Archives for March 2017

If your business sells products or services, you most likely have competition and probably spend more time than you want to admit thinking about how to make your business stand out from the crowd.

You probably have realized that this is not an easy question to answer.

I have learned that sometimes we need to ask ourselves different questions to find the best answers.

For example, the next question is a variation of the previous question.

What do you do need to do so that your audience prefers to do business with you over your competition?

A way to make your business stand out is by the experience that you offer to your clients when they work with you.

This applies the same way for businesses that offer services as for businesses that sell products.

Here are 3 additional questions to answer:

3 Questions you need to answer that will help you plan your clients’ experience

Think about how your client feels during any of the following stages:

1. Before working with your business
2. After they start working with your business
3. Once they finish working with your business

It may seem obvious, but it is not.

Of course, it’s a given that you must provide excellent value in your service or you must offer a high quality product.

Every day we make decisions in our business that effect how we are perceived by our clients.

If we do not have a clear vision about our business, it is very possible that often we will not make the best decisions.

For example, if we change the experience of our clients by minimizing costs, we are making a huge mistake.

During the summer my daughter had the opportunity to visit an amusement park where kids have the opportunity to accumulate points for each game they in and at the end they can use the points to get prizes .

She was telling me about her day and I was struck by her perception of her experience and the way she described it.

In her opinion, the experience could be seen in two ways:

1. Find ways to accumulate the most points to have the possibility to get a better prize.

2. Enjoy the experience without having the prize as goal

Having this conversation with her really made me think about  how often as entrepreneurs we forget to enjoy the moment and the process because we are always chasing the “prize” .

More importantly, how it’s key as business owners to make an effort to understand and plan how we want our clients’ experience to be when we work with them.

We definitely need to plan and design the experience for our clients.

4 Simple Steps to Learn How to make your business stand out from the crowd

Here are 4 steps to help you think about this process:

1. How does your audience feels before they become your client

The work begins before attracting your client.

If you spend time researching your audience, you will know their interests, what motivates them and what their aspirations are.

This in turn will allow you to communicate your message effectively to attract them to your product and services.

It is important to understand how your audience feels before hiring your services or buying your products.

It is a mistake to skip this step as it does not allow you to have a clear vision of the transformation that your service or product offers.

In other words, you need to think of a before and after, to have a clear picture about the transformation.

2. How to welcome them once they decide to work with your business

Once you attract your audience you must think how you want their experience to be, how you want your client to feel.

Surely you will want them to feel like they have made the right decision.

If that’s the case, you need to think what needs to be done to accomplish this.

We have all had experiences in restaurants, where the moment we sit down at a table, we know that we made the right or wrong decision choosing the restaurant.

The same thing happens with your client,  so you have to make sure that the first impression they have of you and your business is positive.

3. How to offer the best experience to your client

Usually, if your business sells products, the time the customer interacts with your company is shorter.

If your company sells services, this time can be variable.

In both cases you should think about how you want your client to feel during the process.

What kinds of situations can disrupt a great experience and what can you do about it.

When a client buys a product, you need to think about what you can do so that the client combes back and again and again from you.

Doing a good job at this stage will allow you to have a happy customer, who naturally and spontaneously will be motivated to talk well with their family and friends about their recent experience.

I have created an infographic that illustrates the 4 steps that you must follow if you want to learn how to make your business stand out from the crowd.

Code to embed the graphics
Use this code if you want to share the graphics

<div>
<a href="https://www.netklik.com/online-marketing-strategies/make-business-stand-crowd/"><br>
<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1237" src="https://www.netklik.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/how-to-make-your-business-stand-out-from-the-crowd-infographic-2.png" alt="How to make your business stand out from the crowd" width="500" height="1250" /></a>
</div>
<div>
Infographic by: 
<a href="https://www.netklik.com/online-marketing-strategies/make-business-stand-crowd/">Netklik</a>
</div>

4. How do you build a relationship with your existing clients

It is no secret that the probability that a person will buy your products or services once you know them is greater.

You must think about everything that you can do to maintain and develop the relationship with your existing clients.

Conclusion
It is becoming increasingly difficult to excel and compete. One way to do this is to make sure that the experience you offer is unique. The best way to do this is to plan it.

During the last 24 months I have learned a lot about how to succeed in online business, you could say that I have really put myself in my clients’ and students’ shoes.

Not only have I learned how to use new technologies and tools that I did not even know existed before, but I’ve also learned a lot about online marketing and business in general.

But to be honest, the biggest lessons I have learned from you, my audience.

Your desire to succeed and learn is contagious

Wether I am working with a client or teaching a student, the magic happens in that moment when the other person finally starts to see the light and begins to understand that change is possible and it’s up to them to achieve it.

I have been fortunate to live those moments through the experiences I have had with my clients and my students.

Seeing so much growth in them has made me more aware of the cyclic process of teaching and learning.

Moreover, I have caught the learning bug and want to continue learning and improving in the same way that you do.

That is why I want to share with you what I have learned from Mark W. Schaefer.

Who is Mark W. Schaefer?

Mark W. Schaefer is a recognized leader in the online marketing industry, writer, educator and consultant of companies recognized worldwide.

He has received an endless number of awards, such as being named in 2015 as the number 2 blogger in the world by Social Media Examiner.

In his blog {grow}, Mark W. Schaefer is always one step ahead, and in his posts he offers his unique point of view, so his blog is always on top of my list of blogs to read.

In his latest book, Known, Mark W. Schaefer talks about how, in the world that we live in today, we all have the opportunity to succeed online, but not everyone knows how to to make the most of this opportunity.

I have been putting into practice what I have learned from Mark W. Schaefer and in the process I have learned important lessons that I want to share with you today:

How to succeed in online business : 3 Lessons that you need to learn

1. There is no direct path to reach your destination (or meet your goals)

It is part of my personality to always want to have a plan, after all I am an engineer.

However, I learned from Mark W. Schaefer that sometimes in online marketing, we have to be more flexible and let our intuition guide us.

Having this flexibility allows us to be open to read and better interpret our results and take advantage of opportunities that otherwise we would be unable to see.

The key is to focus on the process of constant adjustments.

Experimentation, trial and error should be part of what we do every day, because that is the only way to learn and get closer to our goals.

2. Small decisions can have a big impact on your business

No matter what we do, it is crucial to know what to focus on.

In short, we need to have a clear vision.

However, you should be able to adjust the vision as you learn and experience.

Making decisions is not always easy and sometimes it requires courage.

When I started to create content, I started creating content in English, but after a year, I made the switch to Spanish and neglected the contents in English.

The truth is that I did not have a clear vision.

I was not really sure what direction to take and I was not sure whether my content should exist in English.

I recently realized that I must create content in both languages.

Now I have a system to follow and I realize, that the translation process is not as complicated as I thought.

I have also obtained great results by creating visual content, which means that I must continue to do so.

Clarity in my strategy facilitates the decision-making process

These small adjustments in what Mark W. Schaefer calls ” My place” and “My space” allow me to have clarity in my strategy and makes the rest of my decisions easier.

3. The process of content creation takes time

Creating content is a process that takes time. It’s true that as you get better at it, the process becomes quicker, but actually, it will always take more time than what you would like to admit.

I have learnt that it’s best to accept this.

Now I realize that precisely the time I spend creating content is what allows my content to be unique.

If I stop investing that time in the process of creating content, the content no longer has my voice.

I have created an infographic that illustrates the 3 lessons I have learned and that you need to understand if you want to know how to succeed in online business.

Code to embed the graphics
Use this code if you want to share the graphics

<div>
<a href="https://www.netklik.com/online-marketing-strategies/how-to-succeed-in-online-business/"><br>
<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1223" src="https://www.netklik.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/how-to-succeed-in-online-business-infographic.png" alt="how to succeed in online business" width="500" height="1250" /></a>
</div>
<div>
Infographic by: 
<a href="https://www.netklik.com/online-marketing-strategies/how-to-succeed-in-online-business/">Netklik</a>
</div>

The common challenge that every business faces

One of the common challenges that all businesses face is finding ways to attract new clients using a clear message that stands out is not the only thing that matters.

You need to be able to inspire trust and be known.

In his book Known, Mark W. Schaefer speaks precisely about this.

The book serves as a guide to help you in the process of making your business known and positioning you as an expert in your industry.

To write the book, Mark Schaefer interviewed more than 100 entrepreneurs.

The stories and experiences of these entrepreneurs are available in the book and illustrate the common process that each of them uses to achieve success.

It is refreshing to have a clear picture of how normal people have been able to achieve extraordinary successes.

The book Known is proof that we all have the opportunity to achieve success online, as long as we focus on the process, are consistent and willing to make adjustments in the process.

Today I want to dive deep into the topic of why social media followers don’t matter.

The goal of your social media strategy should not be to increase your social media following.

It’s a myth that the success of your social media strategy depends on the number of social media followers the you have.

It’s no secret that I do not have thousands of followers on social media, however this has never been an obstacle for me and I do not want it to be one for you.

Recently, I did a survey that has been very valuable to better understand the problems and challenges that you my audience face.

Something that caught my attention, is the weight that some people place on the number of followers and likes in social media.

I don’t want you to think that if you do not have many followers, then your strategy or your business cannot succeed.

Nor do I want you to think that your goal should be to achieve more likes.

The truth is that getting followers is not as difficult as you think.

In my opinion, there is nothing easier than getting followers in social media, in fact, it’s so easy, that by just paying for them you could impress anyone.

How to grow your business online and offline
The success of your business does not depend on the number of followers you have, but rather on your ability to turn your followers into customers and that is a completely different game.

This reminds me a little of the difficult decision that an entrepreneur needs to make in a traditional business when he is trying to decide the physical location of this business and how sometimes we think that the geographical location is the most important thing.

Of course the geographical location helps, but it is not enough if we do not know how to make the client come back again and again or if we do not have the right business plan.

What will bring value to your online business is not the number of followers you have, but rather the ability you have in converting followers into subscribers and subscribers in clients.

3 Blind spots in your social media strategy (why social media followers don’t matter)

1. Every business starts from scratch

All businesses start from scratch and through time grow their social media following, even experts and leaders in their industry start from scratch.

2. Avoid the error of just focusing on the numbers

Numbers don’t lie, as long as you focus on the right numbers and that is precisely the problem.

If it were as simple as having a lot of followers, the job would be easier for everyone.

The process would probably be reduced to buying followers.

But the work in social media goes far beyond collecting followers.

3. The importance of connecting with your followers

In order for your social media strategy to really be successful, you need to know how to connect with your audience.

It’s no use having thousands of followers if you do not develop a relationship and connect with your followers.

That should be your real goal.

I’ve created an infographic that illustrates the 3 blind spots in your social media strategy (why social media followers don’t matter).

I have created an infographic that illustrates the 3 three blind spots in your social media strategy and why social media followers don’t matter.

Please attribute the infographics to Netklik.com

Use the embed code I’ve included

<div>
<a href="https://www.netklik.com/online-marketing-strategies/social-media-followers-dont-matter/"><br>
<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1249" src="https://www.netklik.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/why-social-media-followers-dont-matter-infographic.png" alt="why social media followers don't matter" width="500" height="1250" /></a>
</div>
<div>
Infographic by: 
<a href="https://www.netklik.com/online-marketing-strategies/social-media-followers-dont-matter//">Netklik</a>
</div>

What does all this mean from the practical point of view?

By not taking into considerations that 3 blind spots

• You miss out on the opportunity to develop a relationship with your followers.
• You are not able to move your followers to your subscriber list.
• You lose opportunities to increase your sales.

Conclusion
Don’t think that the reason you are not seeing the results to your social media strategy is because you do not have enough followers.

Success in social media strategy does not happen overnight, it’s a process.

All people with successful online businesses have started the process from scratch and have made it grow over time, so can you.