The Secrets of Getting Your Clients To Refer You Boatloads of New Business

According to guerrilla marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson, it costs you 6 times more to sell something to a new customer than to an existing customer.  Regardless of your business, continuing to rely on new customers to support you is an extremely expensive endeavor, one you don’t even need to take part in.  There truly is a better way, one which not only saves you a fortune in customer acquisition, but improves your reputation at the very same time.

The easiest, least expensive and most effective way to get more customers like those you value most, are to get the ones you value most to get them for you.

But how?

Follow the guidelines below and you’ll soon turn your best customers into your best salespeople!

The First Rule of Referrals

Right now, your very best customers are probably already referring you more customers on an irregular basis.  Even better, these referrals are quite likely to be very similar to your best customers in several ways: similar interests, desires and buying habits.  If you truly want more of this type of customer, you have to revere what you do and really believe that you are providing a beneficial product or service that improves the lives of your customers.  If you don’t believe that, why should someone else?

4 Easy Steps For Building A Custom Referral System

1. Let your best customers know how much you enjoy doing business with them and their importance to the success of your business. Tell them you realize they probably spend their time with other people who share their same values and qualities.
2. Let these same customers know that you’d prefer their referrals over any other source of customers or clients.
3. Next, help these customers understand exactly what kind of people or businesses they know that would benefit from your products or services and how they’d benefit from doing business with you.  Be specific and help them see a clear picture of who they know that they could refer.
4. Lastly, extend to them a risk-free, no obligation offer to their referral.  Let them know that you’ll consult with their referral without expectation of purchase so as to advise them of the best solutions to their needs.

Revere the benefits you provide for your customers, follow these steps with each of your best customers and very soon, you’ll have a healthy stream of new, happy customers enjoying the products and services you offer.

3 Ways To Make Your Referral System Even More Powerful

While the steps above will earn you plenty of new referrals, there are a few other ways to increase the power of your referral systems.  Here are three:

1. Offer a Special Incentive – Provide a discount, special bonus, free sample or some other gift to your customers for referring their family, friends or other businesses.  You can also a reduced rate available only to those who are referred to you.  Your customers are even more likely to refer people if they can approach them with an insider’s deal available strictly through their referral.
2. Organize a Preferred Customer’s Club – Open your business at special hours or invite special guests to speak to exclusive members, say those who are most active in your referral system.  Allow your referrers to invite guests of their own, thereby expanding your referral network.
3. Try More Than One System – Brainstorm different ways to generate referrals, then rank each one by likelihood of actually getting referrals.  Then once you have established one system, go ahead and implement another, then another.  There is no limit to how many referral systems you employ.  If one doesn’t work as planned, get rid of it and replace it with another.

Over the next week or two, call five or ten of your best customers and tell them how much you appreciate their business.  Take them to lunch or organize a get together.  Let them know you’re trying to find more great customers just like them and that with their help, it would really improve your business and allow you to provide them with even better products or service.

Remember, the customers that are referred to you will buy more and more often than a customer you gained through advertising or some other marketing effort.  They’ll also refer more customers and buy from you for a longer period of time.  The benefits of taking the time and putting in the effort to build your custom referral systems are endless.  Don’t let the opportunities of building these systems into your marketing plan pass you by.

6 Action Steps You Can Take Right Now To Get Referrals

Setting up your referral systems is not enough. Like everything else in life, success depends on action.  To get you started, here are 6 action steps you can take right now to start getting referrals today.

1. Make a list of the names of your ten best customers
2. Contact each person on your list and ask them to recommend you to their friends, family, etc.
3. Offer an incentive to those customers who send you a referral
4. Ask other business owners and professionals to recommend you to their customers
5. Offer special discounts or other incentives to businesses that send you referrals
6. Use holidays as a time to offer special incentives for giving you referrals

Use this promotional calendar (PDF) to pinpoint holidays and special events you can use to ask your customers to send referrals or to create special events.  Once you look over this promotional calendar, you’ll see the truly wide-ranging and great deal of occurrences you have an opportunity to ask your best customers to refer business to you or to create special events to create preferred customer clubs.  The only limitation is your imagination.

6 Tips For Optimizing Your Referral Systems

Now that you’ve got your referral systems set up and have taken some time to ask your best customers to recommend their family, friends and other businesses to you, then next thing you’ll want to do is optimize your systems for best performance.  Answer the following questions as thoroughly as possible to maximize the benefits of your referral systems.

1. Who are your ideal prospects?  What type of customers would you like to have many more of?
2. What benefits do your ideal prospects want or need?
3. What does your competition provide that you don’t and what do they do better and worse than you?
4. What benefits do you provide and what things do you do better and worse than your competition?
5. What problems do your ideal prospects have that are not being met and how can you help them solve them?
6. What are your goals and how can more of your ideal prospects help you accomplish them?

The key to making these questions work for you is to answer them as completely as possible.  Use as many specifics as you can think of, then take a break and come back and add as many more specifics as you can.  Once you’ve answered these questions to the best of your ability, you’re ready to turn your referral systems into massive rewards.

To help you answer these questions, use these guidelines to get your mind in the habit of thinking specifically.

1. What are the demographics of your ideal prospects?
   • Income
   • Financial Worth
   • Gender
   • Type of Business
   • Marital Status
   • Age
   • Ethnic Group
   • Geographic Region
   • Hobbies
   • Political Views
   • Religion
   • Memberships in Associations/Groups
   • Automobile Type
   • Magazine/Newspaper Subscriptions
   • Type of Investments
   • Physical Health
   • Mental Health
   • Buying Preferences
   • Alcohol/Smoker
   • Other
2. Who can refer these prospects to you?
   • Your vendors
   • Your customers
   • Your employees
   • Your competitors
   • Your relatives
   • Your prospects
   • Your unconverted prospects
   • Your neighbors and friends
   • Your church members
   • Your association members
   • Other businesses and professionals in your area
   • Other businesses and professionals outside your area
   • Leaders/celebrities your prospects respect or trust
   • Magazine/newspaper editors and writers
   • Special interest groups
   • Businesses your prospects do business with before and after doing business with you
3. Prepare for getting referrals.
   • Make sure you have a valuable product or service
   • Revere what you do
   • Reposition yourself to stand out from your competitors
   • Show interest in other people
   • Educate prospects why your products or services are of better value
   • Be professional
   • Thank referrers and referrals
   • Explain why your customers should give you referrals
   • Make giving you referrals a condition of doing business with you
   • Give incentives for referrals
   • Have referrers call or directly contact referrals
   • Keep in constant contact with people who have provided referrals
   • Ask for referrals
4. Help your best customers locate referrals for you by asking them who they know who fits the descriptions above.  Referrals will usually come from one of two groups:

1. Group 1 – People They Interact With on a Regular Basis
   • Current and past vendors
   • Current and past customers
   • Current and past employees
   • Current and past competitors
   • Relatives
   • Prospects
   • Unconverted prospects
   • Neighbors
   • Church members
   • Association members
   • Other businesses and professionals in your area
   • Other businesses and professionals outside your area
   • Community leaders
   • Special interest groups
   • Friends
2. Group 2 – People Certain Events Remind Them Of
   • People that come in their office
   • People they meet in their professional circle
   • Someone who is retiring
   • Someone who is getting married
   • Someone who is having a child
   • Someone who is getting a divorce
   • Someone who has bought something (house, car, boat, etc.)
   • Someone who has sold something
   • Someone who has moved
   • Someone whose children have moved
   • Someone who has had a death in the family

Referrals are by far the best way to increase your business, and with the ideas and guidelines above, you’re well on your way to starting some successful referral systems for your business.

Need a little help to get started?

