Are You Ready? Number 2 in a Series of 6

by Natalie

As you recall, in last week's blog I provided a six-item checklist to help you determine how well positioned you are to get word-of-mouth and mindshare marketing working for you. 

Last week I discussed the importance of building a unique brand.  Today, I address the commitment needed to develop a one-of-a-kind practice.  Specifically, I examine the second question on the checklist: 

“Have you committed all of your time, money, and energy to developing the distinctive quality for which you want your practice to be known--that is, the characteristic that sets you apart from your competition? 

Or, are you squandering your resources by attempting to build a generic practice intended to meet all potential ADR clients’ needs?”

 I have seen many providers fail to develop a practice because they assumed that obtaining ADR certification and printing business cards were the only steps needed to garner a profitable caseload. 

This, unfortunately, is not the case.

Building a successful practice requires that you devote time and concerted effort toward marketing. Being an ADR provider--even a very skilled one--is not sufficient in and of itself to generate a thriving practice; you need to actively harvest a stream of potential clients by getting the word out about who you serve (your target market), how your practice benefits your target market, and what makes you special.

The easiest and least expensive way to market your practice is to tell everyone you know and meet, whether they be extended family, neighbors, acquaintances, or members of clubs, associations, or the congregation to which you belong, what you do for a living and what makes your practice distinctive so that they can refer appropriate clients to you.  Be sure to carry your business cards with you at all times, even to the supermarket, dry cleaners, or gym.  Wherever you go, talk about your practice and pass out your card.

In addition to ensuring that everyone you know knows what you do, you should capitalize on your unique marketing talents.  Bear in mind that the more creative you are with the time and energy you invest in publicizing your work, the less money you will need to spend.  If you’re a seasoned public speaker, give speeches to all the Chambers of Commerce within a 50 mile radius of your office, your local bar association, and to churches/synagogues.    But most importantly speak to your primary and secondary target markets.  If you have a flair for the written word, submit articles to association newsletters or your hometown paper and most importantly the newsletters, blogs, and periodicals that your primary and secondary target markets read.  If you’re a gifted artist, design an eye-catching brochure, business card, and web site (if you're not artistic, hire someone to do these all important tasks).

 If you commit time, energy, and loving care to cultivating your practice, like all living things, it will grow.

 Next week - 

Have you developed a niche that leverages your background and expertise?    Or, are you trying to build a practice that fails to draw on your previous professional experience?

Are You Ready? Number 1 in a Series of 6

by Natalie

Last week I provided a six-item checklist to help you determine how well positioned you are to get word-of-mouth and mindshare marketing working for you.  And I promised to provide a detailed discussion of each item in the next six Marketing Resolution blog posts.

So, today I examine the first question on the list:  “Have you decided on the single thing for which you want to become well known?  Or are you still trying be everything to everyone?”.

To have business beat a path to your door, you need some quality that sets you apart from others in the field.  If you haven’t defined yet what makes you special, here are some strategies for strengthening your brand:

One way to establish your brand is to research what your competitors are known for and make the reverse attribute your distinctive quality.  For instance, if you learn your competition has built its reputation on its national presence, focus your marketing  in the fact that you’re local.  Herald that you are a member of your community, a friend to its residents, a fan of its past and present and an activist for its future.

You can also distinguish yourself from the competition by making their area of weakness your area of strength.  If your rivals provide poor customer service, have excellent customer service be your fingerprint.  Deliver on a promise to respond to all client inquiries within 24 hours, provide the most courteous and attentive staff, and design your office so that it is inviting and comfortable.

Last, you can establish a unique brand by positioning yourself as “the most” something, whether it’s the most expensive (or most inexpensive) provider in town, the person with the most extensive background in your practice specialty, or the practitioner who’s the most empathic.

However you choose to distinguish yourself from the competition, be sure that your defining trait has worth to your target audience and is something that reflects your passions and values.  The enthusiasm you feel toward your practice is perhaps the best marketing strategy of all.

Are You Ready? Number 3 in a series of 6

by Natalie

Are you ready to get business to come to you instead of having to spend your time drumming it up.  Odds are that you’re eager to get word-of-mouth and mindshare marketing working for you.

But are you ready to do what it takes to get it?

Last week I addressed the commitment required to becoming a successful provider.

This issue is about developing a niche that capitalizes on your background and expertise instead of creating a practice that looks just like all the others.

When you begin to think about who will hire you, you should automatically think about those folks with whom you’ve already done business.  They already know, like and trust you.  They also know that you are knowledgeable in their industry.  Your knowledge of  their industry is probably due to the fact that it is your industry as well.

Your background and expertise in an industry should lead you directly to your niche.  For example – if you’ve spent your career as an architect then obviously the construction industry and it's legal representatives are your target markets.  Your practice position may be that you specialize in hearing cares that deal only with high-end, custom homes.  That is your niche.

By building and nurturing a niche practice you build on the specific experience you have already worked so hard to obtain.  Chances are that your career experience can easily be transferred into some type of niche for your ADR practice.  Be careful not to limit yourself too much in developing a niche. You’ve taken it too far if your niche is to provide conflict resolution processes to Ethiopian immigrants living in Nome Alaska who don’t belong to the union of airline employees.  You’ll starve.

Create a niche that builds on your background, is focused within your target market, and that can sustain your practice.

If you have any questions about niche marketing, just give us call to schedule a free, one-hour consultation.

Are You Ready? Number 4 in a series of 6

by Natalie

Are you ready to get business to come to you instead of having to spend your time drumming it up.  Odds are that you’re eager to get word-of-mouth and mindshare marketing working for you.

But are you ready to do what it takes to get it?

You might be surprised to find you’re not as ready as you think.

Can you clearly demonstrate why you’re the provider prospects should choose?

OR…

Are you just hoping that folks will believe enough in ADR to want to do business with you?

A clear definition of the benefits your practice has to offer are imperative.  Each provider and each practice is, or should be, unique.  You create your niche based on your experience and your expertise, as well as the need for such specialization in your geographic area.  You now need to think about how you will demonstrate your uniqueness to your target market.

One way to communicate the reasons a prospect should choose you is through anecdotes.

Allow your prospects to see something of themselves in the experiences you’ve had.

Another method of communicating your credibility and professionalism is to focus your media (both print and Internet) on the needs, concerns, fears, and issues most often seen in your clients.  Then, provide them a positive and reasonable solution to each of those concerns.  The content should be primarily about the reader and secondarily about you.

As impressive as your resume may read, your prospects are only concerned with the way in which you handle cases like theirs.

Are You Ready? Number 6 in a Series of 6

Are you ready to get business to come to you instead of having to spend your time drumming it up.  Odds are that you’re eager to get word-of-mouth and mindshare marketing working for you.

But are you ready to do what it takes to get it?

For the last five weeks we’ve been providing you a checklist of marketing activities and strategic decisions that should lead you down the mindshare path. Were you as ready as you thought?  Did you realize why you don’t yet have all the business you can enjoy?  Have you figured out what to do right away to get things going your direction?

Let me recap the last five week’s worth of questions:

Have you decided on a single thing you want to become well known for?

OR…

Are you still trying be everything to everyone?

Have you committed to spending all of your available time, money and energy into developing this one thing?

OR…

Are you dividing your time between numerous possibilities?

Have you developed your own niche that capitalizes on your background and expertise?

OR…

Are you doing what numerous other providers in your area are doing?

Can you clearly demonstrate why you’re the provider prospects should choose?

OR…

Are you just hoping that folks will believe enough in ADR to want to do business with you?

Do you have a long-term plan to reach your prospects and then maintain their attention to create mindshare?

OR…

Are you marketing efforts sporadic and inconsistent?

Now let me address the last in the series of six.

Are you able to follow your plan with the consistency and frequency to attract the clients you’re interested in obtaining?

OR…

Do you let your marketing efforts wax and wane due to a lack of time or interest?

It’s important to remember that most ADR professionals are excellent at providing resolution processes but may not have any training in marketing or entrepreneurship and therefore don’t necessarily feel comfortable promoting their services.  That’s normal.  Most professionals the world over are trained in a specialty other than marketing but need those skills to create a successful business.  The easiest way to jump this hurdle is to have a cohesive plan of marketing strategies that enables you to contact your prospective clients at regular intervals as opposed to a catch-as-catch-can approach.  Establish for yourself reasonable marketing goals.  For instance, before you do anything else every morning write personal notes to past clients thanking them for their recent business, mention the article they just authored, the promotion they just received, or an invitation to hear you speak.  You get the idea.  Reach out to 5 prospective clients each day with a link to read an article on your website or blog that educate them about our industry or a change in theirs, send a survey to primary or secondary target markets about their use of our industry, set up a speaking gig, or write and publish a new article, reach out prospects via social media, etc.

This is a simple and attainable marketing goal that if followed will reach 5,200 prospects in a year!   Now that’s marketing!

The point is to find things that you capable of doing, that you won’t resist doing, and then do them.  Do them with sincerity and enthusiasm and your target market will respond.

Why not start now?

Are You Ready? Number 5 in a series of 6

Number 5 in a series of 6 questions that deal with whether or not you’re ready to get business to come to you instead of having to spend your time drumming it up.  Odds are that you’re eager to get word-of-mouth and mindshare marketing working for you.

But are you ready to do what it takes to get it?

Unless you’re already exceptionally well positioned, getting business coming to you will take time.  How long it will take depends on how ready you are.  You might find that you’re ready immediately.  Conversely you might find that you have several weeks or months to get yourself and your practice in a position to begin attracting clients.  If you rush into trying to get business without positioning yourself solidly, you’ll just have to go back later and get into a better position.

This week’s question:

Do you have a long-term plan to reach your prospects and then maintain their attention to create mindshare?

OR…

Are your marketing efforts sporadic and inconsistent?

If you’re like most providers you already know that you need to market your practice.  And every now and then you take a step or two in that direction.  You may write letters to prospects or clients, have begun to create a practice image, opened your social media accounts, hired someone to design a web site for you or network within your target market’s associations.

These are all effective tools with which to market to your practice.  But are you using them to the best of their capacity and your benefit?

Probably not.

In order to effectively create mindshare and maintain mindshare with prospects and clients you need to establish a year-long plan of communication and campaigning.  Each contact you have with your target market should build on the next as though one continuous conversation were being had.  By contacting your target market  periodically with information about their industry and the benefits ADR can provide it, you are far more likely to be chosen when a dispute arises.

Why not start now?

Take out your calendar and make a plan!

If you need help in creating your plan just give me call.  I’ll be happy to help lead you through the process as well as brainstorm with you to create some inexpensive and creative ways to reach your market.

Top 4 Branding Tips for Mediation Practices

When it comes to resolving conflicts and disputes, mediation can be a powerful tool. In fact, it has a high success rate, and studies show that up to 89% of disputes are resolved this way. 

If you have a mediation or arbitration business - or are planning to start one in the coming years - one of the most important aspects is branding, as this is what will build your client base. 

If you’re not really sure how to begin with this, here are some tips for building your brand: 

1. Clearly define your services 

As there are various types of mediation services designed to resolve different disputes, it’s important to define the services you will be providing and who you plan to help. 

Mediation is primarily focused on the clients. So you need to think about who they are, what they do for a living, what kind of process they would be looking for, and other questions. 

You also need to consider the demographics and psychographics of your clients. Demographics are key facts about them, such as location and age; psychographics includes their interests and problems. This information will help you make decisions about branding and marketing. 

Additionally, you should do some research on your competitors to see what they’re offering. If they have the same target market, you need to create a unique value proposition that differentiates you from them and shows your clients why you can offer them more. 

2. Create a professional brand 

With any business, it’s important to establish a trustworthy brand. But, with mediation, the stakes are often higher, so you need to create a brand image that’s highly professional. 

Your clients need to trust you absolutely, and all your branding should be designed with this in mind. All areas of your business should be aligned with your core values and your services. 

If you plan to market your services online, the first step is to build a website, which needs to include key information about your business and what you offer. Additionally, if you can, you should add your credentials, as well as reviews and testimonials of your previous clients. 

You can hire a website designer to do this. Or, alternatively, you can use a website builder like Squarespace or WordPress, which provides free templates and other tools to create a suitable website. 

On your main web page, you should also include a company logo that’s recognizable to build a brand identity. If you don’t have a logo, you can make one using an online tool like Canva.com or LogoCreator. 

3. Connect with potential clients 

Once you’ve established a target client and set up an online presence, you need to start finding potential clients and reaching out to them. 

Most importantly, make sure you identify how your clients would like to communicate with you. For example, some people might prefer to network face to face, whilst others might prefer to engage on social media, over the phone, or by email. 

Doing this can help you connect with clients in a way that’s appropriate for them, and it improves their experience of your business. 

4. Focus on building relationships 

Last but not least, a mediation business requires a high level of customer service. Rather than focusing on selling your services, you should always aim to build rapport and nurture relationships with both new and existing clients. 

By doing this, you can leverage your relationships through referrals and testimonials, which is key to growing your business. You should also make your services as personal as you can, as this will improve the response you get and grow your client base. 

Written by Darin Sanchez

How Mediators Can Optimize Google My Business Listings

If you can’t afford to hire a digital marketing agency or SEO professionals, there are lots of tools that you can use for free to optimize your search rankings and one of which is the Google My Business.

As the name implies, Google My Business is a tool (free) provided by Google for businesses to manage how their details are listed in search. With this tool, you will be able to manage your locations on Google Maps as well as online reviews.

If you're running a local business you need to set up the location of your business on Google My Business so that customers will be able to find you easily when they search in Google Maps. But to make it possible you need to optimize your Google My Business listing.

Read on to learn how to optimize your listing properly.

Tips for Optimizing Google My Business Listing

1. Optimize your profile in Google My Business

When optimizing your listing making a profile that has updated, accurate, and comprehensive details is the first that you need to do. Your Google My Business profile has several parts like:

●      Name

●      Address

●      Phone Number

●      Business Category

●      Description

Aside from the above-mentioned parts, you can include other important details like availability, working hours, and URL of your website.

1. Load High-Quality and Relevant Pictures

Once you have included all the important details in your listing, you can start personalizing your Google My Business page’s visual aspects. Take note, a listing will not be completed without pictures.

A business that has images on their listings tend to obtain 35 percent more clicks and considered more trustworthy.

With this in mind, make sure to upload a logo, cover photo, profile photo, and general images to give customers an idea of what your business looks like as well as what services and products they can obtain from you.

1. Ask for online reviews and respond to them

When it comes to local searches, reviews are considered the lifeblood. Good online reviews is equivalent to sales. Meaning to say, if you have more good reviews then your sales will increase as well.

Whenever customers perform a google search to find a service, product, or business on Google, these reviews will show up. The online reviews and even the ratings allow people to compare competitors more rapidly and determine whether the business is trustworthy or if it’s selling good products and services.

Thank you for reading, hopefully, this article has helped you a lot in optimizing your Google My Business listing. If you can’t afford to hire a digital marketing agency or SEO professionals, there are lots of tools that you can use for free to optimize your search rankings and one of which is the Google My Business.

As the name implies, Google My Business is a tool (free) provided by Google for businesses to manage how their details are listed in search. With this tool, you will be able to manage your locations on Google Maps as well as online reviews.

