"Be the Buzz" Marketing: Find us on Facebook!

"Be the Buzz" Marketing and Social Media Strategy is a one-to-one how-to program I designed to help solopreneurs and small businesses unleash the Internet! Visit the Facebook Page for more information. When you join Facebook, and if you become a fan of the Be the Buzz Marketing, you'll receive regular updates such as helpful internet tips and announcements of workshops. Now is the time to put free and low cost internet solutions to work for your business! See you at "Be the Buzz" Marketing by Diane Design It!

How is your Online Marketing and Social Networking going to attract leads to you?

In my internet marketing business, I often discuss the how-tos of attracting warm leads by creating "buzz" around your business. I help many solo-entrepreneurs "brand" themselves, attract referrals, develop a free offer, use capture forms on websites, implement autoresponders and email marketing, and engage in social media networking.

This article from The Multiple Streams Queen and Coach Alicia Forest about the "Compelling Free Offer" is just so good, I want to share it with everyone! Here it is, reprinted in full!

If you would prefer to listen to the article on her blog, click here.

What's Your CFO (Compelling Free Offer)?
By Alicia M Forest, MBA
6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor

One of the reasons I love the business model I teach is because it effortlessly PULLS clients to me. I never have to chase them or worry about having as full a roaster as I want. The first step in making this happen is creating what I call your CFO - Compelling F.r.e.e. Offer. The problem is that very few solo-preneurs actually utilize this simple method of attracting all the clients they want.

Your Compelling F.r.e.e. Offer (CFO) is what entices people to want to find out more about you and what it is that you're offering. When you make your complimentary offer compelling enough, more people will be interested in taking advantage of it, which increase the audience to which you can then market to.

Your CFO can be packaged in a variety of ways: a mini e-course, a checklist, a CD, an audio download, a special report, a free teleseminar, etc. I offer a few different CFOs - a special report, an audio download, and for joint ventures I offer one of my paid products for free as a bonus to their paid offering.

The content of your CFO should be broad in scope, yet address a particular problem your target market is struggling with, something that they'd pay to have a solution to. That's what makes your offer compelling in the first place, and it's what attracts them into your Marketing & Product Funnel. Your CFO should be loaded with valuable content, so much so that you leave your prospect thinking, "wow, if this is what he/she gives away, imagine what his/her paid stuff must be like!"

To lead them further down your funnel, you'll want to be sure to not give away the store in your CFO, but share what the problem is, what your solution to the problem is, giving them a taste of how you can solve it for them. But what's key to making your CFO successful is to not just give great content, but to leave them with wanted more. The 'more' comes by way of your paid products and services.

The results of having a CFO are three-fold: you build your credibility and become known as an expert in your niche, your word-of-mouth marketing catches fire, and you're approached to share your CFO with even more people through joint ventures and strategic partnerships.

The mistake I made when I first started my consulting business was trying to pitch my services to people who didn't even know me (I cringed when I remember all those wasted early morning networking breakfasts). We all know that it's much easier to get business by referral, right? Because the person referring you has a relationship with you, and they have come to know, like and trust you well enough to pass your name along to their friends and colleagues.

That's what this method of marketing does for you. Your CFO is the start of building that critical know, like and trust factor with your prospects so that when they are ready to invest some money in a solution to their problem - whether via a product or service - your name is at the top of the list.

And the best part? You NEVER have to sell them on what you're offering. It's brilliant, really.

So, start researching what it is that your target market wants most, what problem is keeping them up at night. Then create your solution and offer it to them as your CFO to get them into your Marketing & Product Funnel. It's a winning formula every time!

Alicia M Forest, MBA, 6-Figure Business Breakthrough Mentor, teaches self-employed professionals how to attract more clients, create profit-making products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create wild abundance in your business, visit www.ClientAbundance.com

Workshops designed to help you Unleash the Internet!

Internet marketing is on everyone's agenda! It's certainly on mine! Coast to coast, business owners have moved marketing off the back burner for obvious reasons. We're all in the business of sales, and we're all marketers! So, here in Highlands County, I've had the pleasure of presenting three different seminars to many entrepreneurs and businesses.

These lunch & learn style workshops have been sponsored by the Sebring Chamber of Commerce and Lunch Club Wednesday for both organizations members throughout March and April. So, in case you missed these, you may be interested in sponsoring them for your members or employees. Here's what it's all about and what people are saying!

"Unleash the Internet and Put it to Work!"
We will cover the basic needs for any solo-entrepreneur or small business to do business online, such as having a reliable e-mail provider, personalizing the e-mail signature, obtaining a local fax to email number, obtaining a domain name with a professional email address, publishing content on the web so you can be found by search engines, and having a list management/email marketing system to manage leads that come from your web efforts! There will be helpful handouts for participants.

"Don't Keep your Business a Secret Online!"
We will get into the Social Media state-of-mind by examining how to use free and low-cost internet tools to make connections with buyers online - and why business people should engage in social networking! It will be a fast-paced introduction to Blogger, Squidoo, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook Pages for Business, Linkedin, Twitter micro-blogging, and Real Simple Syndication. We will discuss web strategy, the concept of branding, and how to marry social networking and your website or landing page. I will also offer advice on the etiquette of social media... some dos and dont's that are not apparent to new users.

What attendees have to say:

"Awesome Class, Looking forward to you being my internet marketing consultant. I thought I was already ahead of the social marketing curve, but I was humbled by how out of the loop I truly was, you opened my eyes to the full potential of internet marketing." - Steve Nyhan, Licensed Insurance Agent

"Do whatever you have to do to get to one of Diane's seminars. Or hire her for a one-on-one consultation. Affordable - You'll get a great return on your investment!" - Jeanny Campbell, LifeSuccess Consultant

"A wealth of information and Diane delivers it with enthusiasm." - Susan Beder, Owner, Scosta Supply

"These {seminars} are genuinely valuable to everyone! Diane offers so much information in such a short time. I learned several practical ways to market my businesses online." - Leslie Loughlin, C&C Title

"Diane, you are not only knowledgeable, but very patient, which encourages questions and dialog." - Vanessa Logsdon, Administrator, Highlands Little Theatre

"A great way to learn different venues available on the Internet in order to promote yourself!" - Kristin Handley, Owner, Embroidery & Beyond

"I've learned a lot of new information that will help me with the clubs and organizations I'm involved with." - Diana Albritton, Albritton Insurance, Founder, Lunch Club Wednesday

Creative Genius Meetup: Getting creative professionals together!

Have you ever had a stroke of creative genius, got it laid out on the proverbial napkin, then got stuck? This group is about helping each other get "unstuck", move forward, and take creative genius to the next level.

If you are looking for a creative professional, or if you are a creative professional looking to get found, this group is for you! We are committed to creating a network of creative professionals who want to gain and share skills, start or grow their business, and make valuable new contacts (and friends!).

We're bringing together everyone involved in artistic or creative professions and/or endeavors like website and graphic designers, photographers, bloggers and writers, fine artists, entrepreneurial innovators, and more.

Creative Genius Meetup
Wedneday, April 15, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Brewster's in Sebring, FL
Please RSVP at the link above
or email Diane: diane@dianedesignit.com

It's never been a better time to harness the power of the digital age and social networking than right now. Let's meetup, combine our collective creative genius, network, and learn from each other!

The creative genius meetup welcomes all creative professionals, local or from out of town! We are situated in Highlands County in the Heartland of Florida 1-1/2 hour south of the Disney area of Orlando or 1-1/2 hour west from Ft. Pierce or 1-1/2 hour east of Sarasota. Come visit our beautiful lake country and oak hammocks!