Get your marketing message heard

Can they hear your message?

By: LaTasha West

You’ve been busy trying to get the phone to ring or to get clients in the door but no one is calling or stopping by. No one is opening your emails, reading your blog or responding to your social media posts. You are starting to get exhausted and frustrated.

Don’t give up; maybe your audience can’t hear you.

It’s time to switch up your approach or PIVOT as I like to say. When promoting a product or service, trying to tell a story or just get someone’s attention you need the audience to hear you. 

That’s marketing- marketing is getting your message heard. So how do you do it?

Here are a few points to consider when crafting your marketing message

1. Know exactly who you are talking to. Understanding your audience will help you craft a message that speaks to them, to their hearts. People decide with their gut, hearts and emotions.

2. Meet them where they are. This doesn't necessarily mean physically, but that might work too. I mean find out what is important to them. What do they want/need? What are their pain points? If you can present a solution to a potential client’s specific problem you will get their attention.

3. Be Personal. Connect with the potential client. Use their name if you know it, comment on what they were wearing when you met, mention the place where you met. A personal connection is a great way to start a conversation.

4. Speak in a common language. Do not talk over anyone’s head. Do use big words, or company/industry jargon. Keep it simple so that they can understand you. Think about how you zone out if someone is using words that you don’t understand.

5. Keep it simple. Do not dilute your message with random facts. Keep the listener focused on what you are presenting, only mention details relevant to the point that you are making.

6. Bring it all together. After you have delivered you message, it’s time to drive it home. Remember to remind the listener of their specific problem that you are solving.  Clearly state that you understand their need and how you will help them. Talk about your benefit to them.

Try implementing these steps the next time you present your massage and let me know if you see better results!

Are you the boss of your business or is your business the boss of you?

Are you self-employed or are you a business owner?

By LaTasha West

Do you know the difference in being a business owner and being self-employed?

When you started your company, what was your vision? Are you achieving that vision?

Most entrepreneurs start out as being self-employed and eventually move into business ownership. However there are some, myself included who get stuck in the “self-employed” stage. If that is not where you want to be, then you will become drained, frustrated and feel discouraged and stagnate.

So how do you know if you are stuck being self-employed when you want to run a business? Here are a few signs to let you know that you are self-employed.

·        

             If your business can’t run without you

·         If you are actually the person making the product or providing the service

·         If you don’t work, then you don’t get paid

If this is you, you are most likely self-employed; you created a job for yourself!

Now if that was not your plan and you would like to have more time, more flexibility and greater earning power it’s time to discover how to go from being self-employed to being a business owner.

Here are a few steps to get you started

1. Determine what processes in your business can be automated

2. Hire some help, even if it’s only contract or part time

3. Create a passive income stream

Can you see the difference between being self-employed and owning a business? Those who are self-employed work “in” their business, those who are business owners work “on” their businesses.

If you are not where you want to be, don’t fret, start making changes!

Staying focused on your focus

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Staying focused on your focus

By: LaTasha West

If you are anything like me or like most creative minds you have at minimum 10 new ideas a week. The super hero in you tells you that you can do each and every idea that comes into your head, but I have to share a secret with you. That’s not the best idea.

Trying to do too many projects at once can cause you to be overwhelmed and you may get burned out. Believe me when I say I know, I have found myself working like a mouse on a wheel trying to get 6 projects launched at basically the same time. It was terrible and quite honestly I was working, working, working and getting nowhere. You have to decide what to work on now and which brilliant ideas to put in your “later folder”. The later folder is your friend, use it.

How do you decide where to put your focus? I’m glad you asked. This depends on your long term goal. For example if your goal is to make money soon, then you want to work on the project that is most likely to bring in revenue quickly.

Once you have set your BIG goal then you should tackle it one piece at a time. Take your BIG GOAL , break it into medium goals, break those in to small goals and then break those into micro goals. By doing this you will reduce your chances of being overwhelmed and loosing focus or giving up all together. This helps you FOCUS on your FOCUS. As you check items off your list you will feel accomplished.

Your focus plan may look something like this.

BIG GOAL: Host graduation party June 6th

Medium Goals: Find venue, caterer, and DJ and book them by May 1st

Small Goals: Call 4 venues for pricing and availability by Thursday

Micro Goals: Monday make a list of 10 possible venues, caterers and DJs

Make sense? By breaking each task down, into smaller quantified goals with a due date you now have focus. As you complete your micro goals, you are now set up to complete your small goals and so on.

Now you try!

Turn off the noise!

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Turn off the noise

By: LaTasha West

Distractions are everywhere; around every corner there is something to keep you from doing what you need to do.  I find that we spin our wheels doing several things and get nothing done. It’s time to turn off the noise in your head and in your life.

We must work on being intentional.

Is Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest helping you get closer to your goals? If not, then it’s not a priority it’s noise! TURN IT OFF!

Are the Real Housewives of whatever city paying you? It’s not? Guess what…it’s noise! TURN IT OFF!

Still working on the website and logo yourself? How is that coming? Clients calling you yet? No? You guessed it,, that is just another form of noise. Hire a professional so that you can work on your business. Turn off the noise!

Giving away your time and energy for free? Does this benefit you in anyway? If not…IT’S Noise!

