Answered: Your Most Burning Small Business Marketing Questions

No matter how many years (or days) you’ve been at this marketing game, the questions keep coming up.

In many ways, it’s a constantly shifting and evolving landscape.

In others, it’s the same as it ever was.

We’re wrapping up this last Friday of the month by taking our best shot at your best questions.

Q:  What are the most important things to consider when designing an appointment setting process?

A:  The most important thing to consider when designing an appointment setting process is to make sure the prospect feels in control of the process and that you give them the opportunity to talk about what they want.

This is accomplished with one question. You must always ask the prospect,  “is there anything else you would like to discuss during our time together?”

Q:   What are some social media etiquette rules?

A: My social media etiquette is to l et generosity be your guide.   It’s called the giver-taker Rule or the 95% content 5% selling Rule or the 30-to-1 Rule. What matters is the number of deposits (shares, retweets, likes, pingbacks, reblogs) versus the withdrawals (promotional messages) you make from your audience. I don’t know if the verbiage,  the percentages, or the ratio is exactly right, but what I do know is that you must remarkably make more deposits. You have to add value before you start extracting value.

Q:  What are the best SEO tips for a new startup?

A:  The best SEO tip for a start-up is to understand SEO has traditionally been about optimizing web page copy by targeting keyword phrases in certain frequencies and densities. And yet search engine research shows that almost 85% of the total factors that determine how a web page is ranked in a search engine is based on things that happen off the page itself.

Modern SEO is all about crafting content  so compelling  that other people want to promote it by linking to it or sharing it, which increases your trust and authority and helps the pages you want to rank well for certain keywords.

Q:   How can you attract potential leads (target market) online using your content?

A:  Today all consumers are information-empowered. In fact, consumers now develop relationships with content . And to be successful with creating content that builds your business, companies need to be where their customers are and know how to engage them in a meaningful way.

Content marketing is about publishing content that focuses on the problems and desires of the prospect and customer. Healing prospects and customers true pain points with content (okay, a bit over the top, but true none the less).

How to Create Content that Builds Your Business

Q:  Does chain marketing/network marketing really work for every one?

A:  Of course not that would be like saying, ‘there is a one shoe fits all business.” One key to making MLMs work is to  Choose your recruits carefully – make sure they are a “fit” for direct selling. 

Don’t compound the bad reputation of MLM companies by “recruiting” anyone who breathes.  Select people carefully who really are a good fit for that business model.  You will reduce your headaches by choosing people who are outgoing, self-starters, and have a track record of success.  Yes, you will have fewer numbers in your downline – but you’re looking for quality, not quantity.  You can rocket to success by having ten winners as opposed to thirty whiners and complainers.

About the Author:   Patrick McFadden is the owner and marketing Virginia. We specialize in local professional and service based businesses such as IT consulting, construction, home services, government contracting, bookkeeping.