KimberlyDHouston.com -- Helping Small Food, Wine and Creative Businesses Market Online

How to Up Your Business Visibility Without Spending a Dime

May 8, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment

If you’re a creative small business owner or solopreneur on a budget, no doubt you’re already using no-cost and low-cost ways to market your business.

For example, you know that consistently publishing high quality content to your blog, in your weekly newsletter, and on your social media accounts is one way to up your exposure so that when a potential customer goes online to search for that thing you do, they find you.

But there’s another way to gain exposure that doesn’t cost a dime, and can seriously propel your business visibility to the next level, and that is some good ol’ fashioned media coverage.

Getting quoted or profiled in a local, regional — or heck, even national — online or print publication confers the kind of third party validation that money can’t buy.

Anyone can pay for advertising, but getting coverage in a publication read by your target audience puts you on a whole other level, one that carries a lot more weight than a big, pricey ad could ever do. You’ll simply never get the same kind of credibility from paid advertising.

Media coverage can raise your profile, create awareness around your products and services, build credibility for you in your niche, get more traffic to your website or bricks-and-mortar location, and ultimately get more sales in your business, if done correctly.

The best thing is, you don’t have to have a big PR budget, or any PR budget at all, to do this; we’re talking DIY PR here, and today I want to share a great resource to help you get started.

This resource is HARO, and it can help you get press for yourself. You will have to learn a few things about media relations protocol and etiquette, but you’re a smart cookie, so no worries there, am I right? ; ) Plus, I’ve linked up a couple of articles below that will help you in that department.

What the heck is HARO, exactly?

HARO is an email list you sign up for to receive queries three times daily from reporters who need sources for their stories.

HARO gives you real-time media opportunities, straight from journalists on a deadline needing a source.

There are advanced and premium versions of the service, but the no-cost option is perfect for getting started, and includes dozens of queries each week from reporters looking for expert sources on a variety of subjects and topics.

Simply identify the queries that are appropriate to your products and/or services, choose queries to which your knowledge and expertise are an appropriate and exact match, and reply.

(It’s critically important to give the journalist precisely the kind of information they’re asking for, and well within their stated deadline. No off-topic or late pitches – take it from someone who used to pitch reporters on a regular basis!)

Sharing your knowledge and expertise using HARO queries can be a powerful marketing tool for your small business. You’re in business to serve a specific audience and need, so there’s no point in hiding in plain sight waiting for someone to discover you – get out there and make some noise about your awesome business!

You’ll find all kinds of helpful information on how to make the best use of HARO queries and the ins and outs of media-pitching etiquette in a good ‘ol Google search, but in a nutshell , you’ll want to keep these helpful hints in mind:

Pitch on topic, respect the deadline, and be brief/don’t waste the reporter’s time. (Also see the articles I’ve linked up below under “More Resources” for help here.)

Visit the link below and click the “Become a Source” button to start receiving your own daily HARO queries:

http://www.helpareporter.com/

More Resources:

Here’s a terrific article called “How to Pitch HARO Successfully”

http://www.bloggingprweb.com/how-to-pitch-haro-successfully

And here’s an example of how an educator – not a professional marketer or PR pro – replied to HARO queries and got hundreds of media interviews (you read that right – hundreds).

http://www.bloggingprweb.com/tips-pitching-haro

[Hey there, gorgeous. Did you know you can get my FREE weekly newsletter, with actionable tips, techniques, and how-to’s for marketing your business online, delivered straight to your email inbox each Tuesday? You betcha! Go ahead and enter your name and email address at the top right hand side of the blog now, and let’s get you glowing online.]

Filed Under: Local Business Marketing, Resources Tagged With: local business PR, media coverage for small business, PR resources

How to Generate Blog Post Ideas, Part 2

April 19, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment

Last blog post I talked about my system for consistently generating dozens of ideas for blog posts and weekly newsletter content, and shared three resources you can use to find kick-butt ideas of your own.

This time I want to talk about three other good resources for idea-gathering:

1. Google Alerts

Google Alerts will allow you to monitor any topic or search term you choose; when results are found for that search term, Google sends them to you in an email.

You choose result type: “Everything,” or, news, blogs, videos, discussions, books, etc., frequency: once a day, as they happen or once a week, and how many: “only the best results” or “all results.”

This is a great tool for generating content ideas, but you can also use it to gather market and competitor intelligence, and who doesn’t want that?

Go here to set up your own Google Alerts.

2. Blogs in your niche

I love this as an idea generator, because it’s essentially killing two birds with one stone – you’re likely reading the blogs in your niche anyway, so why not gather some ideas while you’re there? Just pop over to a few of your favorites and note what’s being written about.

But don’t stop there – you’ll also want to pay attention to which blog posts get the most interaction in the way of comments and social shares. This will give you an idea of some of the hot topics in your niche.

You’re not going to copy these ideas verbatim, of course, but use the material to spark your own ideas, and add these to your Ideas File. You can then write about these topics from the opposite viewpoint, or go deeper into them for a more nuanced view, etc.

3. HARO Queries

HARO is an email list you sign up for to receive daily queries from reporters who need sources for their stories; it stands for “Help A Reporter Out.”

There’s a whole other blog post waiting to be written about how to mine HARO for sharing your expertise and getting publicity for your business, but today I simply want point out what a great tool it is for generating blog post ideas.

Why is this a such a great short cut for getting content ideas? Because each HARO email alert will have several queries in multiple categories, and since journalists are looking for sources for these stories on a deadline, you already know they are super hot, timely topics. Just a little tip from me to you. ; )

There you have it, 3 more excellent resources to add to your blog post idea generating toolkit. And for still more idea gathering, you might want to check out forums in your niche, Tweetmeme for trending Twitter topics, Google Trends, or simply address questions your customers frequently ask .

So tell me, what are your go-to tips for coming up with blog post and newsletter topic ideas? Please share in the comments, I’d love to know your tricks!

Filed Under: Blogging, Content Strategy, Resources Tagged With: blog topic ideas, content creation, content resources, how to brainstorm content ideas

3 Content Creation Hacks That Work Every Time

April 2, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment

If you have a blog, a newsletter, social media accounts you post to daily, or any other venue that requires fresh new content on a regular basis, you’re familiar with the never-ending hunger of the content beast.

The content beast is devoted to gobbling up the very best and meatiest content you can provide, but come next week, or next day, or next hour, that content eater wants to be fed again.

And creating this content on a regular basis is what prevents a lot of harried, overworked small business owners from engaging in content marketing at all, despite its many benefits.

I get it. It seems overwhelming.

But you’re smart – you know that for marketing and SEO purposes, positioning yourself as an expert in your niche online by providing juicy new content on a regular basis is a critical piece of your marketing pie.

What you need is a system.

Because here’s the thing: great blog post or newsletter ideas don’t materialize out of the blue, like an inspirational lightning bolt from a Greek god/goddess — well, sometimes they do, but you can’t count on this bit of serendipity on a weekly basis – you need a system for coming up with ideas.

So I’m a gonna tell you what I do, then I’m going to give you the no-fail techniques I use that work like a charm, every single time, to generate fresh content ideas daily, weekly and monthly.

My personal system for consistently generating ideas for blog posts, newsletter content, guest posts, social media status updates, and so on, which can be adapted to any niche you happen to do business in, is this:

1. I keep an “Ideas File” – a Notepad doc is open on my computer at all times while I’m on the interwebs. Anytime I see anything that sparks an idea – blog post, newsletter, newspaper headline, social media status update, video, etc. – I paste the link to that resource into my Notepad doc and add a few notes about it.

