Category Archives: business building tools

Five Reasons to Have Someone Else Write Your Business Blog

I recently spoke with a business owner who admitted she loved having a blog to promote her business but that she doesn’t love having to write blog posts. This woman is amazing–an expert in her area of business, an educated and talented business owner who provides great products and services.

Is her dilemma common? You bet! In the past twelve years, I’ve met hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business owners who excel at running successful businesses but have made the decision to hand off writing their business blogs to someone else.http://katefeatonwriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/NaNoWriMo-Computer.jpg

Here are five reasons why it makes good sense to have someone else write your business blog:

TIME is of the essence to any business owner, isn’t it? You’re probably serving your business in multiple roles, especially if you’re just getting started. You may be handling finances, marketing, web design, product selection and, most of all, providing the services your customers require. And that’s on top of your roles outside of business–mother, father, partner, coach, friend, and so on and so forth. Handing off the writing of your business blog is one thing you can do with confidence to relieve the pressure for making your company succeed.

 

MONEY earned and money saved are the two ways a business succeeds. If you’re charging by the hour for your services, consider the amount of time it takes for you to write each blog post and multiply that time by your hourly rate. Add in the business-running, business-building tasks you’re not able to do when you stop to write. Chances are, the rate charged by a professional writer will still save you money when you consider the true cost to your business.

 

STRENGTHS, your personal and professional ones, are the best building blocks for establishing a successful business. Like to sell? Fantastic! Make sure you’re able to do that for your company. Love to meet new customers in your store? That takes a special kind of person. Excel at finding solutions for your customers? Then that’s the thing you should be spending the most time doing. If writing blog posts is a chore, not something you enjoy and at which you excel, why not hire someone who loves to write and is an expert at making your business look good in print?

 

CONTROL of your blog content is still your prerogative, even when someone else is providing the posts. Any professional content provider should give you the final say over blog posts, articles and other marketing materials written on behalf of your company. Useful, interesting content, written in your voice for your audience, is the goal when working with a copywriter.

 

PROFESSIONALISM is enhanced when your blog posts are well-written (or well-edited) to avoid typos, awkward sentences and confusing information. You can provide the basic information and theme for each blog post on your marketing calendar, and trust that your copywriter will provide the content that builds your company’s professional image.

Working with an experienced content provider can save you time and money, allow you to work from your strengths to build your business, let you maintain control of all marketing content and enhance the professional image you’re hoping to project.

Don’t those sound like good reasons to stop agonizing over your company blog and allow a copywriter to make your life simpler?

If they do, you know where to find me!


Hot Cars, Great Business Owners

For this week’s post, we’re taking a quick field trip to explore something dear to my heart – custom cars. These beauties not only please the senses, they’re also the nectar that feeds custom builders, pinstripe artists, performance engine builders and a tankful of small business owners who help create these works of art.

My favorite part of attending shows like Wichita’s  Blacktop Nationals (tied with the hot cars, of course) is meeting these savvy business men and women. When hundreds of street rodders, rat rodders and their cousins, the custom bike builders, come together, plenty of vendors are sure to follow.

small business owner

Creeped Out Customs Creation

Our pick of the night?  Mark Robinson of Creeped Out Customs. His low-slung creations, dark and just a wee bit creepy, definitely captured the crowds. He wisely chose prime display space in the center of the car show action and brought two trucks, two bikes and some kick-butt T-shirts to snag the eye.

We saw every kind of vendor, inside the “Million Dollar Car Show” and outside on the sizzling August street. Creeped Out Custom Cars, in particular, combined location, novelty, technical genius and consistent branding. I hope he made plenty of solid contacts and goes on to build edgy creations for years to come.

And that brings up a topic that’s perenially discussed on business blogs  – the ROI of attending trade shows and exhibitions. Is it possible to know whether the cost of displaying your products will be rewarded with increased sales?

The answer is as variable as the vendors who populate trade shows. Your company’s transportation, space rental, increased inventory, physical display and staff time expenses all go into the mix.

