Tag Archives: Facebook

Startup Wedding Planners Explore Niche Markets to Stand Out

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Yes, I’m beating the drum of niching AGAIN. During my conference coaching sessions which consist of laser coaching small business owners on growth and development in 15 minute segments, the lack of a discernible niche is the number one problem for small businesses. It’s also the number one way for them to grow faster. Find that one ideal target client and that one thing that you sell to them. Make it very very specific. Then see the profits roll in.

Here is an excerpt from an article that talks about 3 differently niched Wedding Planners. I couldn’t resist sharing…

The Day-Of Coordinator
Helena Parker, Divine Events by Helena
San Diego

Helena Parker caters to brides who don’t want to spend thousands of dollars for a wedding planner but still need help. Clients hire her to deal with vendors in the final two weeks leading up to the wedding and manage the flow of events on the day, which typically requires about 20 hours of work. Unlike a full-service planner, she isn’t involved in early-stage planning and doesn’t help choose colors, flowers, food or music.

The Same-Sex Wedding Expert
Bernadette Coveney Smith, 14 Stories
Boston and New York

Bernadette Coveney Smith capitalized early on the same-sex marriage movement. When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2003 that same-sex couples had the right to marry, she quit her job at a Boston nonprofit organization and launched her same-sex wedding planning agency, 14 Stories.

The Destination Wedding Planner
Alison Hotchkiss, Alison Event Planning & Design
San Francisco and New York

In 2003, when Alison Hotchkiss started planning weddings in exotic locales, the term “destination wedding” wasn’t yet part of the lingo, and only three other U.S. planners specialized in lavish locations.

via Startup Wedding Planners Explore Niche Markets to Stand Out.

Other wedding niches could be Goth, Sexy, Country, Glee…you name it! There are as many different kinds of people as potential niches. It differentiates you if you choose one of them instead of trying to service all of them.

It just makes marketing sense…

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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Listen To My ‘Gentle Marketing’ Radio Interview

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Are you a shy marketer? Do you hate in-your-face-marketing? Don’t you think it’s 100% better to have clients be attracted to YOU? I believe so strongly in this topic that I wrote a book on it (coming in May!)

Listen to my hilarious radio interview with BizRadio and BizTV host David Wojcik on this topic of marketing on a shoestring budget while being authentic, attractive and generous.

It’s all about being clear on who you are as a business, who your ideal bullseye target customer is and how to get in front of them with the right message. It’s also virtually free because you were born with the best marketing tool and that’s your personality.

Picking the right niche is also free since all it takes is talking to your potential target groups to find out if you offer something of value to them.

Once you get those two things right, then you ask them where they hang out and go hang out with them! Simple, isn’t it?

I want you too to be a Gentle Marketer. It’s easy, cheap and best of all, it’s effortless.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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Report: Whos Using Social Networks

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If you beat yourself up about not being social media savvy, you can stop. It looks like most social media tools listed below are still very fringe (ranging between 13-16% of all internet users with the exception of Facebook). Here’s a  recent report by Pew Research Centers Internet and American Life Project conducted a national survey via landlines and mobile phones in English and Spanish in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Facebook

Two-thirds of online adults are Facebook users, making this social media platform far and away the most popular. Demographical segment leaders include urbanites, users in the 18 through 29 age group and high earners ($75,000+ per year).

Twitter

(Represent) 16 percent (of internet users). Twitter users are much more likely to be urban-based, be between the ages of 18 and 29.

Pinterest

(Representing) 15 percent of all Internet users, Pinterest attracts five times as many women as men and has a large lead in the white, non-Hispanic ethnicity group.

Instagram

Instagram holds a healthy share of Internet users, with 13 percent reporting the use of the photo sharing social platform. Women are much more likely to use Instagram.

via Report: Whos Using Social Networks.

If you have a knack as a small business owner for the techy stuff online, then go ahead, do something and do it right. But if you’re just like the rest of the over 30 population of entrepreneurs and you still want clients, I’d say this study makes a good case for getting out there into the streets to get yourself in front of actual human faces.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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Your Website Should Be A Love Letter

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As a small biz marketing coach, I sure do write and think about love a lot, don’t I? Well, that’s just me. Now what about you? Are you looking at your biggest and in most cases first point of contact between your potential clients and yourself, ie. your website with love in mind? If not, you might be losing them literally at ‘hello’. If it’s time to brush up the messaging on your website, simply think about it as a love letter and the rest is easy. Here are some ways to do that:

1.  Address One Lover

If your website is addressing more than one person, ie. “I love to help architects and home owners decorate their space’, then you’re confusing your audience. Just pick one person to love and talk to them. The more specific you get, the more I as a client will think you’re into me.

2. Tell Them Why You Love Them

There’s a specific reason why you care about who you help. Maybe it’s because you’ve lived their pain. Maybe it’s because you’ve trained in their solution for decades. Whatever it is, tell them your big WHY and let them understand where you’re coming from.

3. Be Honest

In love and in business, authenticity wins you the prize every time. It’s attractive, it’s loveable. When you’re honest about who you are and what you want, it scores points. I’ve put my values on display for all to see on my website. How are you reflecting YOUR honesty in yours?

4. Make Them Feel Good

Your website is a love letter when anyone who is your target client (your one love) visits it, they feel good about their problem. Your website is bursting with solutions and advice about their pain. There are examples of others who were in similar pain as them and that you helped.

I met my husband Andy on an online dating site but our courtship was all about old-fashioned love letters (emails) which we still write to each other to this day. The power of love letters are still very relevant. Why not use this power to connect deeper to your future clients? You will LOVE the results.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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The Secret to a Strong Branding Message? Focus.

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Can’t focus? Then you’re in for a tough time in business.

Here’s someone else who agrees with me about the need for a business to pick just 1 thing to sell to only 1 group of people–, (a cool ad agency dude).

He agrees that people are confused by your messaging if you’re telling them you do MANY things for ALL types of different audiences. In addition, he outlines the 4 musts that the 1 message you choose must have:

First, your core message needs to have an emotional and rational side. You  need to connect with people’s hearts and minds. Make no mistake. People are  driven by both. A simple idea like “Volvo makes cars that are safe” resonates on  both levels.

Second, it needs to be believable. I could tell you: “Adam is the next  President of the United States.” But wish me luck convincing you of that.

Third, your core message needs to be relevant to a group of potential  customers. If there’s no market opportunity, that’s not a good place to be. I  might own the only lemonade stand on Mars — a great positioning opportunity –  but not if there are no thirsty Martians to drink my lemonade.

Fourth, your core message needs to be simple. If people can’t understand,  remember or repeat your one thing, it’s too complicated. If it’s too  complicated, it won’t find a home in your prospect’s mind. And remember: that’s  where your brand lives.

via The Secret to a Strong Branding Message? Focus..

All the books I’m reading lately (Seth Godin’s Icarus Deception, Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind) are telling me about the new connection economy where left brained thinking jobs and tasks are moving en mass to China and that right brain thinking like appealing to emotions and empathy are essential skills to prosper in the economy of the future.

What does this mean for your business? It means that your brand has to stand for something that connects to your consumer’s emotions. Focusing that message on a single emotion like safety or freedom can make a huge difference in how much people remember and value your brand.

Need more chicken soup for your biz? Follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook or connect with me on LinkedIn –and let’s talk!

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