Online marketing can be challenging. It’s often much harder than people think. There’s a common misconception that all you need to do it get on the social media wagon and business will come flooding through the door. But as most small business owners discover almost instantly, that’s just not the case. There are methods, strategies and things that work. And many which don’t. Either way, online marketing requires your commitment of time, consistency and patience.

But small business does not have the luxury of time. If you’ve been throwing ineffective marketing methods at the wall, you could wind up closing your doors before you have a chance to discover what sticks.

So where do you begin? What should your online marketing plan include? Why is it important to “play nice” with Google? Which social media channels have the highest return on investment…..?

Enter Theresa Delgado! Theresa provides step-by-step marketing strategies for small business and solo professionals. As the owner of Smart Marketing Small Business, Theresa’s focus is to help you break out of a ineffective routine and turn your focus over to what your ideal customers are looking for so you can attract more business.

I initially met Theresa on Twitter (@TheresaDelgado). She and I connected because we instantly recognized similarities in the way we both approach marketing on a psychological level. And while we are both strategic in marketing and branding, Theresa takes a much deeper dive into the hows-and-whys of online marketing, placing specific emphasis on the details of how marketing works online. Her knowledge and experience is especially valuable to small business owners that are trying to gain momentum in using social media and internet tools to increase business and revenue.

I met with Theresa for an “authentic” one-on-one, and was blown away by her knowledge. She knocked my socks off with specifics! Not merely you-need-to-do-this instructions, but more to the effect of this-is-HOW-you-do-this. Instead of stopping at WHAT you need to do, Theresa actually provides you with an easy to follow road map for marketing your business online. And she draws on 20+ years of sales and marketing and combines her background with current strategies to bring the best of both worlds: psychological marketing and tactile Google-friendly methods.

I encourage you to sign up for Theresa’s newsletter. It’s packed full of useful tips and tools that you can implement into your business immediately. And if you are just starting to market your business online, be sure to head over to Smart Marketing Small Business for easy-to-follow instructions, including how-to YouTube tips and tools.

Enjoy!

Tell us about your business, Smart Marketing Small Business. What do you help business owners achieve?

Smart Marketing Small Business was created to help entrepreneurs and small business owners boost their marketing and increase their sales by implementing proven online marketing strategies.

Small business owners have a lot to manage and coming up with new strategies to capture the attention of their customers can be challenging. Sometimes you don’t know what to change in your marketing strategy, so you do nothing and sales suffer.

The ironic thing is that implementing a few proven strategies in your marketing make a huge improvement in sales.

What sort of challenges do clients come to you with?

Probably the biggest challenge I get is needing to reach more customers, but not having more resources, in other words money. Which is understandable, small business owners don’t have big budgets. They need to get the most out of every dollar they spend and they need to maximize their efforts because they are typically the ones doing the work. So, I need to develop strategies for them to do more with less.

I really like that you describe your business as “Online Marketing Strategies,” instead of the common descriptors, “SEO” or “internet marketing.” Your description is unique and inspiring, and actually tells people what you offer in a value-based way. Can you elaborate on your strategy to differentiate from others in your field?

My Business degree is in Marketing and Sales Management, so my strategies stem from using the Internet as a tool to market your business. My focus is to help existing small business expand their marketing. To use the terms “SEO” or “Internet marketing” do not mean anything to small business owners. They’ve heard the words, but they want to know how; how to use the Internet to grow their existing business. That’s why I don’t align myself with “SEO” or “Internet Marketing”, but how to use “Online Marketing Strategies” to reach your market and grow your business.

What compelled you to start your own company and become an entrepreneur?

The funny thing is that I didn’t start off thinking I would start a company. It all started because I wanted to sell some craft supplies I wasn’t using any more on eBay.

I started reading some articles on the best way to title your Listings and one article lead to another and then I became very interested in the strategy of online marketing. After I saw how you can take proven, traditional marketing strategies, those that I was familiar with, and pair them with online strategies to marketing your business online.

I find the whole process very interesting and amazing. Even more, when I speak with small business owners of the cost-effective possibilities of marketing their business online they seem to breathe a sigh of relief.

What passions do you infuse your business with? What’s your favorite part of “the job?”

I’m a salesperson and I love the sales process. So, my favorite part is seeing a strategy work and the business owner embracing the process and implementing other growth strategies. It’s really exciting to see others get re-energized about their business.

What challenges do you face in your business and what is your method for overcoming those challenges?

The biggest challenge is having the client understand that online marketing is not an overnight solution to reaching tons of customers. Implementing online marketing strategies and having them take effect is a process. However, it is a very targeted way to reach your market, you’re not spending money or time on people who aren’t interested in your product or service. And if you set it up properly, it’s free and it’s a marketing strategy that will work for you everyday of the year.

To answer the second part of the question, how do I overcome this challenge. I explain the process and how online marketing works. I don’t want anyone to think that they’re going to have a flood of customers overnight. However, sometimes people think the Internet is a magical place none-the-less.

So, to keep yourself on track, it’s a good idea to work small milestones into your plan. Reaching these achievements will keep you motivated and moving toward your plan.

What changes have you seen in small business marketing due to Twitter and social media in general?

Social media is really great for small businesses. It allows entrepreneurs to reach their market, connect with their customer, build a relationship, and ultimately grow their business. These fundamentals use to take a very long time for small business owners to achieve, but social media speeds up the process tremendously.

How do you feel social media most impacts small business brands?

Social media is a great tool for small businesses. Implementing the right online marketing strategies can make a huge impact in a business in shorter time than traditional marketing. Small businesses are usually on a tight budget and social media is free. So, using this as a marketing tool is a great way to build a small business brand.

What are some of the most common mistakes small business owners make in communicating their brand’s voice in web and/or social media? What advice can you offer a woman who is just getting started communicating her brand?

Planning. It is very important to plan your messaging strategy, exactly how you do for your clients Kristine. It’s important to convey how your service or product will help the customer. Features are great, but they want to know how your product will make their life easier – the benefit or even the benefit of the benefit. That’s when you are meeting the real need, that’s what your customer cares about.

This is harder than it seems and requires a lot of research and it’s not glamorous. This is where people get disinterested and want to cut corners or quit. It’s hard to come up with the right messaging, or unique selling proposition, but it means the difference between success and failure.

So, bottom line, research, plan, work your plan and tweak as needed.

If you could offer one piece of advice to a startup, what would that be?

The best advice I can offer is to have purpose, patience, and persistence.

Theresa Delgado helps entrepreneurs and small business owners engage their market and grow their business by using proven online marketing strategies.  If you have a business and would like to build an online presence, you can get step-by-step instruction at TheresaDelgado.com.  If you already have an online presence and would like to maximize your marketing efforts, SmartMarketingSmallBusiness.com has proven strategies you can start using today to grow your business.

I’ve always believed that when you want others to respect you as a leader and an authority in your field, you must brand your business image seriously. And that’s exactly what Deb Nystrom did…

Deb is an organization development consultant and executive coach. Like many small business owners, Deb faces her share of competition – there’s no shortage of coaches these days. But Deb stood out of the crowd for me. From the second I landed on her web site’s homepage, it was evident that Deb took great care to project her business image seriously. She strategically planned her brand to reflect her personal professionalism, as well as her warm and welcoming personality. As a leader, she took a leading path in developing her brand.

The investment in designing her brand professionally has paid off….just take a look at her site and you’ll immediately see what I mean! http://reveln.com/

I was SO impressed with Deb’s level of commitment to her brand that I could not resist contacting her personally and getting to know her better. I really wanted to feature her business, because she sets a great example of how well-designed brand can support and sustain small business. Kudos, Deb!

Have you been struggling with your own brand design? I’d love to help you. CLICK HERE TO CONNECT WITH ME. I enjoy meeting new people, making new friends and I especially love helping small business with projecting their best business image!

– Kristine

Tell us about Reveln Consulting. How did you arrived at such a distinctive name for your business?

Reveln is a blend of my business practices and values, as well as my marketing intuition, and then some. Here are four aspects I discovered as I began to develop and use the Reveln name in 2004:

1) My name doesn’t quite carry my message, as Reveln is able to do. It also seems to communicate in multiple ways, in English, with ties to words like Revelation, Reveling (fun) and Revere. People who work with me know I like work to be based in data and to be outcome oriented. My work is also intuitive, fun, with people implementation as the core. These aspects correspond to the English words embedded in this unique name.

2) The unique “Reveln” is great for placing high in Google search. www.Reveln.com It makes it easy for existing and new clients to find me in search. The branding is more memorable when getting the spelling correctly, joking about it a little.

3) My current tag line also helps explain the name: Where reason and revelation come together to develop strong, positive leadership and healthy, productive organizations.

4) Synchronicity: There happens to be a family connection in the name! By coincidence, Reveln ties to my Swedish married name, Nystrom, as it is a town in Sweden. My husband’s parents were both Swedish Americans!

I LOVE that you placed a photo of yourself on your home page! Was this a natural decision? Or did you struggle with it? I ask because many small business owners are apprehensive about using their own “face” as the face of the brand.

I never thought twice about it. Everyone has something attractive about themselves, a smile, a gesture, body posture, welcoming eyes. I see my photo-visual presence as my personal handshake and greeting to the world.

When I visit other sites and cannot find a photo of who is behind the site (or the team), it doesn’t feel like I’ve been greeted. Consulting & executive coaching is such a personalized profession and relationship, not having a photo seems to be a red flag that the website is not a top priority for reaching out to clientele.

Photo choice: I had a photo that caught me with the right smile on a good hair day in Minnesota (low humidity), by Minnehaha Falls. The day, location, and time in my consulting career lined up, so the photo for the home page was born.

I have a great web-master as well who is also a professional photographer, who may update my photo in the near future.

Your logo is simple, it’s not complicated or over-designed. The site’s colors are warm and reflect your authenticity and personal touch. Please tell us about your process for how you arrived at the total brand look-and-feel?

