Professional Service Firm Marketing Tips & Strategies

LinkedIn Users Ramp Up Their Networking Efforts

According to an article in Customer Relationship Management magazine, the number of member recommendations on LinkedIn surged 14 percent between September and January.

I know that a lot of my friends who worked for large companies that were going through layoffs were showing up and networking on LinkedIn. While bad news is driving people to LinkedIn, I think they will continue to hang out there and attract others to the community as things improve.

Are we connected on LinkedIn? Here is a link to my profile - let me know if there is anything that I can do to help - http://www.linkedin.com/in/billbrelsford

How LinkedIn Helps Me Make Money

Once or twice on this blog, I have mentioned that LinkedIn is my favorite social networking tool. I want to share a specific case of how LinkedIn has helped me generate business.

As part of my regular routine using LinkedIn, I like to pay attention to who my immediate (1st level) connections are connected to. For a while I noticed that Bethany Spilde was connected to several my connections. She also seemed to share a similar professional interest in using social media for small business marketing. For these reasons, I decided to contact Bethany to see if we could meet in person.

During our first meeting, we learned that we did indeed share a lot of professional interests, including teaching business owners how to use LinkedIn to grow their business. During that first meeting, we discussed LinkedIn and how even though it was gaining in popularity, many people that we met were still unsure about how to use LinkedIn to grow their business. So, we decided to partner together to put on a LinkedIn workshop.

This story may seem fairly unremarkable but, we were able to meet, get to know, decide to do business together, and are making money together – all in a span of 30 days. In my mind, that demonstrates how powerful LinkedIn can be.

How LinkedIn helped:

• It helped me find Bethany. I may have met her eventually without LinkedIn, but then again, I may not have.
• LinkedIn provided the background information that helped speed up the Know, Like, and Trust factors of building a professional relationship. Because we knew several of the same people and had the opportunity to learn about one another from our profiles, we had a head start on the “getting to know each other” phase of the relationship. This allowed us to move more quickly into the “how can we help each other” phase.
• Because our networks are visible to one another, we could easily determine how we should split the marketing activities for our new boot camp.
• As an aside, meeting with Bethany also introduced me to my now favorite coffee, tea shop, and bakery, the Dragonfly 

I’d love to hear how you have used LinkedIn to generate business – leave me a comment and tell me your story.

P.S. If you are in the Kansas City area and would like to learn more about our upcoming LinkedIn boot camp, visit the information and registration page.

SHBC After Hours Event

This quarters SHBC after hours event is this coming Wednesday, Feb. 25th.  Come network in a fun, relaxing atmosphere.

Meeting Particulars

Place: KC Public House
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 25th
Location: 12030 Blue Valley Parkway, Overland Park, KS (Next to First Watch)
Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (or whenever you'd like to leave!)
Cost: Free to attend

A band will perform starting at 9:30 for those who want to stay longer!

Workplace Transitions in difficult times

This week's episode of Your Inner Champion, features Rick Sheahan (www.KC-Realty.com). Rick will be discussing the mind-set that helped him succeed through these transitions as well as some of the authors, managers, coaches, & organizations Ann Butenas has come to rely on for guidance during these times.

I happen to be in a couple of networking groups with Rick, and he is a great speaker, so make sure you tune in this Saturday, February 21, 2009, from 9 a.m. - 10 a.m. Central Time at 1510 AM or via the web at www.1510.com  

 This is a talk show, so call in with your questions. The studio call-in line is (913) 491-8255. 

Make a Referral - jump start the economy

There are a lot of great networking opportunities going on this week. As you meet new people, really listen for what they need, so you can help jump start the economy during Make a Referral Week.

We're pledging to make a referral to a business we want to help as part of a national campaign to make 1000 referrals March  9-13. What a great small business stimulus plan - won’t
you join us.   http://www.makeareferralweek.com/pledge

Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to  stimulating the small business economy one referred business at  a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business. Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and merits the positive  attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories.

The week long event also features a killer list of referral experts providing valuable marketing advice.

Social Media and Your Business - SHBC Monthly Meeting

This month’s SHBC is Wednesday, February 18th. This month’s guest speaker is Jennifer Bailey. Jennifer has been a graphic artist, professional blogger, writer and editor. She founded The Social Lites after deciding that companies should be encouraged to take part in the ongoing, online conversations concerning their organizations and brands. The Social Lites believe that by utilizing social media, companies are able to open a new and more direct  avenue to their client base, thereby enhancing marketing efforts and customer support.

Come join me for networking and a great educational program. Here are the meeting particulars:

Guest speaker: Jennifer Bailey

Wednesday, February 18, 2009
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Bacchanalia Private Dining
12450 Newton,  Overland Park, KS

Cost is $15 for members, $20 for guests with advance reservations

There is an additional $5 charge at the door for no reservation

RSVP on the SHBC web site

What have we learned in 2 millennia?

[Received this in an a-mail last week]

So what have we learned in 2 millennia?

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

- Cicero – 55 BC

Evidently nothing...

Simple Marketing Tactics That Pay Off Big

John Jantsch is teaming up with our friends at Palo Alto Software to present a free webinar for businesses interested in taking small action steps today that will pay off big tomorrow.

Simple Marketing Tactics That Pay Off Big in a Slumping Market is a free
webinar scheduled for Wednesday, February 11th at 12 noon Central Standard Time.

John will present 7 marketing tactics that any business can and should employ
right now and in any economic climate.

For more information and to register for this event
http://www.bplans.com/fundamentals

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

In this case, the words I’m talking about are your marketing messages. If marketing is about setting expectations, how do those expectations stand up when your prospects and customers interact with your business?

In Duct Tape Marketing we often talk about the importance of creating your strategy before jumping to tactics. Part of creating your strategy is narrowly defining who you serve and how you do that differently from everyone else who claims to do what you do. Put another way, your strategy is the core of why you are in business to begin with – to solve a particular problem for a particular group of people.

When you marketing messages come directly from your strategy, you are talking your walk. People will be able to see that and their experience will strengthen the message they received via marketing.

All too often we see small businesses skip the strategy step and jump directly to tactics. This generally leads to either copying someone else’s message and\or developing a generic message that doesn’t really mean anything.

I’m sure we have all experienced a business that loves\appreciates\values their customers in their marketing but doesn’t return messages, only calls you when there is a problem, or makes it almost impossible to talk to a real person.

These days, we are all trying to make sure our marketing dollars go as far as possible. Make sure you set the right expectations in your marketing so you can meet and exceed them when serving your customers.

5 Questions with Rachel Phillips - Search Engine Guide

This week's interview features 5 questions (plus one) with Rachel Phillips of Search Engine Guide and Small Business Brief. Both of these sites are great resources for small business owners and I highly recommend them.

1. What do you (really) do for a living?
Well, sometimes I ask myself that same question!  Having only been with Search Engine Guide for a year, I'm still fairly new to the industry.  The addition of my position has been a learning and growing process for all of us (only 3 full-time employees).  My official title is Business Development Manager, but I dabble in a little bit of everything.  My primary responsibilities include ad sales, conference sponsorships, networking (on and off line) and writing the occasional blog post.

2. What makes you different from others in your industry?
I'll take this in context of Search Engine Guide.  As a whole, Search Engine Guide and our Small Business Answers network are different because of our down-to-earth, easy to understand teaching style.  Jennifer Evans Laycock, our editor-in-chief and conference chair, works really hard to make sure articles are written in a way that small businesses can understand and implement. 

3. Who is your ideal customer?
Anyone who want so learn more about online marketing, SEO, SEM, etc.  We serve over 600,000 small business people, the bulk of whom are the business decision makers for their companies.  This includes owners, marketers, PR people and industry professionals.

4. What has been your most effective marketing strategy to date?
Honestly, just talking to people, investing time in social media, getting to know people, building relationships online that then transfer to offline.

5. I would be more effective at marketing my business if…
I were a marketer. ;)

6.  What big things should we look for from Search Engine Guide in 2009?
The new year brings growth and positive change in two ways for Search Engine Guide.  I would definitely be on the lookout for the next Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference.  We launched SBMU last year.  Two shows and rave reviews later, we're hoping to continue the series in 2009.  The other item on the agenda is the official launch of our Small Business Answers Network.  By funneling Search Engine Guide and our other sites through Small Business Answers, we hope to reach an even broader market and become a resource for everything small business related.