Bonus Tips To Help You Get Started Right Now

Some effective techniques for securing your first referrals:

• Write satisfied customers a letter telling them you are about to make a major marketing effort for new customers, but before you take it to the public you’d like them to have first chance to tell their friends/family/associates
• Offer incentives to customers for bringing you referrals
• Offer incentives to their referrals on their first purchase
• Offer to perform a free service or consultation for any referral prospect
• Provide clinics, seminars or training sessions for your customers and their invited guests
• Offer free service for one month to your referrals as a gift from the referrer

These ideas are sure to get a few new “best customer” types in your door in a hurry, but if you’re ready to take your referral systems to the next level, we’ve included one last section for the bold.  Or perhaps you’re out of customers to ask for referrals, or you’re a new business and didn’t have many to start with.  If this is the case, follow the advanced tips below and you’ll see just how powerful a custom referral system for your small business can be.

Advanced Referral Technique

Whether you’re the type to really take action or simply don’t have any customer left (or any to start with) to ask for referrals, there’s still one more great way to get your custom referral system off the ground and new business in the door.  You might be wondering how you can ask for referrals without customers and the answer is actually quite obvious:  go to complimentary businesses in your area (or even outside) who don’t compete with you directly and persuade them to allow you to send a letter to their customers, written on their letterhead and signed by them, making a preferential offer to them as a reward for their valued service.

How do you go about convincing another business owner to take this seemingly odd action in your favor?  You’ve got four options, depending on your situation:

1. If you’ve got customers of your own, you agree to reciprocate and endorse them to your customers.
2. Whether you have customers of your own or not, you can offer to rent their list for a fee.
3. You can trade your products or services to them for the right to mail an offer to their list.
4. Even if you don’t have customers of your own, you can offer them a percentage of the business that is created from the mailing.

This may all sound confusing at first, but hopefully you can begin to see the power a custom referral system can have on the future of your business.  Even if you’re just starting up, you can use one of the ideas above to get your very first customers and grow from there.  Maybe your business is stagnant and you need a boost.  Implement one of the ideas above and inject new life into your business with a very small investment you can control.

Don’t Procrastinate, Get Started On Your Referral System Today

With the information provided in this article, you should be able to quickly and easily start your very own successful referral systems within a week and start enjoying a flood of new customers within a month.  Remember, the most important things to keep in mind are to revere your products and services, to truly believe you are offering a valuable benefit to your customers and to actively ask them for their referrals so that you can provide the same level of service to their family, friends and associates.  Then once you’ve got your first referral system in place, start another and another until you are happy with the amount of new customers you are getting.

What other techniques have you used to earn referrals for your business?  If there’s something we’ve left out here, please leave a comment so that we can add more resources and ideas to this guide to share with others and help them grow their business.

Ten Steps To Creating A Website That Surpasses Your Goals

I remember when I built my first website.  I had not a clue in the world, which made it fun, but not necessarily effective.  The internet seemed so much more carefree back in those days, when eBay was king and Yahoo the crown prince.

One thing I’ve realized over the years is that the internet is growing up right before our very eyes.  It must be nearing puberty because the good ol’ days are gone and all we’re left with is angst.  Google rules the drawbridge doors with an iron fist and there are so many other townspeople now, it’s harder and harder to get a good space at the market to sell our wares.

Luckily, instead of spending my virtual teenage years out of place and unsure of myself like I did in real life, I spent time reflecting on all the changes around me and even took notes.  That way, when the next Holden Caulfield comes looking for a better world wide web, I’ll be prepared to catch him and offer a guiding light.

Don’t fret small business owner, your first (and even second) attempt to bring your company online will go far better than mine did, and despite failing (miserably), I eventually made it up that mountain and stand before you today offering “The 10 Commandments of Excellent Web Design”, the product of years of trial and error (not to mention frustration) before finally getting it right.

The 10 Commandments of Excellent Web Design

1st Commandment – Thou shalt RESEARCH – Like most marketing tasks, it’s wise to do your due diligence first and conduct thorough research on things like programming languages, web hosting, uptime, future costs, the amount of time you’ll need to invest to get the results you expect, what your competition is doing (and perhaps more importantly, what they are not doing) and what other popular sites are doing.

If you’re going to build the site on your own, this research could very well be the longest part of the process.  If you’re having someone else build your site, you’ll also need to do some research on their past projects, what kind of feedback they’ve received, whether or not they follow up with their clients once the project is completed and any number of small print detail.  Either way, you’ll thank yourself for being so thorough once the project is complete and you are presumably happy.  If you’re not, maybe you should have done a little more research.

Instead of getting frustrated later, get busy now.

2nd Commandment – Thou shalt PLAN – What exactly do you want your new company website to do for your business?  Is it just going to be a brochure?  Will it allow visitors to interact with your company?  Will it be selling products or services directly online?  Is it just to generate leads for further down the pipe?  You need to have a clear answer for all of these questions and then find the best solutions to support those answers.

I royally screwed up my first few sites simply because I did not have a clear picture of what I actually wanted my sites to do other than help me make more money.  Your entire sales process needs to be fleshed out and adapted for the web.  You also need to find tools you didn’t even know existed and put them in place to automate some of the new tasks having a website will ultimately create for you.

After many mistakes, I learned to use mind-mapping software to lay out the general plan of each website I build.  You can find a very good, free mind-mapping software here to help you get started.

3rd Commandment – Thou shalt focus on DESIGN – The word “design” has become somewhat of a catchphrase these days, but for good reason.  Good design plain and simply allows users to get the very best experience with a product, whether it’s saving time or letting people create a community around it that lets them build on what those before them have established.

Think about how an iPod makes listening to preferred music so much easier than it used to be or how Wordpress has grown from a humble blogging software into a versatile web-wonder capable of doing just about anything you can think of thanks to its legion of passionate users who help improve it a little bit every single day.

Your website needs to be nearly as well-thought out as these pioneers, perhaps even more depending on what you’re selling and how long your sales funnel is.  Get some paper and sketch out the design of your site and see if it makes sense.  If it doesn’t, tweak it.  If it does, get someone else’s feedback and then tweak it again.

4th Commandment – Thou shalt create valuable CONTENT – Perhaps the best rule I’ve learned over the years is that content is indeed king.  Without valuable content, your site’s not that useful no matter how you try to cut it.  Cool features and the latest bells and whistles all become commonplace quickly in the ever-changing world wide web.  The stuff that stands the test of time is content that speaks directly to your customers’ needs.  Whatever it is they are looking for, you better be sure to give to them or they’ll surely find it elsewhere.

This is where some of your research really starts to pay off.  By now, you should know what kind of information is lacking on your industry and have maybe even developed a unique voice you’d like to write with.  You should also know what type of keywords you are going to focus on which gives you a pretty good idea as to what your content should be about.

Use the mind-mapping software linked in the 2nd Commandment to establish a blog schedule or some other editorial calendar for publishing your content.  You can also use sites like Rusty Budget to organize your topics and Technorati to see what other people in your industry are talking about.

5th Commandment – Thou shalt provide INTERACTION – Even with the best content in the world, many people are going to get bored of learning and want to socialize a bit.  Let them socialize on your site and build relationships with them in the process.  Today’s web is vastly different than the one we watched take its first steps and collapse in the last millennium.

In fact, it’s changing so fast, it literally took about 10-20 years to go from Web 1.0 to what is fondly known as Web 2.0, the web that brought us all together to socialize at places like MySpace and Facebook.  But then it only took another 1-2 years to move on to Web 3.0, the name given to the web that’s quickly coming into view, that makes informed decisions and connects basically every site to every other site and completely leverages the power of numbers in ways that until now were totally unheard of.

Publish your content but also allow those reading it to comment and take that content with them as they travel around the web from Twitter to Facebook to their own blog and back again.  Incorporate tools that help other online communities share your content and connect with other like-minded individuals.  Not quite sure how to do this?  Take a look at StumbleUpon and see how they turned sharing content into one of the web’s biggest brands.

6th Commandment – Thou shalt PACKAGE the previous commandments – By building your site with the first 5 Commandments in mind and packaging them together as a cohesive website deserving of promoting your company name, you’re well on your way to far greater success than you probably originally thought possible.   Why?  Because the majority of people building websites have spent very little time if any on each of these important steps and YOU have.

That means you’ve got a leg up straight out of the gate.  But that doesn’t mean you are guaranteed success.  It just means the first live draft of your website has entered the virtual world with all its fingers and toes per se.  In the old days, that would be enough for applause, but in today’s internet, tomorrow is almost yesterday.  If you launch your site and leave it at that, I assure you failure is in your future.

To overcome this constant change, you’ll need to create another package of the remaining commandments, a package you’ll need to commit to for perhaps the rest of your business’s life.

7th Commandment – Thou shalt SUBMIT to social networks – Especially to our older peers in the business community, social networking and media doesn’t make a lot of sense.  But to the rest of the world, it makes all the sense in the, er, world.  Only through social networking and media do you as a small business owner have the opportunity to reach millions and millions of potential prospects in literally the click of a button.

Take Twitter for example.  Once you publish some great, new content on your website, it would be wise to promote the link to that content through Twitter because it not only reaches every single one of your followers instantly, it has the potential to reach all of their followers, too!  That’s what viral means, to be able to spread a message to the entire world (or better yet your target market) as quickly as you spread butter over toast.

Now becoming viral is not a task for the weak at heart.  It does take time to build a community around each of your social networks and things will most likely seem very slow at first.  Keep your eye on the end goal.  Think of these tasks as performing mandatory networking duties you’d probably be doing in the real world, only you get to do it from the comfort of your own home or office.  Then think of the value it will create later down the line, as those who are enthusiastic about your products or services have the ability to tell hundreds and even thousands of people at a time.

I bet you wish you could get referrals like that, but you will if you put in the time and effort to systematically and strategically submit your content to whatever social networks you deem necessary.  One vitally important tid-bit: submit your site to Google as soon as humanly possible.  If someone knocks and Google doesn’t hear, they may as well have knocked elsewhere.

8th Commandment – Thou shalt FOLLOW UP with your visitors – Just like the real world, following up and answering questions and comments from your prospects should be seen as a privilege, not a duty.  Chances are, no one can sell your wares better than you can and by being accessible to your market, you are doing your company a great service.

While your website won’t completely remove the need to contact your business by phone, fax or email, it can get pretty close depending on how well you do at the new ways of following up: answering Tweets, updating your statuses, adding friends and followers and spending time answering comments about your content.  One of the great things about following up online, is that your answers remain for all to see and have a much longer-lasting effect than a simple one-on-one phone conversation could.

Remember that for every new task you find yourself being a part of, there are at least two benefits to outweigh any discomfort you may have.  First, your answers become a part of the web as a whole and will continue answering other peoples’ questions for months and even years to come.  And second, the more your market becomes comfortable with you being accessible, the more likely they will be to contact you through one of these new avenues instead of through interrupting you with a phone call or sending an email that may very well get lost in translation.

9th Commandment – Thou shalt PROMOTE your website at every opportunity – Your website is sort of like the best employee you’ve ever or will ever have.  It doesn’t sleep.  It takes orders without rolling its eyes.  You can yell at it all you want and it will still perform the same for you each and every day.  Eventually, you’ll learn to get used to that dedication and allow your website to work harder so you can work smarter.

Just because your company is now online, doesn’t mean you should go and neglect all the tools and strategies that helped get you this far.  One of the first things you’ll need to do is add your website to your business cards, letterhead and other marketing materials.  The next thing you’ll want to do is build a presence on as many social networks as you have time for, keeping in mind that consistency and branding still matter online.

Especially when your site is new, you’ll probably be excited to share the news with others that your company has finally arrived in the 21st Century.  Take every opportunity to invite others to check it out and provide you with their honest feedback.  Remember, even though it’s your baby, it’s got a life of its own out in internet land and things change quicker than you can likely keep up with. As I’ve always said, the best feedback is constant feedback.  Asking for suggestions is also a great way to promote your site and make people feel like their input matters.

10th Commandment – Thou shalt MAINTAIN your website constantly – Unlike the rest of your marketing materials, your website is a living, breathing entity that requires constant attention and care.  Now, that doesn’t mean you have to do it necessarily, but you will need to find a capable person that understands your vision who can spend a few minutes a day and several hours a week updating your site.  Of course there is a line, but generally, the more care and attention you give, the better off (and more efficient) it will become.

For me, our website IS our company.  It’s the heart and soul, the customer service department, our best salesperson, our very own media, the receptionist, the union leader, the night watchman and the accountant all rolled into one.  The reason for this is simple: because we’ve taken the time over a period of years to cultivate the site into those things and built in every tool to streamline the business and cut waste out of our company culture.  We spend countless hours researching new and improved tools we can add and writing and publishing valuable content that keeps Google satisfied enough to continue sending us a steady stream of traffic.  And it pays off.

Follow these 10 Commandments vigilantly and you too, can see your baby grow up and assume as much responsibility as you are comfortable giving it.  If you put in the time each step of the process, you will virtually assure your new website’s success.  And just in case it seems too overwhelming now, I’ll add one bonus commandment to help you focus.

11th Commandment – Thou shalt ENJOY growing with your website – What seems like a chore at first you’ll soon learn to cherish.  Much like your child is born and is grown and off on their own faster than you ever could have imagined, your website will also begin to carry on a life of its’ own.  Honestly, if you do everything right, you’ll be so busy growing your business that you won’t have time to spend with your website anymore, a task you’ll undoubtedly throw to a lower-level employee or even someone unaffiliated with your company at all.

I can’t ever imagine having to do that myself because I’ve enjoyed growing the site from just a single page a few years ago to hundreds and hundreds of pages today.  Even when business was down, we were always there for each other, letting each other know that if we continued to work hard and improve ourselves, we’d have a long and prosperous future together.

By following these commandments, that prosperity will surely come your way, as well, but before you become too successful, I highly encourage you to spend some quality time to get to know the best employee you’ll ever have.

Enjoy!

What is your relationship with your company website like?  Let us know and hopefully we can offer some more personal advice or point you to a tool or two.

Make More Money From Each Of Your Ad Dollars

If you’re like most small businesses, you’re spending quite a bit of money on display ads, direct mail and/or PPC and possibly even relying on these ads and sales letters for all or most of your leads.  For maximum profits, small businesses should build and implement multiple streams of lead generation, but if the majority of your marketing budget is tied up in ads, it’s still possible to literally double your business without spending any extra money.

How?

By optimizing your current ads to increase the response you get from them.  To help you get started, follow these 11 time-tested laws to boost the response rate of your ads and sales letters.

The 11 Time-Tested Laws of High-Response Ads

Law #1 – Include Coupons and/or An 800 Number – Coupons increase your response rate for several reasons.  First, people like to save money and so take notice of coupons.  Include an expiration date to improve your response even more.  Coupons are also powerful because people tend to cut them out, thereby increasing the likelihood they’ll see your ad again later.  As far as a call-to-action goes, not many are more powerful than 800 #’s because they encourage people to make a free phone call, which research shows they often do.

Law #2 – Use 8, 10 or 12 Point Font Only – Fonts are rarely the make or break reason for your ad getting read, but it can have some impact if you use the wrong font.  Don’t try to get too cute here.  Use a font type and size that people are accustomed to reading in the publication you are running the ad with.  Typically these fonts are between 8-12 point and in a more popular font style like Times New Roman, Verdana and Tahoma.

Law #3 – Don’t Use Capitals – Using capital letters throughout your ad actually makes it harder to read because the typical human eye is used to reading text with mostly lower case letters.  Instead of taking chances on ideas you aren’t sure will perform, stick to the laws that are time-tested.

Law #4 – Don’t Use Pictures – Display ads are expensive and to get a good ROI, you must use your space wisely.  Unless your products must be seen, use the space instead to deliver benefits that persuade the reader to take your desired action.