2. I set aside at least one hour each week to get really quiet and do some serious brainstorming for content ideas. Early in the morning at my desk with a strong cup of coffee, a legal pad, and the patio door open seems to work best for me. (The key is to treat this hour each week like a firm it’s-written-in-ink-in-your-day-planner appointment with yourself. )

3. I commit an hour each week to go through the resources below and “idea-gather;” again, making a note in my Notepad doc of every idea that comes to me while doing so. These content creation “hacks” have served me well, and I bet they’ll do the same for you.

That’s it — that’s my current “system,” which I constantly tweak, but which works extremely well for me.

Tried-and-True Methods for Generating Heaps of Compelling Content Ideas

I’m going to take the broad topic of “small business marketing” through the paces of the content creation hacks below to show you how I do it.

1. Magazine Headlines

One of the best ways to spark ideas for blog posts your audience wants to read is to grab a bunch of magazines in your niche and read through the headlines, a handy little shortcut I wrote about in more detail in How to Create Blog Posts Your Target Audience Wants to Read.

Publishers spend thousands of dollars and do exhaustive research to figure out which stories will generate the strongest response among their readers, so why not piggyback on that research to gather some ideas for your own business/blog/newsletter niche?

Want some examples? I thought you might.

From Entrepreneur (online), I spied these headlines:

• Need Ideas for Your Business Blog? Here Are 50

• How to Create a Social Media Marketing Schedule

• How to Adopt a Sales Mindset

• In Amish Country, A Lesson in Niche Marketing

My creative juices are already flowing with ideas for a blog post and a couple of social media status updates I can do, using just the headlines here.

2. Alltop

Alltop bills itself as “an online magazine rack for your favorite topics.” Essentially, Alltop aggregates the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover a particular topic. They then group these collections, or “aggregations,” into individual web pages, and display the five most recent headlines of the information sources as well as their first paragraph.

From the “small business” topic page on Alltop, I found these interesting stories (among hundreds):

• How to Grow a Business with Little Cash

• Don’t Confuse Passion with Competence

• Do Your Services Pass the Sniff Test?

• The 5 Biggest Email Marketing Mistakes

• 7 Low-Budget Small Business Marketing Ideas

• How to Write A Business Story Pitch

3. Amazon

There are hundreds of ideas hiding in plain sight inside Amazon you can riff off of for your own content ideas. Here’s what you want to do here: search on your topic in the books category, then pick a few books in your niche from the returned results. Once you get there, click on the “Look Inside!” option on the book cover image. Once there you can cruise through the Table of Contents of said book, and let the idea sparking begin!

I searched the Books category on “small business marketing,” which returned 5193 results. Gold mine! : )

From the book “Duct Tape Marketing” by John Jantsch I see these chapters in the Table of Contents:

• Identify Your Ideal Client

• Discover Your Core Marketing Message

• Get Found Online in Your Town

From the book “Book Yourself Solid” by Michael Port, these:

• Why People Buy What You’re Selling

• Develop a Personal Brand

• The Book Yourself Solid Web Strategy

I’ve already written about getting found online in your town a little and I know it’s a topic I want to produce more content on, so that’s going into the “Ideas File,” ditto “Why People Buy What You’re Selling,” because I find the psychology of business and sales so fascinating, and it would make for a great blog article. So there ya go, I just got at least two ideas for blog posts from spending just 10 minutes on this exercise.

Now don’t you know that if I spent an hour going through the chapter titles of a few more of those 5193 books on small business marketing, I’d come up with dozens more ideas? You betcha, and you can do exactly the same thing.

There are several other resources I use regularly to generate ideas for content, which I’ll talk about next time on the blog. Until then, why don’t you give these three methods a try and see what you come up with?

What are your tried-and-true methods for coming up with great content? Share them in the Comments!

[Don’t have time to do this yourself, but want an editorial calendar of solid content ideas for your blog and newsletter for the next 60-90 days? Check out the Content Coaching/Strategy Session option on the Work With Me page!]

Filed Under: Content Strategy Tagged With: blog content ideas, brainstorming, generating ideas for blog content, newsletter content ideas

How to Get Juicy Content Ideas

March 24, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment

Staring at your computer screen, stumped for great blog post ideas?

It’s a frustrating place to be, because hey, you’re a smart cookie, you know that content marketing is one of the savviest things you can do to grow your small business. But to market with content, you gots to have ideas, inspiration, vision of what that content should be — or at least a few good blog topics up your sleeve.

If you want to get your creative sparks a flyin’, then check out this handy-dandy infographic from the fine folks at Copyblogger, and get your inner content marketing genius on.

Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

Filed Under: Content Strategy Tagged With: blog topic brainstorming, content creation, content marketing

OPC (Other People’s Content): Totally Awesome Guide to the New Facebook Pages

March 15, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment

You’re probably aware that as of March 30, 2012, all Facebook Pages will be converted to the new Timeline.

I’ve been working with a Facebook Page for one of my clients that we switched over a couple of weeks ago, and in the process of navigating my way through all the new features and capabilities I got to thinking, “if I could just find a really comprehensive text-based resource that explains all the new features and how to operate them in one place, I’d be golden.”

And just like that, I came across this wicked comprehensive gem called “The Marketer’s Guide to the New Facebook Pages,” over on Quicksprout. (One of my favorite go-to resources for topics from entrepreneurship to social media to SEO and lots more.)

I’ve linked up to it here so you can get the scoop on how to set up and navigate the new Timeline on your own Page. Whether you’re marketing for yourself or for your clients using Pages, this guide will get help you get the new Timeline set up correctly right from the get-go:

The Marketer’s Guide to the New Facebook Pages

If you’re more visually oriented, you might also want to check out this article from over on Hubspot, another gem that includes lots of great graphics:

The Complete Guide to Setting Up the New Facebook Page Design

Either way you go, both of these terrific articles should have you covered with all things Timeline.

Good luck!

Filed Under: Facebook, OPC (Other People's Content) Tagged With: Facebook marketing, Facebook pages, Facebook Timeline

What Would You Like to Stop Doing?

March 12, 2012 by admin · 2 Comments

You might want to ask yourself that.

I am, as prompted by The Burning Question this week over on Danielle LaPorte’s blog.

Every week Danielle posts a “Burning Question” on her site, which people then answer on their blogs, and that’s what I’m doing here today.

(If you don’t know who Danielle is, I highly recommend you get over to her site pronto and check her out. You know, after you finish reading this post. ; ) I think she’s amazeballs, and I’m not alone.)

So here’s what I’m going to stop doing:

Thinking small, dreaming small and playing small when it comes to my business. Undercharging for my services. Worrying that everything has to be “perfect.” Being afraid to tell that client I want to get paid – now. Changing up my informal, approachable writing & clienting style to a more corporate, play-by-the-rules, inside-the-box experience so I can be “taken seriously” by corporate types. ( I have nothing in common with those types and don’t want them as clients, so why do I care?) Hmm, what else? Participating in idle office gossip. Reading and/or watching the (bad) news. Feeling guilty about loving The Real Housewives of Orange County. And watching it. Regularly. (So there. ) ; )

And here’s what I’m going to start doing:

Celebrating my creativity, ingenuity and resourcefulness. Holding myself accountable. Talking to my girlfriends more often. Taking big crazy chances on opportunities that light me up and stretch me. Blazing into tomorrow and next week and next month on fire with faith, belief and knowing. Giving compliments to strangers. Believing, even more than I do now, that helping other people shine a light on their awesome talents and gifts is significant and necessary work, and matters in the world.

That’s my (short) list.

What’s yours?

Filed Under: Mindset & Personal Development Tagged With: burning question, Danielle LaPorte

How to Tap Into Your Inner {Bakery} Marketing Genius

March 7, 2012 by admin · Leave a Comment

Last blog post I talked about an effective problem solving technique I recently discovered to help generate ideas, come up with solutions to business and life challenges, and gain insight. (Read about the “Sentence Stems” technique here. Big ups to Rich Schefren, who I first learned about this technique from.)

