Gear Up To Pare Down
January 4, 2012 by MaryEllen · 1 Comment
What one action could have a real impact on your business for the next few months? Define and begin that action, and prepare to reap profits.
Too simple? Simple makes sense.
If you have difficulty narrowing a myriad of projects to one goal, welcome to reality.
I participate in a mastermind group that tackles reality with a theme. Each participant develops the wording to focus their actions for the year. For example:
- Transcend What Is and Invent The New
- New Me
- Heart Vision, Intuitive Momentum
The theme offers a solution to multiple projects because, like an umbrella, it embraces all. Scheduling determines priorities.
Although every person has the same amount of time in one day, some get far more done than others. I’m convinced productive people know exactly what they need to do.
The steps look like this:
- Establish a theme
- Define goals
- Break goals into realistic steps, i.e., what will I concentrate on this month?
- Take monthly goals or concentrations and divide them into weekly ones
- Each week, for example, list the top 10 goals for the week
- For each weekly goal, list the steps or tactics that must be taken
- Define a realistic amount of time for each tactic
- Physically schedule tactics on your calendar
A calendar facilitates reality. If you have realistically estimated the time involved and marked it on your calendar, it’s simple to see if you are over-committing. I, for one, frequently list far too many projects for the time allotted if I fail to visually map out the tasks on a calendar.
One of my most important projects for first quarter 2012 is paring my 198-page ebook, “The Six Week Marketing Master Plan” to Four Weeks.
- Step one is to revise the 45-day table of contents (toc) outline to a new 30-day outline.
My TOC outline is due on/before next Tuesday. I estimate it could take as long as three to four hours to complete. My calendar has time blocked for completion of this task.
- Step two, the copy portion of the project gets more complicated. Working from the toc outline I plan to complete all content rewrites prior to February 15. I will then and submit the new product to a graphic designer for finalization.
- Step three, the finalization of the project will be complete on/before March 15, 2012.
I determined one action – the rewrite of this ebook – could significantly impact my business in the next few months. I added accountability to my own project with a promise to copy someone else on my toc outline due next Tuesday. Then, I published my own deadlines here for the world to see.
It’s simple, this effort of gearing up to pare down.
What one action could have a real impact on your business for the next few months?
What’s stopping you from taking action?
Communication Presentation at Santa Fe Business Incubator Discusses 2012 Realities
September 24, 2011 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
Seasonally New Mexicans turn off swamp coolers and winterize their homes in October. The fourth quarter with its
cooler temperatures requires a different approach for comfort.
Similarly, businesses might evaluate communications in preparation for the New Year. The realities presented by 2012 demand a freshened marketing approach.
Traditional marketing plays the numbers game. It uses sales, advertising, promotion and public relations to send the message out.
The average person gets more than 2,000 outbound messages a day.
Trade shows, direct mail, television, radio and print advertising, all examples of traditional marketing, continue to lose effectiveness.
Studies show today’s customer chooses inbound communication, finding information on their terms. Can your business meet the demands of “real-time?”
In a presentation to clients at the Santa Fe Business Incubator, I listed five communication realities represented by these changes:
- Because of the attention economy, now more than ever, your message must be defined and honed for your ideal customer.
- Smartphones already play an important role in our lives. How mobile-friendly is your business?
- New tools to consolidate information emerge daily. Your competitive advantage may well depend on your use of technology.
- Interactivity is essential in all communication. This means the brochure website is dead. Not only must your website be interactive, but business must make responding to customers online and offline a priority.
- Nothing substitutes for smart goals and good planning. Begin now to define your benchmarks for 2012.
Evaluate your business against these five realities. On a scale of one to five, with five being strong, how confident are you about your current situation? Download the pdf now. Are you prepared?
Business Visibility: What works now?
May 4, 2011 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
Social media rules if one believes the headlines. At one point during reporting of Osama Bin Laden’s death, Twitter
logged more than 4,000 tweets per minute.
Yet, according to Jeremiah Owjang, Industry Analyst and Partner for Altimeter, 41% of all businesses are reactive, not proactive when it comes to social media.
Local experience bears out national statistics like these. Consider the bed and breakfast operator who now uses only Facebook to promote. Or, the feed store now building an email list as well as a Facebook page. No print. No local advertising.
Has social media killed other methods of advertising? Or, are businesses merely reacting to the mode of the day, hoping for dramatic results?
In a presentation for the Albuquerque Independent Business Association’s Local.Lunch.Learn, Mary Ellen Merrigan talks about strategies to successfully navigate today’s gaggle of marketing channels. She draws on stories from locals as well as national case studies to create actionable and pragmatic solutions.