If you're running a local business you need to set up the location of your business on Google My Business so that customers will be able to find you easily when they search in Google Maps. But to make it possible you need to optimize your Google My Business listing.

Read on to learn how to optimize your listing properly.

Tips for Optimizing Google My Business Listing

1. Optimize your profile in Google My Business

When optimizing your listing making a profile that has updated, accurate, and comprehensive details is the first that you need to do. Your Google My Business profile has several parts like:

●      Name

●      Address

●      Phone Number

●      Business Category

●      Description

Aside from the above-mentioned parts, you can include other important details like availability, working hours, and URL of your website.

1. Load High-Quality and Relevant Pictures

Once you have included all the important details in your listing, you can start personalizing your Google My Business page’s visual aspects. Take note, a listing will not be completed without pictures.

A business that has images on their listings tend to obtain 35 percent more clicks and considered more trustworthy.

With this in mind, make sure to upload a logo, cover photo, profile photo, and general images to give customers an idea of what your business looks like as well as what services and products they can obtain from you.

1. Ask for online reviews and respond to them

When it comes to local searches, reviews are considered the lifeblood. Good online reviews is equivalent to sales. Meaning to say, if you have more good reviews then your sales will increase as well.

Whenever customers perform a google search to find a service, product, or business on Google, these reviews will show up. The online reviews and even the ratings allow people to compare competitors more rapidly and determine whether the business is trustworthy or if it’s selling good products and services.

Thank you for reading, hopefully, this article has helped you a lot in optimizing your Google My Business listing.

Written by: Margie Heaneythe

Things You Need To Consider When Creating A New Website

A website is one of the most important aspects for any business. This is essentially your shop front and what will give your potential customers or clients their first impression of your company. It is this which will likely make people either want to do business with you or not, and therefore it is paramount that it is as good as it possibly can be. If you are currently thinking about upgrading your existing website, or you are starting a new website and don’t really know where to start with it, there are a few things you need to consider. Here we have rounded up some of the most important things for you to think about…

1. Design with the user in mind

When you are creating a website, it is important to keep the user in your mind at all stages. While a site might be aesthetically fantastic, if it is difficult to use, then there is no point. You want it to look great, but be simple to use and find the information that your visitors are after. It is a good idea to make a site map so you can easily see how everything will link together and to check that it is easy to navigate. You want the most key information to be at the top of your site and things such as your contact details to be in the footer. Use the site as a customer would and think of their journey from start to finish. You could use a remote unmoderated usability testing guide to see how users will work your site.

1. Don’t forget to incorporate a blog

When it comes to ranking, you will want a blog. As any expert will tell you, not having a blog will be one of the biggest marketing mistakes you can make. A blog is a great way to target specific keywords to get others to find you on Google and other search engines. It will also display you as an expert in your field and further your credibility. Make your posts on topics that are shareable and informative, so people will put them on their own social media channels. This means that you will drive in other customers that would not have discovered you otherwise.

1. Implement SEO as you go

SEO is vital for any website, so it is a good idea to try and implement it as you go, wherever possible. This will save you the mammoth task of going back through your site when it is completed and doing it this way. There are many different elements of SEO which you can add into the back end and you will want to include them all. You will want to ensure you target specific keywords on your pages - it is a good idea to get the Yoast plugin if you are using WordPress that can help with this. You will also want to add in alt text to your images that helps to tell search engines what your image is of. Add in metadata such as your title tags, meta descriptions and url structures too - these will all assist with your chances of ranking. 

1. Use A/B testing 

When you finish your site, it is important that you try A/B testing. This is vital for getting valuable data about your website and how users will interact with it. What it does is creates two different versions of your site, sometimes only with minimal differences and sees which one performs better. This way you can see which site is best for the final result and how users will engage with the website once it is done. Through this you can apply any tweaks you think it might need and have the best chance of it succeeding. Some of the elements that might have the biggest impact on your website include your sites CTA's, your sites colours, the images you use, the words you use for the headings and the content that is on your website. Use an analytics program to measure the differences.

1. Consider your website speed

Website speed is a really important factor for both search engine optimization and also for the user. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to use a website only for it to be super slow and laggy, not showing any of the elements you are trying to see. Prior to launch, make sure that you do plenty of site speed tests to check that it falls within the optimal amount. The best website load speed is between 1-2 seconds and it has been found that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take over three seconds to load. Ways you can optimise your site speed include by using smaller images, using a CDN and choosing a good host. If you have large volumes of traffic or are expecting to, then you will need to ensure your site will be able to cope with this.

1. Think about if it will stand the test of time or if it’s easy to adapt as you grow

Website rebuilds can be expensive and take a lot of time, so you don’t want to have to do this very often. Instead, when you get your website built, think about how it can not only be timeless, but also to be easily changed and adapted when it needs to be. It can sometimes be tempting to pack loads of features onto your website, but these might go out of style or look dated rather quickly. Instead, think of things that can easily transition as you grow. 

These are just a few things that you need to consider when you build a new website. Your website is one of the most important elements of your whole business and therefore it is important to treat it as such. If you think carefully about these right from the off then it will make it much easier for you in the long run. 

Making Marketing Authentic

Most people who get into mediation or other ADR services don’t do it because they love to market their services.  For many of us, marketing has a pejorative feel to it; marketing feels unprofessional for a professional service industry.  Yet, because so much of the public is unfamiliar with the types of services that ADR practitioners offer, and with less support from litigation attorneys than we’d like, we need to find an authentic, comfortable way to market our services and mediation programs.

Developing Your Signature Style

For most of us, it’s been a long journey since we resolved to become peacemakers. Once you open your office it doesn’t take long to learn that clients don’t magically appear.  The question is how to make our commitment to peacemaking feel as authentic for our prospective clients as it is for ourselves.  How can we design marketing plans that convey the benefits of mediation and our own sincerity in a way that is also designed to sell our services? 

Developing your signature style and discovering your own identity as a mediator are the key elements to begin your marketing.  After that, marketing falls into two categories, one of which works and one of which doesn’t:  spending lots of money (doesn’t work) and spending lots of time (works really well).  Chronologically, you also divide your time into two categories:  finding new prospective clients and making sure they become actual clients.  This article will cover how to be yourself while marketing and how to choose marketing techniques that will work for you and your practice.

Defining Your Signature Style:  For your marketing to work, you have to know who you are as a person and as a professional.  Be honest with yourself about what you like to do and where you shine as well as what you don’t like to do and where you’re not at your best.  If you hate networking at the Chamber of Commerce, you’re not going to come across in the way you’d hope by doing it anyway, so you’re wasting your time.  If you love to write articles but hate public speaking, focus your time and talents in writing.  If you think you hate all kinds of marketing, remember that waiting for the telephone to ring isn’t an effective client generation tool.  Maybe it’s time to think about dropping the private practice idea and start thinking about joining a corporate HR department or teaching.  Out of the different ways to market, pick only those which you’ll actually do and follow through upon.

Some people feel like marketing is selling out. Your marketing plan should never feel unprofessional.  Using public speaking to tell consumers about the benefits of mediation is a public service, and if your speech is sounding too much like a sales pitch, then revise it.  Writing articles about skills that people can use to lessen the conflict in their lives is also a public service.  Introducing yourself to others in related fields who could make referrals to you provides a service both to those professionals and to their clients because you’re a quality practitioner who will do a good job with their case. When you market authentically, you help others while growing your practice.  Stop and rethink your approach if you’re feeling uncomfortable with your marketing message.  Marketing at its finest is genuine and holds value for those to whom you’re marketing.

