Marketing your business online is all about showing that you have something to offer your visitors that your competitors do not have. Marketing your small business online means reaching out to your current customers as well as prospective customers and setting yourself apart.Successful small business Internet marketing is all about establishing relationships. Just as customers in your brick and mortar store have a chance to come in and get to know you, online customers need to be given the chance to learn more about what you do and to decide that they want to do business with you.This is where the concept of your small biz online marketing funnel comes in. Your small biz online marketing funnel is a means by which you can – over time – find new customers and increase your small business sales.Your small biz online marketing funnel is not unlike the local small business marketing that you undertook when you first opened your business in its physical location. First you needed to choose a location and to get that location ready. You ordered the supplies you needed. Then you started advertising. On opening day, it’s likely that you had a product giveaway – a keychain, a coffee mug or maybe even a t-shirt – as well as a coupon giveaway, something that would entice your customer to come back.Your small biz online marketing funnel works in much the same way: you choose a domain name and build your website, or have your website built for you. You’ll get everything that you need in order – including a free or low-cost giveaway. And then you will begin marketing your small business online.It is important to remember that your website is your virtual business. All of the Internet ads that you place will bring traffic to your page, so be sure to use the page wisely.Use your homepage to tell prospective customers about your business – share your mission statement, share customer compliments. Use a page of your website to let your current and prospective customers know more about who you are and what you believe in. Focus both on your business and on establishing a relationship with your customer.Drawing prospective customers in to your website brings them into the widest part of your small biz online marketing funnel; allowing them the opportunity to get to know you begins to draw them down into the funnel.However, you do not want them to make it to the second level of the funnel and stay there, just as you do not want customers at your physical location to walk in and walk back out again. This is why you should plan – as part of your small business Internet marketing campaign – to draw them into the next smallest area of your small biz online marketing funnel.You do not need to offer a physical giveaway. Instead, continue to build relationships with your site visitors by offering them something of value. Offer them free articles about products and services that your small business offers. Set up a newsletter that will allow you to communicate valuable information (as well as special offers) to them at specified intervals.Doing so allows you to take an important step towards increasing sales: it allows you to establish a relationship. By consistently providing your subscribers with information or coupons that are valuable to them, they will begin to recognize you and your company as a company that they want to do business with, and they will look forward to hearing from you.You will be able to encourage them to do business with you by promoting low-cost front-end products. Now, rather than a free article that gives your prospective customers a little bit of information, turn them into your new customers by offering low-cost products. Low-cost front-end products such as e-books that provide useful information about important topics within your industry – and further establish your credibility and the customers’ trust – will help to draw those customers down to the smallest level of your small biz online marketing funnel.For instance, let’s say you own and operate a local floral shop. A perfect low-cost front-end information product that you could offer to your customers to draw them further into your sales funnel would be an e-book with planting tips for growing flowers in your local area. Customers who purchase your low-cost e-book will find value in the information, increasing the likelihood that they will purchase additional, higher priced products from you as well.The last level of your small biz online marketing funnel is the place that you want your new customers to be: it’s the stage where your free and low-cost front-end items, along with your newsletters and other marketing, will increase sales of your high-cost, back-end products and services.This is the goal of your small business Internet marketing: to find prospective customers, establish a relationship and increase sales. To recap, your small biz online marketing funnel works like this:o Build and Market Your Website to Draw in Prospective Customerso Engage the Prospective Customero Establish Trust with a Giveawayo Establish a relationship using a newsletter and special offerso Encourage small, low-cost front-end saleso Make the big-ticket sales of your products and servicesThrough this process, and by continuing to market your site to new prospective customers, you will find that the small biz online marketing funnel is a technique that allows you to consistently and reliably get new customers and increase sales for your small business.
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Elementary School Teachers, Counselors, and Career Education
As teachers and counselors, you know that the elementary school years are important. During the elementary school years, your students build visions of what they desire to do in their lives as they contribute to the workforce. With your help, your students remain open to new career ideas and possibilities. As you work with your students, your students do not make premature career choices or career preparations. For your students, elementary school is a time to build awareness.As elementary school teachers and counselors, you use career education to promote self-worth, skill development, and decision making strategies. Your activities are designed to build self, family, school, community, and career awareness. You use age-appropriate materials that match your students’ developmental levels. These activities expose your students to a variety of different jobs, career information sources, and the reasons why people work.When you prepare to develop age-appropriate materials products, tests and tools, you use career models like the National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG). The National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG) have domains, goals, and indicators. Each domain represents a developmental area. Under each domain, there are goals or competencies. For each goal, indicators highlight the knowledge and skills needed to achieve the goal. The National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG) prepares you to make materials that are suitable for your students.As a elementary school counselors and teachers, you create individual career plans and portfolios. Individual career plans (ICP) -
Develop self-awareness
Identify initial career goals and educational plans
Increase employability and decision making skills
Individual career portfolios summarize career awareness activities and experiences that occur during the school year. In addition to individual career plans and portfolios, you use a variety of resources -Career days
Career fairs
Community speakers
Field trips
Information interviewing
Literary works
Mentors
Collages, murals
Educational games
Job shadowing
Dramatic presentations
All of the career activities and tools combine academic work with career pathways. Career activities serve as foundations for future skills. As teachers and counselors, you help students build connections between academics and real life situations. You use career education activities to stress the importance of language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.You show students that Language Arts have many uses in the work force:
Reading
Writing
Listening skills
You provide examples that show how people solve problems when they use Mathematics. Different types of Mathematics include:
Addition
Subtraction
Multiplication
Division
In Social Studies, your students learn how skills that are necessary to be successful in the global marketplace. In Social Studies, your students learn about -
Countries
Languages
Cultures
Your students learn the importance of Science gaining skills to solve problems. You show your students how applications of Science are used in different industries, such as -
Food
Media
Agriculture
Automotive industry
The connections between academics and real life situations reinforce, develop, and expand previously learned skills. In summary, as a elementary school teachers and counselors, you help students:
Know and value self
Build self-esteem and confidence
Learn and apply the academic material
Identify interests and build relationships between the school environment and the work force
Build academic, communication, problem solving, and social skills
Increase awareness of the need for future jobs skills
See the connections between learning in school, academic skills, job related skills, and careers
See career possibilities
See themselves as a future contributor to the job force
Receive empowerment
Build self-determination
As counselors and teachers, you build self-awareness, family awareness, school awareness, community awareness, career/ work awareness, attitude development, skill development, decision making strategies, and self-worth. You use age-appropriate materials that match the developmental levels of the students. Examples of activities include individual career plans (ICP), individual career portfolios, career days, career fairs, field trips, information interviewing, and library book reports.After completing career education activities, your students are prone to get higher grades, academic achievement, school involvement, and interpersonal skills. In addition, your students are more adept to complete more complex courses and have higher graduation rates from high school. As your students get older, they will achieve their career visions and goals.References1. American Counseling Association, Office of Public Policy and Legislation. (2007). Effectiveness of School Counseling. Alexandria, VA: Author.2. Angel, N. Faye; Mooney, Marianne. (1996, December). Work-in-Progress: Career and Work Education for Elementary Students. (ED404516). Cincinnati, OH: Paper presented at the American Vocational Association Convention.3. Benning, Cathleen; Bergt, Richard; Sausaman, Pamela. (2003, May). Improving Student Awareness of Careers through a Variety of Strategies. Thesis: Action Research Project. (ED481018). Chicago, Illinois: Saint Xavier University.4. Career Tec. (2000). K-12 Career Awareness & Development Sequence [with Appendices, Executive and Implementation Guide]. (ED450219) .Springfield, Il: Author.5. Carey, John. (2003, January). What are the Expected Benefits Associated with Implementing a Comprehensive Guidance Program. School counseling Research Brief 1.1. Amherst, MA: Fredrickson Center for School Counseling Outcome Research.6. Dare, Donna E.; Maddy-Bernstein, Carolyn. (1999, September). Career Guidance Resource Guide for Elementary and Middle/Junior High School Educators. (ED434216). Berkeley, CA: National Center for Research in Vocational Education.7. DuVall, Patricia. (1995).Let’s Get Serious about Career Education for Elementary Students. AACE Bonus Briefs. (ED386603). Hermosa Beach, CA: AACE Bonus Briefs.8. Ediger, Marlow. (2000, July). Vocational Education in the Elementary School. (ED442979) Opinion Papers9. Gerver, Miriam, Shanley, Judy, O Cummings, Mindee. (2/14/02). Answering the Question EMSTAC Extra Elementary and Middle Schools. Washington, DC: Technical Assistance Center, (EMSTAC).10. Hurley, Dan, Ed.; Thorp, Jim, Ed. (2002, May). Decisions without Direction: Career Guidance and Decision-Making among American Youth. (ED465895). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Ferris State University Career Institute for Education and Workforce Development.11. Maddy-Bernstein, Carolyn; Dare, Donna E. (1997,December).Career Guidance for Elementary and Middle School Students. Office of Student Services Brief, v9 n1. (ED415353). Berkeley, CA: National Center for Research in Vocational Education.12. Ohio Department of Education, Division of Vocational and Career Education, Ohio Career Development Blueprint, Individual Career Plan, K to 5 (ED449322). Columbus, Ohio, 200013. Splete, Howard; Stewart, Amy. (1990). Competency-Based Career Development Strategies and the National Career Development Guidelines. Information Series No. 345. (ED327739). Columbus, Ohio: ERIC Clearinghouse on Education and Training for Employment & Ohio State University14. U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education. (1994, 2004). National Career Development Guidelines (NCDG). Washington, DC: Author.15. Williams, Jean A., Ed. (1999, January). Elementary Career Awareness Guide: A Resource for Elementary School Counselors and Teachers. (ED445293). Raleigh, NC: NC Department of Public Instruction, NC Job Ready.16. Woal, S. Theodore. (1995). Career Education–The Early Years. AACE Bonus Briefs. (ED386603). Hermosa Beach, CA: AACE Bonus Briefs.
Is Your Desire to Network One of Desperation? Do Not Turn Your Audience Off!
Waiting Too Long To Build Your NetworkThis is a common and unfortunate mistake made by many networkers. Your network is a resource that happens over time, not instantaneously. Networks evolve and grow as you get to know each other. The members of your network develop a sense of trust with you as they get to know you and you develop a trusting relationship with them.Unfortunately many desperate people jump into networking thinking that if they send an invite they are doing a really nice thing and the invited person should feel good about it. Unless you already have some fantastic reputation and a strong brand or a previous relationship; that is not likely to happen. Many people, on the receiving end of the invitation, hesitate before deciding to accept or reject the invitation. They question the motive and sincerity of the request. They want assurance that they are not getting into a relationship they may regret.You Cannot Look Desperate; When Growing Your NetworkThis is an interesting concept for the unemployed. When unemployed you are told over and over to make connections and the last question to ask is: “Do you know anyone else I should talk to?” or even more desperate is: “Do you know anyone that might be hiring?”You do not want your networking efforts to come across in this manner. The reason is that even if they do know someone for you to contact; your message may be so desperate and off-putting that you jeopardize the relationship between the person that gave you the name and the person you are contacting. What a great way to burn two bridges at once.Effective and Strong Networks Take Time To DevelopWhen you are creating your network realize that it does not happen overnight. Your network will take time to grow and develop into a useful tool. There is a lot of strength in a network that has had time for trust to develop between the members. Trust is a key component for getting good traction and referrals out of your network.One of the key ways to get that traction and those referrals is to prove your own value to your network. You do that through providing information, answering questions, and being willing to listen. You also build that relationship by providing your fellow network members the opportunity to get to know you. This is not done by pushing yourself upon them, but by sharing information when the appropriate topics are being discussed or even should be discussed.If you are looking to have an effective network; you cannot just sit on the sidelines expecting it to happen. You must be an active participant with relevant information to share. Your willingness to share demonstrates to your network that you care and are interested in the network. If you sit on the sidelines you look like a “taker” and you will not be considered an active part of the network. In that situation when you are looking for help; it will be slow coming, if it comes at all.If You Do Not Currently Have a Network; All Is Not LostBefore you start thinking that your options are nonexistent you must consider the network that you already have. No, it may not be formalized on any Social Network; but that does not mean that you do not have a network. It just means that you have not formalized your network. With that being the case you must get moving. You must formalize what you have. You start by creating your own accounts and then reaching out to those you know.With your own communities as a base; you next step is to connect with the Friends and Connections of the people you know from your communities. You can provide them with some reassurance because you have connections in common. With the popular business social networking sites look for connections in the connections list of your current connections. Inviting someone that is a friend of yours provides you with a quasi endorsement from your friend. The feeling may be that the person inviting me cannot be all bad if he/she is a connection of a connection of mine. It is the same way if the social network uses a friend’s list. A friend of my friend could be a realistic friend for me; therefore, we already have something in common.Your Network Can Be a Valuable Asset; If You Manage It ProperlyJob seekers and business people alike cannot afford to miss opportunities through the neglect or mismanagement of their networks. Networks take care, feeding, and support and they will work for you. You just cannot wait until you need your network before you start.