Biz Growth Express - August 27, 2007

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IN THIS WEEK’S ‘BIZ GROWTH EXPRESS’                                                 ISSN   1649-8127

Hi Brand Builders!

I hope you are having a great start to your week.

Before I forget, make sure that you take a look at the link in the section “Business Development Gifts” for details of hundreds of resources you can access for f*ree to build your business online as part of a “Summer Giveaway”.

Well at last we have a phone connection here in Spain – we only had to wait 2 weeks and 2 days. I should add, that when we were connected we ended up with a new phone number much to our surprise as Telefonica has upgraded our local exchange.

Alas there is still no fast connection so we still pop down to our local 5 star hotel to their Internet café. If like me you do not have teenagers, you would probably be as surprised as I was to see all the computer stations filled not with business people on vacation, but teenagers connecting to their friends. Saying that, my three little ones wanted to be on-line to watch the previews of their favourite Nickelodeon programmes.

While I have been on vacation this week, I have received two calls from journalists of national newspapers looking for information for their articles about social media and one from a national TV station asking me to be on their TV show that same day (sadly they were not providing a private jet to fly me to the TV studio, so I referred them to a colleague to help them out as they needed a spokesperson on branding).

I know a number of people in the media but these were all new business contacts. So what was interesting was that when I asked each of them how they got to hear of me, it was not because of a word of mouth referral as you might think.

Each and every one of them had been searching on-line for resources and had found me, thanks to the articles I have written and posted on my website and business blogs. If ever there was an example of the benefits of building your brand on-line that has to be it!

I know lots of people I speak to have an aspiration to be on Oprah’s TV show or featured in O magazine. If that is you, read on to our new feature ‘Media Magnetism’ section of this weeks newsletter and you will find out how you can make that happen.

I hope find our articles here in ‘Biz Growth Express’ of value in helping you build your corporate brand, employer brand and personal brand on-line so that you get found by the media, new business partners, and clients.

Oh – do check the featured Brand Building and Marketing live Events section this week. You will find new events listed that I think you will find of interest to help you in attracting more leads, great talent to your business and more profit.

As you know, our goal is your success, providing you with strategies, inspiration and tips that you can adapt, adopt and apply to grow your business. 

I hope you enjoy this week’s edition of ‘Biz Growth Express’. In the meantime it’s back to the sun for me.

Here’s to bringing YOUR brand to life!

Best wishes

Krishna

P.S. Watch out next week for details of our next live “Passion For Products” programme that takes place in Dublin in November. This time it will be a 2 day programme where I will be guiding you to create your own blueprint for your own information products empire, turning what you know into more leads and more profits.

FEATURED ARTICLE:’10 WAYS TO ATTRACT MORE CLIENTS TO YOUR WORKSHOPS’

Running live events and workshops are a great addition to your marketing funnel as a leader in professional services. In my own experience, around 70 percent of the attendees at my live workshops have become clients of our “Biz Growth Academy”, our premier brand building programme.

But how can you ensure that you get all the registrations that you want for your live events? That was the question that to of my clients asked me recently.

Well let’s first explore the three biggest mistakes I see people making when planning their live events:

A. MARKETING THE WRONG PROGRAMMES

This may seem obvious but many companies create events that do not meet the needs of their ideal clients. With the opportunity to find information so reasonably on the Internet and also at free events such as the current trend for non-conferences, it is critical that the content of your event is not what you think that attendees need but what they personally want to hear about and are prepared to pay for.

B. PROMOTING THE EVENT TOO LATE

Remember that many people in business plan their calendar at least 90 days in advance. Therefore I recommend you plan to market your live event between 8 and 12 weeks ahead of the date of the programme. In fact the more expensive the event the longer the lead time you need.

C. COMPING IN ATTENDEES

You might think that this will ensure that the workshop fills up, but by gifting a place your attendees have no “skin in the game” and therefore no incentive to turn up on the day. I recently attended a high priced event with a world renound speaker and there were no less than 20 per cent of no-shows and they had paid to attend the event.

One programme a colleague of mine is running at the moment has 50 percent of f*ree passes – and boy does this show as the programme which runs over 90 days has just 30 percent of registrants attending each week.

Here are ten strategies you can use to promote your live events and workshops and increase the number of registrants:

1. MARKET YOUR LIVE EVENT TO YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS

Your current clients are most likely your strongest brand ambassadors and already know, like and trust you. Therefore by inviting them to attend the live event, you not only have supporters in the audience, in other words, people who will tell other attendees in the coffee break how great it is to work with you, but they probably know other friends and colleagues they can refer to your event.

2. PREVIEW YOUR LIVE EVENT

Using webinars, teleseminars and new media communication platforms such as business blogs and podcasts are a great way to bring valuable content to people considering attending your live event. These no-cost previews however must be full of rich content – yes you can use them to promote your forthcoming event but you must carefully manage the level of self promotion.

3. PROMOTE YOUR LIVE EVENT IN YOUR NEWSLETTER AND ON YOUR WEBSITE

Make sure that the details of your live event are easy to find on your website. Writing content rich articles about the strategies you will cover in your newsletter and then making reference to the event with a call to action to register will increase your event registrations.

4. CONNECT WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES

One of my clients has their base in a shared office facility. We developed a strategy where he collaborated with the manager of the serviced offices and facilitated no-cost lunch time seminars to fellow business leaders in the office building. This then allowed him to get known by them and he was then able to promote his forthcoming  seminars at the lunch time events.

5. PROMOTE YOUR LIVE EVENTS IN YOUR EMAIL SIGNATURE

A no-cost strategy for promoting your love event of seminar is to promote it in your email signature. I change my email signature at least twice a month as you just never know to whom your email will get forwarded to.

6. SEEK JOINT VENTURE PARTNERS

Who else reaches your ideal clients and would be prepared to share with them the details of your live event. Consider rewarding them for doing so by paying them a commission or what you might consider an affiliate payment – I recommend a payment of 20 percent of the cost of the live event. You can get your online shopping cart to manage this for you automatically as I do with mine.

7. CONNECT TO BLOGGERS

With business blogs becoming prolific and highly respected by consumers, customers and clients, identify who in your network of brand ambassadors writes a business blog that is read by your ideal clients. Then connect to these business bloggers about the programme and ask if they would be prepared to share the details with their readers.

You can also offer a content rich article for them to post to their blog that connects to the content of the live event. Not all business bloggers will respond to promoting your event, but again you could offer them an affiliate referral fee which may be of interest to them.

8. PROMOTE YOUR LIVE EVENT AT YOUR NEXT SPEAKING GIG

If you are adopting the strategies I share here at “Biz Growth Express” you will know that I highly recommend building your personal brand through public speaking. Tie your live event into your speaking schedule and consider offering attendees at your speaking gig a special price to attend if they register within twenty four hours of hearing you speak.

9. OFFER A SPECIAL INCENTIVE TO REGISTER

So that you can manage your overheads for the event and gauge the number attendees, one way to ensure that you encourage people to register well before the date of the event is to provide a special incentive. This might be an early bird price or offering a second attendee to join at  lower price.

10. MAKE IT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO BOOK TO ATTEND YOUR LIVE EVENT

Ideally you want to reduce the steps people need to take to make a booking and at the same time make sure that you are paid ahead of time. I recommend that you have a way of taking payments automatically on-line. However remember that some people may not like to make on-line payments or may not have a credit card so offer an alternative where they can contact a member of your team to book and pay direct for their place at your live event.

THIS WEEK’S ‘BIZ GROWTH’ ACTION STEPS

If you do not have a live event planned to build your professional practice, consider if this is a strategy you would like to undertake and then plan your first live event or seminar in the next 180 days.

If you do have a live event planned, review your marketing plan for your seminar against the ten point plan I outlined and identify which strategies you could use to increase the number of registrations to your event.

If you are looking for additional strategies to support you in marketing your live event I highly recommend:

© Krishna De, 2007. All rights reserved. This article is extracted from Krishna’s home study programme “Marketing On A Shoestring Budget”.

EMPLOYER BRANDING INSIGHT OF THE WEEK:’DOES YOUR INTRANET SUPPORT YOUR EMPLOYER BRAND?’

Building a compelling and magnetic employer brand requires us to consider every touch point of our business and every way that we connect not just to future employees and stakeholders but also our current employees.

I know when in my previous corporate roles that the intranet played a key role in our engagement and communications plan.

What became clear through our research was that employees gravitated to the intranet when it made their job easier. For example, being able to quickly find details of phone numbers of colleagues across the globe, accessing employment policies and procedures and finding key documents such as organisation charts.

What we also found was that some of the things that the leadership team thought would be useful to have on the intranet as a resource where hardly ever referenced.

If you have an intranet in your business, I highly recommend that you survey your employees about what they find the most helpful about your intranet and engage your IS team so that the configuration of the people and organisation section of your intranet supports your business strategy, employer branding and employee engagement programme.

Encouraging employees to access resources on your intranet can assist you in building a cohesive employee communication and engagement programme, but for it to be successful it also needs to be:

1. EASY TO ACCESS – especially if you have employees working from a home location as not everyone has a fast Internet connection, so make sure that the pages load quickly

2. INTUITIVE TO NAVIGATE – so that it is easy to find resources and information, ideally with search functionality to help people find the information they need

3. KEPT UP TO DATE – especially if you want your people to use it as a primary source of information, so ensure that you have people allocated specific responsibilities for keeping information current

If you want to ensure that your intranet supports engagement and communication across the business, it will only become so if it is the “way of doing business”. This means that you will need to cut the ties on other forms of distributing information so that the intranet becomes the de-facto source for information whether that be the internal telephone list or the current set of organisation charts.

But remember that you will only get support for your intranet strategy if you can demonstrate that it will improve organisational effectiveness and productivity. As you know, your senior leadership are more likely to approve proposals for changes that support your business gaining competitive advantage through processes and systems being able to be executed faster, more effectively and at less expense.

However your intranet should not be the only place that people go to for important communication. Yes it can be helpful to have organisation announcements available on your intranet for your team across the globe to be able to access instantaneously.

It can not and should not replace the important conversations and connections between your people and the leaders of the business. After all, while an intranet can ensure that information is delivered quickly and consistently, our employer brand comes to life when people understand the context and content of the communication – and there is no better way to make that happen other than through conversation.

THIS WEEK’S EMPLOYER BRAND INSIGHTS

Here are three questions for you to consider about whether your employer brand is reflected through your intranet:

1. If you currently have an intranet supporting your employee engagement and communications plan, when was the last time that you reviewed its effectiveness in supporting your employer brand and just how your people are using it?

2. Does your intranet meet the three key requirements for success? If not what action can you take to address this and whose support do you need to access to make this happen?

3. How does your intranet support or detract from your overall communications plan and how does it support and interface with the face to face conversations the leaders in your business have with their teams?

If you are looking for assistance in developing a compelling employer brand on-line and off-line, you can hear me speak on this subject at the forthcoming HR Ireland Conference taking place in Cork on 25 and 26 September 2008 (http://www.hrireland.ie) – and if you can not attend the conference, you can contact me at connect(at)oneoceangroup.com if you have a question about how to bring your employer brand to life.

© Krishna De, 2007. All rights reserved. This article is extracted from Krishna’s publication “Bringing Your Employer Brand To Life – A guide to attracting, inspiring and retaining great talent”.

PERSONAL BRANDING TIP OF THE WEEK:’HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS ARE ON-BRAND’

So you are going to be featured in the press and now the journalist asks you for a photograph to add to add to the article.

Or perhaps you are speaking at a forthcoming conference and the event organiser asks for your photograph for the conference brochure.

Or maybe you have realised the time has come to add a professional headshot to your website or business blog.

How confident do you feel in sending them your photograph?

I remember doing a website makeover for a client on one of my programmes last year and they had what I can only describe as something worse than not having a photograph on their website – they were using a photograph that was damaging to their personal brand. The photograph they were using made them look like they were sitting in their living room wearing a dressing gown.

Now this person was a leader in their field of professional services. When I asked them why they had used that photograph their answer was that it was the best one that they had at the moment. They then suggested they use another photograph – but that one to my despair, was about 15 years out of date.

When we are asked for a professional photograph it really must reflect our personal brand and also be one that your ideal clients will respond to.

Here are five tips you can use to ensure that your profession photograph reflects who you really are and exudes credibility:
  
1. CHOOSE THE BACKDROP

Avoid having lots of things in the background or being surrounded with paraphernalia and clutter. You need this to be a photograph that focuses on you as the subject. Consider a backdrop in a location that is associated with your brand, for example if you work with financial institutions you could ask your professional photographer to photograph you in that location in the city.

2. DO YOUR RESEARCH

Before you book a professional photographer, do your research. Research and prepare a set of examples of other peoples professional photographs that you like – for example go through a business publication and identify the styles of shots you like.

You might even be able to identify the photographer to use from the credits. Remember that just because you have known your family photographer for many years, they may not be the right person for your professional headshot. Instead, seek out a photographer whose expertise is in commercial photography.

3. GO PREPARED

I recommend that if you are planning to invest in a session with a professional photographer that you have photographs taken in a couple of different outfits. One might be more formal and the other more casual. Consider who might be looking for copies of your photograph and the places your photograph may be published and dress accordingly.

But remember to be yourself – if you do not usually wear a tie and that is a signature of how you dress, make sure that this is how you shot up for the professional photo shoot.

4. KEEP IT SIMPLE

Talking of what to wear, keep your colours, patterns and accessories simple. Remember that the photograph is meant to reflect you and your personality should shine through. Select colours and patterns that do not distract.

And if you plan to have an accessory with you, ensure that it is on-brand, not like one of my clients who only realised after their photograph appeared in the national press that while they were positioning themselves and their business as a premium brand, he was sitting holding a cheap plastic pen.

5. INVEST FOR THE FUTURE

As you are investing in a photo shoot, ask your photographer to take photographs in black and white and colour.
Also, be aware that professional photographers hold the copyright to your photographs so I recommend that you purchase a digital copy of the photographs – many photographers will negotiate a price for you to own a disc of the photographs. That way you own the photographs and you can f*reely then use them on your marketing materials, on your website and business blog and refer them to the media whenever required.

THIS WEEK’S PERSONAL BRAND ACTION STEPS

Review the photographs you have for you and your team in your media kit and if they need updating, why not book a session with a professional photographer. Use the five tips in this article to make sure that you end up with a portfolio that you are proud of and reflects your personal brand.

If you have a question about how to build your personal brand for professional and career success, do drop me an email and I will answer your questions in a future article.

© Krishna De, 2007. All rights reserved. This article is extracted from Krishna’s publication “The New Rules of Career Management”.

MEDIA MAGNETISM: ‘HOW TO GET BOOKED ON OPRAH’

Many people I speak with have an ambition to be a guest on the Oprah show. Well this is great for building your brand if the viewers of the show are in your target market.

What you may not realise is that the shows researchers are constantly looking for stories for forthcoming episodes.

You will find a link on Oprah’s website so you can post your ideas for future shows.

The researchers for O Magazine also look for stories. For example have you a story you would like to share that connects with your brand and your business for their series on “How can you change the world for the better”? You can post your ideas on the section of Oprah’s site dedicated to the O Magazine.

And if you do get featured, be sure to drop me an email as it would be great to showcase you as a “Media Magnet”.

ARE YOU A NET VISIONARY?

If you are based in Ireland and are building your business on the web, I highly recommend that you check out the details of the 2007 Net Visionary Awards that have just been announced and are sponsored by the Irish Internet Association and Enterprise Ireland.

Closing date for nominations is the 14 September so don’t forget to nominate your favourite Irish Net Visionaries.

BIZ GROWTH TELECONFERENCE – 20 AUGUST 2007
SUBJECT : ‘HOW TO EXPAND YOUR REACH WITH GLOBAL TELESUMMITS’

Guest Expert: Mike Jaffe, coach and virtual conference organiser

Dial-In Number: + 1 218 486 1300

Access Code: 312581 (there is no #) / Self Mute: 4 *

Time: 1pm EST/EDT New York
         6pm GMT/BST Dublin/London
         7pm CET/CEST Paris/Madrid/Berlin

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to hold a virtual conference?

Some of the benefits of global telesummits include no more organising of venues; reduced overheads and more profits; attendees able to attend from across the globe;  creating joint venture opportunities with speakers from different continents.

Increasingly global telesummits are being used by companies to extend their reach and attract more clients.

But what are the systems and processes we need to have in place if we want to ensure we host a professional conference? What are the pitfalls we need to avoid?

These are just some of the questions I will be discussing with Mike Jaffe who organises global telesummits at our September ‘Biz Growth Live’ teleseminars.

So if you want to discover the strategies I have employed, be sure to join me on the 17 September at 1pm ET/6pm Ireland and the UK.

If you have questions about how to organise and lead a successful global telesummit, you can post your questions before the call here.

BRANDING AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PODCASTS

As you know, here at Oneocean, we are all about building brands, from your corporate brand to attract great clients, to your employer brand to attract and retain great talent, to your personal leadership brand to build your personal reputation as an expert in your field and expand your professional success.

You can access our no-cost podcasts to help you on your journey to success.

This week I am sharing a podcast I recorded with Dr Margaret Tuit about how to care for your childrens teeth.

Why am I sharing this with you?

Well firstly, I know many of our readers have young children your family and the advice Margaret who is one of Ireland’s leading dentists for children is second to none.

Secondly, I want to inspire you to consider how you too could create a podcast or  audio product that showcases your expertise as a leader in professional services. What information could you share that your clients would find useful?

Access the podcast here.

And if you want assistance in creating your own lead generation podcast contact me for a complementary consultation and we will spend 30 minutes together on the phone and we will create a plan so you too can turn what you know into cashflow.

Or email me for details of our next live “Passion for Products” programme which will be taking place in November 2007 in Dublin and I will be guiding you to create your very own blueprint for developing your own information products empire.

BRAND BUILDING AND MARKETING LIVE EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS

RISE TO THE TOP OF YOUR FIELD EVENING SEMINAR SERIES: STARTING 11 SEPTEMBER, CORK, IRELAND

If you are based on Cork and are an entrepreneur in business, then I highly recommend you check out the evening seminar series being run by one of my clients and award winning coach, An Coppens, Founder of B/Right Business Coaching.

The series starts on the 11 September 2007 and the seminars will take place between 17.30 and 20.30. the subjects covered are:

- 11 September : Goal setting and picking your role model to be the best

- 2 October 2007: Attitude and image of the best

- 30 October 2007: Studying your role model

- 20 November 2007: Planning for success and working your plan

All workshops will commence at 17.30, finish at 20.30 and will be held in Cork City Centre based venue.

Early bird pricing until the 31st August 2007: € 1,000 for all four workshops

Early bird pricing for individual workshops until the 31st of August: € 300

After the 31st of August the prices will revert to €1,250 and €350 respectively.

For more details and to book your place now call the booking hotline: 021-4824307 quoting ocean07 and tell An I said Hi!

BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS IN SECOND LIFE – 13 SEPTEMBER, CORK, IRELAND

The Digital Media Forum, in association with eircom, are holding a F*REE evening seminar at The Clarion Hotel, Cork– please note registration is required.

BARCAMP GALWAY – 22 SEPTEMBER 2007

You have heard me talk about BarCamps previously – no-cost conferences for people interested in sharing ideas and their passion about technology. If you are in the West of Ireland you might want to head on over to the first ever BarCamp Galway.

HRIRELAND CONFERENCE – 25-26 SEPTEMBER 2007, CORK, IRELAND

If you are looking to attract, retain and inspire great people, don’t miss this conference. I will be speaking on the subject of ‘Bringing Your Employer Brand To Life’.

BUILD YOUR BUSINESS IN SECOND LIFE – 25-26 SEPTEMBER 2007, LONDON, UK

Did you know that of the Second Life world’s 6 million residents, 61% are European and the average age of Second Life residents is 32 years of age?