At the end of that post, I said I’d take you through some ideas I generated when I applied this exercise to a friend’s dilemma of getting more customers into her bakery (mostly cupcakes) using no cost or low cost marketing methods.

Keep in mind that when you’re completing the sentence stems daily, not everything you write will be worthwhile, or even doable, and that’s OK. The idea is to step outside your limitations, think big, and just write whatever comes to mind without censoring yourself.

If you work on your sentence stem exercise daily, at the end of a week or two I guarantee you’ll have at least a few really good, workable ideas.

The sentence stem I constructed for my friend’s bakery was this:

“I could get more customers into my bakery using no or low cost marketing if I . . .”

. . . partnered with other small businesses in my community to tap into their audiences. I could approach caterers, wedding planners, event planners, etc. and offer to do joint promotions with them.

. . . hooked up with a local florist and offered to do “a dozen cupcakes with a dozen roses” kind of delivery, or similar.

. . . dropped off samples with a business card and price sheet/order form to offices in my area for their employee birthday celebrations and other office parties where food goodies are needed.

. . . came up with something no one else is doing to set myself apart from other bakeries in my community, like offering special order baked goods with free delivery or similar.

. . . offered customer loyalty cards where after the 10th visit, the customer gets a free cupcake or similar.

. . . partnered with another small biz owner to cut costs and rented booth space at a high-traffic bridal show.

. . . participated in the local farmers’ market weekly.

. . . offered to provide goodies for a local biz networking event (along with plenty of business cards and order forms!).

. . . offered to sponsor or host a local business networking event in my place of business.

. . . went to one local business networking event per week.

. . . offered to speak to a local networking group about how I started my dream bakery business.

. . . partnered with a wine bar or similar to do a monthly cupcake and wine tasting. We both send out invites to our email lists and invite our local Facebook and Twitter following as well.

. . . did cupcake decorating lessons to get peeps into my place of business – they pay for the class & supplies and get to keep the cupcakes.

. . .offered a Mother & Daughter cake decorating or cupcake decorating class to celebrate Mother’s Day, and other similar holiday-themed classes.

. . . provided baked goods to realtors for their open houses.

. . . did daily Facebook and Twitter promos: Do a status update in the a.m. with the flavors that will be running that day, then as the flavors start selling out, highlight this fact on Facebook and Twitter to build excitement: “Key lime custard almost gone, 6 left, come in and get yours!” etc.

. . .did a “question of the day,” where I post a trivia question or similar first thing in the morning to Facebook and Twitter, and the first person to come in and answer it correctly gets a free brownie or cupcake, then announce the winner on Facebook and Twitter at the end of the day.

. . . donated a beautifully decorated gift package of baked goods to a silent auction once per quarter.

. . . placed an email opt-in form on my website and collected email addresses. Then send my email list special promotions, coupons, flyers, info about baking classes, recipes, etc. etc. to build customer loyalty (and collect email addresses in store, during baking classes, at trade shows and any and every other appropriate time and opportunity, because an active email list is one of the very best business assets you can have – but that’s a sentence stem brainstorm for a whole other post!)

. . . started a blog about baking.

. . . submitted guest posts to local food-related blogs.

. . . pitched a story to my local newspaper’s food section about my awesome local food-based business.

OK, there are 22 ideas. Mind you, some of them might not be workable, but many of them are. And these 22 things I came up with in one sitting of around 20-30 minutes. If I had done the sentence stems exercise every day for a full week or two as suggested, the list would obviously be way longer. But you get the idea.

Sometimes it’s just about giving yourself permission – and time – to get really still and brainstorm. And doing this regularly will loosen up all kinds of ideas for you, I just betcha. : )

Now you give it a try, and let me know how you do in the comments!

Filed Under: Local Business Marketing Tagged With: bakery marketing, brainstorming techniques, low cost marketing, no cost marketing

How to Tap Into Your Inner Genius in 10 Minutes a Day

February 29, 2012 by admin · 2 Comments

Today I want to share a very effective problem solving technique I recently discovered. This technique will help you generate ideas, come up with solutions to business and life challenges, and generally gain insight into anything you’re currently trying to work through.