Your Elevator Speech and Mission Statement:  Have a clear vision of what you do.  You can’t encourage people to participate in mediation if you can’t explain what it is.  And let’s face it, mediation isn’t easy to describe in just a few words.  The first step is to develop your Elevator Speech:  a one or two sentence explanation of what you do.  It’s called an elevator speech because you need to be able to finish it by the time an elevator takes between floors.  Examples: 

• I help busy lawyers like you settle cases; or

• I help people get divorced without losing their shirt or their sanity.

How can you describe your practice in just a sentence or two?

Next, expand your elevator speech into a Mission Statement, and think about your Brand.  You may never be Coca-Cola, but your practice and services need an identity.

For example:  Peace Talks Mediation Services is dedicated to providing a constructive, forward-thinking and peaceful ending to relationships.  Marriages may end, but families endure forever.  We provide a confidential, efficient and impartial atmosphere to help people resolve conflict and to create solutions with integrity and dignity for everyone concerned.

You may or may not share your mission statement with clients, but you need it in order to have a direction in your practice. You wouldn’t leave on a trip without a map, and you shouldn’t have a practice without a mission, either.

Your Brand is what you stand for, the kind of services that you provide, and your signature style.  For example, your Brand may include:

• Honesty

• Trustworthiness

• Commitment to client education and service

• Going the extra mile

• Commitment to the profession of mediation

Practically speaking, your brand exemplifies your values in your practice.

Be prepared to discuss your practice in terms of value, benefits and results for clients.  That’s all they care about:  value, benefits, results.  The good news is that mediation is full of value, benefits and results for clients.  Brainstorm a list of what you perceive these to be. You’ll use this list when you talk to clients about mediation.

Choosing Where and How to Market:  Specialize.  It’s easier to market that way.  You can accept any kind of case that comes into your office, but you’re only going to market one or two specialties. You’re also going to pick your geographical area.  Marketing every service to everyone everywhere is too difficult and expensive.  The more you define your services, practice areas and geographic area, the easier it is to market.

It’s counter-intuitive, but as we’ve narrowed our services our income increased.  In 2005 gross income increased 25% yet we cut back on the services that we offer.  The less we do, the more we make.  It makes sense when you think about it, because the less you do the easier it is to describe what you do, including the value, benefits and results, and the easier it is for clients to conclude, “yes, this mediator can help me.”

Likewise, it’s important to define your mediation style.   Do you generally practice in a more narrative, evaluative or facilitative style?  Can you explain to clients how you do what you do, and why you’ve chosen to practice the way you do?  What about the other styles do you include in your practice, and what parts don’t work given your mediation style?  Being able to articulate why your particular mode of practice works will help clients have confidence in you and in your practice.  Mediation Career Guide, by Forrest S. Mosten (Wiley Jossey Bass 2001), has some great chapters on developing your signature style.

Getting Started:  You’ll learn about marketing your mediation practice with a combination of trial-and-error and professional advice.  Hopefully, this article will help you avoid some expensive lessons.  A marketing approach that worked in your previous professional life might not work for mediation and just because it worked for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you.  My best investment was using an ADR marketing consultant.  It cost money, but it saved both time and money in the long run.  Individual consultations helped me to develop marketing plans that feel authentic, professional, and comfortable to execute.  A few good books were also helpful:  Essential Guide to Marketing Your ADR Practice, by Natalie J. Armstrong (Golden Media Publishing 2001);  Selling the Invisible:  A Field Guide to Modern Marketing, by Harry Beckwith (Warner Business Books 1997); Guerilla Marketing: Secrets to Making Big Profits in Your Small Business, by Jay Conrad Levinson (Houghton Mifflin 1998); and Marketing Without Advertising by Michael Phillips and Salli Rasberry (Nolo 2003),  were all good starting points.

The strategies below range from low out-of-pocket costs and a high time investment to a high cost and low time investment. When you’re able to spend lots of time, but little cash, you’ll spend your time networking, speaking, writing, and serving before you sell.

Networking:  Educating people about mediation in a social or networking context is free or nearly so.  Connecting with another person and talking about what you do is an invaluable part of marketing for any business, and particularly for mediators.  Join your professional organizations, or, better yet, the professional associations of a gatekeeper organizations.  A gatekeeper is someone who frequently comes into contact with the demographic you’re trying to reach.  For example, as a family law mediation firm, I get referrals from therapists and accountants.  As a result, I’ve joined the local therapists’ organization and the family law section of the accountants’ organization and actively participate in the meetings and committees.  If you’re really outgoing, you can make good use of your time at their networking functions.  If you’re more of a workhorse, you can gain points by volunteering on committees.  What better way to prove that you’re honest, trustworthy, hard working and worthy of their referrals? 

While joining organizations is a great way to meet people and to network,   dues can be expensive.  Try attending various associations’ functions without joining first.  Look for their calendar of events listed either in their newsletters or web site and make sure that the event is not “members only”.  It’s a great way to try out a new organization without a big cash outlay. 

Wear your nametag on your right shoulder so when people shake your hand they’re staring at your name.  Make your business cards easy to reach.  If you have a name badge on a lanyard, put your cards in the back of the pouch.  Get their card because the key element to networking is following up.  After the event, follow up with a letter or call and remind your contact about who you are and what you do.  The plan is to land in their Rolodex so that when they’re asked about a mediator, they think of you first.

Maintain a database of your contacts and former clients so you’ve got all the information in one place, and make follow up calls or contacts on a regular basis.  If you’re uncomfortable telephoning, consider writing a mediation newsletter or e-newsletter to send to your mailing list, or sending an article or holiday card.  Break up the task of following up with your entire database into small pieces, like 10 calls a day, to make the task less daunting—and more likely to get done.  Contact every 60 to 90 days is ideal.

Speaking:  Public speaking is also a great free opportunity to make personal contact with specific groups that could use your mediation services.  Again, make sure you target your efforts to “gatekeepers”—those who can refer you business—or to individuals who are likely to need your services, e.g., speak to couples’ counselors if you’re a divorce mediator.  Expect mixed results with large, general membership groups like the Chamber of Commerce, and more promising responses from more targeted groups, like an HR professionals association.  A group with a focused demographic, especially one in your geographic area, is ideal.

Writing:  Writing about mediation, or mediation as it relates to another topic, like entertainment law or conflict resolution for educators, is a great no-cost high-profile way to market your services.  Most professional organizations have a magazine or newsletter and they need content.  As a result, it’s easier than you might think to get published in a newsletter.   In addition, you can submit articles to general interest and professional websites, post them on your website and reprint them in your own newsletter.  If you’re a talented writer, think big: your local newspaper or well known professional publication. If you’re just starting out, think smaller:  letter to the editor or smaller newsletter.  Make sure your topic fits your intended audience and targets your gatekeepers in a way that highlights your services without self-promoting.

Volunteer Mediations:  Demonstrating how mediation works through participation in a volunteer mediation panel is a widely-used yet controversial marketing technique. Volunteering your time to build your skills or to give back to the community is one thing. If you’re volunteering for marketing purposes, make sure your time is productively spent.

Spending a Little Money:  One reasonably low-cost marketing strategy which can be incredibly useful is building and maintaining a web site.  From my own experience, the web site has consistently paid for itself in clients generated, and has saved money because it also functions as an on-line brochure.  For more information on web sites, please read James Melamed’s article “Marketing Your Mediation Practice on the Internet” in this issue.  Don’t forget to register your name, address and domain name with major on-line yellow page style directories, like Yahoo Yellow Pages, switchboard.com and smartpages.com. Basic listings are free on many sites.  You can also use your web site for reciprocal links and strategic partnerships.  Find sites which you feel would interest your potential clients and link to those sites; ask those sites to link to your site as well. 

Blogs, either on your own website or someone else’s, can work the same way.  If you start a blog on your own website, you can update the content of your website constantly, which may help your search engine rankings.  If you start a blog on a blog website, link back to your web site, which may also help your search engine rankings. Make sure that your blogging is professional and well-edited.  Don’t be fooled by the informality of blogs. Everything you post anywhere that the public can read must be your best effort.

