Virtual Tours are often associated with promoting books, travel destinations or real estate. But have you thought about promoting your business through a virtual tour?

Of course, writing a book is a great way to promote yourself and your business. But if you just want to promote your business online you can do that too.

Here are some useful online marketing tips and links from our very own Home Biz Notes blogger, Mary Emma Allen.

Mary Emma says

Other business owners might consider utilizing blog tours, appearing on other people’s blogs, as a way to get the word out about their products and services…

You might initiate exchange appearances/visits with blog owners whose businesses complement yours. Share information that your customers/clients and prospective ones will find useful and interesting, as authors do for their readers during blog tours.

• Promoting Your Home Business With A Virtual Blog Tour
  
• Dorothy Thompson – Home Business E-Marketing Specialist (Virtual Tours)
• Virtual Blog Tours – The Latest Innovation For Promoting Your Writing
• 5 Tips For More Productive Blog Tours For Your Writing Business

Virtual tours are not just for books. Leverage the power of online marketing and networking.

• How can you adapt these approaches for your business?

HomeBizNotes.com

“Be polite and smile, girls,” my mom would caution my sister and me when we complained about a customer at her small country grocery store.  “Remember, the customer is always right.”

So we took heed, smiled and kept our voices calm.  Occasionally we bit our tongues…or at least it seemed so.

However, sometimes the customer isn’t always right and you have to make a decision…are the complaints justified?  Do you want this customer or don’t you?  Is there a diplomatic way to handle this?

Hope Clark wrote a thought provoking editorial, Watch That Knee Jerk for her Funds for Writers Small Markets. 

As a supplier of a product (stories), you have customers in the form of
readers. Any business columnist will tell you to listen to your customer, and as writers trying to make a buck, we are business people.

Problem is, which customers do you listen to?

Hope then discusses which customers you should listen to and how to determine if their complaints (and their praise) are valid.  This really made me consider that Mother’s advice, while generally true, must on occasion be adjusted to the situation.  Hope advises us to be confident and savvy.

Which customers to you listen to? 

(Amazon image)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Business owners know that being the author of a book can add instant credibility and clout to the public perception of yourself and your business.

Penguin, as a major publisher, knows a thing or two about authors and the business of promoting books.

If you have a book (print or ebook) or are thinking about writing one, Penguin has a free ebook with lots of useful tips about how authors (and business owners) can leverage an online presence. Much of this information is useful for any business, not just someone wanting to write or promote a book.

The Penguin Authors Guide To Online Marketing covers aspects such as

• choosing a domain name
• mini sites
• blogs
• promotional ideas for authors
• examples of successful sites
• multimedia

Download the FREE EBOOK - Penguin Authors Guide To Online Marketing

Virtual tours are another great way to promote your book.

HomeBizNotes.com

Writing media (press) releases contribute to getting the word out about your book, your business, your product.  They’re considered free publicity. 

Kathleen (Katy) Walls, owner of Global Authors Publications (GAP), has some good suggestions about writing and distributing effective releases:

“Media Releases generate a buzz. These are short items you send to newspapers and other media telling about your book. There is an art to writing a release. Remember the media outlet’s reason for printing them is not the same as yours for sending them.

“You want the world to know about your book. The media can care less about your book; they want to sell papers or boost their listener or viewer rating by offering new and interesting news items.  To do this they need snippets of interesting news. Here’s where the twain must meet.

“Make your release a piece of news they will want to publish. For instance, you have a book dealing with drug abuse. You would want to tie your release in to the drug use statistics in the news or perhaps to a drug prevention event where you will be present to sell your books.”     

Do you have any tips about media releases that have been successful for you?

(Amazon images;click on books for details)

(c)2008

HomeBizNotes.com

BLOGTOBER FEST, a time to celebrate autumn and enjoy great prizes comes to the Lifestyles Channel, as well as Quilting and Patchwork and One Book Two Book for two weeks, from October 6-17. 

There will be celebrating and prizes from b5media Lifestyles bloggers and outside participants.

Read all about it and see if you’d like to participate and receive recognition for your business. Information here. 

(Amazon image)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Which are the words that sell the best? Hamoon Arbabi shares some copywriting secrets for your print marketing materials.

According to Arbabi the 21 most effective words to use in your marketing materials are -

1. You, your (resonates with the person reading it)
2. Money
3. Health, healthy
4. Guarantee, guaranteed
5. Easy, easily
6. Free
7. Yes
8. Quick, quickly
9. Benefit
10. Person’s name
11. Love
12. Results
13. Safe, safely
14. Proven
15. Fun
16. New
17. Save
18. Now
19. How To
20. Solution
21. More

He explains that combining these when relevant makes the impact of your message even more effective. There is a psychology to which words resonate with readers. Copywriters know how to tap into these hot button words for headlines and body copy.

• Do you agree with this list of words?

And it’s not just words. Numbers (especially odd numbers) can be very effective too.

I wrote the following article, which may be of interest.
Related Article: 7 Reasons Odd Numbers Can Power Up Your Headlines

HomeBizNotes.com

In response to my post, Do Promotional Pens Have Value?,  Shannon Cherry, of Startup Spark, responded with an interesting comment and promotional tip that I’d like to share here.  It shows that if you “think outside the box,” you often can have amazing results.

Interesting post, Mary Emma. I actually believe unless pens really link to your business, they aren’t worth much for promo purposes. I advise my clients to find a promotional item that relates to their business, but is also useful.

For example, one interior designer bought tons of pens, which no one thought about after she gave them away. Once we switched to a flower clip that attaches to purses, everyone was a buzz about how chic and interesting they were. And the more people talked about them, which meant more exposure for her!

Do you have any unique and successful promotional tips or items based on your experience?

(Amazon image)

(c)2008

HomeBizNotes.com

Autumn brings to mind harvest time and fun activities my family and I enjoy.  Some businesses are condusive to family activities, while with others you might incorporate a few into decorations and advertising.

I also found autumn a pleasant time when I was growing up on the farm even though we had to work hard, too, gathering in the crops and picking the apples my father raised.  This was a family enterprise into which we were involved in fun activities as well work.

Here are some activities you might enjoy with your family.  Perhaps some could be incorporated into your business, too.

1. Carving pumpkins
2. Painting faces on pumpkins
3. Picking apples
4. Making apple dishes such as applesauce, pies, and crisp (and reading recipes)
5. Taking hikes midst autumn scenery
6. Raking leaves into piles and jumping into them
7. Drinking apple cider and munching on donuts
8. Making Halloween costumes
9. Reading autumn stories
10. Drawing autumn pictures
11. Making collages with leaves and pictures from magazines
12. Creating an autumn scrapbook
13. Telling ghost stories
14. Gather leaves and press them

What do you do in the autumn?  What are favorite activities in your family? 

(Amazon image; click here for book info)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

HomeBizNotes.com

WORD OF THE WEEK

Over at One Book Two Book, my co-blogger, Marcie, posts a word of the week and a quote of the week.  Since business terms sometimes aren’t understood by everyone, I thought I’d begin this practice here.

Today our word or term is net profits (net income).  This refers to the amount of money left after you’ve deducted all your expenses, at least your operating expenses.  The fact that you take in a specific amount of money doesn’t mean you have that amount to live on or are even making a profit in your business.

Does anyone have any explanation to add to this?

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Sometimes I feel like I’m surrounded by sticky notes… but never this creatively. Enjoy the video!