Stories are the most powerful ways in which we share our thoughts, dreams and ideas.  Identify the Real Story of your business, and you create a powerful marketing tool.  Sometimes, the Real Story of your business is about your business.  Here’s a way to begin thinking about your Business Story:

Finding the business’s story: Has your business overcome adversity?  We cheer for the businesses that found a way to come back after 9/11 in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City or after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  Has your company weathered bad times, lopsided competition, succession crises or problems and come back stronger than ever?  People love a come-back story (notice that Rocky Balboa has six movies!).  Is your company a family business that has been around for generations?  Has your company changed dramatically with technology changes, or been able to remain unchanged because of a classic product despite the passage of time?

The answers to these questions become the heart of your Business story.

Once you uncover your Real Story, it affects the way you communicate about your business and the way you think about yourself, your products and your customers.

Try this tip in your marketing, and see how it affects your results.

For more great ideas, get my free e-book, “154 Power-Packed PR and Marketing Tips” at
http://www.dreamspinnercommunications.com/page/page/5319972.htm

What is the story of your business?  Sometimes, part of the story is about your product or service. If you don’t think your business has a story to tell, here is the second way to uncover your Real Story:

Think about the product’s story: What need does your product meet?  I have a Laundromat customer who doesn’t just give people clean clothes—he helps them show their love for their families and succeed in the workplace by having a neat and clean appearance.  In his city neighborhood of recent immigrants who are climbing the ladder of prosperity, family and self-respect are very deeply held values.  Do your services or products offer people security, good health or a chance to succeed?  What is the need that prompts your customer to buy?

Once you uncover your Real Story, it affects the way you communicate about your business and the way you think about yourself, your products and your customers.

Try this tip in your marketing, and see how it affects your results.

If you’re feeling mystified about marketing, join me on my next teleseminar conference call.  I’ll demystify marketing for you and help you save money, get results and create marketing programs you feel good about. Get the details at www.GailMartinMarketing.com

Stories sell.  Stories reach us in a deep and memorable way that sales pitches do not.

What is the story of your business?  Sometimes, part of the story is about you, the business owner.  Sometimes, the story is built around the owner’s passion to right a wrong. If you don’t think your business has a story to tell, here’s one place you can begin to uncover your Real Story:

The owner’s story: Some types of stories reach very deep into the American consciousness.  Stories about second chances, self-made successes, hard-working newcomers who realize the “American dream” and reinvention speak to very deeply held beliefs about who we are.  I have one client who came as an exchange student from China, received her education here and met her husband.  Because of the gift of a pearl necklace from an aunt, this client and her husband now own a pearl importing and jewelry design business.  Her story of reinvention and adaptation while retaining her roots has gotten her media coverage and positive exposure for her business.

Once you uncover your Real Story, it affects the way you communicate about your business and the way you think about yourself, your products and your customers.

Try this tip in your marketing, and see how it affects your results.

For more great ideas, get my free e-book, “154 Power-Packed PR and Marketing Tips” at www.GailMartinMarketing.com.

How well did your communications strategy serve you in the last year?  First, look at your business plan.  What were your major business goals?  Did you reach them?  Did you fall short?  Think about the outcomes achieved over the last year.  What would you like to get more of in next year?  What would you like to avoid?  On what product or services or in what customer segment did you realize the highest profit margins?

Who is your target audience?  Are there untapped customer niches you have not yet exposed to your product or services?  Do you need to up-sell or cross-sell your existing customers so that they do more frequent and profitable business with your firm?  Are there people with similar characteristics to your existing customers whom you have not yet reached?  What about business-to-business customers—are they hearing a message tailored just for them?  Could your vendors be referral sources if they only knew what kind of potential customers to refer?

Understanding your target audience is essential to creating effective marketing messages.  Once you understand your audience, you can tailor your marketing to helping them solve their problem.  Solving a problem is the heart of making a sale or providing a service.

Try this tip in your marketing, and see how it affects your results.

If you’re feeling mystified about marketing, join me on my next teleseminar or monthly conference call—check out the schedule at www.GailMartinMarketing.com

For more great ideas, get my free e-book, “154 Power-Packed PR and Marketing Tips” at
http://www.dreamspinnercommunications.com/page/page/5319972.htm

Think about what it costs you to go to an average trade show, and then reconsider the question. Companies will routinely spend tens of thousands of dollars to stuff trade show goodie bags with all kinds of useless stuff, much of which is given to the attendees’ children or dumped on a breakroom table for office “vultures” who will never be purchasers or decision-makers.

Now think about who is likely to download a white paper or a limited-use trial subscription. These are not casual freebie collectors. These are likely to be people who are seriously shopping for a current need.

Much of what is given away on the internet is really re-purposed content. That is, it was created for another use and has fulfilled its initial purpose. Now the choice is to have it lie around collecting virtual dust, or be out helping to sell your company.

So are you giving away the store? Only if you are giving away something you could actually sell. If you created audio recordings of a five-part teleseminar series that is still fresh and relevant, maybe you give the first session for free and offer the other four recordings for a nominal fee. If it’s more than a year old and you are routinely creating new content, give the whole thing for free but use it to plug this year’s new content. Or, give away one level of information (white papers, articles, short web/audio) and then offer a paid level of access to get more in-depth information (teleseminars, webinars, trial products or beta downloads).

Remember that customers need to trust you before they buy from you. The more intangible your product, the more difficult it is for them to “test-drive” before the commit. That’s why case studies, articles, etc. are so important for knowledge providers, and why limited-use downloads and limited-access trial periods are essential for product/service providers.

They say that “location, location, location” is the key—but sometimes, it’s the problem.

 I was just at a business function where the owner of a local printing company bemoaned the fact that Internet printers are putting pressure on long-time printers.  His company hadn’t invested in digital printing, relying instead on being one of the largest off-set printers in the area.  For years, that was good enough.  But it’s not working anymore.

 Here’s why.  In the “old days”  (pre-Internet), companies could carve out a market by being the only local whatever.  There are fewer and fewer products and services where “local” alone is good enough to guarantee you a market. 

 Sure, you can’t order a fresh-brewed latte from out-of-state, but you can buy a latte maker and order the coffee from anywhere in the world.  You can even order pizza and a gourmet dinner via one of the many upscale frozen food companies that deliver anywhere in the US.  (You may not save on the cost of the entrée, but there’s no charge for your drink, tax or tip.) 

 Location alone won’t save you.  If you can’t compete on price with the people who provide the same service via the Internet, then you’re going to have to compete on turnaround, exceptional customer service or really tangible value-addeds to keep your business.

 Most companies are stuck thinking of themselves as limited by a certain local geographic region—usually the distance they or their customers are willing to drive for a face-to-face meeting.  Who said that had to be the limit?

 Most of my business is done via phone with customers I have never met in person.  Much of the work I contract out is done by talented people who had the right skills at the right price all over the world.  Welcome to the global economy.

 Wake up!  How can you repackage, repurpose or rebundle your services to provide something that could be provided to anyone, anywhere? 

 Real estate is supposed to be the ultimate “local” business. But a growing number of real estate agents in high-growth areas are connecting with agents in areas where people are leaving due to relocation.  They work out a referral fee that benefits both parties, and suddenly, the whole of North America is their territory.  Restaurants may find a way to mail a favorite menu item (the Penn State Diner has been mailing its oh-so-wonderful Grilled Stickies to hungry alums for decades), or even a sauce or dressing.  Think you’re limited by licensure?  Oh really?  Does “WebMD” ring a bell?  How about the places that sell pet medications or contact lenses via the web?

 The problem isn’t with the market, it’s with the mind.  Envision yourself as a national or international business person.  Now—how do you supply your service or product to your market?  Yes, it means making changes to your mindset, your pricing, your business model and your goals.  Suck it up, pull up your big boy tighty-whiteys or your big girl panties and get over it.  Shift happens.  And when the market shifts, those who don’t figure out how to shift with it get left behind.

 If you’re having a real estate problem with your marketing, it’s time to foreclose on old ideas and flip your intellectual property to a whole new way of looking at the world.

By Gail Martin, DreamSpinner Communications

I was at a conference last week, and a colleague of mine bemoaned that with Facebook and Twitter and the rest of the social media sites, there really is no such thing as privacy anymore–and we’ve given it up voluntarily.

My response was to ask whether he’d ever lived in a small town. Because if you hail from a small town, you know that there are pros and cons to being in a place where everyone not only knows your name–but where you’ve been and what you had for dinner last night.

In a small town, people feel as if they know each other because they see one another around a lot. They’re not really best friends–but they make small talk, something that doesn’t happen much in a big city. And since everyone knows everyone else, talking about what other people are doing is high entertainment.

As a business person, it also means that you have plenty of opportunities throughout your day to make a good impression, say hello, remind someone that you are waiting to hear back from them or recommend a good book. In other words, to make human connections.

Having a good reputation in a small town will get you far. And having a bad reputation will sink you. There’s no place to hide because everyone knows where you live.

Where am I going with this as far as business and social media?

I hear a lot of small business owners struggling with what to do with social media and how to use it. It seems alien and mysterious to them. But those same business owners would be right at home in a small town, saying hi to people who are “friendly strangers” and wishing someone a happy birthday and making chit-chat about a good TV show or the local team’s win. And business owners know that being seen and being friendly is a big step toward winning new customers.

Has the light bulb gone on yet? Social media is bringing a sense of that small town connectedness to the bigger world. There’s a sense of transparency that may be new to big city folks but that everyone from a small town understands. There’s a “superficial” friendliness that doesn’t imply that someone is a confidant, but that makes a brief human connection. And there’s the chance to pass along news, a good story, a funny joke, or something interesting to your friends.

Are you starting to get ideas yet? You use blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and the other Web 2.0 tools to create the same sense of community. It’s the biggest small town in the whole world. You know how to network with your neighbors. You understand how to being friendly creates new customers. You do it in your neighborhood offline. Now it’s time to rethink your boundaries.

Who are the people in your neighborhood? The people that you Tweet each day.

Strapped for cash? That’s no excuse. You can’t afford to be invisible in today’s economy. If you’re a small or start-up business, invisibility = out of business.

Social media is the way to reach a global audience for free. Here are some great tools you can use to priomote your company without paying a cent.
* Blog–share your ideas, tips, how-to knowledge or comment on industry trends or the hot news that’s relevant to your industry.
* Facebook–Not just for teens anymore. Set up a personal or fan page for you and/or your business and start making connections with people you could never meet anywhere else. Meet relevant people by joining groups or starting your own.
* Squidoo–Seth Godin knows a thing or two about marketing. His Squidoo site lets you create “lenses” about the subjects you know best–and they all drive traffic to your main site while earning you money!
* Twitter–Say something valuable 140 characters at a time. Provide tips, teach a mini-course, offer a hot link to your followers and watch your list grow.
* MySpace–Still another place to make great connections, especially for writers, artists, bands and companies that reach a younger audience. But don’t be fooled; there are grown-ups out there, too.
–Linked-in–a perfect place to stay in touch with your professional network and be introduced to friends of friends–real people you actually know who can help you make connections.
–Smart Women’s Cafe–This new online membership group is a great place to get expert advice for your new business. It’s not quite free, but given the value of the information, it’s a real steal! (www.smartwomenscafe.com)

Start putting the power of social media to work for your business today! And check out my sites at: www.Squidoo/GailMartin, Twitter/GailMartinPR, http://profile.to/gailmartin/ and friend me on MySapce!

While we watch newspapers file for bankruptcy almost daily due to falling readership and declining ad revenue, we need to remember that advertising–or even PR to newspapers and magazines–is not the only path to success for marketers.  Personal networking–online and offline–remains your first, best way to gain visibility, establish your brand and generate buzz.

Your average “rubber chicken” business luncheon costs around $35, give or take a bit depending on how big a city you live in.  Most events have 50 – 200 people.  If you attend 10 such events at a cost of roughly $350, you will have had the chance to personally impact 500 – 2000 people with your message, and if you’re smart about picking your events, those people will all be warm prospects for your business.  So for the cost of a small ad in a publication, you’ve reached your precise target audience with a customized message.  That’s what puts the odds in favor of networking over advertising in my book.  And in the same 10 lunches, you can connect with the program organizer to get yourself on the roster as a speaker (that’s another exposure to those 50 – 200 people for free), and by sending out an email to each person you meet offering a can’t-pass-this-up online “ethical bribe” of a downloadable tip sheet, white paper, etc., you get permission to stay in touch with everyone who takes you up on your offer.  Not only that, but in that same conversation, you can ask for referrals or supply extra business cards for them to pass along to friends or clients.  Try that with an ad!

Social networking is an even more cost-effective deal.  Networking through platforms like LinkedIn and college alumni sites gives you global access to people who already have a reason to want to hear from you.  Creating pages to reflect your brand on Facebook, Squidoo and MySpace (among other sites), lets you invite strangers whom you might otherwise never have met into your inner circle.  With the help of a good virtual assistant, you can keep the content fresh, add upcoming events and virtual programs, and initiate a lively forum chat.  When you contribute meaningful comments to blogs, other people’s social networking sites and forums (along with a great signature file so people can reach you for a follow-up chat), you never know who will find your information so useful that they tap you offline.  And then there’s Twitter.  If you can think in 140 word sound bites, you can add interesting observations, tips, links and quotes all day long to people who value your information.  What a great way to stay top-of-mind–and it’s all free!

When money gets tight, we go back to basics.  Personal networking is marketing at its grassroots level.  And if you think about it, successful PR is also really networking, but a subset of networking done with media–reporters, bloggers and editors.  That’s where it pays off to invite a reporter to lunch–not to try to strongarm him into writing about your company, but to listen to the kinds of topics he has coming up and to offer help making connections (that’s networking). 

Even if you don’t have money in the marketing budget, you can use the most effective marketing tool of all–networking.  Maybe it’s time to get back to basics.

While everyone is watching the bouncing ball of the Dow Jones index, the majority are missing an important fact.  After lean times comes a spurt of spending due to pent-up demand. 

People are paying off debt and watching pennies now, and that’s an appropriate response.  But once indicators start looking up, the companies and individuals who have put off essential purchases are going to start buying again.  Maybe not luxuries, but the things that are difficult to live without or do business without.

Are you getting ready?

Position yourself now while it’s slow and you have breathing room.  Use this time to rethink, rebundle, and repackage your services and products.  We already know that 2009 will be a banner year for start-up companies as big corporations have shed qualified, educated, proficient people by the hundreds of thousands.  Many of those folks will decide life is better in the wild than on the game preserve, and they will need the tools to survive.  If you offer coaching, consulting and professional services, they need you in bite-sized pieces to get off to a good start.

Once the dust settles, existing companies are going to realize that the firms that survive are the ones that keep moving forward.  You can’t grind to a halt and expect to make it.  They will continue to need professional services, work-related products and expertise in order to compete in a new, leaner environment.

Consumers also will continue to need essential goods and services with a few affordable luxuries thrown in from time to time.  If you can offer a bargain and good value, they will respond.

And here’s another thing to think about—the exodus of corporate talent into the small business pool is a great gain for those of us already in business for ourselves.  We get access to corporate-trained experts who were previously out of our reach, people whom we couldn’t afford to hire full time but who we can afford piecemeal.  As they become consultants, coaches and small business owners, we can now “rent” them and reap the benefit.  This is a huge source of new ideas, best practices, and fresh approaches.  So ride the wave!

The best way we can help our neighbors and our communities out of this slump is to keep moving forward, making cautious investments toward the future, knowing that the upturn is the next natural part of the cycle.

Marketing is one your best investments of time, effort and a little cash right now.  That’s because marketing keeps your name visible as your competitors cower and fall away.  If you meet a real, urgent need, demand for your services will continue among surviving businesses.  Widen your net via online marketing to serve a global audience.  But don’t stop fishing!

Join me on Twitter for new Solopreneur Survival marketing ideas!  http://twitter.com/GailMartinPR

And while you’re at it, check out my new home study course and suite of do-it-yourself marketing tools at www.SolopreneurSurvivalGuide.com.  I took my own advice and bundled my best marketing audios and ebooks into very affordable packages especially for start-up and small businesses who want to compete successfully by marketing smart.

By Gail Martin, DreamSpinner Communications.com