Attracting Ideal Clients

Secrets to Leverage LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn is a great social network for connecting with your ideal clients. As much as I like Facebook, I think LinkedIn offers more of an ability to connect with a Person of Influence (POI).

One of the best places to find your ideal customers and clients is in LinkedIn Groups.

Here are 3 quick tips to leverage LinkedIn Groups:

1) Focus on adding value

Make sure that you share information that people want to read. One great strategy is to include a link out to your blog post. This will help to position you as an expert. It will also allow you to generate leads if you have an opt in box on your blog.

2) Connect with people you meet in groups

After you have interacted with people a few times in a LinkedIn Group, then send them an invitation to connect.

LinkedIn Groups also gives you the capability to follow people. This is similar to the way Twitter works. It's an easy to build a base of followers who read your posts and comments.

3) Send personal messages to people on LinkedIn

What good is a network unless you actually intend to communicate with people. Make time every day to reach out to someone on LinkedIn and send a personal message. Share a resource, congratulate them on a recent success or ask them for 5 minutes to chat by phone.

LinkedIn Groups is a great tool for making connections with powerful and influential people. Set a goal now to leverage this tool to grow your business.

Rick Cooper
Online Marketing and Social Media Trainer

Sharing Content to Demonstrate your Expertise

When you declare yourself an expert, the next step is to begin creating content. Experts are knowledgeable. They have information and want to share it with others.

Some of the more advanced marketing strategies all depend on having content. Public speaking, teleseminars, webinars and information products all depend on having great content to be effective.

Here are 3 quick tips to get started on creating content and teaching others:

1) Come from a space of wanting to teach

I love to teach. I have a journal and I write ideas in it about what I would like to share with others. I have a desire to teach others. If you don’t currently see yourself as a teacher, think again. Change begins in language. Say to yourself, “I am a teacher.” Adopt this mindset and you will find that there is a joy in teaching.

2) Share golden nuggets

Unfortunately, many people hold back from giving out great content. For whatever reason, they think they should hold back. And as a result, the content they produce is weak. Experts produce great content. And when people see that content, they will want more. And they will be willing to pay for it.

3) Deliver value

Content is king! Information is great and at the same time, it needs to translate into value. When you teach, encourage people to implement the ideas you share. If you can help someone to create a breakthrough, the information you are sharing will have a higher perceived value and that will draw them in like a magnet.

As you can see, creating content will help you on your journey at becoming a highly paid expert in your field. Whether you’re a Coach, a Speaker, a Virtual Assistant, a Professional Organizer, a Web Designer or an expert in any other field, you have what it takes to be successful!

Rick Cooper
Online Marketing Expert

Social Media Tips to Network Online

Social Media offers huge potential to market your business online. But, that doesn't mean you should just spam people. You need to connect, develop relationships and add value. In this video I share several critical ideas to help you leverage social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Watch this Video Now!

Join me for an upcoming teleseminar on May 28th
How to Use Social Media to Attract Clients

Click here to register:
http://TinyURL.com/SocialMediaCoolTips

Rick Cooper
Online Marketing Expert

Twitter Tip to Create Social Currency

Twitter is a great tool for people who want to attract clients and find joint venture partners. I’ve heard a lot of feedback that some people don’t really understand Twitter or how to use it. Are you clear about you can leverage Twitter?

One of the ways I use Twitter is to search for people in a particular profession. I work with small business owners to help them market their business online. And I specialize in working with Coaches, Speakers and Experts. So, I’m very clear whenever I go onto Twitter that I want to find Coaches, Speakers, Virtual Assistants, Professional Organizers, Graphic Designers, Web Designers and anyone who offers a professional service and wants to be positioned as an expert.

Use Twellow to Find Potential Clients by Profession

There are many third party sites that can be used in your efforts to leverage Twitter. One of my favorite sites is Twellow. This is like the yellow pages for Twitter. And it organizes people according to their profession. If you don’t have a profile on Twellow, go set one up. You can add yourself to 3 categories.