Details:
Location: Slate Street Café
515 Slate Ave NW
Time: 11:30am – 1:00pm, Thursday May 12, 2011
Title: “Facebook, Twitter, Flyers and More – What’s Working Now?”
Reservations required
About Mary Ellen Merrigan
Mary Ellen wrote and published The Six-Week Marketing Master Plan to guide small businesses through the marketing maze. The revised e-book, published in March 2011, serves as the basis for an ongoing series of classes designed to guide individuals through their own marketing plan. For class information, contact the South Valley SBDC. Mary Ellen continues to combine social media with other more traditional channels. She regularly consults with small business owners including some of the best known names in Albuquerque.
Build Practical and Sane Social Media the DIY Way
October 8, 2010 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
Floating down endless Facebook streams?
Lost in Tweets?
UnLinked? Dug out? Dropped?
Is your time online simply frittered away?
Do you wonder, “What’s the point?”
The answers are here. In a seminar entitled “DIY Social Media: Get Strategic, Get Results” Mary Ellen Merrigan discusses today’s most-talked-about marketing channel, social media.
The free, two-hour workshop is sponsored by the South Valley Small Business Development Center.
You’ll learn:
- Why Facebook is the foundation of social efforts
- How Twitter pumps up visibility
- What FourSquare, Yelp and Groupon mean to brick and mortar stores
- Why getting strategic matters
Details:
10a-12noon, Wednesday, October 21, 2010
Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce
1304 Fourth Street Southwest
Call to register: 505-248-0132
DIY Social Media: Get Strategic, Get Results! offers practical and sane strategies for an online world. All participants receive a Best Practices handout.
Mary Ellen Merrigan has developed successful, sales-building D.I.Y. (Do it Yourself) smart marketing strategies for a wide range of clients promotes the benefits of combining traditional and social media. She is the author of “The Six Week Master Marketing Plan: An hour a day to take your business to the next level,” available online at http://www.sixweekmarketingplan.com. Join Mary Ellen to learn how you can use smart marketing to achieve a positive bottom line.
City-sponsored Workshop Helps Local Businesses Do Smarter Marketing
August 18, 2010 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
85% of all marketers say social media efforts generate exposure for their business.- 65% of marketers have only been involved with social media for a few months or less.
- The number one question marketers most want answered is how to track social media return on investment.
–Source: 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Michael A. Stelzner, SocialMediaExaminer.com
As a local business you can’t afford to ignore the social media phenomenon. You must: conquer the time drain, decide exactly where you will focus your efforts, and act immediately to claim your share of the market.
In a presentation entitled “Social Media: Get Strategic, Get Results,” Mary Ellen Merrigan positions social media for local usage. The 45-minute presentation includes:
- Best practices for Facebook pages, the hottest social media turf out there today
- Examples from Albuquerque businesses making effective social media efforts
- Tip sheets you can use to elevate your brick and mortar visibility starting immediately
“Social Media: Get Strategic, Get Results” is part of a half-day marketing and communications workshop sponsored by the City of Albuquerque Business Center. The purpose of the business resource center in city hall is to make the daunting job of starting and growing a business easier.
The workshop, presented 8am – 12:30pm, Tuesday September 21, 2010, at the WESST Enterprise Center, 609 Broadway NE, includes these additional offerings:
Tom Carroll, Carroll Strategies “Basic Marketing 101 – The ABC’s of Marketing
Doug Turner, DW Turner, Inc. “Press Release 101 and Earned Media – How to achieve successful PR”
For more information or to register, call 505-768-3222.
About Merrigan Group
Mary Ellen Merrigan, owner of Merrigan Group LLC, has developed successful, sales-building D.I.Y. (Do it Yourself) smart marketing strategies for a wide range of clients and promotes the benefits of combining traditional and social media. A known marketing trainer and speaker, Mary Ellen recently published “The Six-Week Marketing Master Plan,” a workbook offering a step-by-step guide to marketing. Learn more at http://www.sixweekmarketingplan.com.
The immediate past president of Albuquerque Independent Business Alliance, (AIBA) Mary Ellen knows well the problems facing today’s entrepreneurs. She delights in presenting practical, low-cost solutions that help you achieve a positive bottom line. Follow her blog, ProfitMeister, for DIY smart marketing strategies.
Vitamins for Your Business
July 26, 2010 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
How vital are vitamins to your health?
Experts agree today’s nutrition falls short of perfect. The reasons vary. In general, busy schedules favor processed convenience foods, drive-in options and quick, easy meals.
So, vitamins matter. A multi vitamin compensates for a lack of planned food, erasing mineral deficiency in the process.
Now, think about the ways in which you learn about the benefits of vitamins. Information is readily available in books, magazines, on the Internet, or from experts.
With little effort, one can learn about the benefits or side effects of most vitamins (and marketing efforts).
Need a special supplement? Vitamin D promotes stronger bones; get it from a pill or drink more milk. Use vitamin C for faster healing. You get the idea.
Like vitamins, marketing enhances your business.
“Marketing: Vitamins for your business,” an offering from UNM Continuing Education, takes a fresh approach to generating visibility, sales and profits for your business.
In this lively, three hour course, Mary Ellen Merrigan uses an interactive approach to diagnose and recommend the tactics (marketing supplements) which could work best for you.
How vital is marketing to your business?
Register for class #55621 and learn more.
55621 Marketing: Vitamins for Your Business
Look at three essential updates to get you out of the same old marketing rut. Increase visibility and stoke profits by assessing your competition and positioning your business to distinguish it from others. Understand the relationship of sound business principles and good marketing practices. Leave with a list of tactics you can use immediately to find more customers and generate more sales. Prerequisite: None.
PLAN is a Four Letter Word
June 23, 2010 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
If PLAN is a four letter word in your business, reframe. Attend a workshop sponsored by the South Valley Small Business Development Center, 9a-11am July 27, and look at your marketing plan with a new perspective.
“Do-it-Yourself Planning, A Simple Marketing Plan to Finish 2010 with a Bang!” takes gnashing of the teeth out of the equation.
The presentation, part of my Smart Marketing Series, will help you make any course corrections for the year. You’ll get these takeaways:
-
- Learn the two tactics you must use to re-focus your message and really connect with your audience.
- Hear about the three keys to successful communication no matter what media channel you choose.
- Discover how to use a one-page template for your plan.
- List the strategic questions you need for year-end review.
Attend at no charge and receive a FREE 25-question business analysis along with a 15-minute customized follow up session.
Let go of coulda, woulda and shoulda statements for good.
Adopt an action plan you can live with. For more information or to reserve your space, call 505-248-0132.
Details: “Do-it-Yourself Planning,” 9a-11am, Tuesday July 27 at The Albuquerque Hispano chamber of Commerce, 1309 Fourth Street SW. Sponsored by the Albuquerque South Valley SBDC.
About ME:
Mary Ellen Merrigan has developed successful, sales-building D.I.Y. smart marketing strategies for a wide range of clients. She promotes the benefits of planning in “The Six-Week Master Marketing Plan: An hour a day to take your business to the next level.” Read more.
Six-Week Marketing Plan E-Book Launches Online
May 9, 2010 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
Simplify marketing with “The Six-Week Marketing Master Plan: an easy, step-by step action plan to boost your business in one hour per day,” published this April by Mary Ellen Merrigan and Maria G. Nozza. 
The 157-page e-book, now available online, serves small business owners with no marketing department, service providers, coaches and consultants.
A series of questions and exercises guides participants through the experience offering an all-in-one guide to marketing. As users complete the program they produce a solid foundation for their own visibility program.
The master plan idea began as an outline for one client. Then, as Mary Ellen collaborated with Maria on a website revision, the two challenged each other to walk their talk. The two made a 45-day pact to work on their business.
Discussions with other clients developed into a beta test.
“The book almost wrote itself,” Merrigan said. Every Monday I delivered the next week’s assignments to my beta group of ten.”
“This is a 360-degree view of a firm. It can be a daunting experience, overwhelming even, to consider on your own,” Merrigan continued. “Realistically, 6WMMP solidifies everything and lets you streamline your communication.”
Within 45 days working just one hour per day, participants have a complete plan for their business. The guide helps them assess their current efforts, evaluate specifics, list to do’s and set immediate goals.
Designer Maria G. Nozza made the user experience easier with a visual presentation to support the user. High-impact visuals, easy-to-follow directions, and a consistent presentation make this workbook appealing.
Feedback has been gratifying. One experienced entrepreneur printed the workbook and now uses it for a reference. Others mention the opportunity to concentrate on one facet of the business at a time.
Chapters include:
Week One, “Getting Started,” concentrates on overview, offering a template for evaluating current marketing efforts. This module supports existing businesses as well as startups.
Week Two, “Find Your Audience and Seek Them Out,” offers an in-depth look at target marketing as participants research and reach for their potential customers.
Week Three, “Find Your Competitors and Your Keywords,” begins to define the nuances separating a business from others with flagship content.
