How to use someone else's blog to find your next client

In the online world, there are numerous ways to find clients for the products or services you're offering. Putting up a professional website, blogging, being active in different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, doing a Google Search, networking… these are only some of the methods one can find clients online. But did you know that you can actually use someone else's blog to find your next client?

Yes, guest posting or even just commenting on someone else's blog can help you reach new clients who may be interested in obtaining your products or services. And you don't even have to be a blogger to be able to do this.

Relevant personal brand

The key here is to get the attention of the clients you want. This means that the blogs you choose to comment on or guest post in should be relevant to your personal brand. If you're an internet marketer, for example, it wouldn't really help your campaign to find clients if you're going to guest post in a graphic designer's blog. Obviously, the ones who visit that blog are interested in graphic design, not in internet marketing services.

In addition to being relevant, some other things you should look for in a blog is one that accepts guest posts and one that has a good number of active audience. After all, if it's a blog that doesn't really get a lot of visitors and people who are actively commenting, then your guest post or comment will not really get the attention you want.

Now that we've looked at what we need to look for in the blog we participate in, let's see what we need to do to become noticed and be found by clients.

Being found

First, your guest post or comment should be related to the blog as well as your niche topic. After all, the owner of the blog wouldn't accept your post if it doesn't meet the guidelines he set up. Also, comments such as "Great post!" or "Nice entry!" aren't going to be noticed by potential clients. To get attention, you really have to think about your comment, contribute to the discussion and show off your personality. You can even make suggestions that are relevant to the post, which can really make other people notice your comment among all the others.

Also, if your guest post gets accepted, make sure to respond to all those who comment on it. You should also help spread the word about your guest post by posting it in the social media platforms you're active on, such as Twitter and Facebook.

The more people who will view and read your guest posts and comments, the more potential clients you will be able to reach.

One last thing to remember is that it's not enough to simply guest post or comment on a popular blog and then hope for the best. You should take this opportunity to network with your peers and form better connections with people involved in the same career.The more connections you have, the more likely the chance that you will be able to find your next client.

About the Author

"Maria Elena Duron, CEO (chief engagement officer), buzz2bucks | a word of mouth marketing firm, is skilled at making networks "work" and harnessing powerful online and offline buzz, she facilitates online visibility services and word of mouth coaching and workshops – taking companies and professionals from buzz-worthy to bucks-worthy, http://buzz2bucks.com."

Using Google+ Circles to Create Relationships

Google+ is fast becoming a popular social networking tool. People are basically comparing it to Facebook, which has over 750 million users today. But what exactly does Google+ offer that Facebook doesn't? Would people actually get more value in one over the other? Take a look at Google+ Circles, a feature that the new platform is highlighting as one of its best, and which addresses social relationships and how people interact with each of their "circles."

Lessons from offline networks

Basically, the concept of Google+ Circles is based on making your online connections similar to your connections in the real world. It offers you the ability to create "circles" for each group of people you interact with, such as a circle for your friends, a circle for your family, a circle for your colleagues, and so on. The idea is that you typically share different information with each of these groups, meaning what you share with your friends, for example, may not exactly be what you want to share with your family. With Google+ Circles, creating a group is easy and convenient.

Though Facebook actually offers you this feature, as you have the ability to create "Friends Lists," it's a lot more difficult to manage, and most users don't even know about it, which is why most Facebook users don't really use this feature.

So how can Google+ Circles help you create and build relationships?

Since managing each group is a lot easier, it also makes it a lot less difficult to enjoy much deeper and meaningful conversations with each of your groups. Unlike with Facebook, where you have to censor your posts sometimes since all of your friends will get to see them, with Google+ Circles, you can actually be more confident about your posts, knowing that only the chosen group will be able to see it.

Brands can also take advantage of this feature by grouping their followers to interact more meaningfully with each of them. This would mean a better interaction with each group as you get to address each of their concerns more appropriately.

Of course, right now, Google+ is currently offering its membership to a selected few and are not yet allowing brands to participate. But there is news that they will soon be offering this feature, which is similar to creating a company page in Facebook.

Some people have expressed their concerns about Google+ Circles. For example, there is the fact that your relationships with each person in the real world can be incredibly fluid – though this person may start out as your colleague, she can become a very close friend in time. Or what if you quit your old job and get a new one… this means your "work" group doesn't apply anymore, so do you create a new "work" group and rename the old one as "former colleagues," perhaps? It seems like you will be doing a lot of organization to make sure that everything works perfectly in your Circles. So it may be something that Google+ still has to address.

But right now, most people who have tried Google+ are raving about the Circles feature. It is truly an excellent way to help you build more meaningful relationships with each of your groups.

About the Author

"Maria Elena Duron, CEO (chief engagement officer), buzz2bucks | a word of mouth marketing firm, is skilled at making networks "work" and harnessing powerful online and offline buzz, she facilitates online visibility services and word of mouth coaching and workshops – taking companies and professionals from buzz-worthy to bucks-worthy, http://buzz2bucks.com."

Advertising programs – Discover the right formula for business growth

Many small business owners get nervous when committing to big ticket advertising. While Social Media is important, it does not replace traditional advertising, rather it supports it.

Building a business is like building a house. Think of your website and Social Media as the foundation of your house. The exterior of your home, landscape and gardening are the advertising inviting those passing by to come and take a look.

Without the advertising, many may not find you. Relying on your business coming up on Google alone is a dangerous proposition and here's why. Someone who finds you on Google because they have typed in some keywords, may find you but will also find your competition who are also likely advertising in your keyword category.

