Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Simple Tips for Marketing Success

The New Year is just about here and I know that you’re itching to get better and quicker results in your business! The absolute best and most effective marketing begins with a strong foundation.

Here are 5 simple tips for marketing success:

1. Don’t make this common mistake
There is one mistake that solopreneurs almost always make. This is the mistake of NOT being clear on what they want to create. In any form of marketing, you need to know first and foremost what you want the outcome to be. What is the specific purpose for your marketing? Grow your list? Enroll clients into a new program?

Get clear first on what you want from your marketing. Only then will you be able to create a strong plan to make it successful.

2. Prepare Your Income Model
What is your practice made up of? Workshops, retreats, group programs, 1-on-1 programs, paid tele-classes...? Determine a few key areas from which you want to create your income and then determine what percentage of your income resonates from those areas.

When you know what you want your business to be made up of, you're able to focus on specific tasks and create your timeline for your offers and marketing. 

3. Get Crystal Clear On What Your Clients Want
When I work with solopreneurs, I find that one of the #1 areas that holds them back from attracting more clients and growing their business is their niche. Coaches, healers, and those who positively impact their clients’ life, simply don’t get clear enough when defining their niche. You need to get clear on what your clients want, what they struggle with and how you help them. The more deeply you can explore who your ideal client is, the easier and more effective your marketing will be.


4. Outline Your Results
Write out ALL the results that you can think of that your clients get from working with you. These results can include personal as well as professional results. How does your work or services impact your clients? Does it help them achieve better health? Financial security? Find and keep more loving relationships? Write down as many results as possible. This will help you get clear on what you offer to clients and how to express what you offer in your marketing messages.
 
5. Determine Your Marketing Tools
There are many tools to choose from and it can be overwhelming trying to decide which tools to use. Ask yourself (and others): “What is going to be the quickest and most direct method to reaching out to those who can benefit most from my services?” The answer often includes a mix of online and in-person networking. The key is to decide and take action, consistently. Decide on a few marketing tools and schedule out time each day, week or month to implement.




If you would like to use this article on your blog or website, feel free as long as you include the following author information:

Known for her creativity, gentle disposition, enthusiasm, and passion, Lisa Hromada is a leading Personal Branding Strategist and Money, Marketing, & Soul Coach who specializes in empowering women entrepreneurs to find the clarity and focus they need to create a thriving brand while still having the time and energy to enjoy their other priorities. Find Lisa's FREE gifts and more at: http://www.lisahromada.com/bizsuccess

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Simple & Creative Tips For Planning A Profitable Year

Women solopreneurs—healers, coaches, consultants, strategists—love the idea of “having a plan,” but they often struggle with where to begin and how to create one.
In planning ALL of the many details of marketing different programs, attending events, having personal time, and so on throughout the year, it can leave your head spinning. The planning process can feel overwhelming and once you have your plan together, you’re often left wondering, “What do I do FIRST?”
As a creative solopreneur—business coach, branding expert, designer, marketing mentor, niche specialist—myself, I’ve learned how to listen to my creative instincts, intuition and use my connection back to Spirit as guidance for my next ‘practical’ steps and use this to design a plan that will ensure I meet my financial, personal and professional goals.
The results of my process has significantly contributed to my going from feeling frustrated with what steps are the RIGHT ones to grow my practice to having the tools, methods, and strategies in place to enroll clients, create top-level programs, and have plenty of time for my other priorities and passions.
Here’s the thing…and you’re going to love this. I like the make things as simple as possible, so when putting my income plan for the year, I don’t use extensive spreadsheets or graphs. I just get clear on what I want to create and calendar out the steps.
Here are a few simple tips you can borrow from my planning process, which is designed to help creative (“I offer a lot!”) people to create a clear, uncomplicated version of an income plan.
Tip #1 Include Both Your ‘Wisdom’ and ‘Acquired Intelligence’ In the Planning Process
Do you want to know the true ‘secret’ to growing your practice? I’ll tell you. It’s using and properly directing your in-born gift in listening to your natural spirit-led ideas, creativity and inspiration, with that of your expertise and continual ‘take-action’ implementation of practical business techniques.
One of the first tips that I recommend is listing all of the things you want to accomplish in the year, determine their time table for planning and implementing them and assign these things to a simple calendar. You’ll quickly see if you’ve already overbooked yourself, even before getting started in the year!
Tip #2 Set Your Income Goal for the Year from BIG to Bite Size
When I work with clients starting their business or re-launching their business with a new area of expertise or for a new niche, we usually look at their overall profit plan for the year and what this plan includes.
We then take it one purposeful, well-planned goal at a time and bite size their steps down, so they know what they’re doing first and next and continually achieving their set goals along the way. No overwhelm. No guessing.
And the process leaves them feeling empowered and in control.
This process would be really helpful for you too as a coach, consultant and healer. Plan your overall profit goals and how you’d like to create that and then bite size the process down and what’s the easiest and most effective for you to begin and then scheduled that out.
Once you have your proposed number (what you want to make in the year), you’re ready to plan the events, activities, joint ventures and programs that will produce those results.
Tip #3 Design Your Plan Around Your OWN Creative Calling (not someone else’s)
Let’s face it, for most women solopreneurs, they’re led by the desire to first and foremost listen to their calling—inner guidance, inspiration, creativity—to make a difference through their work.
And to do this and truly be able to help greater numbers of people and have the joy-filled life they desire and are meant to have, they need to create income. And there’s good news. It’s actually simple to create the income that you desire when you have the right steps and methods in place.
So, what is it that you’re feeling called to do? Is it to help people improve their online presence, find their ideal relationship, lose weight and find the best food for their body type, or is it to empower women to go after what they want?
For example: A little over a year ago, my inner guidance directed me to focus my work on helping women create authentic, confident, financially abundant and spiritually-fulfilling service-centered businesses they desire. Although I did not know HOW exactly this was going to manifest, I listened to this voice of wisdom and I trained with and implemented steps and strategies taught by 6-figure and 7-figure women mentors. And through this journey, I created and filled successful high-level programs that help women in the fields of coaching, consulting, and in the healing arts to quickly attract clients and fill their practice.
Zero in what your life is calling you to create and create your plan. Don’t get yourself sidetracked with what others are doing because it’s not always going to lead you to what you’re uniquely here to do.
Bonus Tip: Keep It SIMPLE and Remember Your Plan is Not Set in Stone
Your plan is a wonderful guide to know what you desire to create first and next and what opportunities that you plan to have during the year. Let your intuition be your guide and ‘course correct’ along the way. And most importantly, enjoy this process!
NOTE: If you’re a woman in the healing arts, a coach, or service-centered consultant/strategist—whether you’re starting new or re-inventing your business for a new niche—and you desire a clear path to greater income and impact in the New Year, I highly recommend getting a jumpstart in one of many Virtual VIP Intensive Training Days. Click here for details and to set up a complimentary 20-minute call to find the right personalized training for you to quickly jumpstart a highly profitable business!

What Is The Breakthrough YOU Are Committed To Making In the New Year?


If you would like to use this article on your blog or website, feel free as long as you include the following author information:

Known for her creativity, gentle disposition, enthusiasm, and passion, Lisa Hromada is a leading Personal Branding Strategist and Money, Marketing, & Soul Coach who specializes in empowering women entrepreneurs to find the clarity and focus they need to create a thriving brand while still having the time and energy to enjoy their other priorities. Find Lisa's FREE gifts and more at: http://www.lisahromada.com/bizsuccess