Week Four, “Social Media,” concentrates on incorporating social strategies into a marketing plan, exploring tips on bios, “about my company” paragraphs, email signatures and more.
Week Five, “Develop Content Plan,” helps participants outline promotional collateral as well as media to showcase on the website.
Week Six, “Strategic Marketing,” discusses promotional strategies, editorial calendars and long-range strategic solutions. A one-page marketing plan incorporates the previous week’s work into a marketing visual for the future.
The final three days in the Six Week Marketing Master Plan include a review of accomplishments, challenges and an implementation schedule.
Each week of the effort builds on the previous work. By the end of the 45 day period, an entrepreneur will review every aspect of his plan from branding and visual image to aspects of search engine optimization including keywords and backlinks.
“We wanted to make it easier for solopreneurs,” Merrigan said. “They really can do it themselves, thanks to the plan.”
The Six Week Marketing Master Plan sells for $69.95 and can be purchased from http://www.sixweekmarketingplan.com.
Additional offerings including video as well as teleseminars will be forthcoming from the Merrigan-Nozza duo.
Get Visible Marketing With Social Media
March 24, 2010 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
Like most entrepreneurs (and solopreneurs in particular) you tend to tackle multiple problems at once. And you do it in addition to running the business.
No surprise then you’ve been dipping your toe into the world of social media. But who has the time to figure it out?
What does it mean to your business? How can it help? Can it help?
Face it. Social Media is now mainstream. If you haven’t implemented a comprehensive social media strategy now is the time to do so.
In a three-part series for UNM Continuing Education Mary Ellen Merrigan explores social media for today’s business.
“Marketing With Social Media” is presented 6pm – 9pm on three consecutive Mondays, April 26 through May 10. You’ll explore these ideas:
- Why social media is the new “MUST” and which social media is right for you
- Review best practices for social media
- Learn the three ingredients to produce better results regardless of your social media choice
- Discover why Facebook is the new powerhouse
- Examine Twitter and how to use it effectively
- Develop a social media roadmap
- Create a social media implementation plan
Request class #55623: Marketing With Social Media through UNM Continuing Education, offered through the Digital Arts Department.
55623 Marketing with Social Media
Expand awareness for your business by combining traditional and online media. Market 24/7 with an Internet storefront showcasing who you are and what you do. Learn about a range of tactics that can help you stand out: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, plus social bookmarking, blogs, YouTube and many other options add exposure to your website. Take charge of your Internet reputation. Focus on strategies for distinguishing your company from that of your competition.
Mary Ellen Merrigan presents high-content, practical ideas in easy-to-learn ways. She gets high marks as a facilitator/presenter. Participants get questions answered and leave with plans that can work immediately in their business.
Recent comments include:
“Mary Ellen is vibrant and refreshing, makes learning much more exciting.” – Vicki Goss, USPS
“Mary Ellen is very professional and I felt very informed to new opportunities in marketing.” –Sandra Day-Peck, Moses Design Group
“Your workshop was informative and easy to follow. The recommendations you made can also be easily utilized in my business.” –Philip Thal, Laht Communications
“I appreciated the practical tips that Mary Ellen provided.” – Kim Marko, New Mexico Legal Group
Marketing Training Intensive Facilitated by Merrigan
February 10, 2010 by MaryEllen · Leave a Comment
Marketlink, a six-week intensive marketing training from non-profit WESST offers entrepreneurs an opportunity to customize an aggressive growth plan for their business.
The series gets consistent high marks from graduates with favorable comments about subject matter experts, peer advice and networking. It begins March 1, 2010.
Mary Ellen Merrigan facilitates Marketlink for the fifth time. She characterizes the program as an overview of business fundamentals. “For many participants, this may be the most significant work on business foundations since beginning their business.”
The curriculum, featuring subject matter experts each week, includes these highlights:
- Define Your Competitive Edge and Consider Key Legal Issues
- Deploy Market Research to Find Your Target Market
- Understand Financial Statements and Why They Matter
- Increase Visibility with Advertising, PR, and Internet
- Refine Pricing Strategies and Sales Techniques
- Map Your Growth with a Marketing Plan
“Marketlink features outstanding information from the local community as well as from other nationally known resources,” Merrigan said. “It’s completely updated. For those who want to revamp their business to deal with today’s economics, this is it!”
Students receive a two hours consulting block, a textbook and numerous digital resources as a part of the course in addition to the opportunity to network with fellow participants.
Get more information or apply for the program at WESST. A roundtable introducing the program is scheduled for 5:00 pm Monday, February 22, 2010 at WESST, 609 Broadway NE.
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