You can use the concept of “permission marketing” on your web site and with your e-mail address list.  Each month (or whatever frequency), send out a newsletter to subscribers. The key is that the newsletter is strictly opt-in. You don’t want your newsletter to look like spam.  Web site visitors subscribe by signing up on the site and you can send it to your e-mail address list with their permission.  Keep each newsletter short and simple, less than 2 minutes to read.  Make it informational and timely.  At the bottom, include some information about your practice and services, as well as your contact information.  Encourage readers to forward the e-mail newsletter to anyone who might find it of interest. With luck, you’ll get more subscription requests from people who received your newsletter as a forward.  This is one way to use “viral marketing,” i.e., the forwarded e-newsletters do your marketing for you. If you have the time to do several different targeted newsletters, then send different newsletters to different groups.  This is a great way to develop word of mouth about your services.

Spending Money Doesn’t Work:  Spending lots of money on print, radio or TV advertising is usually a poor investment unless you’re committed to an ongoing advertising campaign, which is cost-prohibitive for most mediators.  The problem with advertising is that the person who needs your services must see the ad at the exact moment that he or she needs your services.  Your chances of hitting a target on the first few tries are slim.  Limiting your ads to publications read by your gatekeepers is more effective, but given the expense, your return on investment will generally be too small to be worthwhile. The same is true for direct mail advertising and Yellow Pages ads. Your money and time are better spent elsewhere.

Once you get your marketing plan into place, it’s time to think about how to turn those prospects into actual clients.

Turning Prospective Clients into Actual Clients

We sometimes forget that our most valuable marketing contact—the prospective client who telephones our office—is our most viable marketing prospect.           

Step one is to serve before you sell. This is a concept I learned from my marketing coach at Golden Media, and the idea is that before you ever talk to anyone about paying you for your services or becoming a client, first answer all of their questions and be as helpful as possible.  Let prospective clients get to know you, your services and your practice before you ask them to become clients.  It’s good business for your practice, and it’s also good business for mediation in general. During this “serve before you sell” period you’re making sure that the case is a good fit for your practice as much as clients are evaluating your firm.  Answer questions about mediation, give a tour of your office, offer an orientation session, have articles and handouts ready to help the clients get prepared to mediate, and make them feel like they’re getting special attention from your firm.  All of this is free of charge, of course.  The serve before you sell stops with the actual mediation of the case—that’s when you go on the clock.  By the time the caller becomes a client, he or she will not only be sold on your services, but will have the confidence that your firm is dedicated to client service.

Consider how much time, effort, and money that it took to make this call happen.  Every speaking engagement, networking luncheon, article and marketing activity is designed to make the telephone ring.  Yet when it does, few of us are as prepared as we need to be to turn that interested caller into a paying client.  Forrest Mosten pointed this out to me early in my career, and convening is still the backbone of my firm’s marketing.

That ringing telephone signals the beginning of a process called convening, or getting both sides to the table.  Do you know what your call-to-client ratio is, i.e, how calls you get and how many turn into paying clients?  Knowing your call-to-client ratio from each of your sources of referrals, as well as your overall ratio, is important in order to know which marketing plans work, which are cost-effective, and where you should focus your time and money.

Telephone Calls

Who will take your telephone calls?  Is it a receptionist, unskilled at mediation and unable to answer basic questions about your services?  Is it a Dispute Resolution Associate, trained in mediation and in convening?  Will you take the calls yourself?  A general receptionist is fine if you’re taking the intake calls yourself, but your first line marketing person should know all about the mediation process. 

After you’ve decided who is doing the intake, what model will you use?  Will you spend a few minutes, off the clock, and then send out your brochure, marketing materials, or a follow-up letter? Or will you do a thorough phone intake, on or off the clock?  Will you schedule an orientation session during the first call?  A critical part of your intake is where the client heard about your services.  You’ll use this information to track the efficacy of your marketing efforts. 

The next piece of information you need from the caller is whether or not the other party is aware of the caller’s desire to mediate.  Is the other party even aware that the call is being placed? If not, ask how best to approach the other party. 

For cases in which the parties have already agreed to mediate, your intake is then geared toward selling the potential client on your services.  What do you offer that other mediators do not?  Why should the client choose your services over someone else’s?  Write a short script or outline in case you get tongue-tied on the phone. After the telephone call, send out a “thanks for calling” letter along with some printed information about your practice. Give prospective clients a tangible reminder of having called you.

Information Packages

After a call has come into the office, send an information package to the callers.  Your information package should instill confidence in clients and differentiate your services in the marketplace.  You might include brochures, business cards, a firm newsletter, a short biography of yourself and your experience, pointers on how clients can prepare for their mediation session, or articles about mediation. Use a simple pocket folder so you can mix and match your materials for different types of cases. 

Just as with serving before you sell, remember that clients are looking for value, benefits and results. Ninety percent of your brochure, information package and website should be centered around value, benefits and results for the clients.  Only 10% should be about you and your qualifications.  The same 90/10 rule holds true of all of your marketing materials, your web site, and any other descriptions of your practice or program.

When prospective clients call your office, they already believe you’re an expert. Laypeople and attorneys [generally] perceive all mediators to be equal and qualified. As a result, they don’t care much about your qualifications.  The way mediators can differentiate themselves is by describing their services in terms of value, benefits and results.

Price is not as important as you’d think.  In Western culture, people tend to believe that they get what they pay for.  If it’s free or inexpensive, it has no value.  People who are 100% price sensitive are always going to be a problem. You’re never going to build a practice on price competition.  The good news is that mediation offers so much value, so many benefits, and such great results, it’s relatively easy to compile your information packages.

Clients appreciate the fact that you’re organized and have materials to send out.  It conveys that you’re committed to client service.

Mediation Orientation Sessions

You may wish to offer a free orientation session in order to supplement the intake.  Orientations allow the parties to see the office, meet the mediators and discuss how the mediation process might work for their case.  Both the mediator and the parties can use the orientation to decide if the practice is a good fit for the case.

Thoughtful convening is the bridge between marketing and building a practice. 

Client Service as Marketing

Sometimes we forget that great client service is a great marketing tool.  Simply doing a good job, being respectful of clients’ needs and questions, answering the telephone in an approachable way, and demonstrating patience with people in conflict can be a great way to get clients to refer your office to other prospective clients. 

Takes time to build, however, so it’s important to jump start your practice with other marketing activities.  There’s no need to do every suggested marketing technique in this article, and, in fact, it would be counter productive.  Pick a few things that feel right and that fit your personality and budget, and start there. Evaluate your return on investment:  was it worth the time and money?  If so, do more of it.  If not, try something else.  Keep your marketing plan consistent with who you are and who you want to be in your practice and you will help you develop the kind of clientele that you can really help, and as a result, it will be the kind of clientele that will refer others to you.  That’s the best kind of marketing of all.

About the author:  Diana Mercer is the founder of Peace Talks Mediation Services (www.peace-talks.com) and the co-author of Your Divorce Advisor (Fireside 2001).

ACR Magazine, Spring 2006

Diana Mercer, Attorney-Mediator, copyright 2006

Peace Talks Mediation Services, Inc.

8055 W. Manchester Ave., Suite 201

Playa del Rey CA 90293

(310) 301-2100

Diana1159@aol.com

The Cold Open

The cold open

By Seth Godin www.SethGodin.com

No one ever bought anything on an elevator. The elevator pitch isn’t about selling your idea, because a metaphorical elevator is a lousy place to make a pitch.

When you feel like you’re being judged and only have a minute to make a first impression, it’s tempting to try to explain the truth and nuance of who you are, what you’ve done and what you’re going to do in the time it takes to travel a few floors.