It’s time to turn off the noise and clear your plate so that you can focus on where you want to be.

Take a couple hours and silence all of your devices, turn off all social media, close your email and put up the real or proverbial DO NOT DISTURB sign.

In this time

1. Spend about ten minutes noting your goal for the day.

2.  Take about 20-30 minutes to figure out what you need to do accomplish this goal

3. Spend the remaining time doing the items you have listed from step 2

Trust me you will be able to get much more done this way. Try it and let me know how it works!

The *ish that keeps me up at night

Since it’s after midnight and yet again I can’t sleep this week’s blog will talk about what keeps me up at night.  Usually when I can’t sleep it because there is something on my mind, more often than not it’s an idea for a business. Seriously I get at least one great business idea a week. I wonder if anyone else can relate to this. 

The problem here is that once these ideas get in my head I have to map them out. I cannot rest until I formulate an entire business concept, a color scheme, logo and strategy to take this business idea from dream to reality.  I go through this full process at least 2x per month-honestly. If someone was to get a hold of one of my notebooks, they could make themselves quite rich. Of course I am not able to birth each and every idea that I come up with, and that is the ish that keeps me up at night.

That is passion; I have a passion to create businesses! God has given me the creative talent to clearly visualize concepts and map out businesses. Sometimes I find myself asking God to please turn this off, make it go away, but week after week it continues to happen.  I've finally accepted that this is my walk, my walk is to create legacy, not just for my family but for the families of the clients that I touch as well.

My creative thinking is meant to be a blessing to those who I encounter on my way. Developing strategy and creating business blueprints is the stuff that keeps me up at night. What keeps you up?

Ipad or notepad

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Are you an Ipad or Notepad?

By: LaTasha West

This blog post is inspired by a client who I love to chat with, she is completely innovative and yet fiercely traditional at the same time.  This conversation came about because the client had an appointment scheduled and could not locate the information that she needed to manage her meeting, therefore she called me as a backup.

During our conversation she mentioned the reason she couldn't locate the required information was because her computer was down. Which is why she likes the tried and true method of having file cabinets and file folders with papers and notes. She asked did I have client files, I answered with “I used to do it that way now all of my documentation is done electronically and stored in the cloud, everything that you do on paper I do on the internet/computer”.

This stirred a thought in us both, is one method better than the other? The answer is Nope! I believe you should do what works for you. 

I’m an Ipad, She’s a notepad. Each method had pros and cons.

Her method requires that you are in a specific location to access your information, which can be limiting if you work on the go.

My method allows me to access files wherever I can access the internet, but what happens if I have no internet access?

Nowadays technology is vast and things move really quickly, people want to be able to move and deliver right away, thus the beauty of the Ipad. This allows you to record your thoughts in a format that can be forwarded on without having to rewrite or type them out at a later time.

In defense of the notepad: some people just like to write; it’s a part of their creative process. Pen and paper helps them to think and formalize their thoughts. They enjoy flipping through pages and notes.

Earlier this year, I found that as "techie" as I can be I still would rather read a good old fashioned book, and turn the pages rather than listen to an audiobook, or read an ebook. So technically I guess I am a bit of an Ipad and a notepad.

Either way works just fine, it’s a matter of style and preference, so long as you are productive. Which one are you, an Ipad or Notepad or a combination of both?

Spotlight's on you

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Are you ready to speak up?

By: LaTasha West

If you are networking for business as you should be, there will come a time when you are in a room of unfamiliar faces. This can be daunting or it can be exhilarating! No matter how it feels that moment is a pivotal moment.

As an entrepreneur we need to get the word out about who we are and what we do, especially when we are just starting out.  This is the whole reason that you attend networking events right; to see and to be seen.  Great, but are you ready if the spotlight shines on you?

Many times you will have opportunities to talk about your business by introducing yourself to the people in the room. Did you know there is an art to the introduction?  

What to say and when.  The first thing you want to do when networking is to “see”, spend a few minutes checking out the room (Sometimes you can do this before you arrive, with the help of social media.We’ll talk more about another time). As you notice who is there make a list or mental note of who you want to connect with.  If you are a women’s business coach like myself, you’ll probably want to connect with women in business, if  you are selling medical supplies, you may want to connect with any doctors in the room. Make sense? Be strategic.

Now that you know who you want to talk to, what do you say? This is your moment, possibly the only chance that you will have to get in front of this audience you must make it count! Are you ready?

Here’s when a good elevator speech or 30 second speech comes in handy. If you don’t have an elevator speech use the tips below and create yours.

This is the basic layout for an elevator/30 second speech.

I (verb) (target audience)(what I do) (benefit)

Your pitch must also be intriguing and move potential clients to action.

Example:

Tiffany the event planners 30 second pitch may look like this:

Hello my name is Tiffany; I make clients dreams come true by creating memorable weddings and other events.  Is there a milestone event that I can make memorable for you?

Tiffany started off with a bold attention grabbing statement, she explained what she did then she offered to help, all in 30 seconds or less.  A simple well-crafted elevator pitch can lead to make some great connections. Have your pitch ready!

Go ahead give it a try. If you are not sure about your pitch I’d love to help. Click here to shoot me an email with your pitch and I will offer tips and advice to help make your pitch great!