November Entrepreneur Meetup!

November 18(Thu) 7:00PM

Location: 422 Richards Street 3rd floor Vancouver, BC V6B 2Z3  

The Network Hub (www.thenetworkhub.ca)

Where has the year gone? We are nearing the end of 2010 and this will be the last Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup of the year! We are going out on a bang with a topic that everyone has been asking for – generating more traffic to your website! I hope to see you all at this last Vancouver Entrepreneur Meetup of the year!!!

For many years, a lot of questions have been raised about Search Engine Marketing – How do I get listed on the 1st page of Google? How can I get more targeted traffic to my website? What can I do to increase lead conversion on my website? What is this local marketing or targeted local online marketing?

It is all very dizzying to keep up and get going for entrepreneurs and small business owners. This month we are fortunate to have a leading expert in Search Marketing who will be giving practical tips that you can take and use right away. No lingo, no theory – just useful and practical tips that help you see the impact right away.

Search Marketing is very important for entrepreneurs – it’s an effective method for driving highly targeted visitors to your website. Without search marketing, your website and online store is buried deep in the thousands of results that a search engine produces.

This month, our guest speaker is Adrian Eden. Adrian has experienced a great deal of success in increasing visibility and profitability of his clients thanks to his ability to consistently deliver exceptional results.

Adrian, borned and raised in Salmon Arm is a small town boy who moved to Vancouver after many years in Costa Rica, is the founder of YaletownSEO.ca – an online search marketing company. He spent many years holding key marketing roles in Fiver Media and Riptown Media, executing results for the Bodog Brand. Right now, Adrian is one of the key people behind the Search Marketing and Social Media Strategy for Coleman Heating and Air Conditioning.

If you want to get practical tips to increase traffic to your website, increase engagement online and more importantly, increasing your online profitability – make sure you RSVP to hear Adrian Edenspeak!
The event is FREE but we do appreciate a bottle of wine to share with everyone.

Sign Up!

http://www.meetup.com/vancouver-entrepreneurs-startup-vancouver-office-space/calendar/15383841/?from=list&offset=0

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The Power of Emotion

As entrepreneurs, we invest so much time in the product that we forget sometimes successful products make an impact on the heart more so than the mind of consumers.

A feature can always be matched. A claim can always be mimicked. But an emotional sweet spot is something your brand can occupy all by itself.

Read more here: Brands: The Power of Emotion

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The easiest way to get client referrals

While it is certainly valuable to invest in other marketing techniques, one of the greatest sources for new customers and clients is through referrals. This word-of-mouth advertising is particularly impressive because it doesn’t have to cost you a penny, quite unlike the promotional tactics that you may employ in a local newspaper or in online advertising.

The challenge, of course, is finding the most effective of way of acquiring new client referrals. How do you convince other people to send new customers your way? Well, there is one strategy that is remarkably simple but is also very effective: just ask.

You’d be amazed by how well this works. Each time that you can complete a project with a new client, be sure to thank them for their business, but don’t be afraid to ask them if they know anyone else who may be interested in your services. If your new client had a positive experience with you, they should have no problem recommending you to their business associates.

The key is to be helpful, but not pushy. If the new client feels obligated to send more business your way, they probably will put you in an unfavorable light and thus lower your chances of getting another new client through a referral.

Don’t stop at just getting new referrals through your clients either. It is very well possible to use a “suggestive sell” on your existing clients. For example, let’s say that a freelance writer like me just finished writing an instructional manual for a new product. From there, the same freelance writer can offer to write the press release to announce the product.

You’ll never know what you can get unless you ask for it.

About the author: http://michaelkwan.com" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(38, 62, 84);" target="_blank">Michael Kwan is a professional freelance writer based out of Vancouver, Canada. He can be found blogging at http://btr.michaelkwan.com" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: underline; color: rgb(38, 62, 84);" target="_blank">Beyond the Rhetoric.

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The magic of word-of-mouth marketing

People are funny. No matter how smart or logical we consider ourselves we still prefer to buy products and services from those we feel we know and trust. This is true even if we “know” them by association only. This desire to do business with people we feel a connection to is the foundation of word-of-mouth marketing. A referral or recommendation is a powerful thing. When someone recommends a business to us we assume they have already vetted the business and it passed the test.

Once you understand how important word-of-mouth marketing can be you must beware of what I call the “angry customer rule”.  It turns out that customers who feel cheated or feel they received low quality goods or services are far more eager to talk about their experiences than satisfied customers. Call it human nature, but we just don’t seem to be able to resist sharing our bad business war stories with anyone and everyone who will listen. Getting happy customers to talk up your business is a bit more difficult, and we all know it. This is the reason a recommendation carries so much weight.  So what can you do to encourage customers to share their delight in your business?

• Ask your customers to refer people to you—thank them EVERY time they provide you with a lead
• Follow up on leads in a timely manner—don’t make people wait for your call for days and days
• Be responsive to your customers’ comments and concerns—show willingness for constant improvement
• Provide referrals to others freely—word-of-mouth marketing is based on relationships and you need to do your share

Whether you call it generating buzz or turning customers into fans, word-of-mouth marketing is an essential part of your marketing mix. Recommendations are golden. 

About the author: “Karen Southall Watts has been training and coaching entrepreneurs for over a decade. She teaches business courses for Bellingham Technical College.”

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