Law #5 – Give As Many Details As Possible – Having trouble filling your ad with valuable details that translate to benefits?  Ask your customers why they buy your products and services and fill your ad with benefits culled from their feedback.  The more you tell your prospects why they should buy from you, the more you’ll sell.

Law #6 – Use Facts & Figures – Today’s consumers are blind to outlandish and unproven claims; if anything, they work against you because you sound like everyone else.  Claims of superior service and great quality are vague and in reality are already expected from consumers.  Instead, fill your ads with specific figures and the facts to back them up.

Law #7 – Use Positive Language – Negative language has a way of lingering in the consumer’s mind.  Instead of using negative language to describe your products and services, always focus on the positive results they provide.  For example, a chimney cleaner should promise a warm, smoke-free house rather than removing all the dirty soot that’s clogging their chimney.

Law #8 – Focus On Solutions, Not Prevention – Consumers rarely look far enough into the future to worry much about preventing problems that may or may not arise.  Focus on helping them solve the issues they have now.  Focus your ads on promising these solutions and your responses will skyrocket.

Law #9 – Promise Free Trials & Samples – One of the easiest ways to get people to read and respond to your ads is to offer a free trial or sample of your products and services.  It will cost you some money to give your goods away, but if they are as good as you say they are, you’ll make far more profits in the long run from repeat customers and is actually the cheapest way for you to build your business.

Law #10 – Use A Headline – Headlines are by far the most important part of any ad, sales letter or commercial.  More than 4-out-of-5 people read the headline ONLY.  Without one, you may as well be throwing away your advertising dollars.  Come up with some headlines that promise your most important benefit to your ideal prospect and see which one works best.

Law #11 – Test Everything – Think your ad is as good as it gets or that testing isn’t worth the time it takes?  Think again.  Every aspect of your ad should be tested, one at a time.  This includes your headline, call-to-action, guarantee, free offer, P.S., time limit, font and anything else you can think of.  No matter how satisfied you are with your ad’s response, testing will help them improve.

Stop spending a fortune on underperforming ads and sales letters.  Even when the economy is down, your ad responses don’t need to be.  Follow these laws religiously and invest time into testing and improving your ads over an extended period of time (forever) and you’re business will grow all by itself without spending any more money than you already are.

Looking For A Guaranteed Way To Improve Your Ads?

Let Prevail PR do it for you.  We guarantee we’ll improve your ads and boost their response to generate more money than you paid for this service within 60 DAYS or we’ll refund your entire purchase price.

We Either Make You More Money Or We Give Your Money Back.  Simple As That.

Facebook Can Help You Build Your Brand

No matter what type of business you are in, it’s virtually impossible to go a day without hearing something about social networking in general and the largest social network of them all, Facebook, specifically.  A big reason Facebook has become so commonplace is that small businesses just like yours have jumped on the social networking bandwagon and are now actively spending time and money on building a community around their products and services.

Wondering why you too should join in the social networking exodus?  Below, we’ve outlined 25 strategies you can start using today to leverage the power of Facebook and the hundreds of millions of users who use Facebook everyday.

25 Strategies For Building Your Business Brand On Facebook

1.  Create An Engaging Profile – Before you set out on the Facebook frontier, spend some time thinking about your goals and the ways in which you’d like to interact with your customers.  Then spend time creating your profile so that it drives traffic to your targeted landing pages or other useful information.  Be sure to fill out your profile completely, including uploading a picture of yourself.

2.  Add Relevant Friends – The more friends you have, the bigger your marketing results will be.  Search for those in your target market or those you can create joint venture or networking opportunities with and add them as friends.  Try to limit your list to those you have time to build relationships with or who will gain value from being your friend.

3.  Join Groups – There are literally millions of groups on Facebook, many of which can help you grow your business.  Do your homework and find groups where your target customers congregate or where key players in your industry exchange information and join them.  Once you’ve been accepted, be a valuable member of the group by providing unique insight or tips on getting the most from your products and services.

4.  Start A Group – Once you’ve become a member of Facebook, you have the ability to create a group for anything you can think of. Be creative and create groups for collecting market research, for building an affiliate network or for offering exclusive promotions for your products and services.

5.  Comment On Other Profiles – Facebook is about building relationships. One way you can do this is by commenting on other profiles and offering advice or links to helpful information.  By commenting on other profiles, you also greatly expand your visibility to other Facebook members.

6.  Syndicate Your Blog – Another way to expand your visibility is to syndicate your company blog on your Facebook profile.  By syndicating your RSS feed in your profile, it will update automatically every time you update your blog, saving you time and publishing your content to another audience.

7.  Announce Events – Your Facebook profile is also a great place to announce and promote your company events.  By doing so, you can also allow people to RSVP and leave comments before and after the event all in one place.

8.  Arrange Meetups – If you’ve done well building a local following on Facebook, you can invite your friends to meet ups where they can mingle and talk with other fans of your business.  This is also a great way for you to spend some time with those who are most passionate about your company and put in some valuable face time.

9.  Get Feedback – Because Facebook profiles are inherently interactive, they are a great place to get feedback from your customers on specific topics like customer service and satisfaction of your products and services.  Be creative and find out how you can do a better job providing value to your customers and they’ll thank you for taking the time to ask them for their opinion.

10. Grow Your Traffic – In some circumstances, you may find that your Facebook profile gets more traffic than your actual business website or blog.  Instead of looking at this as a problem, take the opportunity to funnel that traffic to your website by including links to special offers or new articles on your blog.

11. Promote Your Social Bookmark Submissions – If you’ve submitted your blog posts to social bookmarking sites like Digg and Stumbleupon, promote these links on your Facebook profile through status updates.

12. Stay Informed On Your Industry – Facebook has a treasure trove of market information for just about every industry.  Search around and visit profiles, join groups, comment on fan pages and participate in discussions on key topics in your industry to stay more informed than your competition.

13. Post Jobs – Even if your business is local in nature, you can find incredible talent on Facebook that can help you build your business.  Be creative with your marketing and outsource individual tasks to other members that match your criteria.  Review their profiles to find out more about potential candidates, including what other people they’ve worked for say about them.

14. Connect With Industry Influencers – Connecting with key players in your industry is a good idea for all business owners.  Search for and add the key players in your industry as friends and then take the time to build relationships with them.  Provide them with valuable content they can share with their networks and they’ll return the favor.

15. Share Industry News – Building your reputation as a thought leader on Facebook is a powerful strategy you can easily implement without having to invest much time in Facebook itself.  If you’re already someone who knows a lot about your specific industry, share this information through Facebook and people will want to add you, growing your audience organically.

16. Provide Customer Service – Your Facebook profile is also a great way to enhance your customer service.  People can quickly and easily ask questions or leave comments and you can just as easily and quickly answer.  It also allows you to resolve these issues publicly, which likely will answer similar questions from other customers.

17. Project Communication – If you have a project with multiple workers, stay in the loop through Facebook.  You can easily use the wall in your profile to allow efficient group collaboration on any number of projects.

18. Pitching Journalists & Bloggers – Press releases not getting the job done?  Try pitching your story ideas to journalists through Facebook.  You may want to email them first to see if they are interested in getting story ideas in this manner before you try it.

19. Client Oversight – If part of your job entails keeping track of what people think about your clients, Facebook is a powerful tool.  Use Facebook’s search feature to find discussions or comments about your client’s company to find out what people are saying.

20. Competitive Research – As with client oversight, it’s an easy task keeping up with your competitors on Facebook through the use of the search feature.  Identify your competitors who are on Facebook and follow their status updates for an inside look at how they do things.

21. PR Tool – Sometimes bad things happen.  Instead of burying your head in the sand, be proactive and explain your side of the story and how you are going to be accountable.  Launch your crisis prevention campaign through a Facebook status update for an immediate jump on damage control.

