Business Growth Blog

I recently needed to source a graphic designer for my company, so the first place I turned to was LinkedIn. I wanted to find out who in my network was a freelancer or owned a design company that could potentially help me. It just makes sense that I would turn to LinkedIn before doing a random Google search. After all, I’d rather do business with someone from my network than a complete stranger.

When I first started doing marketing and lead generation, I used to worry about being able to drive leads for my clients. I've since learned that that's the easy part! As long as I'm doing enough activity, like blogging, email marketing, and social media, I'll get people to the website. And if I'm creating the right content, I'll be driving the right people to the site. Cool! Job done, right? Wrong.

My friend Jill Konrath, sales strategist, speaker, and author of 3 bestselling sales books put a message on LinkedIn asking for people to submit sales limericks for a project she’s working on. It got my wheels turning, and I ended up coming up with something. Here it is!

There’s one thing that often holds companies back from effective selling and marketing, but it’s not talked about very much: their contact database.

Your contact database is your most precious asset because it contains (or should contain!) the people you’re currently doing business with or with whom you would like to do business with. But unfortunately, it often gets neglected. It requires time, effort and dedication to keep your database clean and organized, or else it will quickly become a mess. Here are a few common database problems and how they can be negatively impacting your business.

If any of these issues sound familiar, it’s time to take a deep dive into defining the strategies and processes that will transform your database from just random "contacts" into people you want to do business with.

It's safe to assume that the majority of your target prospects will go to your website well before they have any other interaction with your organization. It's their first impression, and they'll be sizing you up immediately upon walking through the virtual door. The traditional website design process is quickly becoming antiquated because it doesn't address the growing needs of the online buyer.

If a website project is on the horizon (which it should be - it should always be on the agenda), watch this video to learn more about an approach that will ensure your site is a high-value marketing asset that continually drives business growth.

Back in the day, it wasn't such a challenge to figure out what to do for marketing. Phonebook, a mailer, maybe a trade show or two - oh, and don't forget - dial for dollars! But everything is different now that "Google has the answers to life," as I tell my kids (especially my 12-year-old son who always asks, "Why?" - "I have no idea, look it up!" I say).

Your prospects and customers are doing the same thing when they have questions - looking it up. This explosion of information on the Internet has opened up opportunities for businesses to get in front of their target buyers and gain market share, but it's also making sales and marketing increasingly complex. The most important thing business owners, CEO's, and other executives in charge of driving growth can do is to constantly stay in the know about the growing number of marketing strategies available. Otherwise, they may get left in the dust as their competition passes them by.

If you're not currently doing inbound marketing, take a moment to watch this short video and see if it's something you should consider as part of your upcoming growth initiatives.

Without good keywords, search engines don’t know what your web pages are about and your prospects will never be able to find you. They are the bridges that connect qualified prospects to your website.

Here’s a 3 minute tutorial on how to find the best keywords for your website or blog.

If you don’t know what marketing activities are getting you the most leads and customers, you could be wasting money on campaigns that aren’t helping you at all.

There’s nothing worse than spending your hard earned money and not getting anything in return!

Here’s a quick video to show you how monitoring your website traffic sources can help you stay focused on marketing activities that get the best return on your investment.

One of the main reasons to be on LinkedIn is to develop a business network. It’s taking the rolodex concept to an entirely new level!

Once your LinkedIn profile is looking good, it’s time to start reaching out to people. Inviting them to connect is pretty easy, but there are 3 important things to know before you get started:

Starting a meeting is always hard for me. I never know what to say to get things rolling and set the tone. It's always the same "How's it going?" boring mumbo jumbo. "It's raining here in Michigan, what's the weather like where you are?"

Who has time for that?

I've been known to just jump in to the meat of the meeting without building any rapport. My excuse is that "people are busy and don't have time for that." Unfortunately, not building rapport makes it much more difficult to make a strong connection with someone.

LinkedIn can help avoid the awkward first part of the meeting.