Twitter is one of my favorite sites for social networking and it’s also great for sharing promotion and product offers. As with all social networking sites, make sure you take time each day to connect and engage people.

Social Currency happens when you create value for someone else. You can do this on Twitter with  retweet. You can post a link to someone's article or blog post. You can even acknowledge them on #FollowFriday. Think strategically about who you want to ackowledge and recognize. Do it sincerely and do it often.

Rick Cooper
Online Marketing Expert

Build a Community Online

Social media allows you to create a community online. Position yourself as an expert and you will attract people to you. People are drawn to experts. They seek knowledge and enlightenment. They want answers. And they’re excited to be around people who are up to big things.

There are several ways to build a community online. The most popular method these days is simply to use social media. There are so many websites where you can connect with people. Just remember people didn’t come there just to connect with you. They have other friends and interests. So, if they show interest in you, don’t take it for granted.

Another great tool for building a community is a blog. Your blog can showcase your talents. People can leave comments on your blog. Be sure to respond back.

3 Tips to Build a Community Online:

1) Provide Value

People will join your community and stay in touch if they think you offer something of value. So, don’t disappoint them. Share information, tips and resources. You have specialized knowledge that people want.

And, be sure that you provide value consistently over time. It’s easy to get on a creative run from time to time. It’s tough to create and provide a high level of quality content week after week. And yet, this is exactly what you need to do.

2) Communicate

It seems like a cliche, but to maintain an audience, you need to communicate with them. When someone posts something on your Facebook wall or clicks the Like button, be sure to pay attention and respond back. If someone tweets you, tweet back.

If someone sends you an email message, reply back. If they call you, then call back. It’s important to respond in kind. There was a reason they chose that medium to communicate with you. People want dialogue. And they like to see that you’re a real person.

3) Recognize and Acknowledge

People want to feel important. Even though you’re the expert, you need to take time out to acknowledge others. People like people who like them. They will be much more likely to come back and interact with you if you show interest in them.

Take a few minutes to think about your community. How many people are in your community?

Why not set some goals for your community. Set a goal for the number of people you want to reach through your community.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

-What are you doing to connect and develop relationships with people in your community?

-What events can you hold to attract members to your community?

-What can you offer people to encourage them to remain in your community?

Building a community can be a valuable activity. It can help you grow your business. And you can even monetize your community by launching a membership website. What a novel idea.

Rick Cooper
Online Marketing Expert

Using Email to Build Trust and Rapport

Email marketing is a powerful tool to build trust and rapport. I just recorded a great video to share a few valuable ideas you can implement immediately.

Watch this Video Now!

 

Join me for an upcoming teleseminar on May 21st.
Learn how to build your email list using a Squeeze Page.

Click here for more details:
http://bit.ly/squeezepagetips

Rick Cooper
Online Marketing Expert

Use GoogleDocs to Write Blog Content - Part 1

GoogleDocs is a great tool for writing and tracking blog content. I have used a lot of strategies to write blog posts. I’d like to share some of these methods so you can learn from them.

Methods to write blog posts:

-Typepad/Wordpress

The disadvantage of this method is that you end up with a lot of drafts and it obscures your posted content (on the back-end). I’ve generally found it best to write my blog content outside of the blogging platform and then copy and paste when the content is ready. There are exceptions to that rule.

-Notepad

This is one of my favorite tools for creating web content. It is a simplified form of content without any of the underlying code that comes from a Word document. The disadvantage is that line breaks are sometimes an issue. You may end up having to go through your post and change the line breaks manually. One disadvantage is that Notepad does not have spell-check. And I don't know about you, but I occasionally spell words incorrectly.

-Microsoft Word

Word is a great tool for writing any kind of document, but you often run into issues when transferring to a web publishing tool. Word has a lot of underlying code that can be misinterpreted when published on the web. For an example of this, simply copy and paste a document into your blogging platform and then click the html button. You will see all sorts of strange code. (Not good.) When you actually view the published web page, you may see strange characters.

-GoogleDocs

I have used GoogleDocs for writing blog content for a few weeks. It seems to work pretty well. You can create folders and documents. The text transfers well into my blogging platform. (Note that there is sometimes a lag time after you save something before you see it in the folder. It’s a little unnerving, but it shows up within a few minutes.)

In Part 2 of blog post series, I will share details about how I track blog topics. (Hint: I make a list of topics that I want to write about in advance.)

Rick Cooper
Online Marketing Expert

The Power of Simplicity

Think about your marketing. What are you doing that’s repeatable and duplicatable?

There is a power in simplicity. Too often we try to make things too complex. This is bad. You will be much more likely to repeat something that is simple.

When I coach clients, I’m often surprised at how much they are doing that has minimal to no benefit. There’s a simple rule in marketing and sales: Focus on revenue producing activities.

What are some of the marketing activities you can do that will yield the best results?

-Lead generation

-Lead conversion

-Email marketing

-Creating a new lead capture page

-Creating a freebie (Irresistible Free Offer)

-Creating an online sales page

-Pay per click advertising

-Product launches

-Joint ventures

-Affiliate marketing

-Blogging

-Social media activities

-Promoting live events

-Online video

-Posting articles on article directories

-Posting your business profile on a directory

These are all great ideas. And there are many more.

Learn more about how to improve your online marketing.

Want more ideas to market your business online?

Click Here to receive Instant Access to two free audio programs

Rick Cooper
Online Marketing Expert

Launch a Marketing Campaign

I love marketing. And one of my favorite aspects of marketing is the ability to create a campaign. What is a marketing campaign? In essence, it’s a project with a goal. There is a start and an end. You track your results and compare them to your goals.

Here are a few examples of marketing campaigns:

-Run a series of ads to promote an event.

-Host a series of teleseminars to promote a new program.

-Create an autoresponder series to upsell from a free opt in to a low cost product.

Marketing campaigns are often tied to a product launch. It helps to have a defined marketing plan to ensure the success of your launch.

What is one marketing campaign you can run in the next 90 days? What product or program are you launching in the next year that would benefit from a marketing campaign?

Take the time now to commit to create a marketing campaign.

If you want some accountability to make it happen, send me an email at info@rickscooper.com.

Rick Cooper
Marketing Coach

 

Capitalize on your Knowledge

What are you doing to leverage the knowledge you have to grow your business? You have a unique skill set and information that other people want to know. Are you really using that information strategically?

There are many ways that you can use the information in your head to communicate and educate clients and prospects.

Here are 3 methods to share information that will provide value.

1. Post to a Blog

One of the best tools to create a name for yourself and begin to build an audience is through a blog. Many people like to read information on blogs, and they're a great tool to generate organic traffic on the internet.

The technology can be overwhelming at first. There’s a lot to learn. The good news is that you can find people to help you. Just set a goal to start a blog and start taking action.

2. Write an article

Articles are extremely versatile. You can post them on sites like EzineArticles.com. You can also include articles in your own email newsletter, or even print an article to hand out.

Keep your articles to about 400 to 600 words. Make them simple and easy to read. People have limited time, so get to the point. Pick a topic that people will be interested in.

3. Write a Special Report

At some point, you will realize that you need a resource to offer as a lead generation tool. One of the best resources you can create that will have value is a special report. Typically about 8-15 pages, it's a short document that focuses on solving a problem or communicating information that your ideal clients want to learn.

Repurpose your Content

An interesting point to consider is that you can take the content from a special report and break it into 5-7 articles. You can repurpose content to leverage it in numerous ways.

Writing is a learned skill. You can improve your ability to write. It takes practice.

Commit to write something every week. Produce something and share it with others. This will build your self-confidence and encourage you to write more in the future.

Rick Cooper
Marketng Coach