22. Hold Contests – Everybody loves contests.  Hold your contest on Facebook to build excitement and grow your friend list.

23. Send Virtual Gifts – Show your appreciation for top customers, employees, vendors or colleagues with a virtual Facebook gift.  There are hundreds of options, allowing you to use this feature to give some well-deserved attention to valuable people to your business.

24. Install Facebook Apps – Facebook’s meteoric rise is due largely to the third-party applications that have made the site so versatile.  Spend some time looking over some of the more popular applications and think of new ways you can use them to build better relationships with your audience.

25. Advertise On Facebook – As time goes, on Facebook’s advertising platform has become as highly regarded as Google’s.  Built-in features allow you to target the exact audience you are trying to reach for a very affordable price and allow you to reach a larger audience than you are currently reaching now.

Depending on the time you have to invest in your social networking campaign, you may decide to only use a few of these ideas.  The most important things are to plan ahead, set goals and implement the ideas that will help you reach those goals in the fastest and most efficient manner.

All businesses are different and require different strategies, so don’t think that just because something hasn’t been done, it shouldn’t be done.  Get creative and be fun and you’ll not only enjoy the time you spend building your Facebook presence, you’ll also realize far better results.

Build Your Business Following on Facebook

As you can see from the graph above, Facebook continues to skyrocket in popularity.  What does this mean for your small business?  It means that your customers, vendors and industry connections are probably on Facebook and you need to be too.  To help you get people following your business on Facebook and start building your business following, we’ve put together these great tips that will have your network blossoming in no time.

20 Ways To Build Your Business Presence on Facebook

1.  Promote Your Facebook Profile on Your Website – One of the best and easiest ways to promote your Facebook profile is on your company website.  To do so, add a link or a badge on your site with the url to your Facebook account embedded in it.

TIP: Place your Facebook link in a prominent location.  The more people that see it on your business site, the faster your following will grow.

2.  Befriend Others – When you find other Facebook users that pertain to your specific industry, send them a friend request to ask them to add you as their friend, too.

TIP: Be sure to include a small note along with your friend request and let the person know why you think it would benefit them to add you.

3.  Promote Your Facebook Profile in Your Store – If you have a store, promote your Facebook profile at the point of sale.  Ask them to send add you as a friend on Facebook for special promotions and upcoming events.

TIP: If you can customize your receipts, add something like “Be our Fan on Facebook for exclusive discounts”.

4.  Promote Your Facebook Profile on Your Business Cards – Facebook is just as good at communicating with your customers as the phone and email, and in certain aspects, even better.  Include your Facebook link on your business cards with your other communication details

TIP: Be creative with your Facebook marketing by including fun or value. When you give your card to people, let them know why they should follow you and they probably will.

5.  Promote Your Facebook Profile in Your Advertisements – Your current advertisements are a great way to get your Facebook link in front of loads of people for free. It shouldn’t cost you anything to change your ad and you’ll get lots of friends just for including this little piece of information.

TIP: Remember value! If you have the space, let people know what they will get for following you on Twitter and you’ll see your conversion rates skyrocket.

6.  Promote Your Facebook Profile in Your Network – In today’s economy, it’s imperative to spend time networking with other business people in your market or industry.  Tell those you already know in these networks about Facebook and ask them to be your friend.

TIP: Be sure to ask everyone else in your network to become your friend. If they aren’t already on Facebook, invite them to join and to add you as a friend when they do.

7.  Promote Your Facebook Profile on Other Sites – Do you already have a MySpace, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn account?  If so, promote your Facebook profile within these networks, as well.

TIP: Just like on your company website, promote your Facebook link in a prominent location to get the most attention.  Better yet, write a blog post or status update.

8.  Promote Your Facebook Profile in Your Email Signature – Email signatures are a great way to add some excitement to the end of your emails and one of the easiest ways to promote your Facebook link.  If you don’t already use a signature, typically all you have to do is add it in your settings.

TIP: Depending on your business, your email signature may be seen by a lot of people.  To increase these numbers, ask people to tell others about your Facebook link within your email signature.

9. Promote Your Facebook Profile in Guest Posts/Columns – One of the best ways to brand yourself as an expert is to write a guest post on other industry blogs or to write a column for an industry publication.  If you have these opportunities, be sure to mention your Facebook link.

TIP: A good way to leverage these opportunities is to invite people to get exclusive add-on material of the topic you just covered by following you on Facebook and then sending this information out in a status update or personal message.

10. Update Often – A great way to get more friends is to update your status with interesting things on a consistent basis.

TIP: Think of yourself as a filter for your market and provide updates about insightful topics in your industry.  The more useful you can be to others, the more likely they will be your friend.  Asking questions is a good way to get people to reply to your status updates.

11. Converse With Others – On the flip side, it’s also important to respond to other status updates and build conversations with others in your market.  It’s never good to be perceived as a “taker”, so take part instead.

TIP: The best replies are those that help solve someone’s specific problem.  Keep an eye out for problems you can solve that directly relate to your business.

12. Update at Peak Times – The majority of Facebook users are U.S. based and use the service during U.S. business hours.  Even if you have to take a five minute break during your workday, it’s better to update during business hours than after them.

TIP: Update about limited-time offers in your store.  Say something like “15% off product X for the next 2 hours only!” and then promote your sale through other avenues so that your customers understand they have to be your friend on Facebook to take advantage of these offers.

13. Organize a Contest Through Your Facebook Profile – Contests are always a good way to build excitement in your brand.  Promote a contest through your store, website and Twitter profile and name the winner in a Tweet.

TIP: Think about the type of prizes your prospects would find most beneficial and then offer them to the winners.  those that don’t win are a great pool of prospects for you to market to in the future.

14. Ask Specific Users to Recommend You – The more time you spend on Facebook, the more users you’ll find that share similar markets with you.  Ask these people to be your friend and then once you’ve had time to build a relationship, send them a message and ask them if they’ll recommend you to their friends.

TIP: If your business is strictly local, join up with other local businesses or those individuals who have some influence in your area.

15. Use Facebook as a Customer Service Tool – Customer service should be one of your top priorities and giving your customers another way to contact you is a a good start.  Let your customers know they can send their inquiries through Facebook.

TIP: Use Facebook to build a better FAQ section for your website.  Ask your friends to send you their questions and see which ones get the most attention.  Then add the answers to these questions to your company website.

16. Send Valuable Content to Influential Members – Most influential members of any network are starving for more valuable content to recommend to their network.  Find those who are influential in your target market and send them articles and information their friends might find useful and allow them to share it with them.

TIP: Be sure to include your contact information in any content you send them.  The point of sharing this content is to get more traffic for your Facebook profile, which won’t happen if they don’t know how to find it.  For best results, create an additional report exclusively for their followers that they can access after following you.

17. Join The Get More Friends Facebook Group – Facebook has millions of groups you can join to expand your network.  One of the first you might consider joining is the “Get More Facebook Friends” Group.

TIP: Remember to always be a valuable member of any group you join.  If your sole purpose for joining the group is to saturate people with friend requests, don’t bother.  People in these groups are looking to build their followings too, so provide them useful content and help add value to their communities.

18. Use The Built-In Friend Find Feature – While you likely sent friend requests to your email contacts when you first created your account, it’s a good idea to go back through these accounts from time to time and add those you left out before or who have recently become new contacts.  Find this feature here.

TIP: Not all of your email contacts are good candidates for becoming your Facebook friend.  Be selective when you send these requests and try to keep your friend list targeted for business purposes.

19. Use The Search Box – Facebook’s built-in search feature is another great way to find friends related to specific industries or geographic locations.  Search for specific names, industry topics, locations near you or any other idea that may spring to mind.

TIP: Remember to always include a note with your friend requests letting people know exactly why you want them to add you and what you can provide for their community.

