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1. Client to client. This referral is typically to someone outside your customer’s company. Upon making an introduction, immediately let them know that you have a successful relationship with a mutual contact, and based on your past success, the contact suggested you contact them. You are calling with the purpose of earning their business. Don’t expect to have business handed to you; you have to impress the new client. Be professional and respectful. Once you have established some rapport with the new client, you have to earn his or her trust.

2. Client to coworker. This requires a little more hand-holding. Your goal is to have your client champion you in other departments at his or her company based on the added value you bring to the table. Lunch meetings or joint conference calls are great ways to get introduced. Make sure you are on your game and prepared to put your best foot forward.

Instead of a subject line like “Our Monthly Newsletter,” give your subscribers a clue as to what your email is about and why they should open it. According to Adams, subject lines such as “10 Tips for Picking out the Perfect Gift” or “Huge Fall Sale, All Items 40% Off” can motivate readers to open the email. Just be sure your subject lines run 65 characters or less and avoid spam triggers such as all caps and excessive punctuation.

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It’s also important that the “From” line clearly states who the email is from, Adams says. “Let your customers get to know you,” he adds. “People are likely to respond to an individual who emails them frequently over time, building a solid relationship between you, your brand, and your customer.”

As for the tone of your opt-in email marketing, Adams suggests a casual and conversational approach because it can create a sense of trust in your brand. “There is a time and place to be really formal — your email message is not one of them,” he points out. “People will connect more with a brand they feel is like them — one that treats them as an equal. Think of how you would write an email to a friend. A similar tone should be used in your email messages.”

Lastly, be sure to get the frequency and length of your targeted email marketing right. Keep in mind, the more frequently emails are sent, the shorter they should be in length, Adams says. “Remember, your customers’ time is important to them. Don’t waste it,” he notes.

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1. Don’t get too technical. According to Scott Fox, author of e-Riches 2.0, your keywords should reflect the natural language of your audience. “Don’t use industry jargon,” he says, “and eliminate buzzwords and acronyms. Use the words your customers use when they research products like yours online.”

2. Consistently produce new content. “Search engines comb the Internet each day looking for and indexing new content,” says Carisa Miklusak, cofounder of SoMedios, a social media company. “The more content you add, the more opportunities you create for your company to be recognized by the search engines.”

3. Use keywords when naming your images. By doing this, your site will rank higher with the search engines, says Chris Finnegan, interactive media director at Planit, a Baltimore-based marketing and communications firm. “Additionally, the image files will show up in image searches,” he notes.

4. Link up. Link-building with Web sites that receive a high volume of traffic is especially critical to search engine success, says Radha Vij, associate director at New York–based Gutenberg Communications. Get business partners, media, friends, and family to link to your site. The more links you have, the more likely your URL will come up in a search.

5. Don’t go keyword crazy. Although it may be tempting to stuff your site’s content with keywords, Fox says that only creates unattractive copy for readers. “Improving your SEO won’t help if the people you attract find your site unreadable,” he adds.

6. Get users to act. “Your copy needs to conclude with a call to action that gets the reader to travel down the path you want them to,” says Jean-Pierre Khoueiri, CEO of Constant Click, an SEO services agency. “It could be to contact someone for more information, make a purchase, subscribe, or keep reading. Your main keywords should be included in the copy.”

FuelNet spoke with some guerilla marketing experts working in the field to find out which techniques actually get results. These four guerilla marketing ideas can help you get through to consumers — online and off — who are looking for the products or solutions your business offers:

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1. Give them something to remember you by. One surefire way for you to get attention is to give away something free. That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to spend big money on giveaway items stamped with your company name. You can place your business firmly in the minds of your target customers by offering a free tutorial or workshop. Whether yours is a service business, such as home contracting or appliance repairs, or a retailer selling specialized items like imported wines and foods, this approach gives you the opportunity to position yourself as a knowledgeable expert in your specialty.

