Guest Post: Business Success: It's Not All About Finding Your Niche and Growing Your List

Guest blog post by Sandra Martini
This past weekend I was involved in a hit and run car accident. As witnesses pulled around me to continue on their day, I started thinking about personal responsibility.

Obviously the person who hit me wasn’t taking any.

Then a flashback to a call with a potential client a few weeks ago (yep, I’d moved the car out of the road by this point) where she said “none of my previous coaches know how to teach and that’s why [her] business isn’t succeeding.”

And on to several business owners who have said, and continue to say, something to the effect of:
“I don’t have time to connect with my clients each week”
“I don’t have time to read and comment on industry blogs”
“I hear your 30-day training is great, but I’m too busy to sign up, read each daily message and take action on it”
“Sounds like a great book, but I don’t have time to read it”
“I didn’t have time to follow- up with those I met at the event – I’ll do it next week” (note: “next week” never comes)
“I’m too busy trying to get clients to create a plan”

You get the idea. Excuse after excuse after excuse. And usually wondering why things aren’t going the way they hoped.

Reality:
We’re ALL busy. And most of us think we’re busier than we are.
Our clients are busy. Our vendors are busy. Our colleagues are busy. Those who succeed learn to manage their time and focus on those activities which will best serve their goals.
As a business owner, even the owner of a lifestyle business, we occasionally need to make sacrifices –- get up an hour earlier, work on a Saturday morning/evening, whatever to finish something we committed to.

It’s tough to stay on top of all things, all the time -– especially when we combine business with a personal life.

I know this and experience the same and when I’m tempted to make an excuse, I remember something my Dad said long ago: “whatever you accept, you get more of” -– start accepting excuses (even from yourself) and you’ll get more of them.

As the market becomes more competitive and clients become more discerning about where they invest their money, you want to ensure that you’re known for the *right* things: providing value and doing what you say you will…in addition to the *what* of what you do.

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My Request to You:

Before we can move forward, let’s clean up anything that needs attention:
Grab your “to do” (or “Action”) list. You know…the *big* one.
Look over it and put stars or highlight anything that “should” have been done by now -– starting with things that are owed to clients, colleagues, vendors, etc.
Make a commitment to yourself right now that you’ll assume personal responsibility in all things going forward, knowing that it means you’ll have to say “no” to things which don’t fit or you don’t have time for.
Set aside a day this week to catch up on those things which need catching up on (delegate what you can, do the rest).
Smile and give yourself a reward for getting caught up.

Moving forward. . .
Take time to identify your personal and business values.
Each morning think about your top five values and act with intent throughout the day.

Taking consistent action and living your life/managing your business according to your values will ensure that you’re on track for a life on your terms. And if those values include integrity, personal responsibility, value, Extreme Client Care™ and constant learning, you’re well on your way to success and the life you envision.

It’s the millions of little things we do and choices we make, every day, which determines our business success or failure.

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If you liked this article, you'll want to hop on over to www.SandraMartini.com for more comprehensive business building and marketing strategies, articles and resources. Sandra Martini, a Small Business Mentor, founder of Escalator Marketing™ and creator of the Escalator Profits Program™, teaches small business owners and entrepreneurs how to build sustainable businesses without losing their integrity or their minds.

Writing Better Content -- from Resumes to Blogs!

As a resume writer and as a publisher, I'm always looking for ideas on how to improve my copywriting skills, because words are at the heart of everything I do. Copywriting (defined) is "the art of writing to sell or achieve a specific goal." Whether we're writing to get our clients the interview (resume/cover letter) or to get prospective clients to call us (article writing/blog), we need to be creating good content.

Headlines!
The headline of your article or blog post is vitally important. It motivates people to read your article. The same is true with the resume. A good headline (outlining our client's value proposition) can entice the reader to continue reading. The longer they read the resume (and/or cover letter), the more likely your client is to get an interview. Most resumes get anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds of attention. A good headline can help get the first 15 seconds ... good content in the resume can get it 60 seconds or more!

These techniques work for articles and blogs (starred ones work for resumes and cover letters):
* Ask a question
* Make a promise*
* Offer a benefit*
* Arouse curiosity
* Appeal to emotions
* Use numbers*
* Make an announcement

Call to Action
Once you've motivated someone to read your content, make sure they take action. This ties back to the purpose or goal for your article or blog post. (The purpose of the resume and cover letter is to get an interview; the action we want the hiring manager to take is to call the client!)