20. Ask Those In Your Other Social Networks To Add You – Facebook may be your first foray into social networking, but chances are you’ve spent some time on one or more of the other social networks on the internet.  If you have, ask your followers on these sites to add you on Facebook.

TIP: Remember your business goals.  Having 1000 friends that have nothing to do with your business is great, but having 100 friends that are specifically related to your business is even better.

Facebook provides a fantastic opportunity for your small business to grow and nurture a community around your products and services.  The most important thing to remember is to always provide value for those who have taken the time to add you as a friend.  By doing so, you’ll escalate your status as an expert in your field and garner invaluable goodwill and grow your reputation as a company worth doing business with.

If you’d like us to add you as our friend on Facebook, click here and send us a friend request.  You can also become a fan of Prevail PR here.

Set Up An Account & Grow Your Small Business

On The Largest Social Network In The World

While MySpace is credited for helping social networking go mainstream, Facebook broke the mold and turned the medium into a viable business model for internet and local small businesses alike.  In fact, Facebook’s growth has been so phenomenal over the past couple of years that it’s even been mentioned as a legitimate competitor to almighty Google.

Facebook’s growth is largely the result of building every tool possible within Facebook for individuals and businesses and allowing third-party developers create an army of helpful applications that make Facebook a fully self-contained destination. For small businesses, this means you can build a community, sell your products and services, find and hire employees, promote your business and network with your industry’s key players.

To help you get started taking advantage of all these great benefits, we’ve put together this easy-to-follow quick start guide to starting your Facebook account and finding your first Facebook contacts.

Step #1 – Go to Facebook and fill out the required information that includes: your full name, a valid email address, your chosen password, your gender and your birth date.  Then click sign up.

Step #2 – Next you’ll need to briefly fill out the Captcha information that helps Facebook reduce spam.  Then click sign up.

Step #3 – Once you’ve entered the correct Captcha information, Facebook sends you a confirmation email to the address you supplied.  Login to your email, open the message from Facebook and click the link contained within.

Step #4 – When you click the confirmation link, a new window will open taking you back to Facebook.  At this stage, you may get an invitation from someone who has already wondered if you were on Facebook and has done a search for you.  If so, either confirm or ignore these requests.  Next, click skip this step.

Step #5 – The more friends you have on Facebook, the more powerful it becomes.  To help you get started, Facebook allows you to search for your friends through your current email accounts.  To do so, click the find friends on Yahoo (or whatever email service you signed up with) button.  You can then go through and click on each of your contacts you’d like Facebook to search for and send an invitation from you to add you as a friend.

You can also repeat this step for each of your other email accounts (hotmail, Gmail, etc.)

Step #6 – Now that you’ve sent out a few invitations, you’ll want to start filling out your profile information.  Include your high school, college and company information and Facebook will also find friends you may know through these networks.  Click Save.Add as many as you like, however, be aware they will only become your friends once they’ve accepted your invitation.  Once you’ve selected all those you’d like to add, click Add as Friends.

You’ll also be asked to join a geographical network.  Choose your location and click Join.

Step #7 – That’s it.  Your brand new Facebook account is now set up and ready to go.  A popular first action is to let the community know what’s on your mind.  To do so, type in the information in the box and click Share.

Congratulations!  You’re now part of the largest network in the entire world.  Check out our other Facebook posts for tips and information on growing your network and getting the very most of your time.

If you’d like to join our network on Facebook, feel free to visit my profile and add me as a friend.

Note: The Twitter Toolbox is the result of Week 1 of “Social Networking Month” here at Prevail PR.  Subscribe to our blog for Week 2 updates on how to use Facebook to grow your small business.

The Ultimate Twitter Toolbox For Small Businesses

Twitter is taking the world by storm, and for good reason.  In addition to its many social uses, it is quickly becoming a marketing tool of choice for large and small businesses alike.  Large companies like GM, Jet Blue and Dell are using Twitter to gain the valuable attention of their target markets, and you can too.

To get started using this free social messaging utility to stay connected with your prospects and customers in real-time, follow these 6 easy steps to setting up a Twitter account and be up and running in no time.

Once you’ve created your Twitter account, you should spend a few minutes updating your bio and profile information to reflect the values of your particular small business.

Twitter’s power comes from its ability to connect you with the people that care about your products or services.  Before you get too involved with Twitter, you should take some time to add your current customers that are already on using Twitter.

To help you get started, we’ve put together these 20 ways to get people to follow your business on Twitter.

So now that you’ve got an account and a few friends hanging on your every word, how exactly do you use Twitter to grow your business?

There are probably hundreds of ways you can begin to put Twitter to use, but we’ve done our homework and outlined the best ways.  To find the one that’s best for your small business, check out these 25 Twitter strategies to improve your business.

One of the other things that makes Twitter the great marketing tool it’s become are the powerful third-party tools that optimize and extend its core features.

Nearly every day there are new and improved tools, but some of them like those included in this collection of 25 Twitter tools for small business will help you reach your marketing goals quicker and easier than ever.

After spending some time on Twitter, you’ll begin to see even bigger strategies and ways of using it to grow your small business.

If you’re ready to take your business Twittering to the next level, check out these 25 Bonus tips just for small businesses like yours to use and expand upon.

Twitter is a great, cost-effective way for you to keep in constant contact and interact them in a way they are not only comfortable with, but prefer.  Stop interrupting your prospects with traditional advertising and instead, earn their trust and gain their attention by providing valuable updates on your company, industry, products, services and offers.

Enjoy your time and Twitter best of luck.  If you have any questions or comments, or have other Twitter ideas, tips, tricks, uses or case studies, by all means share them in the comments area below or in the appropriate Twitter posts contained in this toolbox.

25 More Twitter Tips For Business Success

Twitter may not be for everyone, but it’s definitely worth a try.  Sign up, get some followers, develop your strategy, browse and implement some tools and then try some of these tips to progress your business goals.

1.  Extended Bio – If you find that the 160 characters allotted for your Twitter bio is simply not enough to get your main point(s) across, a good idea is to place a link in your bio that connects to a longer bio or landing page on your website or blog.  This way, you can get additional traffic, as well as have more control over what those reading your bio see.

2.  Do Not Spam – Spam is spam, whether it’s in your email inbox or on Twitter.  Be a valuable member of the community and you’ll get more positive results.

3. Repost Your Best Tweets – Most people login to Twitter once or twice a day at best.  If you Tweet in the morning, many of your nighttime followers may very well miss them, and vice versa.  If you have time, resend your best Tweets at different ends of the day.

4.  Post A Weekly Twitter Roundup – On the Internet, content is the name of the game.  Just because you have published content once doesn’t mean that you can’t publish it again and get some extra mileage out of it.  Publish a post on your blog of all the Tweets you posted throughout the week to allow your followers to find them all in one central location.

5.  Promote Twitter Static Pages – Did you know that your individual Tweets get their own static pages on Twitter?  It’s true, and because they do, you can promote these pages on your blog or website like any other page on the web.

6.  Promote Those In Your Network – People love to be acknowledged.  When you find great content in Tweets from your followers, retweet this information for the rest of your network to appreciate and build goodwill with the follower you retweeted at the same time.

7.  Claim Your Twitter Profile On Technorati – If you have a blog, you should already have claimed it at Technorati for extra exposure.  Interestingly enough, you can also claim your Twitter profile on Technorati.

8.  Start Multiple Accounts – If you think you may have competition for your company name, you should take the time to open multiple accounts to claim names similar to your own that may cause confusion down the line.  You can also start accounts for different departments within your organization.

9.  Keep A Balanced Ratio – Whether you’re following more people or have more followers is unimportant.  What is important is that you keep these numbers balanced so that it at least appears that you are participating in the community and not just taking from it.

10. Customize Your Background – In addition to changing the colors and background picture of your Twitter account, there are numerous ways for you to customize your profile altogether.  Do a search on Google for Twitter templates, custom Twitter backgrounds, custom Twitter profile, etc.

11. Optimize Your Bio – You don’t have a lot of space in your bio to explain everything you do.  Instead, use this space to entice users to follow you by offering some sort of reward.

12. Landing Page URL – The majority of people and businesses place their domain name in their bio, but a better idea is to put the URL for a specific landing page you’d like your Twitter followers to see first.

13. Find Out Why People Stop Following You – Just like you should figure out why those on your customers list stop buying from you, you should find out why people on your Twitter list stop following you.  Use Qwitter to get alerts when people stop following you and see the last Tweet you posted before they did.

14. Engage In Conversations – Start conversations with those you find interesting or answer questions proposed by those in your target market.  In order to keep track of the conversation, reference the person you are talking to by placing an @ in front of their name; for example, @prevailpr would notify me that you are speaking to or about Prevail PR.

15. Create A Twitter Page On Your Website – If you create a dedicated page on your website for Twitter, it has a good chance of showing up in search engine results, as well as being a great landing page for you to add to your Twitter bio.

16. Use Judgment – Not every person that you follow is good.  Just like in the real world, it’s wise to stay away from unsavory characters and those with names that could offend your target market.

17. Thank Your Followers – In your Twitter settings, you can choose to either receive or not receive email notifications of new followers.  If you choose to receive these messages, be sure to thank each of your followers as they come or do so automatically with tools like TweetLater.

18. Use Polls To Get Follower Feedback – Services like PollDaddy make it easy for you to add polls to your Tweets.  Ask the right questions to get the feedback you need to improve your business or increase sales.

19. Track Your Links – One of the best things to place in your Tweets are links to content your followers might find interesting, especially if they are links to your own content.  Use services like Tweetburner or Budurl to track the click rates of these links.

20. Block Unwanted Followers – Just like in your store, you reserve the right to refuse service to anyone on Twitter.  Some followers can even harm your brand by Tweeting about explicit material and sending it through your timeline.  If you feel uneasy about a follower, do not hesitate to block them by visiting their profile and clicking block.

21. Put Keywords In Your Tweets – Because your Tweets turn into static pages, it’s a good idea for you to include keywords in the first third of your Tweets so that they will show up not only in keyword searches, but also your Tweet page titles.

22. Use Twitterberry – If you use a Blackberry in your daily business, then you must use Twitterberry to post your Twitter updates.  One of the most popular Twitter applications around, this free software will save you loads of time (unless you are too busy Twittering on the go).

23. Learn! – Twitter is an amazing resource for helping you learn about a wide variety of topics fairly quickly.  Is there some topic relevant to your business that you need to brush up on?  Do a search on Twitter for those keywords and follow the links you find.

24. Courtesy Reminders – You can set up Twitter to remind you of upcoming events and meetings on your schedule. Click here to input your notification needs and let Twitter keep you on time.

25. Track Packages – Twitter can also help you keep track of packages you’ve shipped or are waiting on.  Click here to get instant updates on your FedEx, UPS and DHL shipments.

Still think Twitter is just a silly site with a funny name?  Hopefully, you can see the potential for business growth and improvement that Twitter allows.  While it’s free, it does require a substantial amount of time invested to get the positive results necessary to justify continuing to use the service, but with these 25 bonus tips, you should reach your goals quicker and easier.

Got some tips we forgot to mention?  Please share them with us in the comments below.

Twitter Can Help You Build Your Brand

To many people, Twitter doesn’t make a lot of sense at first.  How in the world can sending little 140 character messages to a bunch of people, many of whom you’ve never met, help you grow your business and build your brand?

First, you have to ask yourself what it is you are trying to accomplish.  I’m a huge believer in planning things first and testing the results as you go along.  Using Twitter should be no different than the rest of your marketing efforts.  In order to help you understand how Twitter can help your business grow, here are a few ideas for you to think about during your brainstorming sessions.

25 Strategies For Building Your Business Brand On Twitter

1.  Arrange Meetups – Staying connected with your customers and vendors is vital for success in today’s marketplace.  Send periodic Tweets about upcoming meetups with other local Twitter users.

2.  Get Feedback – Ask your customers their thoughts on your products and services.  Because everyone will get your request at once and they can reply easily, you can get a lot of feedback in a short amount of time.

3.  Grow Your Traffic – Promote your blog and website through Tweets.  Blog posts about your industry make excellent Tweets.

4.  Connect With Others – Share other links of interest to you with your network.  By providing useful information, you make it desirable to connect with and follow you.

5.  Find Out Who’s Talking About You – By using #hash searches, you can see what others are saying about your company.  All you have to do is type #yourcompanyname in the Twitter search box and all posts with your company name will come up.

6.  Promote Social Bookmark Submissions – If you have submitted your blog posts to social bookmarking sites like Digg and delicious, promote these links on Twitter to increase their popularity and thus, traffic to your blog.

7.  Stay Informed On Your Industry – News breaks in real-time on Twitter.  If something big happens in your industry, it may very well break on Twitter first.  Keep up with industry news with #hash searches on desired topics.

8.  Post Jobs – Got a job opening?  Post it on Twitter and you’re bound to get some qualified candidates with links to their websites where you can do a little homework.

9.  Provide Live Coverage Of Your Events – If you hold company events or workshops, announce them on Twitter and provide updates throughout so those who could not attend can follow along.

10. Connect With Industry Influencers – Do some searches for those who are influential on your industry and follow them.  You can even send them a direct message; however, you should do so very sparingly.

11. Share Industry News – Got the scoop on some inside industry news?  Break the news on Twitter and build your credibility.

12. Conduct Market Research – Twitter is the perfect tool for conducting research.  You can run polls and surveys, ask questions and follow niche topics all through Twitter.

13. Reinforce Your Current Relationships – Keep in touch with your contacts with Twitter.  Because posts are so short, you can easily keep up-to-date with your current contacts to build on those relationships.

14. Promote Specific Content – Got a new product, service or sale?  Promote these things on Twitter to get the word out fast.

15. Project Communication – If you have a project with multiple workers, stay in the loop through Twitter.  Use #’s in your posts to tag them so each member can find them easily.

16. Pitching Journalists & Bloggers – Press releases not getting the job done?  Try pitching your story ideas to journalists through Twitter.  You may want to email them first to see if they are interested in getting story ideas in this manner before you try it.

17. Find Joint Venture Relationships – Joint ventures are a great way to grow your business without spending a fortune.  Look for suitable partners on Twitter and send them a direct message with your idea.

18. Idea Generation – Need a new idea for a blog post, product or service offering or promotion?  Ask the Twitter community and get feedback almost instantly.

19. Client Oversight – If part of your job entails keeping track of what people think about your clients, Twitter is the perfect tool.  Use # searches with your client’s company name to find out what people are saying.

20. Answer Questions – People ask questions through Twitter all day long.  Keep an eye out for questions related to your industry that you can answer to build your company’s credibility.

21. Eliminate Cold Calls – Got a prospect you’d like to approach with a business proposition?  If they are on Twitter, you can follow them to find out how they operate so you’ll have a better understanding of how to speak to them on the phone.  You may even find out they’d prefer to be contacted through Twitter.

22. Competitive Research – As with client oversight, it’s an easy task keeping up with your competitors on Twitter through the use of # searches.  Identify your competitors who are on Twitter and follow their timelines.

23. PR Tool – Sometimes bad things happen.  Instead of burying your head in the sand, be proactive and explain your side of the story and how you are going to be accountable.  Launch your crisis prevention campaign on Twitter for an immediate jump on damage control.

24. Event Reminder – In addition to arranging meetups, you can also remind your Twitter followers of upcoming events.  this works especially well at the last minute.

25. Hold Contests – Everybody loves contests.  Hold your contest on Twitter to build excitement and grow your followers.

Twitter may look a little silly at first, but once you get to understand how you can use this free service to grow your business and build your brand, you’ll begin to see why it has fast become one of the most popular destinations on the Internet.  You may not have time to put all of these strategies into practice, but you can pick and choose the ones that are most immediate for your business needs and see results almost immediately.

Build A Business Following On Twitter

Now that you have a Twitter account for your business, it’s time to promote it and build your following. When you created your account, you should have spent a few minutes inviting your email contacts to join you on Twitter. If you haven’t, go back and do this first.  As you can see from the picture above, Twitter is growing fast and can be a useful tool for growing your online presence.

Once you have a few followers, let’s get started on growing your Twitter community for business purposes.

20 Ways To Build Your Business Presence

1.  Promote Your Twitter Profile on Your Website – When you created your account, you gave it a name (probably your company name). It should look something like this: http://twitter.com/prevailpr. Add this link to your business website and promote it from within.

TIP: Place your Twitter link in a prominent location.  The more people that see it on your business site, the faster your following will grow.

2.  Follow Others – When you find other Twitter users you find interesting, click the little follow button under their name to become one of their followers.  In the spirit of reciprocity, most people you follow will in turn follow you.

TIP: Use the search box to look for targeted prospects for your business and follow them.  They may choose to follow you back and in time decide for themselves that they need your products or services.

3.  Promote Your Twitter Profile in Your Store – If you have a store, promote your Twitter profile at the point of sale.  Ask them to send you a message on Twitter once they have followed you for a special promotion you have created specifically for this purpose.

TIP: If you can customize your receipts, add something like “Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/prevailpr for exclusive discounts”.

4.  Promote Your Twitter Profile on Your Business Cards – Twitter is just as good at communicating with your customers as the phone and email, and in certain aspects, even better.  Include your Twitter link on your business cards with your other communication details

TIP: Be creative with your Twitter marketing by including fun or value. When you give your card to people, let them know why they should follow you and they probably will.

5.  Promote Your Twitter Profile in Your Advertisements – Your current advertisements are a great way to get your Twitter link in front of loads of people for free. It shouldn’t cost you anything to change your ad and you’ll get lots of followers just for including this little piece of information.

TIP: Remember value! If you have the space, let people know what they will get for following you on Twitter and you’ll see your conversion rates skyrocket.

6.  Promote Your Twitter Profile in Your Network – In today’s economy, it’s imperative to spend time networking with other business people in your market or industry.  Tell those you already know in these networks about Twitter and ask them to follow you.

TIP: Be sure to follow everyone else in your network and search for them if you have to.  Even if they haven’t started following you, they will when they realize you are following them.  You can use a # sign to narrow your searches.  For instance, #sanluisobispo will find Tweets with this tag.

7.  Promote Your Twitter Profile on Other Sites – Do you already have a MySpace, Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn account?  If so, promote your Twitter profile within these networks, as well.

TIP: Just like on your company website, promote your Twitter link in a prominent location to get the most attention.  Better yet, write a blog post or status update.

8.  Promote Your Twitter Profile in Your Email Signature – Email signatures are a great way to add some excitement to the end of your emails and one of the easiest ways to promote your Twitter link.  If you don’t already use a signature, typically all you have to do is add it in your settings.

TIP: Depending on your business, your email signature may be seen by a lot of people.  To increase these numbers, ask people to tell others about your Twitter link within your email signature.

9.  Use Twitter Packs – This community-generated directory of Twitter profiles is organized by topics and geographic areas.  Search for your targeted followers and follow them.

TIP: Add your profile to the directory.  Be sure to submit your profile to the most relevant categories.

10. Promote Your Twitter Profile in Guest Posts/Columns – One of the best ways to brand yourself as an expert is to write a guest post on other industry blogs or to write a column for an industry publication.  If you have these opportunities, be sure to mention your Twitter link.

TIP: A good way to leverage these opportunities is to invite people to get exclusive add-on material of the topic you just covered by following you on Twitter and then sending this information out in a Tweet at a scheduled time.

11. Tweet Often – If you haven’t figured it out by now, a Tweet is the 140 character message your followers will see in the Twitterstreams, the list of chronological messages found on your Twitter profile.  A great way to get more followers is to Tweet about interesting things on a consistent basis.

TIP: Think of yourself as a filter for your market and Tweet about insightful topics in your industry.  The more useful you can be to others, the more likely they will follow you.  Asking questions is a good way to get people to reply to your Tweets.

12. Converse With Others – On the flip side, it’s also important to respond to other Tweets and build conversations with others in your market.  It’s never good to be perceived as a “taker”, so take part instead.

TIP: The best replies are those that help solve someone’s specific problem.  Keep an eye out for problems you can solve that directly relate to your business.

13. Tweet at Peak Times – The majority of Twitter users are U.S. based and use the service during U.S. business hours.  Even if you have to take a five minute break during your workday, it’s better to Tweet during business hours than after them.

TIP: Tweet about limited-time offers in your store.  Say something like “15% off product X for the next 2 hours only!” and then promote your sale through other avenues so that your customers understand they have to follow you on Twitter at certain times to take advantage of these offers.

14. Organize a Contest through Your Twitter Profile – Contests are always a good way to build excitement in your brand.  Promote a contest through your store, website and Twitter profile and name the winner in a Tweet.

TIP: Think about the type of prizes your prospects would find most beneficial and then offer them to the winners.  those that don’t win are a great pool of prospects for you to market to in the future.

15. Ask Specific Users to Recommend You – The more time you spend on Twitter, the more users you’ll find that share similar markets with you.  Follow these people for awhile and then once they are following you, send them a message and ask them if they’ll recommend you to their followers.

TIP: If your business is strictly local, join up with other local businesses or those individuals who have some influence in your area.

16. Use Twitter as a Customer Service Tool – Customer service should be one of your top priorities and giving your customers a way to contact you is a a good start.  Let your customers know they can send their inquiries through Twitter.

TIP: Use Twitter to build a better FAQ section for your website.  Ask your followers to send you their questions and see which ones get the most attention.  Then add the answers to these questions to your company website.

17. Send Valuable Content to Influential Members – Most influential members of any network are starving for more valuable content to recommend to their followers.  Find those who are influential on your target market and send them articles and information their followers might find useful and allow them to share it with them.

TIP: Be sure to include your contact information in any content you send them.  The point of sharing this content is to get more traffic for your Twitter profile, which won’t happen if they don’t know how to find it.  For best results, create an additional report exclusively for their followers that they can access after following you.

18. Use Twellow – Twellow is basically the Yellow Pages for Twitter users and the largest directory of Twitter users on the web.  Search by topic and geographic region and follow users in your target market.

TIP: Make a schedule for following people.  You don’t want to follow too many people at once.  Let some of them follow you back before following more so that these numbers are in close relation.

19. Use Twubble – Twubble is another fun tool to help grow your business following on Twitter.  Instead of searching for similar users, Twubble searches your current followers for followers they have in common.  The idea is that the more they have in common, the more likely they are to have in common with you, as well.

TIP: It’s important to keep your Twitter following focused and in alignment with your business purposes. Spend time pruning your follower list to get the most out of this great tool.

20. Promote Your Twitter RSS Feed – Just like your blog and social networking profiles, Twitter includes an RSS feed that allows people to include it in their newsfeeds.  Don’t forget to promote this feature in your other Twitter efforts. To add Prevail PR’s Twitter timeline to your RSS feed, click here.

TIP: Many people don’t want to have to sign in to multiple services and newsfeeds let them get all kinds of content in one place.  To keep track of multiple Twitter feeds start your own newsfeed at Netvibes or iGoogle.

Whether your business is online, offline or both, Twitter can help you grow a community around your brand and build sales.  Like most Internet marketing, though, it takes time.  With effort, you’ll be able to build a legitimate following in very little time, but in order to convert this following into increased sales, you’ll have to put your best foot forward.

Be yourself, be helpful and be accessible.  These are the keys to making Twitter work for you and your business.