   If you choose this approach, it’s important that you provide a true service and not make the event about selling, says Mary White, training coordinator with the Mobile Technical Institute (MTI), an Alabama company that provides business and computer training. She says her company conducted a free workshop for job seekers to help them get the skills they need. Because MTI’s clients are companies and not job seekers, the event generated positive publicity for providing a public service. White says it also led to increased business, since hiring companies wanted to be involved in the event.

2. Join the discussion. There’s a lot of buzz in business about social networking, via sites like Facebook and Twitter. But Shel Horowitz, owner of FrugalMarketing.com and the author of six books on low-cost, high-impact marketing, is a big proponent of a more old-fashioned online venue: Internet discussion groups. These groups, like those offered through Yahoo! and Google Groups, enable you to reach a highly specific audience for no cost beyond the time you invest. “It’s my number one avenue for new business,” Horowitz says.

   Twitter and Facebook offer limited exposure to those who have opted in, he notes, while discussion groups let anybody get involved in a conversation. Establishing expertise through an active presence in a group like Google’s rec.sport.surfing or Winelover on Yahoo! can be a boon to a niche business serving a highly specialized clientele. “Even people who’ve never used my services but have seen my comments have sent me work,” Horowitz says. “One discussion I took part in brought in $10,000 in business.”

3. Meet the press. You don’t need a big PR budget to get media outlets to help you spread the word about your offerings. Whether the right venue for your business is a neighborhood newspaper or a highly focused industry newsletter, small specialty publications are always looking for a good story related to their area of coverage. Horowitz recommends Help a Reporter Out, a free online service that connects journalists with experts in various topics. “It’s not hard to get coverage,” he says. “I’ve been quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor. If you can respond quickly to reporters looking for sources, you’re going to get printed.” Another similar site where you’ll want to sign yourself up as a resource is ExpertClick.com.

4. Be the press. An even more direct way to get your message out there — with guaranteed accuracy — is to write articles yourself. Online directories like ArticlesBase.com and ActiveAuthors.com allow journalists to search for articles on any subject, and writers can add their articles to the database for free. Writing articles that offer helpful advice or explain a complex subject increases the likelihood that people will find your company online, MTI’s White says. “The more you educate people, the more market there is for what you do,” she adds. The article should also be in your voice and not that of a professional copywriter. If you’re not confident in your writing skills, White notes, ask a friend to help. The key is to convey what your business is about.

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1. Wrong level of abstraction. When you analyze your sales techniques, are you providing the big picture and generalities when your listeners are hungry for details, facts, and specific how-tos? Or are you drowning them in data? Get on the same wavelength with your prospects. For first contacts with executives, describe what your company can do for them in broad generalities. With middle managers, discuss exactly how you can work together, a medium level of abstraction. If you are dealing with IT professionals, use the lowest level of abstraction, lots of facts and figures.

2. No pauses. Few sales presentations have enough pauses. Good music and good communication both contain changes of pace, pauses, and full rests. One of the most effective sales conversion techniques is to give prospects enough time to ask a question or even time to think over what has been said. Pauses allow pondering and understanding.

3. Irritating non-words. Hmm … ah … er. These non-words might be okay occasionally, but not every 30 seconds. Practice in front of your sales manager or colleagues, or video yourself and note any digressions.

4. Not having a strong opening and closing. Engage your audience immediately with a powerful, relevant opening that includes them. For example, “You have an awesome responsibility.” Then fill in what it is: increasing sales, reducing errors, cutting overhead, whatever your product can help your prospect do. Another excellent strategy is to do some research. Then you can say, “Congratulations on your company’s recent success,” and describe it.

5. Misusing technology. Too many salespeople rely heavily on their PowerPoint and flip charts and do not ever make an emotional connection. Technology is usually much more exciting to the person who created it than the person who is watching or listening to it. PowerPoint presentations tend to be wholly informational and don’t connect emotionally to the audience. Make technology a support, not a crutch.

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• Go for the icing on the cake. There is a big difference between branding and brand identity, says Tyreman. He thinks of branding as the icing on the cake because it must come after a brand identity is established. Branding is tactical; from the development of business cards and a Web site to a logo and “anything and everything that tries to get the attention of the market.” Brand identity is the message behind the branding materials. It’s what the company is about, what it represents, what differentiates it, etc. Without knowing your company’s brand identity, you have no message to convey when building the brand and your logo is “just a picture.”

• Clarity is power. Tyreman recommends these three tips to find your company’s brand identity:
  1. Learn the skills. Try to articulate the brand identities of other companies in one or two words. Compare and contrast your results and methods with your own company. The exercise will teach you how to look at your company when you perform the exercise on yourself.
  2. Create a company persona. Just like people, companies have values, personality traits, and attitudes. Your company does too — use these to shape your brand identity.
  3. Avoid the “perfect” trap. You may discover that your company has some flaws, but that’s okay. If they’re getting in the way of your business, fix them. If they define your business or otherwise set it apart, don’t sweep them under the carpet. Trying to sound perfect really means that you’re trying to fit in with your competitors, or you’re fooling yourself. Your brand identity “must be grounded in reality,” Tyreman says.

• Don’t be a vendor. Your company’s ultimate goal should be to become a brand builder that “pulls” the market toward your product/service. Vendors “push” a commodity onto the market, and usually feel like the only way to succeed is to lower their price more and more. Brand builders inspire the market to choose their product, and can get paid according to what their service deserves.

— Jessica Saint Jean

“Engagement” is more than just a marketing buzzword — it’s the critical component to the success of every marketing endeavor you launch. Ensure that your next campaign produces great results by downloading your free copy of 5 Effective Marketing Tips to Engage Your Customers without cost or obligation.

1. Back up your claims. Don’t position yourself as a green business if you’re not walking the walk. Today’s consumers are savvy and inquisitive, and a false claim will seriously damage your brand — and what people say about you. A company’s reputation is one of the most valuable assets an organization possesses. Bad publicity spreads quickly (it’s the most viral form of buzz there is), and it can take years to overcome.

2. Don’t position yourself as the green savior. Consumers look beyond the label and demand integrity from the companies from which they make purchases. You should communicate your environmental and sustainability efforts, but don’t overdo it. Adding a modest, sincere tone to your marketing message will go a long way. Give your business a personal, honest image and you will generate positive word-of-mouth.

3. Engage the whole team and communicate your efforts internally. This is one of the most important green marketing tips. Consistent communications and continuity are musts for any successful marketing program. It’s particularly important to engage your frontline employees: sales teams, the technical support department, and receptionists. Imagine how it would reflect on your company if your marketing department is promoting your environmental initiatives while the sales team is seen dumping dozens of still relevant brochures after a trade show.

4. Get your supply chain on board. Engage your partners and vendors on your green marketing efforts. Communicate the pros of green marketing and provide incentives for a faster adoption. Focus on the new joint marketing opportunities you’ll be creating for your partners and suppliers. After all, if your supply chain is also becoming environmentally sustainable, your suppliers will want to promote the new added-value and generate more business.

5. Don’t just focus on the green argument. Because the green marketplace is quickly evolving, it’s not enough to focus your messaging on the green added-value of your products or services. You need to develop your product positioning so that it’s a no-brainer for your customers to do business with you. That can take various forms, from communicating the quality of your product or service to focusing on the money your customers will be saving in the long term. The goal is not to focus on the green argument uniquely; position your company as an organization that appeals to more than dark green customers.

Building brand awareness online is critically important to the success of a growing business. Learn the branding secrets that can help set you apart from the competition by downloading your free copy of 4 Powerful Tips for Internet Brand Building without cost or obligation.

1. Don’t be unpredictable. If you’re using a micro-bogging site like Twitter, you want people to know that they’re going to get a message from you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (or whatever days you decide). So pick a distribution schedule and stick with it. If necessary, put reminders in your calendar.

2. Don’t abandon traditional PR. SMM is just one part of the funnel that lures people to your products or services. You also need to tap traditional PR tools, such as print publicity, radio interviews, and television appearances.

3. Don’t be negative. Unless your image or brand has something to do with complaining, don’t do it. It’s better that your micro-blogs provide positive reinforcement because people are bombarded with negative messages every day. You want to be the one positive in a person’s day. You want them to look forward to the next time they get your message.

