Here's a tip for a marketing plan that works for you - without taking all of your time:   Segment your mailing list. Start your planning process by thinking about your customer base. Who are they? What motivates them? And how can you reach them effectively? Go beyond the sending basics and look for opportunities to target messages to different groups of people on your list. By targeting a smaller group of customers, your message is more personal and therefore, customers are more likely to engage. By segmenting your lists you should see open rates and engagement improve. Who can argue

It’s a busy time for your business. Who has time to create and send emails? Your email management tool should allow you to schedule now (or even earlier in this busy season) and cross that task off your list. Once you have a plan in place for the messages you want to send, get started creating your messages and schedule them in advance. If you have a series of emails to send out — maybe to promote a holiday fundraiser or highlight five of your top selling products as gift ideas — you can set up an autoresponder series. Set up the messages you’d like to send, choose the right send

Posting to social media can be sooooo time consuming. Twitter only allows so many characters, images might not display the same in different accounts, links show up differently, it's not easy to cross-post quickly and make messages effective. Often my clients end up ignoring one channel in favor of another, so they miss people. I have several clients who are now using social media management tools, so when I saw this article reviewing some of the top tools, I thought it was worth sharing.  

The first time I heard the statement "I serve at the pleasure of the President" was on West Wing back in the early 2000's. When I started my Virtual Assistant Services business, I thought about that statement and realized it represented the way I work with my clients. I know a lot of things, I have a lot of experience, and I have a lot of advice to offer on what you should do and how you should do it, but in the end what I do for your business is what you want me to do.* When we begin work, I learn from a client what they want to achieve, I tell them what I think the best way is to achie

There are so many different ways to list your business online, it can be very confusing. Whether we like it or not, Google is king. If you can master the way your business appears on Google, you will be on the road to cleaning up your online presence, because a lot of the other search tools pull their data from that Google listing. I could take you down the road of cleaning this up in my brand management services, but this article hits the high points:  3 Easy Steps to Link Your Google Accounts & Boost Local Search Marketing - Manta

If you rely on networking to grow your business and reputation, you need to take some time to update your LinkedIn presence and take advantage of some of the new tools they have available. And it's not just for individuals anymore - you can now create company pages and showcase pages for your products and services. This article offers a nice summary of some of the new features you will find:   How to Stand Out on LinkedIn With Visual Content Need more help?

A few years ago we were in need of some tree trimming at our house. So I asked a neighbor who had a large pine cut down if she would recommend the company she used. She was very excited to tell me how impressed she was with their work, and even passed the company name, phone number and contact person. I called them, had great results, and have used them several times since. You may be missing your best marketing:  testimonials and quotes from your current customers! When a customer or client sends you an email with a positive thank-you, what do you do with that compliment? Here's an ide

You have a great idea for a business. You have a business already, but you want to add a new service. You have a business already, but you aren't experiencing the growth you need. Here's a question, did you analyze your market and its needs before you started down this road? Sometimes what we think is an opportunity is clouded by our enthusiasm. The old "Rose Colored Glasses" problem. Or, in reverse, you don't see an opportunity because you aren't looking closely enough at the market. This article has a really great, concise outline of the steps you MUST take before you invest in a new

Home-based businesses are on the rise, but if you're like me you don't want  your client or random salespeople showing up at your doorstep. When you create your business profile on Google, do you really want a photo of your house showing up in the search? Here is the best way to list your home-based business on Google:  How to List Your Home-Based Business on Google

My husband asked if I wanted to go to a restaurant down the road from us that offers a very unique menu, and it changes seasonally. We go there a lot for brunch and that menu is generally predictable, but we don't often go for dinner. They also have daily specials including delicious soup, so I was curious to learn that day's special, or at a minimum, the current season's dinner menu items. As little as five years ago I may have pulled out the phone book and called them, or just taken my chances. But it's 2017 so I pulled out my phone and looked them up. I didn't find the daily special, but I