As you read this, we are in the midst of a pandemic. It has not only turned our world upside down; it has changed the way we will do things and look at things for generations to come. What seems drastic to us now may well be normal for future generations.
We can sit and gripe, moan and maybe even suffer as this becomes our new normal, or we can put it to good use right now.
I think it’s safe to say that most people have more time on their hands right now. After all, local, state and national governments have enacted restrictions to what we can do, where we can go and when we can go. We’re, for lack of a better term, locked up for our own good and the safety of others. The bottom line is we are spending much more time at home. This time can and should be put into productive use as we plan for the future.
This is not the end of the world. There will be life after this ends, but it may be different. People will still need to purchase necessary products and services PLUS they will have a pent-up demand for things they want, even though they may not need them.
You have to continue to move forward. Don’t stop working because of the pandemic. For most Marketing University members working from home is the norm. The unusual part is we have to stay in our homes after a day of work. But look at it this way…this is the best time to improve your products and business. You now have the time. The importance of building your own business, especially a home-based business, is driven home every time you turn on the television and see company layoffs, businesses that are being closed, unemployment rates, etc.
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What should you be doing?
Resting is always good. You need to stay rested in order to keep your immune system working, but you should also be working. Here are some ideas on what you should be working on (over and above the normal work you do for your business) Let’s make a list, and then I’ll talk about each item individually.
Things To Work On In Your Business:
- Branding
- Logo
- Is your logo up to date?
- Do you need an update?
- Website
- Do you need a new one?
- More modern?
- Make a list of websites you like
- Figure out what I like about them
- Look and Feel
- Overall colors
- Layout
- Sections
- Content
- Logo
- Products
- New Products
- Clean house – Get rid of old products
- Re-evaluate your product line
- Re-evaluate your product continuity
- What are your products saying about you?
- What are you known for?
- Marketing
- Do you have a webinar? Are you scared of the process?
- Write the webinar
- Create the webinar using software
- Market the webinar
- Advertising
- Create an ad that pays for itself X2 and then leave it alone
- Make your business boring
- Strategy
- Bing/Yahoo
- Etc.
- Joint Ventures ( JVs)
- Reach out to people and ask to do a webinar
- Do you have a webinar? Are you scared of the process?
- Customer Service
- Observation and Research
- Observe what I want to do
- Research – Get more information
- Create a game plan to execute
- Put it all in chronological order
- Amplify – Make it bigger or better
Let’s take a closer look at each item on the list.
Branding:
Logo
Is your logo up to date? Does it look old in any way shape or from? Your logo is the first thing people see when they come to your website. You need to think about how it looks and what impression it gives them. Is it cheap looking? Amateurish? Outdated? Look at it critically. Sometimes I am guilty of putting up a logo in a hurry. I promise myself that I’ll go back and update it, but I never get around to it. Right now, is a good time for those revisions.
In many cases you may find that your logo is fine and doesn’t need an update. The important thing is that you look at it with a critical eye and determine if it needs an update. If it needs one, update it! If it doesn’t need one move on.
Website
Take an overall, general look at your website, do you need to build a new one? Do you need a more modern website? Here’s what I do. I make a list of websites I like. Then I look at them and determine what it is about them that I like. I use them to act as an aid or guide to find things I like that will also work on my website.
Look and Feel
The overall colors, layout, sections and content all comprise the look and feel of your website. Are the colors still appropriate for the product and for the current tastes of the intended audience? How is the layout? Does it reflect the look of modern websites or is it something that was in the past? How are the sections laid out? Is that still appropriate? Don’t forget the content.
Just because it was appropriate when you wrote it doesn’t mean it’s still appropriate. Does it contain content that is no longer relevant? Is there new material that should be added? What about graphics and pictures? Do they need to be replaced? Updated? New ones added?
I know working on branding sucks, but it’s very important and is something you need to do. And right now, is the best time to do it.
Products:
New Products
Can you create new products that compliment your product line?
Get Rid of Old Products.
Are there any old products you should get rid of ? This is the hardest thing for a lot of people to do. They fall in love with their products. The product is their baby and they just can’t get rid of it. If you have products that you feel this way about, ask yourself this question, “Is the product making you any money?” If the answer is “no”, get rid of the product!
Re-Evaluate Product Line & Continuity.
Look over your products and re-evaluate your product line and continuity. By “continuity” I’m NOT talking about “membership”
type products. By “continuity” I mean, do they make sense together? In other words, are your products all over the place or are they focused on a certain market so you can dominate that market, or are they random products scattered all over different markets and topics?
Sometimes people have products scattered over many topics and markets they have an interest in. There is no cohesive product strategy focused on one market that enables them to be known in that market and dominate and be a big player in a particular market.
What are Your Products Saying About You?
That’s a tough question for many people. I know it’s a tough question for me, I always get stuck on that one. A better question might be:
What are You Known For?
This question is a dangerous one and many people get the answer wrong. If you ask them, they may tell you that they are known for this subject or that topic. I always take that with a grain of salt. If they are really known for that subject, I should be able to type their name in relation to that subject in Google and they should show up. If they don’t come up, and most don’t, then they are NOT known for that subject.
Product continuity is what you need in order to become known. Make sure you keep this in mind when evaluating your existing product line and the addition of new products to your line.
Marketing:
Do You Have A Webinar?
Just what are you doing for your marketing? Let’s look at the basics…do you have a webinar? When I ask people if they have a webinar most say “no”. Of those that do have a webinar, I ask if they are marketing it and most say “no”.
If I had to guess what the number one reason is for people not doing webinars, I would say they are just plain scared of doing them! I’m not sure just what they’re scared of. Maybe they’re scared of rejection or putting themselves out there and looking inept. Maybe it’s the process they’re scared of. If that’s what they’re scared of it can be done as a recorded webinar. They can then edit it or do it over, so it runs smoothly, and they sound good. Recorded ones are just as good and effective as live webinars.
I will agree that a webinar, live or recorded, with you in front of a camera can be scary and hard. You not only have your looks and actions, mannerisms etc. to deal with you have the room lighting, camera position etc. to deal with. But, it’s easy to do a Power Point Webinar.
With a Power Point webinar there are only three things to do:
- Write the webinar
- Create the webinar using software
- Marketing the webinar
That’s it. It’s easy. So why aren’t you doing it? I’ve just taken away the fear factors. You can do a pre-recorded webinar and you can do a Power Point instead of you in front of a camera. Do it now while you’re confined to your house.
Why am I so adamant that you do a webinar? Because a webinar is the place where you make the most money for the time involved. Let’s say you did a 90-minute webinar to sell a $2,000 product and only sold one…you just made $2,000 in an hour and a half. That’s good money for time expended! Where else can you earn that type of pay?
Let’s say you do a webinar a week and really suck at it only sell one each time. That’s $100,000+ a year. There’s nothing wrong with that!
Advertising:
Create and ad that pays for itself x2 and then leave it alone.
When you create an ad, you test and tweak it until it pays for itself x2. In other words, if the ad costs $100 a day, you bring in $200 a day in revenue. Once you have an ad that does that, you leave it alone. The biggest problem is that people give up on the ad before they get to that point. They fail because they didn’t work with the ad to get it to that point. It doesn’t get there overnight.
Not all my ads work even when I do everything correctly. But I don’t give up. I may need to tweak them or maybe create new ads. If you log into the Marketing University member’s area and pull up this training, it’s called, “What You Should Do Right Now.” In that training you will see where I log into my account and look at my ads.
Make your business boring.
I know you can’t just leave it alone on Facebook, but you can on Google and Bing because they give you new people every day. Just keep repeating the ads that are working and keep going.
Strategy
The highest converting ads will be Google and Bing/Yahoo search ads, so you want to start with a focus on them. Then you can go on to Facebook etc.
I know this may sound scary, but you want to get to where you are spending $1,000+ per day advertising. Why wouldn’t you if you bring in $2,000 for every $1,000 you spend? The biggest problem is that people are too impatient to get there and make crazy mistakes like quitting too soon or trying to jump ahead too fast.
Joint Ventures.
Reach out to people and ask them to do a webinar with you— you promote their webinars, in turn, they promote yours to their list. Keep your calendar booked with these webinars. You need to get out of your comfort zone and ask other marketers to swap webinars with you. Just ask. The worst thing that can happen is they say “no.”
Customer Service
Get a help desk. If you don’t already have one this is a great time to find a service you like and set it up. I’ve been preaching this for almost all the years I have been in business.
Observation And Research:
You now have time to observe others and see what they do and how it applies to what you want to do. Don’t stick to just your market. Study other markets and see what they are doing. Subscribe to their lists and see what their follow up sequence is.
Research your subject and market. See what new information you can learn about the products, needs etc. that are being offered in your market. Then put everything in chronological order and create a game plan to execute.
Finally, amplify it by making your solution bigger and better. And then execute the plan.
The times ahead may be scary—most new things are—but use your time wisely and start doing a lot more research. For example, I received an email from someone asking me to subscribe to their LinkedIn newsletter. I wasn’t aware of LinkedIn having that capability, so I researched it.
I found out that, at this time, the ability to have a LinkedIn newsletter was by invitation only. When you post on LinkedIn, it will ask you if you wish to write a newsletter. If you answer “yes” you will then be able to start a newsletter on LinkedIn. I have not received my invitation yet, but I will be ready when I do get it. If you post and get the invitation, you should definitely say “yes” and start a newsletter. I have a feeling this will be big. Google LinkedIn newsletter, and you can read about it.
As a close, I want you to use this time to look over every aspect of your business and see what areas need to be worked on. Look at everything I’ve talked about in this article and start with the aspect that will have the fastest and biggest benefit to your business and then work through each point I have talked about.
I want you to stay self and follow all guidelines laid out by medical and government authorities. But that doesn’t mean you need let you let your business stagnate. People are still buying on the Internet. After all, most of us operate digital businesses.
What you need to do is change as needed, modify our business and adapt to the new reality and thrive on!
We are accustomed to working from home. My daily life hasn’t changed that much. My main concern is the shortage of toilet paper. While millions of people find this work from home situation has shattered their lives, you are in a place to help them.
For more detailed information and to view examples on my computer just log into the Marketing University member’s area and watch the video training called, “What You Should Be Doing Right Now.”
