Sandra Martini's Success Strategies

Do you have THIS basic covered in your biz?

Every once in a while I see something which makes me just ask WHAT?!?.

In setting up your business, one of the VERY first things you want to do is tell everyone about what you're doing and the results you can bring your clients (just think of the referrals!).

And one of the easiest ways to do that?

I'm just not gonna take it anymore. . . #fb

Have you ever put up with things, tolerations as it were and then, finally, you have enough and refuse to deal with it anymore?   


That's exactly where I am with the design of my email newsletter.

I just don't like it anymore.

And while a new one is currently being designed, I couldn't bring myself to send out even one more issue with the design I've been tolerating.

So. . .there's no standard ezine this week.

Instead, a few questions for you to ponder:

1. It's midnight and you're answering client emails. Is this a boundary issue or are you working on your terms?
2. You're in the office Monday through Friday, from 9am - 5pm, have you created a J O B for yourself or are you maintaining boundaries?
3. Are you working when you THINK you should or when you're most productive?

So what are you tolerating and, more importantly, what are you going to do about it?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the above -- please comment below and let me know what you think.

7 Tips for Writing Great Articles for Your Ezines and Blog Posts

Do you find yourself needing to write more and more?

Here are 7quick  tips to get you writing effective articles:

7 Ways to Get More Ezine Subscribers

If you read my post from yesterday about "How many ezine subscribers do you really have", chances are good you're looking to get more targeted subscribers.

Here are 7 simple ways for you to grow your ezine list - - with integrity and authenticity!

1. Make it easy.

It's amazing to me how many people have only one sign-up spot on their website or don't include an invitation to sign up for their newsletter in their email signature.

You need to make it glaringly obvious to EVERYONE that you would like to share your newsletter with them: put a sign-up box on *every* page of your website, include an invitation in your Resource Box and on your email signature. Include a note on the back of your business card and any brochures or flyers you send out.

2. Coregistration.

Speak with ezine publishers who offer products or services which are complementary to yours.

When someone signs up for your newsletter, you refer your colleague's newsletter and vice versa. Coregistration has the benefit of adding subscribers to both your and your colleague's newsletter with no real effort.

3. Squeeze Page.

A squeeze page consists of either a simple one page website where the sole goal is to collect email addresses for your ezine OR it's a "front page" over your actual website where visitors can either choose to enter their information, click away or, in most cases, click to "enter site".

You can see an example of a one page site at www.GetControlOfYourBusinessNow.com. This is a simple one page website which I'm using while my new site is being redesigned.

4. Ezine Directories.

You can submit your ezine to online directories such at Charlie Page's Directory of Ezines (www.directoryofezines.com). The Directory allows people to search ezines by topic and decide if they wish to subscribe. It also allows other ezine publishers to contact you about using one of your articles in their newsletter.

5. Advertising.

Take a good look at other websites/newsletters which cater to your target market and advertise either on their sites or in their ezines.

By focusing only on those sites/ezines which cater to your niche, you will have a higher chance of getting interested prospects as subscribers.

6. Direct Mail.

Send a postcard to members of your target audience where you do nothing aside from inform them about your ezine and invite them to sign up.

If you are a virtual assistant who works with real estate agents, you could send a postcard to all the local (and not-so-local) real estate agents and invite them to become a subscriber.

7. Speaking.

One of the fastest ways to get sign-ups for your newsletter is to speak at public events and offer a susbscription to your ezine. You can speak at your local chamber of commerce, BNI Chapter, real estate company, or any civic groups such as the Rotary Club or Lions.

You can also offer a drawing where you give something away in exchange for names and email addresses. Just remember to let your audience know that everyone *wins* a subscription to your newsletter!

There are dozens of additional strategies to get people to sign up for your newsletter. Do some research and choose those which most resonate with you. Remember the old adage: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" -- the same is true in obtaining a thousand subscribers! :-)

How many ezine subs do you REALLY have?

I received a call from a very well-known information marketer recently asking if I'd be interested in being a featured guest on one of her teleseminars.

In order to "qualify" (she called me and yet I had to "qualify"), I had to have an ezine subscriber list of at least 5,000.

I thought a moment and then declined the call -- for a simple reason:

Conversions What do they mean and why do they matter?

Click here to listen...

We hear all the time that we need to "increase our conversions" or "get our numbers up". But what exactly does that mean and what else do we need to know?

"Conversion" is all about turning leads into paying clients and, when done well, more leads into more clients while doing it better, faster and with the least possible expense.

"Conversion" is also used to describe the result of desiring someone to take a step -- whichever step you want them to take -- whether signing up for a f'ree report, register for a strategy session, join a teleseminar or webinar, etc. -- the result is a desired action.

"Conversion Percentage" (sorry, just a little bit of math here) is defined as the "number of NEW sales" divided by the "number of leads" times 100.

And in the above case, "NEW sales" are people who are giving you money for the very first time (they're not repeat clients) and "leads" are people who have expressed, in some way, interest in what you're offering -- whether they visited your website, called your office, sent you an email, etc.

"New Client Cost" is defined as how much it costs for you to market to someone such that they give you money for the first time.

"Extreme Client Care(tm)" describes the process by which the better the care you provide to your clients, the less likely they'll be to switch to another vendor. (More on this in an upcoming series.)

Why do these terms matter?

Quite simply put, the better your conversion, the lower your new client cost AND the better your client care, the less new clients you'll need as existing clients won't leave your service and will refer others who cost almost nothing to market to (and therefore lower your new client cost even further).

You may want to read the above paragraph again to truly absorb the logic.

Make It Real -- My Request to You

Before we can even chat about increasing your conversions, you need to know where you stand today.

Ask your webmaster or assistant to get you signed up with a service such as Webstat if you don't already get statistics about the number of visitors to your site, blog, ezine sign-ups, etc.

After all, you need to know where you are in order to determine where you want to be. :-)

Confusion over CAN-SPAM law

I've noticed a bit of confusion about the CAN-SPAM law after my Marketing Mess: 16 out of 21 business owners are guilty post from yesterday. 

This post should serve to clarify at least some of the confusion as the "CAN-SPAM" (you would have thought they could have come up with a better acronym for a NON-spamming law) law was updated last year so that:

Twitter Suspension of Accounts -- Were You Prepared?

Twitter was all a tweeting with the unexpected suspension of thousands of accounts yesterday -- it was a human error and has since been fixed, but leads me to a larger question. . .

Were you prepared for it to happen? Is your marketing diversified?

Much the way we prepare for disaster by backing up our computers and having health, home and car insurance, we need to be prepared for any one of our visibility and marketing tools to hiccup.

There are thousands of ways to get the word out about your business (a.k.a. "market it"), many of them low cost and high impact.  It's imperative to the success of your business that you don't put all your eggs into one basket -- even if the basket is big and includes all of social media.

Here are several ideas of ways you can get the word out about your business:

Marketing Mess of the Week: "Soft Selling"

I recently ordered a book from Amazon and the authors signed me up for their newsletter (nowhere on the page or anywhere else I looked did it mention I'd be the recipient of this gift).

Many of their ezines (I received every few days) were brief, largely talking about the importance of "soft selling" and "closing without selling" and generally okay reads. 

Then they started promoting an event and the emails became daily and more and more about how we have to stand up against those who "hard sell" by coming to their event.

Their brief articles about all the benefits of soft selling continued, even as they proceeded to turn into "hard sellers" when it came to the event.

I waited a week to see if the hard selling would stop or even ebb, but nothing...they continued pounding away and I unsubscribed.

Always remember, you have the power to vote with your dollars AND your inbox space!

My Request to You:  Take a look around your business. . .is there any place where you're not congruent, where you're not walking your talk? 

If there is, that's okay...until now...now that you know about it, it's time to fix it.

Do you fully embrace your freedom to. . .

During this week of Independence holidays in the US and Canada, I have to wonder. . .

Do you fully embrace your freedom to take back your power and create your business without falling to all the pomp and circumstance (a.k.a. "hype") that's *out there*?

A new private client called me the other day in complete overwhelm.  You see she had a desk full of info products and systems designed to "take [her] business to the next level" and had just received another email promising the same if she would only sign up for this 4-day workshop.

Credit card in hand, she called me to ask if she should go (we had discussed that there would be "no new" purchases until some critical pieces were in place in her business. (I can't share more due to confidentiality.)

My advice to her: