Rembrandt’s Blog

If you have been watching or listening to the news lately, it is packed with negativity concerning the latest unemployment rates, stock market upsets and violence overseas. It’s enough to make your blood pressure soar. Well, I’m not going to let it get to me. What about you?

Instead of focusing on all of the negativity that’s out there, it’s time to have a positive outlook and figure out a plan-of-action to change things for the better.

To start, review your financial situation…no matter how scary it may be. After all, it’s essential to know where you are so you can create a budget and take steps to achieve your new goals.

And sometimes it can be difficult to move forward on your own. For motivation, turn to positive family members, friends, mentors, and business associates.

Share your thoughts with others via online forums and discussion groups. You can also get some great information online at sites like www.smallbizamerica.com, http://www.pinkmagazine.com/index.html, http://www.sba.gov/, www.score.org, http://www.suzeorman.com/, www.fico.com, http://www.creditguard.org/, www.startupnation.com, and others.

Now, this may seem like a lot of work, and it is. But this is not the time to relax.

Instead, it’s essential to give 110% or more. After all, there is a lot of competition out there for the limited amount of available new business, jobs, investors, and more. If you are not working for your “piece of the pie,” you’ll be left in the dust by the competition.

Things are messy right now. But if they are going to get better, it’s up to all of us to stay positive, assume responsibility for our future and take action to move forward.

Do you need help boosting sales for your business with PR and SEO copywriting? Please write to me here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’m here to help!

I just got off the phone with a potential new client. She wasn’t sure how to build buzz for her organization. And after months of jumping around with SEO, media pitching, press releases, and other activities, she needed my help. Nothing was working. Do you know why? She wasn’t focusing on a specific goal.

How are you going to get there if you don’t know where you’re going?

While it’s essential to take advantage of all the publicity and search-engine-optimization activities available to save time and money while building awareness, they won’t work unless you have an action plan.

Now, it can be tempting to just jump in and start using the various social media applications, SEO tactics, press-release distribution services, and other cost-effective technologies to try to boost sales quickly. Instead, if you focus your efforts and develop an action plan, you’ll have much better results. And it doesn’t need to take a lot of time.

Here are three quick steps to help you organize your activities:

1. Research.
Figure out whom you are trying to reach and where your target market hangs out. Do they use social media like Twitter®, FaceBook, YouTube, and others? Or does your audience stick to niche, industry publications? Make a list of the tops venues or sites to pursue and the results you hope to accomplish within a certain timeline.
 
2. Solve Your Customers Problems.
Next, use the appropriate venues you just discovered to offer solutions to your customers’ problems.

Maybe you can write an article about a key topic for one of your targeted publications? Perhaps you can offer valuable information via blog entries on your site?

The whole point is to focus on your customers and give them the information they need in the place they will most likely go to find it.

3. Get Help.
Now that you know what kind of information to provide your customers (and where to distribute it), get some help.

Whether you hire an intern who can monitor your online buzz at no cost, a SEO expert who can save you time and effort with the appropriate Web coding or a publicist who can serve your organization’s specific needs, outsource some of this work to people who can help you stay on track with your action-plan goals. Then, you can focus on your core business activities and pleasing current customers.

Rather than try different activities haphazardly to bring in sales, take the time to develop an action plan first. Then, monitor your progress. In the end, you’ll save time and money. But more importantly, you’ll be able to service your current customers while bringing in new ones quickly and cost-effectively.

Do you need help with your public relations and SEO copywriting activities? Please contact me below or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’d love to hear from you!

Things are crazy right now, but it’s not the time to give up. Instead, it’s time to work a little harder and be more creative.

There are businesses out there hiring workers and paying for new services. It’s just a matter of finding them and fulfilling their needs.

Here are a few tips to help promote you and your business to help “get your piece of the pie”:

Research.

Look online to see which businesses and industries are doing well. Then, find out who is hiring, what they are looking for and how your services fit their needs. What problem are they having that you can solve?

Market Yourself.

Once you’ve done your research, figure out exactly how your unique services will help the business succeed. Then, create a marketing package. Instead of sending a simple resume or brochure, cater your pitch to solving the specific needs of the potential employer or client.

By doing some extra work and figuring out why someone should hire you, you’ll stand out from the crowd and increase your chances of boosting your income.

Need help with your small business public relations and SEO copywriting to bring in new customers? Please let me know here or at www.rembrandtwrites.com. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks!