Written by Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach

Put simply, multi-channel marketing is getting the message out about your products and services through many different methods. The goal of multi-channel marketing is to get the information into the hands of as many of your audience as possible. How many channels you use will depend on the ways in which you sell your products as well as where your audience is located.

The different ways you can market and sell products today include:

·         Retail

·         Web paged

·         Social media

·         Mobile commerce

·         Call centers

·         Catalogs (online and off)

·         And more…

The benefits of multi-channel marketing are many, the main one being that your audience can interact with and buy from you in numerous ways depending on where they are when they choose to buy. In order to take advantage of the many ways to sell something, it’s important that you inform your consumer through many different ways, as well as sell to them in many different ways.

Getting the message to your audience requires a multi-pronged effort using various marketing channels.

You may want to use a combination of:

·         Mobile advertising

·         Website advertising

·         Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)

·         Content marketing (SEM)

·         Newsletter ads

·         Social Media ads

·         Email marketing

·         TV ads

·         Print ads

·         And more…

For example, the process might look like this:

A lead sees a PPC advertisement on Facebook regarding a free webinar that you’re having in the next seven days regarding a topic they’re interested in. They click through and sign up for the free webinar. This triggers your email marketing software to send them pre-formatted and created information on a periodic basis, as well as signs them up to come to the free webinar.

Via email they learn about all the different products you offer, and are reminded to attend the webinar. At the webinar they listen to the information you promised and are given a link to buy the promotional items you mention in the webinar. They click through to buy, and are then prompted to give more information such as their snail mail address, email address or whatever other information you’d like to be able to contact them through. Each step pushes/pulls your lead, then customer, through your product funnel - one thing leading to the next.

But, you have other entry points too, not just the Facebook advertisement. You keep your blog populated with regular and informative articles and information about your niche in which the calls to action point to your products and/or services and, of course, prompts them to sign up for your email newsletter. In addition, perhaps you guest blog post regularly too. The link within your bio at the end of the blog posts points your audience to more information.

Each thing works with the other and independently as well, thus forming many different channels that all lead to the same or variations of the information you want your audience to know about.

Written by Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach

Email marketing is one of the most important and effective forms of marketing to ever be invented. The conversion rate for appropriate email approaches four to seven percent over time. That’s because a new client needs to see a brand seven to eight times before they trust it enough to buy something. Email is the perfect way to do that.

1. Use the Right Software – There are many different types of email marketing software available but you need to read the fine print to be sure that you can do what you want to do with it. It’s safer to use a cloud-based service than one you use that is self-hosted, although those exist too. Both provide code for your subscription form.

2. Autoresponder Series – No matter what else you do when it comes to online marketing, when someone gets on your list be sure to send them something no less often than weekly. Less than that and they’re going to forget about you, and they might even think you’re spamming them because they forgot. Set up triggered emails in the service to go out on a regular basis.

3. eCourses – A great way to fill up your email marketing autoresponder is with an eCourse that delivers daily or weekly with information and assignments for your audience. This is not only a good way to teach them something but also a good way to suggest other products.

4. Easy Recurring Content – Autoresponders offer the ability to set up easy recurring content that goes out on a triggered basis, either by actually setting a date or by setting an interval.

5. eNewsletter – Some marketers use newsletters to send information to their audience. Newsletters are often larger and also available on the site in HTML so a subscriber can view them via email or on the site. A newsletter can go out monthly or more often. Be sure to tell your audience how often they’ll get the newsletter so they know what to expect.   

6. Craft Effective Headlines –  It’s very important that headlines and subject lines be specific, keyword rich, and something the audience will want to open and see. Don’t be tricky or too cheeky as people don’t click through unless they know what’s inside.

7. Personalize Email – Autoresponder technology allows you to personalize an email based on the information you’ve gathered from your audience. You can collect first name and email, and then you can send your email to, “Dear Sally,” instead of no one.

8. Use Double Opt-In – It’s really important to use a double opt-in procedure. This means that the person subscribes at your website, then they agree that they subscribed via their email. Using this method offers proof if it ever comes up that you are not sending SPAM.

9. Don’t Forget the CTA – When you send emails to anyone for any reason, you should include a call to action. It might be to share the newsletter with others, to like you on social media, to try out software you recommend or something else entirely.

You simply cannot have a good online marketing plan if you don’t involve yourself with email marketing. In fact, everything else you do marketing wise should all lead back to building your email list. A targeted email list will enable you to give yourself a raise whenever you want one.

 

Written by Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach

Creating websites that get results if you’re not a web designer can be done with the technology available today. You can use website builders such as Weebly, and even self-hosted WordPress do it yourself. However, if you really want to leverage other people’s time so that you can create a balanced and viable business for yourself, you should consider outsourcing your website design and updates to professionals.

Evaluate Your Skills:  More than likely if you’re thinking of outsourcing website design and updates, you realize that you’re lacking in the skills needed to do it right. It may take you months to do what someone else can do in just a few hours. Be honest about your abilities, and find someone to fill the holes in what you know versus what you don’t know.

Develop a Budget:  Before you look at any company or individual to create your website, it’s important to know what your budget is. If you have a small budget, maybe you can do part of what you want now, and part later. Don’t let a small budget stop you.

Leverage Your Efficiencies:  There is a small chance you can do it yourself but it is probably still worth outsourcing it. You may be really good at website design, but it’s not your main bread and butter. Doing your own design is going to take away from your ability to do what it is that makes the money. Let other people do what they are efficient in and you do what you’re efficient in.

Know What Type of CMS You Need:  You might not know what it’s called, but you do know what you want it to do. Be able to describe how you want your content management system to function so that you can describe it to the person or company you’re outsourcing to. If you don’t know what you want, it will be hard for your contractor to deliver.

Know What Technology You Need:  You should know if you need a shopping cart, an email list, or other technology. Even if you don’t know the names, show your contractor examples of functions you want on your own website. For instance, if you have a food blog, you may want your visitors to be able to print off recipes in a particular format – tell your designer.

Choose the Right Professionals:  Interview several contractors, ask to see samples, talk to them to figure out if you like the way they work. Do you need someone who just follows instructions or do you want someone who takes charge because you’re not sure what you want? Choosing the right professional to help you get what you want and need for your website design.

The Lowest Price Isn’t Always Better:  Don’t assume that you can get by with cheap design and have it work. Sometimes you will get lucky and find someone that you consider inexpensive who delivers excellent results, but more than likely if you go for the cheapest price you’ll get the cheapest results.

Remember You Need Ongoing Help:  It’s not supposed to be one-and-done deal when it comes to a website. The truth is a website needs ongoing backups, security updates, content updates, and so forth. They’ll also need a redesign at some point. These things might not be done by the original person or even the same person.

Outsourcing your website design is a really important way to get a terrific website up and running in no time. You can avoid the stress that trying to do it yourself can create and avoid the problems associated with lack of skill. And even if you have the skill, you can leverage other people’s skill to focus on what your business is really about.

Written by Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach

One of the ways in which your website will become more popular and more known by your audience is through sharing on social media sites. The problem is, sometimes website owners make it difficult for their audience to share or engage. The following tips will make it easier for people to share your website.

1. Add Share Button Technology - Depending upon the technology you use on your website, you should add the right share buttons on every page and blog post on your website. Make them easy to notice and use.

2. Use Image-Rich Content – People like sharing images and videos with others. If your content has more images and more video, it will be that much more likely to be shared by your audience. Ensure that the images and videos are relevant and useful too.

3. Add Feature Images That Make Sense – When you share something on social media, sometimes the wrong image is shared due to the technology on your website. Ensure that you have put in the right technology that forces the featured images to go with the shares and that they’re the right size, too.

4. Frequently Update the Content – The more frequently you update the content on your website, the more opportunity your audience has to share. You’re not going to get many shares when the content is not new.

5. Add Follow Buttons – Let readers follow you on your own social media sites, where you will also add the content links so that they can be reminded to go see your information and share it for you, too.

6. Use RSS Feeds – Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary (depending on who you talk to) is an easy way to offer your readers to be able to read your blog along with other blogs. This works well for people who like to organize all the blogs they read into one spot. Your site visitors can use something like feedly.com to organize their feeds for reading.

7. Share Content through Email As Well – When someone signs up for your email list, it’s a good chance for you to send them information about updates to your website. Make the emails easy to share as well. Always ask your readers to share.

8. Open Up Commenting – Some business owners are afraid of opening up comments on their blogs and articles but the truth is, people will trust you more if they can comment. Plus if they can comment and you can comment back, it will create engagement that encourages sharing.

9. Automate Strategically - There are plugins and apps that help you share your blog posts automatically with all your social media accounts. This is one of the best ways to automate when it comes to encouraging sharing via social media.

Sharing content on social media sites is a great way to make your website more accessible and known by your audience. It is also important to put a call to action at the end of blog posts and anything that you want your audience to share.

Written by Doreen Dilger, The Home Based Business Coach

Starting a new home based business can often feel like something you’re doing it alone.  But, the truth is, you’re never alone - you will just have to seek out the relationships and network rather than having them built in for you like they are at a job. Here are ten ways to build your network/followers when you're just starting your business.

1. Online Forums - You can meet a lot of interesting people in online forums. Find forums consisting of people you want to start networking with and simply start discussions, answer questions, and be giving. If you find someone you relate to, reach out to them privately.

2. Mastermind Groups – You can find some really awesome groups sometimes called “inner circles” or mastermind groups which involve working with peers to support and learn from each other. Do a simple search on Facebook for your niche, or use Google Alerts to help you find a group. You can also ask people you already know if they know of any. Sometimes there is a fee to join the group, but consider the fee an investment into your business.

3. Chamber Events – Your local chamber of commerce is a great place to start trying to find networking events to attend. Often you can go to them for an added fee as a non-member before choosing to join. Look for “after hours” events to test out the organization to help you determine if it’s right for you and your business goals.

4. Industry Associations – If your business is involved with working in a specific field, or niche, look up associations online. There are associations for almost any type of business under the sun, and there is likely one for you. It doesn’t matter what type of niche you’re in; you can usually find something. Check out the quality of the organization before joining to ensure it aligns with your values and goals.

5. Focused Business Events – Starting with a small, focused business event that is limited to just a few people can be helpful in getting your feet wet with larger networking events. Many smaller organizations put on business retreats that are very helpful for people who are nervous about larger events.

6. Meetup.com Announcements - This is a great way to find local people who want to connect with people like you. If you don’t see something that fits your business, why not start your own informal Meetup event? You only need locations that will accommodate your needs and a good idea to attract people.

7. LinkedIn Connections – Networking online and offline can be accomplished through the connections you make on LinkedIn if you’re strategic about who you connect with. Don’t connect with those whom you cannot offer anything and who can’t offer you anything. Stay focused, and remember; “quality over quantity”.

8. Blog Commenters – If you’ve written a compelling blog post that gets comments that make you curious about the person, check out who made the comments and try to connect with them on social media. Once you have established a relationship, you can reach out to them for other ideas, events, and even joint venture partnerships.

9. Newsletter/Email List Sign-Ups – People who sign up for your email list or newsletter are prime candidates for networking. Plan a webinar, or even an in-person event, and invite your list members to it. Be sure to have an overall goal and theme for the event, whether online or offline.

10. Social Media Connections – Anyone you connect with on social media can be a prime candidate for more networking. Just make your networking goal oriented and focus on the quality of your connections over any connection. Nothing is worse than getting those automatic, canned email responses from every person you follow or connect with. Don’t do that. Instead, take the time to get to know the person before reaching out.

Creating a working network requires that you not only connect in these many different ways, but also that you follow up with your connections in a way that makes sense. Just because someone “likes”, “follows” “connects” or even speaks to you at an event doesn’t make them a real part of your network. Following up and building a relationship with them does. Take these connections and turn them into a true network by reaching out to them, and answering the call to help them when asked too.