If you are advertising both on Google and through conventional advertising like radio and television then you will see the best of both worlds; business through search engine searches and business through other advertising programs.

Many business owners have allocated more of their advertising dollars, in recent years to search engine advertising programs which can be more affordable but also highly competitive. This doesn't work for all types of businesses, so how does one know if they should be doing both; search engine advertising and conventional advertising?

The most important things that should be considered when deciding if conventional advertising will work for your business is:

1. Assess your appetite for risk. Thomas Jefferson said that "The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time". If you are afraid to take risks, not advertising at all is not the answer. Explore advertising programs that will cost no greater than 4x the fee earned on one sale.

2. Look at your average value per/deal. If the average fee that you earn per/deal is $2,500, start out with a budget of $ 10,000 per/month.

3. Research, research, research. Define your niche market and ask advertising entities for data that supports who watches/listens to their medium to ensure that you choose a station that speaks to your niche in the marketplace.

The goal is to find an advertising program that will work. Throw all your money behind one well researched entity. So many businesses make the mistake of taking a decent advertising budget and spreading it around between several mediums. I like to follow the philosophy "own the station you are advertising on". You will have more success placing the dollars in one place and having a good rotation (your Ad's play frequently) than to spread your budget around (less frequency across more mediums).

Finally, don't give up. It may take time and some investment to find the advertising formula that will work for your firm. Once you discover the right formula, you will enjoy business growth that will exceed your expectations. For more information visit www.marketingforce.ca

About the Author

Assure Assess will connect you to your markets online.  Our team will work with you to ensure we understand your objectives and target audience to craft online media programs that will attract the right buyers.

We focus on your success!

Call 1 (888) 766-1221 or visit www.marketingforce.ca

Building a High-Impact Market Intelligence Product Portfolio

You spend large amounts of time to collate research data, survey questionnaires, stakeholder interviews, news alerts and social media information. How can you ensure that your key messages don't get lost in the deliverables?

We ask Hans Hedin, GIA Webinar presenter in Building a High-Impact Market Intelligence Product Portfolio, for some suggestions.

Should intelligence deliverables be branded?

"Yes, branding is most important.

Organizations often suffer from information overload and it might then be difficult to distinguish between internally developed and other reports. Internally developed market intelligence reports typically are of higher quality and consider the organization's perspective fully. If properly branded, such market intelligence deliverables will "stand out" and get identified quickly. This will of course, save time and improve decision-making capability.

On another practical point, branding deliverables means you can track them and hopefully, prevent people from copying and distributing them freely without acknowledging the source.

It also helps to promote your "products" and raise awareness of the market intelligence function.

You can brand both the deliverables and the people who worked on the deliverables. If you illustrate your role within an organization chart, you can also show the rest of the organization who you are and who you work for. This may help build internal authority and credibility. Just make sure you brand the deliverables consistently."

What is the best way to package market intelligence deliverables?

"The market intelligence team needs to develop a comprehensive portfolio of deliverables. This may consist of several levels.

The first level might be "Self Service", where managers obtain off-the-shelf reports regarding specific competitive issues. The second level could then be "Specific Reports", consisting of market, competitor or technology profiles, for example. The third level would be a more "Tailored Market Intelligence" approach, where management has a specific question that the market intelligence team needs to help find the answers to. The final level would be "strategic projects" which consist of sophisticated and in-depth deliverables.

For all three levels, you need to first ensure that you know your audience. Take the initiative to engage your internal customers in a continuous dialogue. It is useful to scope out what will or will not help them, and what you are realistically able to offer in your portfolio of deliverables. Some companies use surveys and benchmarking for this purpose.

Do ask them what questions they are trying to answer. What decisions do they need to make? What do they really need, versus what they would like to have? How much time do they realistically have to review the deliverables? What formats will be most helpful? Do they have any special requirements? For example, adapt your presentations and charts for someone who is visually color challenged. Some companies are even beginning to use videos as delivery tools."

How can deliverables be communicated with credence?

"The person delivering the market intelligence messages must first have the proper authority within the company in order to be able to make the message trustworthy. It might be necessary to develop the competence of the market intelligence professionals so that they become more like management consultants rather than information professionals.

It is helpful that they also present intelligence messages from the recipients' perspective. What are the recommendations and actionable items? What is the impact?

It helps to have a senior executive or board member as a champion, so that more recommendations can be acted upon. For this to happen, you need to make sure you have a seat at leadership forums or meetings."

What can we learn from the GIA webinar on Building a High-Impact Market Intelligence Product Portfolio?

"First, the listeners will get to understand why it is critical to have a complete market intelligence deliverables portfolio, and the competence level needed to produce various types of intelligence deliverables. Next, you will also learn how to create an intelligence portfolio and listen to how Best Buy have successfully developed and extended their market intelligence deliverables.

This webinar is part of a series that we are hosting on the Key Success Factors for World Class Market intelligence, trademarked by GIA. The other webinars coming up will cover market intelligence tools, organization, culture and processes. It is a webinar series we have developed targeted specially at those who are responsible for setting up and running international market intelligence functions."

Author: Hans Hedin, Vice President, Business Development, Global Intelligence Alliance

This article and others from GIA's World Class Market Intelligence practice can be found at Global Intelligence Alliance Insights and Analysis

About the Author

Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA) is a strategic market intelligence and advisory group. GIA was formed in 1995 when a team of market intelligence specialists, management consultants, industry analysts and technology experts came together to build a powerful suite of customized solutions ranging from outsourced market monitoring services and software, to strategic analysis and advisory.

Visit Global Intelligence Alliance