Weigh that against the potential of being in front of a large number of people at a single show, some of whom may need your product or service. Sales, no matter how large the trade show audience, aren’t always a given. But there are several ways you can increase the odds that contacts made at shows and exhibitions turn into sales.

One obvious factor in whether or not trade show leads turn into sales after the show is whether or not your company’s presence was memorable. That’s why I believe Creeped Out Customs will see sales result from last weekend’s show. Their unique, well-branded displays and obvious expertise as custom car builders should stick in the minds of many show-goers.

The rest of the equation for creating sales from trade show leads is up to your sales force. Here’s a quick list of tips for making the most of contacts made at trade shows:

Capture the leads in one place –  a spreadsheet, your CRM program (NOT in a stack of sticky notes)
Follow up on all trade show leads within a couple of days
Include new contacts in future marketing campaigns
Track which trade show leads result in sales
Use the information gathered at this show to calculate your ROI for the next one

I wish that I could say all of the above is obvious post-show strategy, but I’m still surprised how many companies fail to deliberately capture and follow up on show leads once everyone’s back in the office.

Being out among the population, especially a population primed for your kind of product, can be a big boost to this year’s sales. As a business owner, it’s up to you to calculate ROI on shows and events, decide whether it is worth the extra expense to attend and, most of all, to make sure that your sales force is maximizing the leads you gain if you go.

 

So – what’s been your trade show or event experience? Has it resulted in increased sales? What new strategies will you employ at your next show to improve the possibility of new sales?

Creeped Out Customs Slammed Chevy

Creeped Out Customs Slammed Chevy

 

 


How Two Dogs Help Grow My Business

Dog Who Grow My Business, Part 1

Dogs Who Grow My Business, Part 1

Believe it or not, walking my two rambunctious dogs each morning has helped to grow my business as a freelance writer. Getting dressed decently enough to greet the public, dragging out the leashes and forcing myself out the door with two highly energetic canines is a habit that has reaped rewards. Number one reward – my brain gets stimulated by all sorts of things that help make me a better writer. The river that runs a block from my house, the wild creatures the dogs send scattering and the stalwart walkers who brave the early hour. All those stimuli cause neurons to fire better when I sit down back home at my computer.

That’s the kind of habit I need to grow my business into a sustainable freelance writing career. And that’s one of the keys to success – forming habits that stimulate business.  So, what are some other habits we can form to keep us motivated, stimulated and well-compensated?

3 Habits that Help Grow My Business

While learning what it takes to sustain a freelance writing career, I’ve identified habits I’ve formed that could sabotage my business. Most of them center around self-structuring my time and workload. Depending on the type of business you’re growing, you may have a different set of regular bad behaviors that scuttle your ship.

Dogs Who Grow My Business, Part 2

DogsWhoGrowMyBusiness Part 2

But let’s dwell on the positive (see number 1.)  No point in identifying bad habits if you don’t plan to change them, right? Here are three habits that can help us build business

  1. Keep it Positive – Staying positive in the face of business downturns, rejected proposals or shrinking funds is a choice. Take a practical, positive view of life by shutting down that voice in your head that says you’re going to fail. Whether it’s by surrounding yourself with a positive network or listening to podcasts that inspire, it’s your job as the business owner to keep your cynicism in check. Form the habit.
  2. Keep Your Day in Order – It’s tempting, given the heady freedom of self-employment, to let whatever comes each day rule the day. As freelancers/business owners, how we spend our time really is under our control. The many distractions that have nothing to do with growing a business don’t have to throw us off-track. Form the habit of asking two questions when interruptions come: “Will it help me grow my business?” and “Does it have to be done right now?”
  3. Stick to Your Plan – If you’re in the habit of taking out your business plan and checking your progress against it, congratulations! If you haven’t seen your business plan for years and have lost track of why you went into business the first place, you could be in trouble. Make an appointment with yourself to review the goals you set and whether it’s time to set new ones. It’s encouraging to see how far you’ve come and it’s energizing to refocus your efforts on solid goals.

Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, says, “Changing habits isn’t necessarily quick or easy. But it is possible.”

Are we going to let bad habits get the best of our businesses, or form some new ones that help grow my business and yours? Let me know what you decide to do!