Contests build fans!

 Advertising, Behavior, Blog, Business, Buyer Experience, Communication, Community, Marketing, Mindset, Optimisation, Optimization, Passion, Strategy  6 Responses »
May 152012
 

Idol shows, Talent shows, Survivor, Big Brother, Project Runway and hundreds of other reality shows create FANS! Fans for the contestants, fans for the judges and fans for the host.

Who was Ryan Seacrest 10 years ago?

An important thing that one must do when building a business is to build a fan base. A group of people who love you and just go out and buy your product, promote your service and build fan bases and followings because they think you are fabulous.

And blog contests, like the ones from Blog Engage, are a great way for you to build that fan base.

Skeptical? Think about  these common stories you read daily in the your newsfeeds both online and off.

The female tweenies love Justin Bieber or One Direction. They like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and buy their music releases, their promotional goods, their concert tickets and generally talk, talk and talk about them to their friends.

The tweenie boys are a little more reserved but they have their favorite singers and actors or movies too. How else did Transformers, Hungry Games and even Harry Potter grow to be so successful?

As adults we still have those we follow. In the entertainment world there are fans of Michael Jackson, Michael Buble, Antonia Banderas, Pavaroti, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Cats……… and so on.

Sports fans are fanatic about following their teams and players. They buy clothing, gadgets, widgets, books and attend events where their teams or heroes are featured, playing or just might drop by.

In business we have products from Apple, Microsoft, CokeCola, Pepsi, Sony, Guicci, Tag Hauer and Nike that we can be fans of.

People love or hate one of the competitors and only buy their favorite. Often they will go out of their way to slam the opposition product both on line and in person.

Advertisers and sponsors look to their fan bases to support their causes and interests. They link with and support the causes because they believe in them but also because they know that it helps them build a fan base.

Sponsors of this blog contest I am entering include :

Dragon Blogger Technology Blog, Jamie Northrup Web Consultant, Free Twitter Chat Custom Branding, Think Security, Greenhouse Accessories, Best Gardening Gifts, Our Crazy Deals, Commercial Greenhouse Kits, HCG Diet, SEO Company, E-Cigarette Products, Orchidflowerhq.com, US Gardening Directory and Home and Garden Web Directory.

Why are they sponsoring a blog contest?

To BUILD THEIR FAN BASE

A company like Dragon Blogger Technology Blog is looking to build up his fan base by reviewing technology and entertainment products. The more fans and visitors he gets to his site, the more products he can sell from his recommendations. And since his business depends on people trusting his recommendations, this is a wonderful way to provide service to his readers. It takes effort to review products and services intelligently and takes a great deal of passion in your topic to continue to give trusted information.

Another sponsor looking to build fans is Mini Greenhouses Kits. They want you to become a fan of their kits and talk about how you love their kits and use them. They have products to sell directly and need the fans to sell to and to refer and tell others about their great products and service.

And then there are 3 other garden and plant related sponsors (maybe even the same company) getting fans with different but related needs.

Products like Ecig Puff which promotes both a product and a social cause at the same time are keen to build an alternative for smokers. From a business point of view though, they are a product bought once and rarely bought again. After all once you quit smoking hopefully you will stop forever. So Ecig Puff needs raving fans to get new sales.

And HCG Diet Drops sponsors a blog contest like this because weight loss is one of the highest volume sales product range online today. Everyone knows someone who needs to lose some weight and in the plethora of weight loss options available, you need to make yourself seen and sponsorship is a great way to up your visibility.

Then you have the online experts like Jamie Northrup, Web Consultant, Social Media Optimization, and Think Security who are all helping you build that fan base safely and effectively and hopefully efficiently. And the better they are  at their jobs, the better your business can be. But they need fans to make their business grow and sponsoring a competition on a site like Blog Engage helps them to help YOUR business.

And the Social Web Cafe is all about building that traffic through fans.

And then there is Guest BlogIt and it needs fans to help your business get fans. As a membership site, it is aimed at helping build the fan base in a different way. Membership sites and fan building is a discussion I will leave for another day.

Fans bases are the past, present and future of business.

Movies depend on fans. Stars depend on fans. Authors depend on fans. And all successful businesses have FANS.

Wave your fan. Like the businesses you believe in on Facebook. Follow them on Twitter. Engage with them in other forums like LinkedIn and Pinterest.

One more lesson – the other day, Entertainment Tonight commented on the Twitter followers of  Taylor Swift, and how she understood the importance of engaging with her fans. Talking to her fans is one of her most important activities.

Remember how Princess Diana had the ability to engage with the people and build a fan base. Her son, Prince William and his bride, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge are changing the global opinion of the British Royalty by their contact with their fan base.

Build your fan base. Write for competitions, Guest blog.

And remember, until people know you, even a little, they are unable to love you. Until you have a fan, you will be unable to build the relationships that lead to many transactions and growing your business.

And if you lack a fan base, contests and other sources are a great way to find someone who does have fans.

People became fans of Britain’s Got Talent  and because they were watching the show, they heard Susan Boyle. She became a star and built her fan base because people followed Britain’s Got Talent first.

Will you get your blog into a contest soon? Note – you can miss getting into the contest because you find the rules too complicated but the message here is effective anyway.

Let me know what may be holding you back?

What are you doing today to get more fans?

Roberta

Passionate, Purposeful Performer

 

Enhanced by Zemanta
Print Friendly
 Posted by Roberta Budvietas at 10:06 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Three Ways to Always be Professional

 Behavior, Business, Buyer Experience, Change, Information, Mindset, Passion, Passionate Purposeful Performer, Planning, Purpose  4 Responses »
May 142012
 

Professionalism is a wordthat often gets bandied about when people want someone else to behave in a particular manner and

What is a professional?

deliver a certain level of service. We label certain careers as professional and we often attach salary levels to professionals.

But how can you be a professional and deliver professional service if that is one of the goals of your business?

There are three simple but not easy to do ways to always be a professional but before looking at those lets understand the word professional a little better.

According to the online dictionary, the word professional can be a noun or an adjective. Using it as an adjective it generally describes people in certain professions like doctors and lawyers and is often tied to pay rates or classifications of the area of service like a professional sport.  As a noun, the word is used synonymously with expert or skilled practitioner. Practically though a professional gets paid for the service they render. 

Professionalism is more than a tangible thing. True professionalism is an attitude. An attitude towards performance and service delivery.
 
The three ways to always be professional are:
  1. Always keep your word and deliver what you promised, when you promised it and with a little bit more than was expected.
  2. Always treat all parties with respect even when you feel that they are treating you badly. Never lower yourself to street fighting or abuse to make your point. Always maintain dignity for everyone, especially yourself. And that means always doing your best.
  3. Always realize that both sides have an opinion and acknowledge that the other side has their wants and needs too. Accept that you have differences and appreciate that you can only be responsible for what you do and the other person has a responsibility for what they do, say, think and feel. Changing someone else’s mind only happens by them choosing to change based on new information that allows them to rethink the situation.
If you are living to your purpose, acting with passion and committed to performing above expectations, you are a professional. You are giving your best, your expertise, your self. A professional is a real person who uses all their talents, skills, knowledge and resources to deliver the maximum value they can to their clients. They understand that their business is about them, their client and the community in which they live. They understand that a professional is someone who goes beyond the title or role and lives their job.
 
And a true professional asks for help when performing becomes difficult. A true professional knows that the responsibility for their thoughts deeds and feelings lies within themselves. And a true professional knows that sometimes, you are unable to satisfy everyone.
 
Dress, position, salary and other quantitative or qualitative measurements are dictionary definitions for success. But since success is a journey rather than a destination, professionalism is measured internally rather than externally and only you can truly determine your own professionalism.
 
If professionalism is personal, how do you determine if someone you are dealing with is a professional then? Please comment on that and I will do a blog on that topic later in the week. The real business  challenge is to know the answer to that question.
 
Roberta
A Passionate, Purposeful Performer
 
Enhanced by Zemanta
Print Friendly
 Posted by Roberta Budvietas at 9:04 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,

What your Attire says about Your Business

 Advertising, Business, Communication, Image, Marketing, People, Priorities, Promotion, Vision  8 Responses »
May 132012
 

Headlines the other day said

“Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie ‘immature’

The article goes on to state that his wandering in late to meetings with financiers in his hoodie is immature and shows that he is ill equipped to run a major company. But hold on, he is already running a major company so does this hold?

On the other hand we have all see the sleek, slick overdressed con artists who we think can do anything when in actual fact they can barely shop to buy those fancy clothes.

The point: Your attire ties into your image and your image ties into how your buyers will perceive you. 

This morning a client was talking about her wonderful new high end handbags and how when she goes to present her bags, she goes dressed in a high end suit, talks the language of her clients and acts in a manner consistent with her product and her client’s expectations. (I will give Andreana’s Wardrobe a push later in another blog).

The point is that for many business owners who work at home, there is a necessity to get dressed up appropriate to  your client expectations and the image and branding of your product or service, especially when going out to meet them.

But what happens to your head when you slouch around your home office wearing what is comfortable? Are we giving the wrong message to our own head. How can you portray a high end service or product and look like a slob? How are you feeling?

And then there is the question – Do clothes maketh the man or woman? The answer is SADLY YES!

If you want to be seen as successful, you have to look successful. If you think that there is no value to your clients in how you look, then try and do business looking “yourself” and acting yourself. Unless you have a very unique, high demand product, you will struggle to get past the gatekeepers who judge you on your appearance.

Suits work in certain sectors but high end jeans and blouses or polo shirts with a smart jacket can be both expensive and appropriate to your image and your clients perception of you.

Take a look at the photos below and tell me who you would invest $100,000.00 with?

 

What affects our decisions?

Roberta

Passionate, Purposeful Presenter

Enhanced by Zemanta
Print Friendly
 Posted by Roberta Budvietas at 1:08 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
 Older Entries
© 2012 Purposeful Performance Group Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha
Powered by WishList Member - Membership Site Software
show
 
close
I have just joined up to have my articles published by Mobilize Mail CSN - check it out - http://t.co/dGvAJJHF
Follow on Twitter facebook myspace linkedin flickr vimeo youtube apple bebo