Increasingly companies are using the Second Life world to connect and engage with their consumers and potential customers both to build their brand, hold live events and for research. And with $7million traded between residents per month, these companies are making real money out of virtual purchases.

If you are interested in knowing how you can build your business in Second Life, you might want to attend a conference all about Second Life and business which takes place on the 25 and 26 September in London.

PODCAMP IRELAND – 29 SEPTEMBER 2007, KILKENNY, IRELAND

The first ever PodCamp in Ireland is taking place in Kilkenny where you will be able to learn all about social media from blogs to podcasts and beyond. It is sure to be a great event and it if f*ree to attend. For more details go to

MOMFERENCE – 1-6 OCTOBER 2007, VIRTUAL SEMINAR

If you are a mother, mom or mum and want to explore leading edge thinking on the subjects of  relationships, parenting, career, home, wellness and self-care, you will want to check out the forthcoming virtual conference which has been created just for you and is being hosted by Mike Jaffe, our September “Biz Growth Live” guest expert.

PERSONAL BRANDING GLOBAL TELESUMMIT – 8 NOVEMBER 2007

Shh… don’t tell any one I told you, but you just HAVE TO HOLD THE DATE for what is going to be an incredible event. I’m chairing the organising of this event where we will be bringing you the leaders in personal branding expertise from around the world.

Watch out in future newsletters for more information, but for now hold the date. I promise this will be incredible and an event not to be missed.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT GIFTS: SUMMER GIVEAWAY

THE SUMMER GIVEAWAY SITE WILL BE LIVE AS AT TUESDAY 28 AUGUST AT THE FOLLOWING TIMES:

5pm Dublin/London
12pm ET
9am PT

If you are looking to build your business on-line and are interested in accessing free guidance then do not miss out on the Summer Giveaway where there are hundreds of valuable gifts.

RESOURCES FOR EVENT ORGANISERS

If you are an event organiser and are working on developing your forthcoming programme, I would love to hear from you. I regularly help event organisers plan their events and connect them to my network of professional speakers on a wide range of business development and personal development topics.

I am also available to facilitate your meeting, speak at your event, your workshop or as an expert interviewer for your virtual book tour or promotion of your programme or event.

Worried about travel costs? In addition to live face to face workshops, at Oneocean we are one of Europe’s expert consultancies in making use of new media and leading edge technologies including webinars, podcasts, on-line video or teleconferences which means that you can expand your reach and deliver your live event to your community no matter where they live.

I would be delighted to speak with you about your requirements. Just email me at solutions.oneoceangroup.com today for our event organisers questionnaire.

For details of our most popular live events and workshops, go here.

Wishing you continued success, so until next week.

Best wishes,

Krishna De
Bringing YOUR vision to life!
www.bizgrowthlive.com
www.bizgrowthnews.com
www.krishnade.com
www.oneoceangroup.com
www.talkingcoaching.com
www.thepodcastsisters.com
www.todayswomeninbusiness.com

P.S. If you have friends and colleagues who would like to join the weekly teleconference call, they would be very welcome – please invite them to register at Biz Growth Live.

©Krishna De, Oneocean Ltd 2007.  All rights reserved.

“Biz Growth Express” is a Oneocean Publication.  Oneocean Ltd is a leading business development consultancy with a difference – we focus on the unique strengths of an organisation and its people to unlock extraordinary performance and growth. You can learn more about our work here

TERMS OF REPRINT: You are welcome to publish extracts from “Biz Growth Express” in your own online ezine or news letter, providing the article is printed in its entirety and is left unedited and you include the copyright notice and the following statement:

©Krishna De, Oneocean Ltd 2007. All rights reserved. Reprinted from “Biz Growth Express”, a Oneocean Ltd publication for leaders in professional services practices, featuring inspiration, strategies and tips to build your brand, attract your ideal clients and enjoy greater success with less stress.  Subscribe today at http://www.bizgrowthlive.com and access free  teleseminars where we interview experts from across the globe on how to build your brand and expand your professional and personal success.