You can listen to the December 13th Small Business Marketing Tip for a limited time here. 

Today’s tips: 

1) Ask for at least 1 recommendation from someone in your LinkedIn network each month! 

2) Go claim (or create) your Yelp business profile so you won’t miss a notification when a review is left about your business. 

If you are finding these Small Business Marketing Tips helpful, we’d be beyond grateful if you’d leave us a review on Amazon!

Listen to the December 12th “Small Business Marketing Tip” Flash Briefing for a limited time here. 

Today we’re talking about acquiring and managing Facebook Recommendations and I wanted to make sure you had a couple other resources.  You can now automate a response to anyone that leaves a Recommendation for your business on Facebook.  This is an awesome new feature because it ensures that no one goes unthanked for helping you to grow your business!  I put together a tutorial to help you set that up. It’ll only take you a few minutes, so go do it!  You can find that blog here. 

When you are sitting in the coffee shop or anywhere else where you may have your laptop open, use that real estate to brand your business!  Whether you dig a collage of stickers to tell your story or a branded skin cover, show it off!  Here are a couple of my favorite resources for branded bling!

Sticker Mule – I’m obsessed!  Die-cut stickers of your logo will help you brand your stuff and you get to pass them out too!

Decal Gal makes wraps for everything!  From your laptop to your phone to that new drone you asked Santa for, they’ve got you “covered” (you see what I did there right??)

SkinIt was a leader in this kind of branding and will wrap it all too!

Today’s interview on the Thinking Big with Bobbi B. show with Jennifer Murphy from So Jenny Media LLC was awesome!! Jenny is an expert at event marketing and had a ton of excellent advice and tips! If you missed the show – you can catch it here!  I always like to share my top 3 takeaways, so here they are! 

1. Create very simple micro-events at local retailers (boutiques work well), wine shops, coffee shops, etc. Keep the planning simple, focus on attracting your ideal clients and have fun!!
2. Create social media teams that you can message to help share events, posts, etc. and to create additional engagement. 
3. Take awesome photos! It’s an excellent opportunity to share in the moment to get more people to attend and share afterward to set yourself up for success for the next follow up event! It’s likely worth it to hire a professional or maybe someone that’s new in the industry and trying to grow their visibility too (win – win!) 

Creating your own events are an excellent way to build your brand, attract ideal clients and grow your business!  I would definitely recommend incorporation event marketing into your 2019 mix. Here are a few of my top tips and a link to an excellent article I found (and I had to laugh when I realized I was featured in it! lol) 

1. Create a website or at minimum a landing page for your event where people can find information and register and pay to attend.  Having this type of automation set up is critical for your sanity and event success! 
2. Create unique social media profiles for your event to get your attendees and potential attendees updated on all the exciting things you are preparing. 
3. Connect with local influencers that have a following that aligns with your target audience and find a mutually beneficial arrangement to compensate them for helping promote your event. 

These are just a few ideas, this article contains about 30 more! And listen, do yourself a HUGE favor and put your marketing plan for your event IN WRITING!  Complete with timelines, deadlines, promotions, etc.   For more event marketing tips, join me today at 2:00 pm (CST) for my weekly Thinking Big with Bobbi B show over on our Think Big Go Local Facebook page (or catch the replay!) I’ll be interviewing Jennifer Murphy from So Jenny Media LLC. Jenny is a fellow social media marketer with a specialty in event marketing. Hope to see ya there! 

Don’t be boring my friends!! Don’t just send a holiday card, send an envelope full of smiles and laughter!  The more unique and memorable, the better!  And think outside the box when it comes to your recipient list. Don’t just send your good cheer to current clients and vendors, be sure to include those dream clients, hot leads, potential new partners, you get the point!  Make them smile, make them giggle and then when you follow up in January, they’re going to love hearing from you!