their new ranking system will also provide small businesses with quick access to the resources and articles fellow small business owners have declared most useful.

I am sharing this with my readers for two reasons:

1. This opportunity happened due to my content strategy and online visibility. So, this is a reminder to all of you. By showcasing your expertise online, you will open many possibilities. As I always say, you never know who is reading, watching, listening and sharing your content online. Transparency does equal opportunity, and this can come from anywhere and anyone (including people who you think are competitors).

2. It is easy and free to join Visa’s rapidly-growing community. You can quickly create your profile by visiting www.visabusinessnetwork.com. You can also join their Facebook community.

What do you think of Visa’s idea? And, do you have any great success stories due to your blogging efforts? I would love to read them in the comments below!
Case Study: One B2B Increases Business One Tweet at a Time
Posted Mar 12th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Case Studies, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter With | 8 Comments

Twitter, how I love thee! Twitter has truly been the best tool for connecting with some fascinating tweeps. One tweep, Imad Naffa (@imadnaffa), a civil engineer and small business owner caught my attention a couple of weeks when I read that one of his tweets was retweeted by Queen Rania of Jordan. I mean come on, how often does that happen? If you look at @QueenRania‘s Twitter stream, you can see retweets are extremely rare, if any! [Read the full story on @markwschaefer's blog].

What caught my attention even more was how Imad was effectively using Twitter to increase brand awareness and grow his B2B business, NAFFA International in Fresno California. He increased one aspect of his business by 25 percent in six months just by using Twitter. Since Imad was already following me I sent him a direct message requesting to chat since I thought his story would be of interest to many B2B companies. For a while now, the big question has been: “Does Social Media Work for B2B Companies?” Imad and I say: “Heck ya, it does!” Right Imad?

Imad believes that the smartest peeps are using social media (aheeem …wonder if he was referring to me too? LOL). Listen to what Imad has to say about social media and tell us what you think!

I will be posting more case study interviews like this on a regular basis. If you are using social media successfully in your business and would like to be interviewed, please reach out to me. I love hearing social media success stories!
7 Simple Social Networking Tips for Business
Posted Mar 4th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Social Networking With | 6 Comments

A huge part of business success is networking by meeting people and building relationships. Many already network for business in the offline world, but now small business owners and entrepreneurs have a huge opportunity to network online through social networking web sites. For some, social networking is a skill that may take effort. It truly is easier than you think. You need to approach social networking the same way you do in the offline world. The same rules apply!

Here are seven simple social networking tips to help you connect:

1. Gather a list of business connections you would like to have as part of your community on social networks. Once you’ve compiled your list, reach out to each of them.

2. Share your personal interests and seek commonalities before you reach out to someone. People will do business with you when they feel comfortable and can personally identify with you.

3. Know your audience. Once you know what their wants and needs are, what their interested in, what engages them or what they respond to, you’ll be ready to deliver exactly that.

4. Show energy and passion for your business. People sense these things even behind the computer.

5. Have a natural conversation with people instead of pitching to them with pre-written messages that you just copy and paste.

6. Before you approach anyone to promote your product/service or to ask for a favor, ask: “What’s in it for them?” Remember, it’s not about you. It’s always about them.

7. Don’t destroy communication by being a one-upper (always wanting to be bigger and better than everyone else).

If you are looking for more tips on aligning your online and offline networking efforts, you can read the blog and listen to the podcast I recorded last year with my favorite mentor, Dr. Ivan Misner: Aligning Offline & Online Networking.

What other social networking tips have helped you in your business? Please share in the comments below.
Top 50 Social Media Mistakes Made by Small Businesses
Posted Feb 28th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Social Media With | 20 Comments
An increasingly number of small businesses (SMBs) are starting to use social media to attract new customers. A recent Small Business Success Index™ report sponsored by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business shows:

- Social media adoption by small businesses has doubled from 12 percent to 24 percent in the last year

- 75% surveyed have a company page on a social networking site

- 61% use social media for identifying and attracting new customers

- 57% have built a network through a site like LinkedIn

- 45% expect social media to be profitable in the next twelve months

Despite the increase in social media activity among small businesses and the increase of social media education, I still see many mistakes being made by SMBs. Here are the top 50 mistakes I observe on a daily basis (in no particular order):
1. Lack of planning (Huge one!)
2. Lack of clear and measurable objectives
3. Not learning about social media
4. Lack of knowledge about target audience
5. No commitment
6. Lack of consistency
7. Not realizing that there is a time dedication
8. Worrying too much about negative comments and brand haters
9. Focusing too much about the technology aspect
10. Passing the buck to assistants and interns
11. Spreading themselves too thin by creating profiles everywhere
12. Not completing profiles
13. Uploading pictures of pets or children for avatars
14. Fake friending just to pitch
15. Only talking about oneself, brand or products
16. Hard selling
17. Using the same tactics on every site
18. Responding to every negative comment
19. Not thinking before commenting
20. Not measuring (Another huge one!)
21. Giving up on social media too easily
22. Forgetting it’s about 2-way dialogue
23. Setting profiles and forgetting them
24. Thinking social media is a magic solution to their business problems
25. Jumping on without having a hub (web site or blog)
26. Neglecting to put links back to their web site or blog
27. Not taking a enough time to do research and listen/observe
28. No systems in place
29. Not focusing on core tasks
30. Not separating business and personal social media time
31. Putting eggs all in one basket
32. Continuing with tactics that are clearly not working for them
33. Not taking the time to put a social media schedule in place
34. Not setting time boundaries
35. Not paying attention to customer needs
36. Not providing value
37. Not knowing how to integrate with other marketing/advertising efforts
38. Not knowing how to use all the social media categories together
39. Focusing too much on number of fans/followers/friends
40. Not making enough effort to seek out the right sites for their target audience
41. Neglected (not updating) websites or blogs
42. Using generic or auto responses
43. Spamming people with private messages, DMs or e-mails
44. Using social media as a replacement strategy
45. Not willing to experiment
46. Being close-minded about adding strangers to network
47. Not learning from mistakes
48. Bribing bloggers and others to write about products and services
49. Not spending time finding evangelists and influencers
50. Forgetting that building relationships can be lots of fun
Some of the above mistakes, I already mentioned in a previous blog post: Are You Making These 10 Social Media Business Blunders?

Have you seen any other social media mistakes that I forgot to mention? Please list them in the comments below.

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