That rarely works.

The alternative is the elevator question, not the elevator pitch. To begin a conversation–not about you, but about the person you’re hoping to connect with. If you know who they are and what they want, it’s a lot more likely you can figure out if they’re a good fit for who you are and what you want. And you can take the opportunity to help them find what they need, especially if it’s not from you.

Too often, we feel rejected when in fact, all that’s happened is a mismatch of needs, narratives and what’s on offer.

Instead of looking at everyone as someone who could fund you or buy from you or hire you, it might help to imagine that almost no one can do those things, but there are plenty of people you might be able to help in some other way, even if it’s only to respect them enough to not make a pitch.

No one wants to be hustled.

Want to Outsource Your SEO? Read These Top SEO Outsourcing Tips

When you are in business, the expectations on your shoulders is vast. There is so much to do and so few hours in the day. Online marketing is one of those critical areas designed to help your business gain a presence on the internet.    

 If you don’t have the expertise or knowledge for this, outsourcing could be the way to go. 

However, outsourcing can be fraught with perils. It is a fantastic strategy so getting it right is vital. Below are some top tips to ensure your SEO Outsourcing goes well.

 The Right Reasons

There are so many areas where you can outsource, from Payroll to online marketing. Before you take the leap in outsourcing, ensure that it will increase the efficiency of your business. There is no point in outsourcing if you are going to spend a considerable chunk of your time explaining what you want and how you want it. It is important to ensure you are outsourcing for the right reasons and with the right company. Doing this will ensure your business becomes efficient and has a competitive advantage.

 The Right Availability

The world is a small place with the introduction of technology. Don’t limit your outsourcing to someone in your own country. 

There are plenty of outsourcing companies who are overseas, and while you sleep, they can be working on your contract. 

This can be a massive benefit to you, however, ensure the company you hire is well versed in your language and, they won’t be emailing you back and forth because they don’t understand what you want.

 The Right Engagement

When you source the likes of your SEO, consider having a conversation with your current employees to get their view. If you engage too many outside companies, your employees may feel they are no longer essential and may look elsewhere for work. Engage with your current employees, let them know how important they are and how much you welcome their views.

 The Right Company

You have made the decision to outsource your SEO, and you have a company in mind. 

The next stage is to seek references and work examples. This is extremely important as it talking to someone who has worked with the company before. 

First-hand knowledge of their work is precisely the information you need to make an informed choice.

 The Right Price

This follows on from the right company. A company which offers a price that is very low or very high could be a warning sign of things to come. Of course, it’s tempting to go for the lowest price quoted, however, this should not be the primary concern for your decision. Look to a company that has a track record of quality work at reasonable prices. This is known as the Goldilocks principle.

Before you decide to invest in SEO outsourcing or other forms of outsourcing, ensure you adhere to the above pointers to ensure your projects work for you and align with the outcomes you want for your business. Remember, your decision to outsource is about helping you achieve your goals.

Services That You Might Want To Solicit If You Want To Boost Your Business

Every single successful business – and business person – got to where they were through sheer hard work, diligence, and the right mindset. You cannot get anywhere in this life without putting in the effort and getting into a killer, winning mentality. Being a soft individual who doesn’t want to put the hours in will not land you anywhere special, unfortunately. Those born into wealth stay there because they put in the hours. Those born into wealth who lose all of the money they have did so because they were too lazy to keep hold of what they had. If you want to make money, you need to do the hard yards.

It’s not all down to you and your own physical capabilities, though. You need to exercise your hard work by getting in touch with others who know more than you do. You need to work hard alongside people that know what they’re talking about. Successful people also knew their limits. You can have a full marketing plan, the right product, and an amazing setup, but you’ll also need a group behind you and the right contacts. Certain individuals like Bill Gates and Elon Musk get all the credit for being the face, but their actions included bringing in the right people alongside them as they worked their backsides off. You’ll need to have the right services by your side, too. Here are just a few that you might want to consider as you grow your business: 

Recruitment

As a business grows, the individuals involved in the team become more and more important. Many businesses can get away with hiring people that don’t really suit the company, but the majority need to get the right staff members in. That’s where a recruitment agency can help out. They can vet and test people and ensure they’re the correct fit. Having a good relationship with the right agency can produce lots of talent for decades. 

Lawyers

You never know what might turn around and bite you in the backside in the world of business. One day you could be fine, the next day, you could be hit with a huge lawsuit. Having a good lawyer on your phone can be the difference between making lots of money and losing lots. Good ones cost a little, but they’ll be worth it in the long run.

Digital Marketing Pros

In this day and age, a lot of marketing is done online. Digital marketing is such a huge part of taking a business from good to great, so if you don’t have much of it going on, then you might want to hop aboard. You can learn more here about the kinds of digital marketing firms available, and perhaps they might pique your interest somewhat. 

Security 

Without at least a little security, your business will probably be attacked very easily. You need to make sure you’re guarded digitally and tangibly in order to protect yourself from disasters. Get some managed IT support for your devices, and install CCTV cameras around the place. Those two should be the basics in terms of keeping everything reinforced. 

What Does It Take To Create A Practice That Rocks?

We live in an interesting world. It seems like there is something "out there" in objective reality that is "real" and "tangible." But we can only ever perceive it through the subjective apparatus of our mind. We can never have an objective experience. We don't even know what such a statement means. 

The purpose of this article isn't to probe deep philosophical problems. It's just to point out that perception is much more important than many entrepreneurs believe. How customers feel about a product is usually much more critical than its measurable properties. 

Take the iPhone, for instance. While modern versions are good, there are plenty of more advanced products on the market that use better processors and have more memory. Apple, however, gets around this problem by focusing on customer perceptions, no product realities. It uses its marketing to create a narrative that almost completely ignores the products themselves and simply focuses on how they make people feel.

It's a wise strategy. The real world is still a constraint on what companies can achieve with finite resources. So if Apple can convince people that less expensive and resource-intensive products are better, it can achieve higher margins than its competitors.

So what does it take to create a product that rocks? The answer, in marketing terms, is simple: a good story. 

But how do you get there? Let's take a look. 

Know Yourself

Occasionally, businesses can cook up great products or services and deliver them to the market. But most of the time, the revolutions happen at the grassroots level. People have a problem in their lives, and so they decide to do something about it.  That’s where mediators and arbitrators come in.

Fundamentally, most products and services are organic. Entrepreneurs make things for themselves and then only afterward discover that they have broader market appeal. But the basic requirement is to have an "aha" moment where you know you've got something that can solve real problems in people's lives. 

It helps to have a masters in product development for creating something suitable for modern consumers. But the basic requirement is to have an "aha" moment where you know you've got something that can solve real problems in people's lives.

Use Testing and Surveys As A Form Of Marketing

If you've come up with a great idea, the next step is to start asking clients if they they too think it’s a great idea. Then begin testing it to see whether it works. Most mediators, arbitrators, and attorneys will beaver away behind closed doors to create an idea or something for their clients. But by using this approach, they sometimes miss a trick. 

Testing is actually a chance to find out a little more about what clients like and want. Thus, testing can become a form of marketing. 

Start Small

While including as many bells and whistles as you can seems like a good idea, it adds complexity and wastes time. Furthermore, most of your clients will only want your service for its core benefit. All of the added extras are often unnecessary.

12 Marketing Books That Will Revolutionize Any Business

ENTREPRENEUR LEADERSHIP NETWORK CONTRIBUTOR

CEO of iSucceed

Legendary management expert Peter Drucker once said, “Business has only two basic functions – marketing and innovation.” With Covid-19 detonating earlier this year, this quote has never taken on more meaning…….