If you're writing a blog post and want people to read more about you on your website, then include a few relevant links at the end of your article. Tell them to click on the links to learn more about your niche. Always include some sort of call to action, even if you just want them to leave comments on your blog.

Use Examples
One great way to really get your reader involved in your content is to use examples. In a blog post you can use personal examples. In your article content you may want your examples to be more general. In a resume, it's about CAR (Challenge-Action-Result) examples.

Examples help paint a picture for the reader. Instead of just telling them something, you're showing them too.

Visual Aids
More and more content online is also using visual cues to make it interesting to the reader. Although you can include graphics on resumes and cover letters, you don't need images to create an impact. Your cover letter can incorporate subheadings, bold lettering on words that need to grab attention, and bullet points to draw the eye down. (Take a look at sales letters for examples of how to incorporate these tactics.) In addition to formatting your content for easy online reading, consider using photos (of a key client project for example -- not of your client), graphics (sales achievement graphs or profitability charts), and other images to help inform your reader.

It's not uncommon for a blog to include a photo in every single blog post. Additionally, if you're writing a how-to article, you might include a few demonstration photos. (Or before-and-after resume examples.)  If you're writing a review (of a career-related book, for example), you might include an image of the product you're reviewing (book cover, or photo of the author). And if you're writing an informative article, you might include graphs, charts, infographics, or screenshots.

Using a few handy copywriting tactics for your content can help improve readability and reader response and it can help you achieve better content marketing results. Try implementing a few of these ideas -- for your own projects, or your clients' -- and watch your results soar.

Secrets to Growing a Strong Personal Brand as a Resume Writer

Hey! This is my 600th blog post! So I want to spend this post talking about one of my favorite topics -- personal branding!

This post on my Facebook page yesterday got six "likes":
Potential customers don't want to work with you if you're only so-so at what you do. Wow prospects with case studies of your current clients, with testimonials, and show them EXACTLY what you can potentially do for them. Never be mediocre when you can be great!

As I write this blog post, I'm listening to a teleseminar from Susan Friedmann, author of "Riches in Niches." She's talking about how people like to work with experts. Part of being recognized as an expert is identifying what you're good at -- and then becoming known for your work in that area!

As clients increasingly look to find a careers industry professional online (versus their local Yellow Pages), your personal brand is becoming increasingly more important. You need to stand out from the crowd. People are sharing things about you, videos of you, articles written by you day in and day out. There's no way to really know who's being exposed to you and your work.

We emphasize the need for clients to think of their personal brand as a job seeker, but it's equally important for careers professionals! Think of your personal brand as the most important investment you'll make in your resume writing business. You need to put time, money, and energy into this investment. You might not see payoff right away, either.

Here's how to build your personal brand.

Clarify Your Brand
Before revealing your brand to the world, you first need to get clear on what exactly your brand is to yourself first.

You can begin by answering these questions:

–      What kinds of clients do you most enjoy working with? (New grads? Finance professionals? Engineers?)

–      What training do you have to qualify you to specialize in a specific area? (Are you certified in a special job search technique? Do you have a proprietary method you use with clients?)

–      What life experiences have you had that would be valuable to others? (Were you a stay-at-home mom who successfully transitioned back to corporate America at one point?)

–      What makes you different from other resume writers? (For example, English isn’t your native language or you’re hearing impaired)

–      What do you see as possible for your clients? (find a job in 28 days or less)

–      What role might you play in helping your clients achieve those results? (a guarantee?)

–      Is there an area where you are better than others? (you're an award-winning resume writer?)

–      Is there an opportunity to serve a specific market that no other resume writer is reaching? (professionals in the equine industry)

–      Where could you be the first in the market? (introducing a new job search technique, for example)

Make a list of words and phrases to help you identify one or more areas of specialty for your careers industry practice. Write down whatever comes to mind — the purpose of this exercise is to help you identify areas that will help you stand out from other resume writers.

Ask yourself:

* What unique value do you bring to the table as a resume writer? This should be something that you alone can provide. It can be a unique twist on something already existing, or it could be something completely brand new.

* What problems can you solve better than anyone? Specializing often helps. It's better to specialize in "working with IT professionals in career transition" than to specialize in "white-collar workers."

* What are you deeply passionate about? Pick a topic that you could talk about for hours and hours and hours. Clients and prospects can sense passion or lack of passion in your voice in an instant.

Convey Your Personal Brand

Once your personal brand is established for yourself, the next step is to convey it to the world.

Step one is to express your brand in a clear and concise way. What you do and who you are should all fit into one clear sentence.

For example, "I help stay-at-home moms successfully transition back to full-time employment" is a great pitch. Another example is "I help CFOs identify and target six-figure job opportunities." What you do should fit in a short, easy-to-convey sentence.

This makes it easy to remember who you are. If they know someone who can use your service, it'll pop into mind immediately. If you took two minutes to get to what you actually do, they may not actually remember what you talked about next time it comes up.

Once your branding and messaging is clear, put it on everything. Put your branding on your business cards, on your website, on your stationery, on anything that's associated with you. Make YouTube videos, post articles about the subject, and give talks and speeches if you can get in front of your target audience.

The secret to growing a strong personal brand is to first come up with a crystal clear value proposition, then refine it into an easy-to-convey idea, and finally to push that brand into the world in every conceivable channel.

As Susan Friedmann says, "There is big profit in small markets. The key to success is for you to be an expert, and to become known for that."

Article Marketing as a Way to Get New Resume Clients

As resume writers, we spend all day writing. So it makes sense that it can be difficult to get "psyched" to do more writing. But writing articles about job search topics is a quick and easy way to attract new clients. And, other than your investment of your time and energy, it doesn't cost anything. There are plenty of places to "publish" your articles that will pay off.

How can article writing boost traffic to your website -- and your income?
There are dozens of free article websites out there. The article on the free content site contains a link to your own website. Readers, after reading your articles, may choose to click on the link and pay you an unexpected visit.

Having your articles on the free content sites is also making these articles available to other webmasters who may wish to publish that article on their site. One of my articles (not on a job search topic, but careers topics are hugely republished!!) -- published to GoArticles.com -- has already been picked up by five other blogs. Article writing can increase your Google profile.

How will people know to contact you?
If other websites do pick up your articles, your article will include a link back to your site. (You write a "resource box" for your articles -- a simple 3-4 sentence bio for the end of the article that explains who you are and how they can contact you.) And anyone who reads the article on that site can still click on the link to visit your site.

As the list of your published articles grow larger -- and more and more of them appear on different websites -- the total number of links to your site increases also. Major search engines are placing a lot of significance on incoming links to websites so they can determine the importance of a certain site. The more incoming links the website has, the more importance search engines attaches to it. This will then increase your website's placement in the search results.

The links that your articles have achieved will mean more potential resume clients for you. Even if visitors only browse through, you never know if they might be in need of what you are offering in the future. (Be sure to have a way to capture email addresses of website visitors, and consider offering affiliate products -- like resume distribution services -- on your site as well.)

Article writing establishes credibility
There are also those who know they need a resume writer, but can't decide yet among the many resume writing services online. If they stumble upon one of your articles, they may decide you are just the expert to help them. (But remember this mantra when developing your article content: "Teach, don't preach.")

Search engines do not just index the websites, they also index published articles. They also index any article that is written about your own website's topic. So once someone searches for that same topic, the list of results will have your site or may even show the articles that you have written. Don't forget to rewrite the article a bit (change the headline and opening paragraph at a minimum), and post it on your own website or blog too! (Although those who study Google's search algorithms say that Google doesn't like duplicate content, in my experience, there are few resume writers who would be harmed by syndicating their articles on free article directory sites as well as on their own content platforms.)

Article marketing has an enormous return on investment. Your published articles + the search engines = traffic to your website.

It is no wonder why many resume writers are deciding to take the time to write more articles about their site than doing other means of promotion. Syndicating articles is a strategy that propelled Kevin Donlin to his current stature as a nationally recognized job search expert. Article marketing increases your "know, like, and trust" factor among prospective clients.

Article writing helps you reach a national market (outside your geographic area)
Since many people are now taking their buying needs online -- including working with resume writers outside their geographic area -- having your website rank higher on the search engines through article writing is one way of letting them know about you and your resume writing services. It's especially effective if you concentrate your writing on niche areas -- for example, financial jobs, or technology jobs, or federal resumes. All of these have strong keywords and make great content for associated websites and blogs (in those industries).

The good thing about writing careers-targeted articles is that you can write about things that people would want to know about. People want to know how they can be more effective in their job search, networking, and salary negotiation efforts.

Try writing some articles and you may be surprised in the surge in site traffic, link popularity, and interest that results. And don't forget to recycle those articles on your own website and blog.