The technique is called “Sentence Stems,” which I was introduced to through Rich Schefren’s “One Step Ahead” newsletter. It’s easy and even fun to do, and takes just 10 minutes per day, though you can spend as much time as you like on it.

Here’s how it works:

Start with a sentence stem that’s based on a challenge you’re trying to work through, a goal you want to achieve, a problem you want to solve or anything else you want to gain insight into. The sentence stem itself will contain the solution to the problem you want to solve or outcome you want to achieve.

For example:

“I could start earning more money each month right now if I . . . .”

“It would be easier to get referrals for my business if I . . .”

“I could get 2 new clients in the next 30 days if I . . .”

• Then every day for a week (or for maximum results, two weeks), write out 6-10 endings to the sentence stem.

• Each day (ideally first thing in the morning, when you’re fresh and full of energy!), write out your sentence endings without looking at the previous day’s answers — you don’t want your previous day’s answers to guide your new answers.

• Write your endings as quickly as possible without second guessing yourself, worrying about perfect grammar or spelling, or stopping to “decide” if this idea will work or not. Just write. The idea here is to bypass your conscious mind and tap into the powerful awareness of your subconscious mind.

• Try not to use the same ending more than once.

• Now, at the end of your 7 days or 14 days or however long you decided to do this, review everything you’ve written, strike out any repetitions, and consolidate what’s left. Some of the ideas you wrote down will give you new ideas; write these down as well.

• Then review your list again, decide which ideas are best, and prioritize the ones that are immediately actionable, and begin taking action on them.

Now, your sentence stems don’t have to be business related of course. Your stems will be about whatever particular challenge you’re currently facing.

Maybe you want to get healthier, so your sentence stems could look like this:

“It would be easier to exercise 3-4 days per week if I . . .”

“It would be easier to eat a healthy diet daily if I . . . “

And so on. You get the idea.

Let me tell you, this technique works. I used the sentence stem “I could increase my monthly income immediately if I . . .” and after just 4 days of doing the exercise, I have 28 ideas, and the week’s not over yet. What’s more, I’ve already taken action on one of these ideas, which is going to net me an extra $1100 in income next month. And I still have 27 more ideas to explore – wheeeee! ; )

The idea I took action on is something that wouldn’t necessarily have crossed my mind had I not done this exercise. Although it isn’t an ideal solution to a consistent increase in my monthly income year round, it doesn’t matter, because what I was after was a solution to more income right now, within the next 30 days, and that’s what I got.

I even wrote down my next half dozen sentence stems to work on when I’m finished with the current one.

One of the other benefits of doing this exercise is it will get you thinking of solutions and answers even when you’re not actively completing your sentence stems each morning. I’ve come up with ideas lying in bed, while in the shower, while in (boring) meetings, driving around, and in the market.

Now YOU try it, you genius you! ; )

And next blog post, I’m going to take you through some ideas I generated when I applied this exercise to a friend’s dilemma of getting more customers into her bakery/cupcake shop. Stay tuned!

[Hey there, gorgeous. Did you know you can get my FREE weekly newsletter, with actionable tips, techniques, and how-to’s for marketing your business online, delivered straight to your email inbox each Tuesday? You betcha! Go ahead and enter your name and email address at the top right hand side of the blog, and let’s get you glowing online.]

Filed Under: Mindset & Personal Development Tagged With: brainstorming techniques, problem-solving techniques

kimberlydhouston.com

How to Up Your Business Visibility Without Spending a Dime

How to Generate Blog Post Ideas, Part 2

How to Get Juicy Content Ideas

OPC (Other People’s Content): Totally Awesome Guide to the New Facebook Pages

What Would You Like to Stop Doing?

How to Tap Into Your Inner {Bakery} Marketing Genius

How to Tap Into Your Inner Genius in 10 Minutes a Day

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