4. Do follow the right format for your micro-blogs. Be sure that your micro-blogs include helpful advice, insightful tips, or unique trends that your followers will learn from. This kind of information will grab their attention and make them want more. The more helpful and unique your messages are, the more interest you will generate, thus bringing more people back to your site and boosting your brand strategy.

5. Do funnel your SMM contacts to your Web site. The goal of your micro-blogs is not only to reach your target audience and help them solve their problems, but also to drive them back to your Web site. That’s why it’s so important to include your Web address at the end of your micro-blog message. So, when your readers want more information or want to buy your products or services, they can go directly to the right source.

6. Do devote enough time to your SMM campaign. Individuals who are successful with SMM spend an average of five to seven hours per week developing and working within their network. If you can write your micro-blogs quickly, you won’t add too much time.

Learn the secrets of online advertising from the editors of FuelNet Monthly by downloading your free copy of Internet Marketing: Online Advertising Tips for Business Growth without cost or obligation.

• Plan your structure. Outline your presentation on paper or a flip chart before you create the PowerPoint slides. Be sure you:

  • Introduce your objective.
  • Sell the benefits.
  • Explain the agenda and timing of your session.
  • Explain how the audience can interact with you.

• Be more visual. Tell stories and give examples as you go through your program, the same way you would in person. However, a webinar needs more visuals to help engage the audience. Also, don’t present a list of bullet points; build up to your key takeaways. Keep the presentation simple, keep it moving, and interact often.

• Grab the audience’s attention. Engage your audience immediately with a powerful, relevant opening. Never start by saying, “Good morning.” Instead, say something like, “Welcome, you are about to learn how to …” Keep listeners interested by selling them on how they are going to benefit. Remember, you can’t see participants, so it’s all too easy for them to answer their email or go get a cup of coffee.

• Introduce yourself. Once you have sold the session, you can introduce yourself. Do not do it first. Just as with an in-person session, start with something the listeners care about. Then they will care about who you are.

• Play to their emotions. Emotion comes from engaging listeners’ imaginations, involving them in your illustrative stories by frequent use of the word “you,” and answering their unspoken question, “What’s in it for me?” For example: “In the next 56 minutes, you will learn the six secrets of making a webinar work.”

• Build interaction. Be sure to stop and ask, “Based on what you have heard so far, are there any questions?”

• Use memorable stories. People rarely remember your exact words. Instead, they remember the mental images that your words inspire. Support your key points with vivid, relevant stories. Help listeners “make the movie” in their heads by using memorable characters, exciting situations, dialogue, and humor.

• Use effective pauses. Like good music, good communication contains changes of pace, pauses, and full rests. This is where your listeners think about what they have just heard. Whenever you say something that you want to stick, pause.

• Review what you’ve covered. As with an in-person presentation, always review your key ideas. Then say, “Before my closing remarks, do you have any questions?”

• Emphasize next steps. Be clear what listeners’ next logical steps should be. Send them off energized and focused.

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• Ask staff for their opinions. As your business grows and evolves, it needs change. Rules and regulations that were once vital may now be antiquated and even counterproductive, costing you time and money. Ask your employees the one thing they would get rid of, whether it’s a policy, paperwork, your regular morning meeting, or whatever. Because they’re in the trenches every day, they’ll have a good idea of what’s not working. Hearing them out may save you time and money in the long run.

• Reconsider whose money you’re spending. Or rather, have your employees reconsider whose money they’re spending. Ask anybody whose money they prefer to spend and the answer is sure to be the same: someone else’s. That can be a scary thought for a business owner. While an extra $50 a month spent on paper products may not seem like much to an employee, to the business owner, it looks like an extra $600 per year that could be drawing interest in the bank.

  We’re all much more conservative when spending our own money, and helping your employees look at the company’s money as their own could save you big bucks in the long run. If they were paying for coffee cups in the break room, would they be more likely to reuse their cups for refills? Ask staff to be on the lookout for coupons that could help the company cut costs. By giving the people in your organization a sense of ownership over the way the money is spent, you’ll open yourself up to finding new ways to cut costs as part of your business development process.