By Vishal P. Rao
As a home-based business owner, part of your focus is always
on securing new customers. While it is true that your repeat
clients are the backbone of your success, you need to add to
those returning numbers if you want your business to grow.
One of the best ways to make that happen is to sell yourself
as an expert. When potential buyers see you as a
knowledgeable professional whose opinions and guidance truly
matter, they are more likely to hand over their hard-earned
money. Below you will find a few ways that you can use to
promote yourself as an expert.
Display Your Credentials
Credentials are anything which you've accomplished which
reflects positively on your line of work. For example, a
teacher's credentials might include his or her completed
education and years of employment as an educator while a
writer's might also list his or her publishing credits.
Whether you have a Master's degree or a GED, you have
credentials worth promoting to potential clients, such as
your years in the industry, number of satisfied customers,
awards you've received, and more. If you're a member of an
organization, a former military person, or an experienced
entrepreneur, you can use these facts to sell yourself as an
expert.
Once you have established your credentials, display them
everywhere. On your web sites, business cards, brochures,
and advertisements your credentials will help boost their
marketing effectiveness and will ensure you an influx of new
business.
Write a Book
Have you ever noticed that on television anyone who writes a
book becomes an instant expert? It's true. Once someone is
published, he or she becomes a knowledgeable source of
information on that topic and what works for them will also
work for you.
Now you might be thinking: I don't have the writing skills
to publish a book on the time to find a publisher for any
manuscript. Thankfully the Internet allows you to get around
those concerns. For one, you don't have to write your book
to receive the benefits of authorship. You can hire a
ghostwriter using any of the online freelance marketplaces,
such as Elance.com, to turn your ideas into powerful prose.
You can also forgo traditional publishing methods and
instead create an Ebook or submit your book to an online
publishing house, such as iUniverse.com. Either of these
methods will help you effectively establish yourself as an
expert.
Broadcast Your Success
People are naturally drawn to winners. They will almost
always choose to do business with successful companies
instead of those seeing only mediocre results. How else
could one explain the popularity of Wal-Mart and McDonald's?
But how do potential customers find out about your success
unless you tell them?
One of the best ways to broadcast your success is by
creating and distributing press releases. Many small
business owners mistakenly believe they need an entire
public relations department in order to send out press
releases, but the truth is they are easy for anyone to write
and deliver to potential customers.
To create a press release, you need to follow only this
simple formula:
Paragraph 1 Establish the relevance of your news by
explaining why people should care. For example, you may want
to mention the need your product fulfills.
Paragraph 2 Discuss your news or success. You need to go
into details about what you've accomplished so that readers
can see concrete evidence of your success.
Paragraph 3 Give background information on your company or
yourself. This paragraph will tell readers more about the
company and what you do. It also gives you a chance to
stress your credentials.
Paragraph 4 Wrap up with contact details. The last thing
you want to leave your potential customers with is a phone
number, email address, or web site address which they can
use to reach you and learn more.
After you've written your press release, you can distribute
them directly to the individuals on your client list all
those people who have expressed some interest in becoming a
customer of yours via email and post them on your web site
so they are easily accessible. You can also try mailing them
to local newspapers or magazines to try to motivate their
interest as well.
As you can see there are numerous ways for you to sell
yourself as a knowledgeable expert in your field. Once you
begin using them, you will quickly discover that your
potential customers view you as more trustworthy, reputable,
and reliable which translates into more sales and higher
profits for you. It may take some work to convince the
public of your expertise, but in the long run the payoff is
worth it.
Related Articles:
Storytelling - The Great Motivator of People
What truly moves us as human beings, what prompts us into action,
is emotion. Imagination is the conduit of emotion and well-
crafted storytelling carries the imagination.
Customers Buy When They Feel Good
Prospective customers will not buy unless they feel good
about you, your company and your product or service. Here
are 4 simple ways you can stimulate their good feelings
...and motivate them to buy.
Set Marketing Goals To Build Your Confidence
Whatever your business you wont succeed unless you make it a habit to do some marketing
every day. Start small, set tiny achievable marketing goals. If you do that, your business will be a
success.
