Now is the time to try something new.
As a business owner, it is understandable that you are busy running the day-to-day operations of your company.  There are bills to pay, employees to manage and work to get done.  However, there is still no excuse for wasting your marketing dollars on ineffective advertising.  You need to think “outside the box” and find ways to catch the attention of more prospects.

Look for the successful entrepreneurs.
One of the biggest reasons why business owners fail to try new and better forms of advertising is that they don’t know what to do.  If this sounds like you, there is a tactic you can take – watch other successful people and mimic their actions.  If they have found a method that is working, see if you can implement it into your business.  You can find a lot of great ideas by watching others.  All you have to do is determine what ideas will work for your business and then customize them.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Small business owners generally have small marketing budgets.  They often feel like there isn’t a lot of room to try out different marketing avenues.  So, instead they throw money at Yellow Pages advertising or put together a website with nice colors and photos.  While this type of marketing might be safe, it is most likely not as effective as it could be.

Don’t be afraid to be different.  In fact, a different form of advertising or a different marketing message will help you stand out from the crowd of competitors in your industry.  Consumers have enough of a challenge trying to find the right product or service that meets their needs.  It doesn’t help that when they open the Yellow Pages, every ad looks the same.

How can you be different?  There are a few ways.  Look at what other people are doing in your field and do the opposite.  Create a free offer that entices prospects to contact you.  Develop a series of videos on the Internet that speaks to the questions going through the mind of your target audience. Jazz up your ads with interesting headlines that capture people’s attention.

You can learn a lot from successful entrepreneurs. Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

There are many factors that go into an effective, profit-generating website.  Here is a sample:

1.    Informative content. You need to create content that is interesting and relevant to your target market. Don’t make the mistake of throwing a few pages together and thinking that it is enough, because it’s not.  You need to add content on a regular basis.  The content should be educational and informative and answer the questions going through your prospects’ minds.

2.    Free offer. Your website should be centered on a free offer.  Your free offer could come in the form of a book, report, DVD, CD…you get the point.  People should be able to order your free offer in exchange for their contact information.

3.    Video. The successful business owners have recognized the power of video and have harnessed it on their websites.  By adding video to your website, you accomplish a few things.  You are able to build credibility, establish trust, create a sense of familiarity with your prospects and encourage people to stay on your website longer.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

It is time to stop multitasking, if you want to get more work done.  A study by Stanford University showed that multitasking could actually be detrimental.  According to researchers, multitasking impairs your ability to operate efficiently.  The self-proclaimed multitasking participants of the study, which included 100 students, had a harder time paying attention, switching tasks and remembering things than the non-multitaskers.

Apparently, the brain has the ability to process only one stream of information at a time.  It takes the brain time to get reoriented when switching between tasks. That means the results of your hard work will be more about quantity than quality.

According to an article posted on Forbes.com, Quit Multitasking (And Start Getting More Done), “perfect isn’t possible when your attention is scattered.”

Avoid multitasking and instead plan your time carefully, so that you can become more productive and efficient with your work.

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Who is on your list?
This list is one that has the names and addresses of everyone who has ever shown interest in your business.  These people may have heard your marketing message and responded.  They might be former clients or prospects.  Your list could even include business colleagues, vendors, friends, relatives and other influential professionals.

It is imperative that you add everyone who fills out a contact form on your website or calls in response to an ad campaign to your list.  These are leads that can turn into clients down the road.

What do you do with the list?
You need to understand that not everyone is a quick decision maker.  Some of your prospects won’t be ready to hire you right away or start purchasing your products.  Therefore, you have to stay in front of them, so that you continue to position yourself as the “wise man/woman at the top of the mountain.”

You need to make regular marketing touches.  Send newsletters, postcards, emails, etc., so that you can build a relationship with the people on your list.  Soon, they will start to feel comfortable with you and will turn to you when it comes time to purchase your products or services.

To find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, visit Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

What makes a lucrative marketing campaign?  Businesses that are succeeding with their marketing efforts appear to be doing some of the same actions, including:

1.    Focusing on the ideal customer. Who are you really trying to attract with your marketing?  Is there a certain demographic you are going after?  All of your marketing should be focused on getting your ideal customer.  Conduct some research to find out how you can get in front of your target market.

2.   Sticking with the plan. Once you have a marketing plan created and know where and when you want to advertise, you need to follow through.  Consistency is how you will get in front of the right people at the right time.  With that being said, you also need to have some type of follow up system after someone contacts you.  Good leads can slip away all too quickly.

3.    Aligning the marketing plan to fit the needs of the business. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to marketing.  What might work for one type of business, might not work for another.  You need to make sure that your marketing efforts coincide with your needs.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Too often, we don’t keep this same mentality as we progress in our careers.  We become more reactive than proactive and fail to focus on what is important.  Our days start to fill with meaningless events and there is little time leftover to do the things we want.

If this sounds like you, it is time to change.

It is imperative that you approach everything you do with a purpose.  That means that you need to spend your time on the things that are going to help you reach your personal and business goals.  If an activity doesn’t align with your objectives, it is either not worth your time or is something that you need to drop.

Approaching everything with a purpose might also mean that you need to become more selective on who you will take on as a client.  Choose only the people you want to work with and don’t feel like you have to say “yes” to everyone who approaches you.

When you keep the mindset that you need to have a purpose in everything you do, it won’t be long until you realize that you are living the kind of life that you have always wanted.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

People who spend a great deal of time together share the same personality traits and often emulate each other’s actions.  This pattern starts when we are young and continues on throughout our lives. You need to put a lot of thought into whom you are surrounding yourself with.

Want to feel pessimistic about your business and your future? Then spend most of your time with professionals who whine and moan.  These are the people who sit around and cry about business being down and the horrible economy.  If you hang out with these people long enough, you will soon adopt the same attitude.

Want to find success in both your personal and business life? If you answered, “yes,” you need to surround yourself with successful people – the true entrepreneurs who see opportunity despite a slow economy.  They take action and know what it takes to thrive in just about any circumstance.

Here is a challenge for you – look for people who are more successful than you and learn what you can from them. If they are making more money than you, they obviously have figured out something that you have not. Watch how they approach problems and what they are doing to succeed.  Then apply what you learn to your business and personal life.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

If you work in a profession where you bill for your time, you are already in the habit of tracking how you spend your hours.  However, the technique, “block-and-clock,” is something that will not be familiar to you.

Block-and-clock refers to blocking time and working to the clock.  That means that you determine in advance how many hours you will spend doing a task.  Your to-do list will look more like a script, as each task will have a set beginning and ending time.

With this method, you are basically pre-planning every minute of your day. For example, you might allocate two hours for a particular project.  If you are not done with the project after those two hours, you stop. You then move to the next task.

Why does this technique work? You don’t have any room to waste time.  You have already put thought into your schedule and know how you need to spend your day.  While it might seem restricting to have to stick to a schedule, it will actually have the opposite effect.  You will know for certain that you can meet your family for dinner or attend your child’s soccer match.  Going back to the office that night won’t be a consideration.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.

Another huge time stealer is meetings.  It is amazing that people love to go to meetings.  However, usually these people are not the boss.  Meetings can fill your day and take away from other important tasks that you need to attend to.  If you get in the habit of participating in daily meetings, you are looking at 1 to 3 hours of your day being taken away from you.

Determine How Much Meetings Are Really Costing You

Read the blog post, Put a Dollar Figure on Your Time, to calculate the value of your time. Multiply this number by the amount of hours you spend in meetings.  Now, you know exactly how much money these meetings are costing you.

Stop Having Meetings

Here’s a revolutionary thought – don’t have meetings if you don’t need them.  If you need to communicate with your staff, write memos to each person.  Use conference calls and email.  If you absolutely have to schedule a meeting, schedule it right before lunch or at the end of the day when people are anxious to leave the office.  Also, create an agenda for the meeting, so you can stay on track.

Find out where the smart Northern Virginia business owners are gathering, by visiting Glazer-Kennedy-Virginia.com.