…….. Scientific Advertising by Claude C. Hopkins

This is considered one of the greatest marketing books ever written. I was introduced to me by a friend of mine who does copywriting some time ago. He told me he reads it at least once a year. Written in 1923, people might dismiss this book as one of a bygone era. That would be a grave mistake. While social media marketing is all the rage these days, this book is a masterpiece in understanding marketing at its core.

Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

Ogilvy worked on a number of campaigns including Rolls Royce, Schweppes and Hathaway Shirts. They are still considered classics today. He stresses the importance of headlines and the power of a USP (unique selling point) throughout all your marketing and ads.

How to Get Everything You Can Out of Everything You’ve Got by Jay Abraham

Jay Abraham is considered the expert when it comes to joint ventures. He also talks about the importance of something he calls the Power Parthenon. He’s a genius at finding numerous ways for companies to boost their bottom-line. You might be able to find some of his high-end seminars on eBay, but his books are really some of the best material you can find from him. This book is definitely a great place to start.

Related: Easy Tips for Building a Powerful Marketing Email List

Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene M. Schwartz

It isn’t hard to pick up used marketing books for under $10. Not this book. While it’s available online for free, people still pay over $250 for a used print version. And this masterpiece is worth every penny. Chapter 4 is titled “38 Ways You Can Strengthen Your Headline Once You Have Your Basic Idea.” That should tell you all you need to know about the book.  

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

Godin has written some excellent books on marketing including Permission Marketing and The Icarus Effect but this was my personal favorite. In a nutshell, it talks about the importance of constantly working to stand out from all the other cows in the business field. While many companies look to their competitors to shape their advertising, products and services, Godin talks about doing just the opposite.

Influence: Science and Practice by Robert Cialdini

One book that marketing legend Dan Kennedy tells his attendees to his workshops to invest in. It breaks marketing down into six principles and uses a number of examples to explain each one and is a surprisingly enjoyable read. It’s also extremely powerful because of the all science and research that Cialdini put into it.

Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk

The newest book on this list, but one that takes an in-depth look at social media marketing and how to best tailor your content to suit each platform. It also includes many success stories of individuals which makes it a great reference book for a variety of industries.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout

This book was named by Advertising Age the best marketing book of all time. Personally, I would rank a few other books on this list slightly higher, but nevertheless, it deserves a place on your bookshelf. For those who would prefer something lighter, Ries and Trout also wrote The 22 Immutable Laws of Advertising which is an extremely quick read. 

Related: This 28-Hour Bundle Can Teach You Today's Top Digital Marketing Tools

Triggers by Joseph Sugarman

An absolute gem of a book that isn’t talked about enough. In the late 70s and early 80s, Sugarman put on 5-day direct marketing seminars for a small group number of people. Part of his presentation was called Psychological Triggers which many attendees attributed to being not only the most interesting but also the part they most benefited from. This book is a distillation of those 30 triggers.

The Life of P.T. Barnum by P.T. Barnum

Facebook and LinkedIn have taken “personal branding” into the digital age, but P.T. Barnum was the original expert of self-promotion. This book is a fascinating read into how he was able to build, augment and strengthen his public image over half a century at a time before computers.

Guerilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson

This was the first book written specifically for entrepreneurs and small business owners in mind. Its concepts focus on being cost-effective and creative in order to gain visibility. It was updated back in 2007 to address using the concepts for our digital age. Whether you’re looking for online or offline ideas for your business, this is one book you’ll want to read.

No B.S. Guide to Direct Response Social Media Marketing by Dan S Kennedy and Kim Walsh Phillips

Millionaire-maker Dan S. Kennedy and marketing strategist Kim Walsh Phillips teach effective direct response strategies for social media campaigns that convert to sales instead of likes.

How SEO Improves Your Marketing Efforts

When it comes to marketing, there can be various factors that can influence how successful a campaign might be or for the strategies that you put in place. With that being said, it’s important to look at SEO as one area that can help directly benefit your marketing. Here are some tips on how SEO improves your marketing efforts.

Benefits User Experience

As far as SEO goes, the technical side of improving it can really help to benefit your user experience when it comes to the website. It’s all about how well your business website functions and what the customer or potential customer is seeing when they first come onto the site itself. Does it load quickly, for example? Or is there enough content and information on there for your customers to make the decision to part with their money and spend it on your products or services?

These are all things that can be influenced by improving your SEO in some way, shape, or form. When you’re looking to improve your SEO, it’s good to outsource it if you haven’t got the available resources or manpower. Over here, you’ll find plenty of guidance when it comes to getting the help you need in order to make your search engine optimization better. This in turn, will help improve your marketing efforts when customers start coming onto the site and finding it to be a better user experience. 

Helps You Learn More About Your Customers

SEO can help you learn more about your customers than marketing can do just on its own. With search engine optimization, you can take advantage of the analytics that is collected when it comes to your website. Not only that, but social media platforms collect a lot of data too, and you can use that to help improve your strategies and campaigns moving forward.

Shows You Where To Target Your Promotions

Targeting your promotions in the right places is important, otherwise, it’s just wasted time and money. With SEO, you can help find out where customers are coming from and what it is that’s influencing them to hop onto the website. This can help to remove any promotions that aren’t working or worth the expenditures, and that can then be redirected to more rewarding places. It’s all about finding the right opportunities, and when it comes to advertising, it can certainly be beneficial.

Improves Visibility Of Your Company

Standing out is difficult nowadays, especially with the internet being as big as it is and allowing more people to hog the spotlight. With that being said, you can certainly help your business to improve its visibility as a company by focusing on your SEO efforts. The better your online presence is, the more it influences everything you do as a business going forward. Look at how you can improve visibility through your search engine optimization.

SEO is a great way to help with your marketing so embrace it and if you struggle to achieve it in-house, outsource it.

Common Marketing Mistakes To Avoid

If you are to survive and thrive during this difficult era, mastering marketing is a must. The problem is that a lot of businesses and entrepreneurs are stuck in the old days when it comes to marketing, using strategies that are not effective in 2020. With that being said, in this blog post, we are going to take a look at some of the common marketing mistakes that need to be avoided if you are going to make a big impact throughout the coming year.

Choosing black hat marketing techniques - There is only one place to begin when it comes to common marketing errors, and this is using black hat marketing techniques. This refers to techniques that are pretty much used to cheat the system. Examples include keyword stuffing or incorporating white text so that you can sneak keywords into your website. These sorts of approaches may have worked years ago, but Google is wise to them now. You may experience results in the short-term, but these results won’t last, and you will probably find yourself being penalised by Google, which is the last thing anyone wants when they are trying to gain more traction online.

You are inconsistent - Marketing works well when there is consistency. If you are constantly changing your mind, for example, using different colours and presenting your brand in different ways, this is only going to confuse the audience and it will dilute your brand as a consequence. Furthermore, you need to make sure that there is consistency with regard to your posting schedule as well. If you post a blog post three times in one week, then you disappear for the next week, you are going to struggle to get a following. Instead, it is better to post consistently, i.e. once per week. You can schedule posts to make this easier. The same can be done with your social media accounts as well.

Sticking with one marketing method - The most effective marketing strategies are those that are layered. They incorporate a range of different marketing techniques, which come together to create the perfect vehicle to push the brand forward. Of course, you have SEO. Then you also have PPC, which involves using Google Ads scripts automation for digital marketing. Or, what about social media marketing? Social media is a great tool for engaging with customers and prospective customers. In most cases, using a combination of all of these approaches is going to be best, rather than purely centering in one strategy.

Trying to do everything in-house without the expertise - It can be tempting to handle all of your marketing efforts in-house. After all, it can seem like the cheaper solution. However, if you do not have the necessary experience, this can end up costing you more money in the long run. This is because you will be missing out on opportunities. If you choose a team of marketing experts with care, you can expect a considerable ROI. Therefore, it is important that you look at the value from a monetary sense when you are determining whether it is better to handle marketing in-house or outsource it to a team of professionals. 

You don’t handle negative reviews well - Reviews are a very important part of marketing today, as they represent social proof. If you think about it, you are going to be much more likely to purchase a product if someone unassociated with the company recommends it, right? However, not all reviews are good! No matter how hard you try, you may end up with a customer who is simply never happy. While it can be disappointing and even offensive to read a negative review, it is important to take a moment to breathe and to consider your response. Yes, you should respond! Your efforts to rectify the problem and come to a good solution could turn a disgruntled customer into a loyal one. Even if the customer seems impossible to please, other people will see that you care about your customers, and this will help to boost your brand image in this respect.

So there you have it: an insight into some of the biggest marketing mistakes that people make. If you have noticed any of the errors that have been discussed above, there is no need to panic. However, there is a need to start looking at the changes that you can make to rectify these errors. The sooner you get your marketing efforts back on track, the better

How to Get the Most Out of Your Business Marketing

As a modern business specializing in mediation and/or arbitration, you need to make sure you focus as much as possible on how you are going to market your practice. You need to do as much as possible to make a big difference here, and it is important to have a procedure in place to deal with this. There are a lot of things you can do when it comes to improving this, and trying to develop the best possible marketing process is vital for continued practice success. 

There are a lot of marketing elements that you need to make sure you get right, and this is something that plays a role in this process right now. Try to think about some of the best ways of taking things to the next level in terms of marketing. Make sure you think about what it takes to bring things forward, and there are a lot of ideas that you can use here. 

Plan a Strategy

Planning and executing a business marketing strategy is one of the most important things that you can do, and this is something you need to work on right now. You have to do as much as possible to make the most of this, and having some sort of clear strategy and direction is massively important moving forward. You are going to need to come up with the best ways of marketing your company right now. 

Hire Marketing Experts

Hiring marketing experts is one of the best things you can do to help with this because they will be perfectly placed to improve your marketing strategy. You need to be turning to experts who provide the likes of web design and SEO services in order to help make the most of this right now. It is really important to make sure you think about the ideas you can use here. Marketing experts can be so transformative for your business, and this is something you’re going to need to work on right now moving forward. 

Inbound and Outbound Strategies

You have a lot of things that play a role in helping you with this, and it is important to do as much as you can to have a selection of inbound and outbound marketing techniques. This is something you are going to need to work on as much as possible, and it can help you in a big way. Try to work on doing your best to diversify, and use a mixture of inbound and outbound, online and offline techniques. You will find that this works so well when trying to market your business in such an important way.

Mediators and arbitrators need to have great ways of being able to market and improve their businesses as much as possible. There are a lot of things that play a role in this, and it is vital that you understand what you can do to make the most of your marketing right now. Try to think about some of the best ways of achieving this, and work on doing what you can to get the most out of your business marketing.

How To Start Connecting Your Online And Offline Marketing For Strong Results

Small businesses are drawn irresistibly to digital marketing. For a start, it's a no to low cost platform at a time when funds are stretched. It also allows you to be highly targeted about audience segments you want to connect with and what messages you want to give them. It's highly measurable, so you can see just what your return on investment is. It's scalable, growing easily alongside your company. And it has the potential to connect your business with a vast global audience. 

So there are many compelling reasons to make digital platforms the cornerstone of your small business marketing strategy. 

But if you've never created a considered other forms of marketing, you're missing a trick. The best strategies are multi-channel, seamlessly blending online and offline activities to drive specific conversion goals. 

So if you want to integrate your online and offline marketing efforts to maximize your strategy, where do you begin? 

Include An Online Call To Action In Offline Collateral 

One of the keys to a blended marketing plan is understanding that each channel has it's unique benefits and leveraging those to best effect. So if you had the budget to do a television ad, you'd be best placed to use it as a high-level, awareness raising move. But you could combine it with a call to action that draws people into your website with a special offer. Your website should be full of great and relevant content that hooks people in, or perhaps articles that they want to share on their social media channels. It could also encourage visitors to sign up to an email newsletter for specific information on special offers. In this way, you create a series of actions that draw people deeper into your universe. Each step should aim to extract some kind of data that informs your next series of actions. That way, you build up a much richer view of how and why your audience is choosing to interact with you. 

Incentives - Giveaways And Time Limited Offers

Experts estimate that the average person sees 5,000 adverts a day. That's a huge figure, and it goes a long way to explaining why the conversion rates on some of your digital ads are so low. Studies have found that combining online and offline media leads to a drip-feed effect that makes people more likely to eventually click on your ads. Once you have their attention, what you need is something which makes them want to part with their data - this is the first step towards creating regular communication with them. A giveaway or special offer is a time-honoured technique that can make prospects take that step of handing over their details - which is vital to make sure your marketing is compliant with GDPR legislation. So work with your Facebook ads agency to embed a competition element across your social display ads, or include a special offer targeted at people who have visited your site more than once through re-targeting. 

There are lots more ways to connect the online and offline worlds, so build that thinking into your plans from the start for the best results. 

Marketing Plan And Marketing Strategy - What's The Difference?

Two terms, use interchangeably but really shouldn’t be. Your marketing plan and your marketing strategy are two different parts of your business.

Simply put:

Your marketing strategy is what you need to achieve with your business. This will be tied to your business goals and vision. 

Your marketing plan is how you are going to achieve what is set out on your marketing strategy. 

Both are necessary for you to move forward with your business, and they will work in unison. 

What Does A Marketing Strategy Look Like?

Most of the time it is better for you to work with a company like Your Marketing People in all aspects of your marketing. But even so, it pays for you to understand some of the basics of a marketing strategy. 

You need to identify: 

Goals

What are your business goals, both long and short term? Are there some overall business goals that need to be met? 

Competitors 

Who are you, competitors, what are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? What is their market position? You need to know as much as possible about your competitors. 

Target Market

Who are you talking to? If you haven’t nailed what drives the purchase decisions of your target market, then how can you sell to them? 

Positioning Goal

What makes you stand out from your competitors, and why should customers come to you instead. 

You will likely need a situation analysis unless you can answer these questions with ease. These things will help you identify your main strengths, weaknesses and amble you to get ahead of potential issues. 

What Does A Marketing Plan Look Like?

A marketing plan will typically have several topics covered. 

Executive summary - this is an overview of the company and will give a review of the plan. 

This section will be to the point for those who may not read the entire document.

Business Description

This section will describe what the business is all about, including the name of owners, the current situation, this means the position in the marketplace, the company mission statement, and any of the core values, and other essential information.

Situation Analysis

The situation analysis will cover the details for your marketing efforts. This section will take a closer look at the internal and external factors that will influence your marketing strategy.

Business Objectives

Any effective marketing plan will need to include business objectives. This is the overall business strategy and goals. 

Distribution and Delivery

Distribution and delivery outline of how your business will sell and deliver your products to consumers. This will include the methods of sale, including wholesale, retail, direct to homes and businesses, and online.

Marketing goals

Martin girls will tie into the overall business objectives. However, they will only focus on a small portion of the business that marketing can, in fact, influence. 

Target market

Target market is simple in concept, of course, it is unrealistic to think that you can attract everybody, you need to talk directly to your ideal customer.

USP

This is your unique selling proposition and talks about how your company has the edge over your competitors. What makes you unique?

Several other sections will be contained within your marketing plan. These are tracking and evaluation, to allow you to set measurable business goals, so you can check how each of your marketing activities has been effective. 

Budget will let you know how much you have to spend, and message and guidelines will ensure that you stand out from your competitors, and demonstrate value to potential customers.

They will work in unison to drive your business forward.