• More people than ever will be entering the entrepreneurial space. Differentiating yourself will be about the value you offer to your customers in the user experience, versus the things like flashy websites and landing pages, online personas, popularity, or kitschy content writing. They’re not buying personalities, they’re buying experiences that better their lives in some way.

• People will look favorably upon, and continue to loyally follow those actively engaging in thought leadership and blogging, and who are creating and curating original, intelligent and relevant content. And who provide that platform for conversation.

• There is a rising interest in products and services that tap into people’s abilities to hone in on and achieve personal goals around life purpose, work-life balance and creative fulfillment. There is also growing competition in that space, and tangible, specific benefits will sell better than high-level, whimsical ideas (like “find your true passion”).

• Unemployment is on the decrease and earning is on the uptick. People are more interested in value and return on their investment, rather than discounts, deals and reductions. Be strategic when you think about running promotions, reducing your prices at a client’s request, or charging less because of your experience level. Charge based on the value of the benefits you’re offering.

So in thinking about branding, marketing, pricing, and the different topics and trends that are going to ring loudly on the radar in 2013, I’ve compiled my favorite, and best posts from 2012 that get into the nitty gritty of why these things are so important, and how you can strategize around positioning yourself for success in January (and beyond):

Everyone’s An Expert. It’s a Given, Not a Marketing Strategy
The “F Word”: Are You Running a Fear-Based Business?
How to Afford to Work for Yourself: Tips for the First 12 Months
Where to Start, When Starting Your Business
Your Ability to Manage Change Will Make or Break Your Business
So Many Marketing Strategies: Finding the Right Mix for Your Business
Creating a Side Gig With Full Time Potential

That’s about it! Wishing you a safe, happy and abundant New Year, and see you in 2013!

I was just reading an email newsletter promoting some online interview with another uber-ambitious, game-changing Gen-Y type, “the face of today’s digital world, the best her generation has to offer,” as they modestly described her. Oh wait, wait for my favorite part here – “master millennial of the universe“. Now excuse me while I crawl under a rock and hide with the rest of my underachieving generation. Or vomit…I haven’t decided which.

I’m thinking, “Really? If this person is as immense a marketing powerhouse as her bio makes her out to be, why haven’t I heard of her?” I have a resume writing & personal branding business – I know a thing or two about people overly-inflating their reputation and professional credibility.

Don’t get me wrong, as I truly believe that formulating strategic marketing partnerships – such as this gal did with said online magazine geared toward career-driven millennials – is essential to the growth and success of any business. It’s a great opportunity to establish yourself as a leader in your field, build visibility for your business, and tap into a larger, more established network of followers who share a common interest. But remind yourself that everyone is doing it, everyone is positioning themselves as a thought leader, the next creative breakthrough in [insert subject matter area here], and working hard to establish a commanding presence in a saturated market of expert professionals.

Truth is, most of the time we’re just a blip on the screen. We’re not the Top 10, the 30 under 30, the absolute authority of career advice, business strategy, or creative innovation. And that’s okay, because that shouldn’t be the goal – gaining market share is not the same thing as winning a popularity contest. The goal should be gaining and retaining customers by delivering value in the form of something they actually want, and can benefit from. You can be wildly successful when it comes to amassing a social media following, but still not make a penny in sales. Because people aren’t buying personalities – they’re buying thoughtful, innovative and useful products and services. They’re buying tangible value.

What intrigues me is how people are different from one another in their approach. I’m not moved by receiving 8 different emails from 8 different female entrepreneurial gurus, all promising me 4 secrets to take my business to the mid 6 figures, in the next 6 months. Because I look at that and I don’t think “Wow, that’s an intriguing thought,” (ok, maybe for second). My business focuses around consulting one-on-one with people on how to find a job, make a career, and leave a career to start a business. I write a lot of emails, a lot of resumes, and I make a lot of phone calls. If I were doing mid 6-figures of that type of work, the only marriage I’ll have left in 2013 is with Verizon Wireless.

I’m also not looking to hire and manage a team of 6 other people so that I can scale my business enough to be able to do that. Many people share my preference for sustainable work-life balance over scalability.

What really goes through my mind is, “If it’s so easy, why isn’t everyone doing it already?” And I realize that it’s because it’s not easy, and then I start to go through this cycle of emotions – suspicion, resentment, annoyance, and eventually a complete lack of response altogether.

Too many people are looking at marketing like a popularity contest. While positive reputation, high visibility, and a good amount of professional credibility will get you noticed, and potentially make the difference in whether or not your business sustains, it’s not the entire story. It’s also (and I might argue, more) about honing in on your offering to your customers – what’s really unique and interesting and worth investing in? How will having this handmade thing, or this hour on the phone with you, change their life, change their business, change the way they feel about themselves? How is your brand, your product, even YOU, relatable to them in a way that says, “Don’t worry – I totally understand what you need, and what you don’t, and I’m confident that I can help you,”?

You can strive be the “expert”, and you should have an expertise of some sort that qualifies you to do what you do, and to charge for it. But you also need to be relatable and relevant in regards to the needs and interests of your customers. I’m not saying your $1000 a month coaching package isn’t worthwhile – but maybe I’m not looking to buy your reputation along with your product. A lot of people make the mistake of trying to cram more benefits and features into their product than their customer really wants, needs, or desires to pay for.

The Internet is churning out thought leaders at the speed of light, and it’s becoming less and less impactful from a reputation marketing standpoint. For God’s sake, PLEASE, go back to the user experience – think about what makes a great product, the importance of attractive, interesting branding, excellent value, clear messaging, creative marketing – all that stuff that the “experts” think is boring and work that’s better-suited for their 22-year-old interns, because their reputation makes them exempt from the “administrative stuff’”.

Some people are under a false assumption and direction that in order to generate success, they need to work toward attaining a certain comfortable point in their business where their brand is well known enough that marketing is no longer needed, customer service is no longer needed, and where the website or social media stats are there. And then once you’ve achieved that “ranking”, the revenue will just consistently pour in from that point on. But it’s not true, and it’s not a sustainable business model.

It can be incredibly frustrating trying to build a brand that stands on its own unique legs in a marketplace where competition is immense and fierce. I’ve often felt, “there are only SO many ways to be different, and position myself uniquely.” And that may be so, but again, it’s less about winning the race and beefing up your reputation as it is about offering something people can truly benefit from, and which instills that sense of “I really must have this,“. You may not have control over your competition, and even how you fit into the competitive fabric within your industry. But you will always have control over the quality and makeup of your product, and how you offer and deliver it to your audience, and you should never stop working to improve upon that experience. At the end of the day, reputation might bring in the traffic, but good products close the sale.

There are a lot of great ideas for products and services that aren’t necessarily marketable (I’ve come up with plenty of them myself in Ah-ha! moments over the years). Just because something is interesting to you, and is perhaps even new or innovative, doesn’t mean people will be willing to pay for it. What will persuade them is having an intimate understanding of who your target market is, what their deepest, most prevalent needs are, based on their lifestyle, goals, challenges, etc., and why the solution you have to offer them not only speaks to that need/lack/want, but is unique in its own way from what else might already be out there.

So how can you tell if your idea is going to be well received, and better yet, marketable? Here are a few questions to do some heavy brainstorming around:

• What are the biggest needs, wants, challenges or lacks that my ideal client (i.e. target customer) has right now?

• What is the driver that need/lack/want/challenge (i.e. – something that doesn’t exist, something that’s not relevant, an evolving need for something better, a lack of accessibility to the solution, etc.)?

• What do I have to offer them in terms of my own knowledge, expertise and talent?

• How does my product or service directly speak to that need/lack/want/challenge, and what is it communicating (i.e. you CAN change careers and not worry about financial pitfalls, there IS something available for people who love cupcakes, but can’t eat gluten or dairy, or there IS a platform that provides a way for budding tech geniuses to connect with industry mentors, etc.)

• How will it change your customer’s life for the better, if they were to purchase it?

• Am I differentiating between the FEATURES and the personal BENEFITS? An energy drink that tastes great is a feature – the fact that it gives natural, lasting energy to perform your daily tasks better and live more energetically is a benefit. People buy the benefits, not the features.

• How is this different and unique from what’s already out there and/or available to my target market?

So you don’t need a huge following in order to position yourself for a full sales pipeline. You just have to have a really great, well-developed product, one that clearly homes in on that much-desired value that pushes your target customer to say, “Yea, I really need this – I can see how this is going to change my life in a positive manner.”  There are tons of great questions that can help you work around this, and really suss out the core value and marketing message behind your unique product and service. Start with these and see what other questions you come up with, what answers arise, and what other ideas come to mind when you start asking yourself, “Would I buy this?”

This is particularly poignant because most of the subjects within the documentary are otherwise successful folks from Gens X and Y.  They’re your late twenties to mid forty-somethings, complacently living within the confines of antiquated happiness standards, set by the generations before us.  Being in the business of career transition and creative entrepreneurship, naturally this piqued my interest, as it follows a lot of my favorite thought leaders on small business, creativity and life purpose (Chris Guillebeau, Danielle LaPorte, Jonathan Fields, Pam Slim, etc.).  The film was simultaneously heart-wrenching and inspiring, watching countless people just like myself solemnly reflect back on “what could have been”, had they tuned out the sounds of adversity and critics, and followed their own creative instincts towards what they really wanted to do in life.  And the inspiring part?  No one was alone.

In fact, we are so much more in this together than we even know.

Now I can’t identify with the ‘settling on my dreams in the best interest of raising a family’ bit, because at 30, I’m newly married and without any offspring, and we probably will be for the better half of the next decade.  We’re two young people living in a great, lively neighborhood Brooklyn, one who’s in the midst of growing her company, the other in the midst of excelling in his career, and without sounding crass – we’re at our peak professionally and personally, and we’re not ready to modify that yet to meet the needs of parenthood.  Besides, my parents already have 2.5 grandchildren, so they’re all set for now.

The Dangers of Listening to Everyone But Ourselves
One thing we can identify with is the fear of waking up one day and realizing that you took a wrong turn somewhere out of pressure, and now you’re so far derailed that you wouldn’t even know the first step toward getting back on that track.  One woman talked about how she took a prestigious job she didn’t even want, out of guilt – her parents received her offer letter and were so excited about the “good” news, she couldn’t bring herself to disappoint them by turning it down.  Years later, she’s in a career path that’s as much a joke as the day she went for the interview on a bet.  Pellee himself admitted to having everything – the family, the house, the job, but wrestling with knowing every day that his true passion was to be a filmmaker.  But perhaps one of the most telling, because he’s so relatable, was a young, talented marketing executive, who admitted to “drowning my brain in Red Bull just to be able to respond to emails” each morning.  And he’s certainly not alone – how many of us have become caffeine (or alcohol) dependent simply to drag ourselves in survival mode through the process of each day.  That’s terrifying.  And real.  For way too many of us.

Through Brooklyn Resume Studio, I work with a lot of folks who want to change careers for varying reasons.  I do the same thing here when I work specifically with folks who are looking to transition out of the 9 to 5, and who have their sights and dreams set on self-employment, freelancing, and small business as their next career move.  Sometimes, one of the biggest value adds of working together is understanding one another, me having been there, and them having someone who understands that, even though they’re gainfully employed, maybe their situation is no less dire and in need of serious change as someone who’s out of work altogether.

I’m on that journey myself.  We all are.  Because when you stop trying, you stop setting goals, there are no more challenges, and nothing to work toward – you’re either bored, or dead.  Someone had a great quote along those lines, and go figure, I can’t remember who it is, now that I’ve paraphrased it.  But you get the idea.  Anyway, this is less of a manifesto or essay on the despondent state of human nature, and more of a recommendation to check out “I’m Fine, Thanks.”

We Might Not Be Alone, But are We Collectively Doomed?
I speak of that sense of lonely unity as inspiring.  But that’s really short-lived when you realize both the serious and omnipresent nature of it all.  It’s inspiring in a misery-loves-company kind of way, but at the end of the day, I feel like it’s more of a cry for help from our generations, to whomever can convince us to change.

But here’s the thing – it’s not up to anyone else to give you permission to change, or to sympathize with your plight.  And perhaps in knowing that we’re all feeling alone together, we can conclude that it’s time we start advocating for one another to stop being resistent, stop being complacent, to move past the fear and guilt, and realize that the only source of real, true, life-altering change is within.  And it’s within every one of us. Now, that’s something we can rally around.

Despite the success I’ve had this year in my business, and some personal highs in general, I’m actually pretty bad at long-term goal setting for myself, and the same holds true for resolutions. Part of that I attribute to the nature of running a business, which sounds odd, given that you certainly have to think long-term when running a business and managing your career. But a big piece in running a business, as I mentioned in last week’s post, is understanding and accepting that change is a regular occurrence, and the need to adapt and pivot is essentially an entrepreneurial survival skill. So in a way I find comfort in the idea of things changing regularly, more than the idea of things not changing.

I also have a habit of changing my mind fairly often, and it typically affects my business in some way.  Whether it’s my work schedule and the order I do things, to changing up my service offerings, eliminating things altogether, or adding things I’ve never tried before, I’m always on the cusp of shaking things up to stay motivated and engaged with what I’m doing.  It benefits me, and certainly benefits the good folks I work with.  And some of those change-it-up decisions, along with things that have been in planning for awhile, have really shaped my business for the better.

Some notable things that have contributed to the success of both Aspyre Solutions and Brooklyn Resume Studio this year:

• The splitting of the brands. In June I broke the career consulting arm away from Aspyre Solutions and rebranded it into Brooklyn Resume Studio. This allowed me to focus better on both of my audiences: my small business and entrepreneurial group, and my job seeker and career changer population, delivering better, more targeted information and resources.

• Joining a mastermind group for business strategy and support. Every other week I have the pleasure of picking the brains of Tracy Brisson of The Opportunities Project and Nicole McGarrell of Sunny Day Marketing to discuss small business marketing, strategy, operations and growth planning. They’ve been instrumental in guiding me through some excellent decisions, and creative endeavors.

• Raising My Prices. This year I made it a priority to offer my resume writing and career services at a price point that I truly felt reflected my 10 years of knowledge and experience, and that resonated with the value I know I am offering to my clients. Sure, I have tons of competition – but I’m also really good at what I do.

• Cutting Back My Work Hours by 20%. Being an artist has always been a passion of mine. Back in May as I was doing my Q3 planning, I got real with myself about creating time, space and energy to honor my creative endeavors that were increasingly falling through the cracks. I did some strategic re-org, re-prioritized my project load, signed a lease for an art studio in Brooklyn, and dedicated 8-10 hours per week to giving my illustration portfolio a facelift, and working on some painting commissions. Not easy, but worth it.

• Injecting Myself Back Into My Brand. I learned very quickly in the beginning, the downside of taking an overly self-promotional approach to social media. People don’t like it, and they sure as hell don’t respond to it. My Twitter followers don’t care about “20% off” sales, or a website redesign. They care about quality content written by a real person. And so I shifted the focus of my media presence to be more about me as an individual with something to say, a creative entrepreneur running a solo business in Brooklyn, and sharing interesting stories around my experience, while also providing informational content that delivers real value.

• Getting in Better Physical Shape. Ironically it was after our wedding in April that I really got serious about getting in better shape. I got back into running at least twice a week. It was a solid reminder every day just how out of shape and asthmatic I was, as I could barely go 10 minutes without taking a walking break. But by end of summer I was in 5K race shape, and now I’ve joined a gym, hired a trainer, and am in the process of training for a 10K in the spring, and potentially a half-marathon in the fall. I feel great, look better, and have more energy than ever, which directly translates to my productivity at work.

These aren’t all new ideas that only came to me this year. Many of them are things I’ve been working to refine and implement since I started this glorious machine several years ago. But they really came to a head this year as I learned what my business needs, what I need, and how to implement systems and processes that speak to both of those areas.

So what’s on the agenda for 2013? I have some pretty serious goals around my growth as a business and my creative endeavors. While I’m excited about the challenges of the coming year and the opportunities they’ll present, I’m also aware of how much time, energy and resources I need to be ready to call upon, and that means staying in excellent health and physical shape, being adamant about my time management, and making some scary but strategic decisions about where to invest my cash.

These are not resolutions – I believe the term “resolutions” presents a detrimental do-or-die attitude that almost suggests implicit failure. Labels aren’t nearly as important as the state of mind around creating the “goals” in the first place. I like to refer to them as my “landmarks”, which suggests that I will hit them, and they’ll be big enough to be worth celebrating. So what’s on the plate?

• Hire a Business Advisor. I’ve worked with a coach, consultant, and slew of other people to give their input on running my business. On top of that, I am one. But this year, there are no more excuses to be made for not calling in the big dogs who understand how a businesses functions at this stage, and can give me the strategic feedback and direction that I need. My business is at a turning point and facing some serious growth, and it’s time to take that into consideration and embrace the idea that you truly do have to spend money to make money.

• Invest In My Creative Endeavors. I want to do more art, sell it, create illustrated products that I can reproduce, sell, and potentially license. It’s no small feat, especially when your core profession isn’t that of an illustrator. It’s a passion project for me, one that’s going to take time, energy and resources, and I’m giving myself permission to invest and see my dream through. More on that later…

• Travel More. I learn something about myself every time I travel somewhere, and I sure don’t do it enough. This year, I make no more excuses around money, or not being able to take time off because I work for myself. And now I’ll be able to do so since I plan to…

• Hire Part-Time Staff. Brooklyn Resume Studio in particular has seen incredible growth. The downside of that is that having a business where I am handling all client contact and hands-on project work is essentially subject to a time-for-money business model – my revenues are determined by how many hours I can physically write, design, analyze and consult.  I’ve been looking at ways to scale that and to expand the business.  As such, I plan to hire at least 1-2 people with the right skill sets to help offload some of the work and build the brand. Exciting stuff!

• Double My Revenues. Growth is the number 1 priority for 2013, as I’ve made clear. But I can’t do that without all the right systems and resources in place. This year is dedicated to fine-tuning the inner workings of my business, replacing any parts that aren’t working to their highest potential, upgrading things that could be performing better, and getting real about what I want out of it on a personal level. I’m weighing the opportunity costs of not thinking bigger, and my excitement around the potential outcomes far outweighs the fear of taking more risks.

So what’s on your plate for 2013? What areas of your business or career have shown some shining success this year, and what other aspects do you want to focus on getting more mileage out of in the coming year?

And then it happened again in 2008 or so, not long before I started this company – I held onto a job I hated a little longer than expected, in the hopes that it would help me salvage my entrepreneurial dreams. Again, time to pivot and look realistically at what a downturn economy meant for aspiring entrepreneurs, freelancers, and pretty much everyone else who had their hearts set on “doing something better”. But it’s not always at the hands of a downturn economy or crappy job market that you will encounter the need to pivot, to make changes and course-correct in your business. The truth is, it’s a natural part of the cycle, as you start to recognize changing trends in the market place, in the needs of your core customers, or even stumble upon a new market segment whom you can serve, or a new product or service that can offer value to your existing audience.

Changing course in business to fit a new or changing need does not translate to failure at the previous process you had in place. It’s simply the way smart and successful businesses run, with a willingness to adapt and be flexible. Individuals who can do this in the workforce are just as successful in managing their careers.

From my own experience, let me offer some examples of where it’s not only okay, but sometimes necessary to embrace change and pivot your business:

• Giving your logo, marketing materials, website or overall brand identity a complete visual overhaul to better appeal to your audience.

• Recognizing that your niche is over-saturated, and the products or services you offer can be of value to a different audience. Every career consultant or coach from here to Namibia wanted to focus on unemployed milliennials in 2009. I found bigger opportunities in serving senior-level professionals who are changing career paths at 40+.

• Investing in hiring staff to help you offload the non-core tasks, so you can focus on the growing demand for your services that you’re suddenly experiencing.

• Recognizing when a product is not selling well within your market. Even if you poured your heart and soul into developing it, sometimes it’s time to simply let it go, get an understanding of where it fell short, and how you can build a better product from that knowledge.

• Letting go of partnerships or affiliations that no longer serve the growth needs of your business in return for the time and resource investment you’re making.

• Splitting your business into separate brands, so you can better serve your core audiences by offering more targeted solutions. Hence the birth of Brooklyn Resume Studio this past Summer.

The success of your business rides on a careful balance of offering products that demonstrate tangible value, strategic marketing practices that build visibility and credibility, appropriate pricing, and the ebb and flow of both the market and your target audience. That’s a lot of variables. If you learn to be flexible in your business and to adapt to change, voluntary or involuntary, you will set yourself up for much greater success and sustainability than trying to ride it out to avoid the stigma you’ve attached to the idea of change.

I learned what a bad client is before I learned what a bad boyfriend was. My dad has been in business for himself for several decades, as a roof consultant in northern New Jersey. But there’s a slight difference between my father’s business and mine, outside of the fact that he’s been around since long before the late nineties internet explosion, and that my work doesn’t involve ladders (usually). When it comes to marketing, he doesn’t do any: his business is built entirely upon referrals and word of mouth. Old school, I say.

But it poses a really interesting perspective around operating a small or micro business in today’s economy, and the importance of establishing and maintaining a positive, credible, reputation in your industry. Think about it – what good are even the most innovative and viral marketing tactics if… people don’t like you?

A few weeks back we were “talking shop” and my dad shared an interesting story that got me thinking about the importance of relationship marketing and reputation building. He got called in for a new job by someone who was a potential new client, but also a guy he had run into occasionally in his career, and had some acquaintance with. The client wanted an estimate on some roof damage, and then wanted to meet my dad in person to discuss the proposal – not entirely uncommon. On his way into the meeting, he recognized a competitor of his walking out the door from what was probably the same meeting he was about to walk into. “Hey Pete, how are you?” and the two “colleagues” cordially acknowledge one another.

After my dad gave his presentation and was wrapping up on his way out the door, the client asked him, “Hey Mike, by the way – what do you think of Pete?” referring to my dad’s competitor, who had met with the client right before. My dad replied,

“Well, Pete has a good reputation in the industry, and I’m sure he’ll do a great job for you if you hire him.”

The client smiled, and my dad left.

Why endorse your competition, Dad? I wouldn’t go so far as to say they were testing him, but had that been the case, he passed brilliantly. Demonstrating an obvious respect for another competitor not only showed that he possessed the utmost professionalism, but that he was confident enough in his own reputation that he didn’t feel the need to downplay someone else’s credibility in order to win the job. The client hire him an hour later.

I myself am a huge believer in the importance of maintaining positive relationships and a reputation of credibility. So a few weeks later I decided to test that theory, and use my dad’s example for myself. I got an inquiry from a new client asking if I, or someone I knew, offered a particular service that he was looking for. It was certainly within my consulting capabilities, but it was also an area that a colleague of mine particularly specializes in. While I wanted to win his business, I decided to err on the side of being honest and forthcoming about that information (as I believe it is important to be always – not just as an experiment).

“I can certainly help you with that,” I responded, “But if you’d prefer to speak with someone who specializes in that particular area, I’d be happy to put you in contact with my colleague Rachel as well.”

I ended up getting the job, even though my colleague may be slightly the more expert in that particular niche. It’s no secret that I go above and beyond on a regular basis for my clients – it’s just how I prefer to run my business. It’s not a sales pitch, it’s simply the fact that I have a business model based largely upon the ideology of creating positive user experiences. And as a result, clients come back to work with me, and they refer others in return.

And my business has grown exponentially this year, a significant piece of that due primarily to referrals and repeat business. Sure, I’m a business at the end of the day and my goal is to make a living doing the work that I do, and that I enjoy. But nobody wants to invest in or work with someone who’s in it to make a quick buck, or worse- shortcut their way to winning the business by nay-saying their competition. If you’re better than your competitor, don’t be afraid to clearly communicate your unique value in a professional manner, and the client will come to that decision. If they don’t, perhaps they weren’t the right customer for you. But from an accountability perspective, great customer service, honesty, confidence and transparency go a long way. You should have the utmost confidence in what you do, and your ability to service your audience, otherwise you should be rethinking your entrepreneurial approach.

In any industry, particularly one with a high-level of competition, reputation is of the utmost importance, and it’s a marketing channel of its own. Don’t underestimate the value, reach and impact of word of mouth marketing – it can make or break your business. My dad will tell you that. He’d probably say it in on his website. If he had one.

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RELATED LINKS
Read This: So Many Marketing Strategies: Finding the Right Mix for Your Business
Advice & Resources for Growing Your Business - Personalized One on One Consulting 
Exit Strategy Financial Budget Worksheet – 12-Month Financial Planning for a Successful Career Transition

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Now if you’re brave enough to weather the storm and make it out of there with your $99 flat screen TV, then you deserve some props. Wasn’t me though – I was still recovering from Thanksgiving, and I’m a bigger fan of Small Business Saturday the following day, as I prefer to “shop small”. The consumer cycle is still getting my hard-earned cash, but it’s helping small local businesses in the process, and that I can appreciate.

And then of course, there’s always Cyber Monday, which, as someone said on Twitter earlier, is “basically Black Friday for people who are too lazy to put on pants.” And then today is Giving Tuesday apparently – so whatever you bought on Friday, Saturday or Monday, assumedly has been delivered to its intended recipient.

From a business perspective, the holiday weeks of late November into late December are what I call “the impending season of spending”. It’s almost too much hoopla to really take seriously, let alone deal with as a business owner trying to be strategic about your holiday marketing approach. It resembles more of a series of hit-or-miss carnival booths sometimes than a platform for legitimate sales strategy.

Regardless, many small businesses utilize Black Friday or Small Business Saturday as a seasonal launchpad for driving in volume sales. It’s hard to do that as a service-based business if your structure is more my-time-is-my-money based, where you’re working on hourly or project rates, but you can still reap some benefits from the rush. Here’s the thing: I urge you to be strategic in your offerings, as any promotion or sale should have a good reason behind it. Offering a sale “just because” isn’t necessarily bad, but you do risk watering down the value of what you offer by being overly-willing to slash the price. Think about the message that’s sending.

So what are some good reasons to incorporate a holiday-driven promotion or sale into your Q4 marketing plan?

• Pushing Out Existing Inventory: If you’re an inventory-based business, make it a point to get rid of your existing stock in preparation for the new year. This is also a great opportunity to give customers an exclusive “sneak peak” at the new products or services that you plan on introducing later. Build anticipation.

• Drive Volume Sales: If your business is designed to accomodate volume sales, the Holidays are a great excuse to really put the drive on that. You don’t want to mark down your products randomly – the idea is to draw in enough volume sales that you’re making up for the price cut by selling more. And if you’re a service-based business, think about what product or services you can offer at a higher rate, or in a simplified version – like an E-Book, information product, or a workshop.

• (Re)Introduce New & Existing Products: A sale is a great way to re-introduce existing products that need a little marketing kick, and definitely new products that you’re introducing to the market. Perhaps you offer an introductory rate on a new product or service if your customer chooses to invest within a certain timeframe, say this 4-day weekend coming up. It’s also a great way to bring past customers back into your sales pipeline.

• Pushing Out New Aspects of Your Brand: Did you just recently launch a blog, a new website, an additional arm to your business? Prompting new and existing customers to visit your website or shop by offering a promotion is a great way to introduce new aspects of your brand to your audience. Offering something of tangible value in return, like a discount or freebie, will have more impact than say, trying to generate interest around your new website design. Remember: What’s in it for them?

• Introducing Your Brand to a New Market, or a Market to a New Brand: can be a strategic time to introduce yourself to your target market with a really great promotion. Again, you’ll want to be strategic about offering deals and discounts, and not offer them simply “because we’re new!” That sends the wrong message about your value. What works better? How about a “Buy one for you, get one 1/2 off for a friend”, or a “Buy now, save another 10% later on your next purchase”.

While I didn’t make any substantial purchases this past weekend, I did invest in a couple of items that I had had my eye on, or caught wind of during a promotion. The one thing that ALL of these things had in common is that every purchase was made with a coupon or promotion. That’s not to say I wouldn’t have purchased these items without the discount, but it certainly prompted me to move quicker on that buying decision because it made sense. It was timely, it was relevant, and it didn’t diminish the perceived value of what I was purchasing.

Snapfish knows that photo books make great holiday gifts, so why not entice people to invest in their services, versus say a competitor like Shutterfly, by offering a 30% discount site-wide? Shutterfly was only offering $10, and with an order of close to $300, that value made a big difference. Similarly, I had no clue that popular creative portfolio site Behance actually has its own line of products, one of which being this fantastic goal setting journal called an “Action Book” that is exactly what I need as a small business and/or freelancer to plan my upcoming To-Do’s and landmarks for the New Year. It was through a promotional email that I caught wind of that deal, and the 20% discount that prompted me to buy. But again – it was relevant, timely, and something from which I’d likely receive real value in utilizing.

What didn’t strike my financial fancy this week? How about the “$500 off all coaching packages!” email blast I received from one industry colleague. Despite the fact that I’m more of a competitor at this point than a likely customer, I was actually turned off by the idea that this person was offering such a huge discount, because that meant one of two things: 1) If they can offer such an enourmous discount, they must be enormously pricey to begin with; 2) If they’re willing to offer such a large discount to simply ANYONE on their mailing list, they must be desperate to make sales. And desperation to sell, to me, translates into a product that doesn’t sell, and potentially is not worth investing in.

And then there’s the studio space who sent me an email to take advantage of a promotion they’re having to entice new members. Which would have been great, except for the fact that they never responded to my attempt to contact them for more information several months earlier, prompting me to sign with their competitor instead. The lesson here: Don’t miss out on future opportunities because of earlier instances of lazy or sub-par customer service. People remember that more than anything.

So think about that over the coming weeks as you’re pushing your “Buy Now! 50% Off!” email blasts out the door. Ask yourself, is this offer 1) Logical, 2) Relevant, 3) Timely, and 4) Not Diminishing the Value of the Product or Service? If it doesn’t hit all four of those markers loudly and clearly, then take it back to the drawing board, reevaluate, and look at what might be missing. Would YOU invest in your own offer if you were or were not familiar with you? Is it strong enough to appeal to those people who might be following your competitors and receiving their emails? What kinds of factors entice you to respond to a promotional offer from both new and existing brands?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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From social media, to email newsletter marketing, to blogging and direct outreach – there are handfuls upon handfuls of tactics, tools and trends out there to market your business. It’s overwhelming, and personally took me months of unread emails, blogging hours, and tactics that seemed more forced than fruitful to me to understand what ultimately made my audience “tick”. And making that strategic connection is what drives sales. And to build a successful business & connect effectively with your target customer through your marketing, it’s important to zero in on which strategies make the most sense for your brand, and how you can best execute them.

You might think, “If I employ multiple marketing efforts, then I’m increasing my chances of reaching my audience and producing sales, right?”  Trying every marketing trick in the book and seeing what sticks might be reaching a wider audience, but it’s not necessarily reaching the right audience. You also run the risk of spreading yourself too thin in terms of your marketing plan, and thus watering down the quality of your marketing efforts. So you’re actually doing more work, with less return, versus less, more focused work that yields better results.

Your marketing strategy should be about building trust, credibility and visibility for your brand, by reaching the right audience, understanding the existing needs and interests within that segment, and clearly communicating the value of what you have to offer. Some of the most commonly utilized strategies include social media, blogging and writing, newsletter marketing, cross-promotion with other businesses, direct outreach, networking face-to-face or online, generating referrals, word of mouth, speaking & conducting workshops, and paid advertising. But not every strategy is appropriate for every business, and it does take some trial and error to nail down the ones that will yield the best results from your time and investment.

My Advice: Start with 2-3 strategies that you can implement and monitor, and that you feel best fit your audience and play upon your strengths. So where do you start?

Know Where Your Audience Hangs Out
If you’re an accessories designer targeting a younger generation of web-savvy 20-somethings, you know that they’re constantly online, with often 24/7 access to their email, and are heavily engaged in social media. This group is not as likely to be buying local newspapers and checking the classified ads. Sure, it might yield a couple random customers here and there, but it’s likely not going to compensate your time and efforts spent. Instead, understand the psychographics of your audience, the influencers behind their behaviors that can help you get a sense of what types of content they’re interested in, how messages reach them, how they interpret information, and what kinds of websites, publications and platforms they’re reading and engaging with. In short – where are they hanging out and getting their information from?

Identify Your Strengths
The key is to go with the strategies that are most in line with your strengths – if you’re a strong writer, writing and sharing relevant blog content is a great way to drive traffic to your website. If you’re a people-person with a vibrant personality, get out there and spread the word about your business at relevant industry and social events, or look into leading a workshop. Marketing isn’t always enjoyable, but if you utilize skills and talents that already come easy to you, you’ll have a much easier time, and you’ll also be able to identify areas for potential growth and learning. Intrigued about doing in-person workshops, but get nervous in front of groups? Try taking a public speaking class, or assisting a friend with running one of their workshops or events to get a feel for the process.

Set Up a Quantifiable Tracking System
Personally, I’m an Excel nerd, and most of my business can be found converted into spreadsheet format. The only way to understand how your marketing strategies are performing is to have a reliable system in which you are tracking the results. And while the actual data that you’re tracking will vary from medium to medium, the most important piece is to track growth, engagement and sales conversions. If you’re on Twitter, are your follower numbers growing, or are you finding people dropping off – this is indicative of how well your content is being received. Are people responding and commenting on your blog posts, or signing up to your newsletter on a weekly basis? And finally, when a customer purchases a product or service from you, are you tracking where they found you, so you can compare the different places from which your revenue is coming?

Always Have a Call to Action
The goal of marketing is ultimately to qualify potential customers and lead them into yours sales cycle. In some cases, it’s about generating visibility and reputation building for your brand. Social media is a good example of this, as it’s typically not a strong venue for promotionally-driven messages. But sharing interesting content, resources and tools, and making connections with other people is a great way to publicize your brand and let people know you exist and encourage them to continue following and engaging with you. But no matter what your marketing strategies, there should be a clear call to action attached. In other words, once you make a connection, whether it’s over social media, email, in-person or by phone, what do you want your audience to do from there?

I do a lot of blogging on small business topics, and when I share those blog posts with my audience, the call to action is to get them to come to my website where they can either sign up for my mailing list, learn more about what I do, or purchase my services. If you send out an email newsletter, perhaps the call to action is to visit your shop and utilize the discount coupon you provided them. If you invest in Google or similar paid advertising, the goal is also to drive people to your website. If you meet someone at a networking event and exchange information, ask them if they’re open to you adding them to your mailing list.

Marketing is hardly black and white, and many people will tell you that it is a bit of a trial and error process in the beginning, as you test out different tools to see what resonates best with your audience, and jibes well with your brand. It’s important, however, to be focused in your efforts, to do research and be diligent about tracking results, so you’re in a habit of constantly evaluating and shifting your business and your strategy towards better results. And just because one strategy doesn’t seem appropriate in the beginning, don’t close off the idea of implementing or adding new strategies as your business grows and take shapes. It’s a great opportunities to bring something fresh to the table for your audience, and stretch your own skills and capabilities in the process.
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“A leader must give up to go up” – John Maxwell

When I first decided to become an entrepreneur, I knew that my life would change. My previous career as a teacher afforded me a steady income, a structured schedule, and free time to pursue other interests. At first glance, one may believe that this is the good life; however, my heart felt differently. Teaching Spanish no longer invigorated me as it did ten years ago. As my passion for Spanish waned, I knew that it would be replaced by a love for developing leaders. Starting a leadership coaching business demanded more time than I was able to invest while still teaching. Listening to my heart, I decided to leave teaching to pursue a new career in leadership coaching.

This decision weighed heavy on my conscious; for the fear of venturing on my own scared me! Nonetheless, knowing that this career change rested at the core of my being empowered me to move forward as planned. Of course making a drastic life change such as pursuing a developing business requires faith and planning. I knew that if my heart guided me in this direction, much sacrifice would be required.

Once I left my job, I downsized my life proportionately by cutting my living expenses in half! I gave up my own apartment to share with two other roommates, I sold most of my furniture, I reduced my cell phone bill by 50%, I moved to another city where I didn’t have to rely on my car, I obtained a contracting position that would supplement my income as well as allow me flexible hours to business build, and I budgeted how much time I would have to build my business before money ran out. If there is one discovery I made as a result of such decisions is that the basic economic principle of need vs. want becomes painstakingly clear when one is responsible for generating her own cash flow!

In light of such changes, I began to feel more energized. Fear turned into faith and work became pleasure. At that moment, I trusted that despite whether I met with success or defeat, I made the right decision.

Pursuing one’s passion may not require such drastic changes; still, it will require heart, faith, hard work and personal sacrifice. Though the timetable to materialize financial results may vary, one can immediately experience more joy, energy, and zest for life, thus making the personal sacrifices worth the journey.

Leader Limelight: What personal sacrifices are you making in order to play a bigger game?

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Robin Sampson empowers leaders in education and business to interrogate reality when it comes to how they lead themselves and others in their organization. Through core values coaching, Robin reveals how one’s core values impacts his purpose, productivity and quality of life. She may be reached at robin@firstcircleleaders.com.