I have an arts background and believe in the impact of good visuals. I hired a professional graphic designer to design my logo and overall visual brand. For the logo, she interviewed me and sent me several colors and designs. We narrowed things down until we had a winner we both liked. I can tell it is a winner as I’m having this spotlight interview with you, and my client work!

A strong logo conveys a lot, including confidence in what you offer to the world.

What would say is your strongest competitive advantage? How do you set yourself apart from other businesses that offer similar services?

A significant website presence and personality opens the door to clients discussing and building relationships. This is based on my combination of three main service areas:

1) leadership & organization development/coaching (and a client list & recommendations)
2) change leadership, and
3) social media coaching

I have a dynamic presence in person, so when I do a a) presentation and b) get looked up on-line, along with c) my referral network, those a, b, c items generate successful interest & leads. I also refine my niches as needed. For example, there aren’t many higher education, “od” systems / change /innovation strategists out there, to those who know the lingo.

To those potential clients in other business areas that don’t know this jargon, I use different words to explain my consultation approach, focusing on areas of pain or urgency.

You obviously are very passionate about your work. What about it do you most enjoy?

I live for seeing new energy, the creative spark, and the productive tension building in groups, while working myself out of a job! Building self-sufficiency, strategic agility and enduring adaptability, while supporting internal leadership self-confidence is one of my life-long goals.

Do you have a favorite Client success story you’d like to share?

I like the story of my first accidental organization development client where I did some customer service training for a group of union bus drivers, tailored closely to the request of that group’s senior manager, when I was just a pup in my late 20’s.

The training was not customized to the audience, bus drivers’ interests, needs and pains, and flopped. I walked straight to manager and said, “Well, that didn’t work. Why don’t we find out what will work and ask them what kind of training makes sense to them?” I had stumbled into the “action-research” model of organization development.

The end of that story is that the bus drivers nominated “star drivers” that they wanted to learn from, that were naturally good at handling disruptive, difficult passengers. They became the new “teachers” of handling difficult customer service interactions. We co-created the training design with all interested parties, which is a forerunner of social learning and peer learning I study and use in my work in organizations today.

What kind of Clients do you most enjoy working with? Why?

I might be tempted to say easy clients, who are creative, adaptable, open and smart. But what’s the challenge in that?! Instead, I’ll overtly take the high road and say that smart, occasionally difficult, sometimes stubborn, yet engaged clients who want to do the right thing for their organization, as well as the world, and will stay the course of change leadership, are my favorite clients. Their wins are sweeter, and their hard won lessons are enduring.

Business-wise, I don’t have the ultimate niche identified as of yet. I have worked with higher education extensively including health systems, and manufacturing, unions. I’ve worked with bus drivers, fire fighters and police units to senior leader teams, faculty chairs and deans, and college presidents.

One of my most rewarding assignments is working, teaming, and co-creating with a system, with multiple roles, leaders with a clear or emerging vision, possible team consulting, while dealing with change, innovation, a sense of urgency, and a clear need for change.

What’s next on the horizon for Reveln Consulting?

Some new things that have come my way, that seem to meet a need is presenting and co-learning about adult bullying in the workplace and the power of peer networks and peer witnessing.

This also paved the way for me to be invited to present on career resilience to an upcoming Divorce Expo. Though I’m in a 32+ year marriage, I have many friends over the decades who’ve shared their learning with me that I can link to change leadership expertise at a personal level, while using crowd-sourcing, peer & social learning group tools to facilitate the many ways we help each other.

I’ve also been pulled into presenting on and providing group coaching on social media for my peers, consultants, coaches and small business owners. It’s been fun surfing the trends in social media, including my first virtual assistant, “Siri” on my iPhone and learning about Google+ and curation, as well as helping people with tools such as Facebook business pages, LinkedIn groups and social media policy.

Deborah Nystrom, Reveln Consulting is a change facilitator & strategist; executive, leader team, and group coach; and an organization development (OD) consultant. Deb is also a social media coach for coaches and consultants, and business.

Deb started her career as an internal consultant in the 80′s, and became the OD practice lead at the University of Michigan in 2005. Deb continues today as owner of Reveln Consulting, working with leadership teams, organizations including administrative, faculty and physician leaders, researchers, unions & college presidents focusing on strategy development, process consultation and managing change and transition

Deb’s education is well represented on her blogs and main site at www.Reveln.com, as well as:

• LinkedIn

• Facebook: Reveln Consulting, Change Management Results and the Social Media Learning Lab

• YouTube: ChangeResults & SocMediaLearnLab

• Twitter: @dnrevel & @RevelnConsults

She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, and often talks with her adult children IRL (In Real Life) and via text, Facebook and sometimes using a phone.

Theresa Delgado is a small business marketing consultant in Orange County, California that coaches solo professionals how to market their business online. Theresa offers great tips for entrepreneurs and small business owners! She not only understands the psychological aspects of marketing, but she’s an absolute master at internet marketing strategies and building a strong and effective presence online.

Be sure to check out Theresa’s web site at TheresaDelgado.com. And enjoy this video from her series on Smart Marketing Small Business: