Tuesday 16 December 2014

Five Reasons Why You Need to be Using LinkedIn

May of 2009 I was literally dragged into LinkedIn kicking and screaming!

I did not want to have anything to do with any kind of online platforms, other than email and Googling information. I was excellent at "Googling It"!
One day lightening struck and I woke up to the fact that I needed to be using at least the basics of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter! I had to prove a point to my then boss at a senior home care company that I was the sales representative for. He refused to pay for any of my time doing online marketing of any kind. I was expected to be out from 9am to 5pm glad-handing with discharge co-ordinators and social workers and senior centers setting up meetings and presentations. So I did this online marketing and podcasting in the evenings on my own time.
Here is what happened: The company's own research showed that 73% of the time seniors made decisions, the kids were involved. -Usually the women. Where were they during the day when I was giving a presentation at a senior center? 

You got it, they were at work. So I decided to set up my own podcast show, "Eldercare 911", and I became the Eldercare Specialist. I interviewed lawyers on wills and powers of attorney, financial planners about estate planning, and many others about different products and services that seniors might need.
The very first time I posted my podcast through my social media, within an hour I had a response back from a gal who said, "I had no idea that there was something like this available to help me with my 95 year old dad...who is dead!" 

It was too late for her, but it proved that this is where the gals hung out and that they were under stress from being sandwiched between aging parents and their careers.

I also discovered that the place to be marketing and building relationships was LinkedIn, because that is where the people with money hang out.
1. LinkedIn is the largest and most professional online business network on the internet.
2. Everyone on LinkedIn is there to do business.

3. The average age of people on LinkedIn is 43 years.
4. The average annual income of people on LinkedIn is $125K.
5. 64% of LinkedIn users have college or graduate education.
Where do you think the people are who can afford to buy your “stuff”?
January of 2011, I became The Marketing Mentress with another podcast show, where I interview authors and business associates from all different types of businesses. Most of my business comes from LinkedIn.

Here's the big secret to LinkedIn...it’s great to build a huge network, but the key is to bring those relationships to a face-to-face meeting of some sort. As human beings, we are gregarious and need to communicate live. We need to see mannerisms, facial expressions, and feel your enthusiasm.
We create the relationships online, but the key is bringing those relationships offline. That is where real business gets done!
Fired at Fifty: Stop Looking For Work and Discover What You Were Meant to Do.



Thursday 11 December 2014

Why Should I Connect with You?

Have you found someone on LinkedIn that is a great center of influence, that you would love to connect with and help through your network? Then when you send them a connection request, they “decline” it? I have always wondered why people do that?

There they are, on the largest platform for business in the world, virtually everyone on this platform is here to do business, and then they decline our connection requests. I have over 23 million in my extended reach on LinkedIn, and you would think that people would be curious as to how I could help them through my network. To me it is a no-brainer. I will connect with most everyone because I also am looking at who they are connected to.

Here is an example: You know your local politician, and you send them a request to connect to help each other through our networks. They decline the request. I wonder if they really want my vote after all. That isn’t the only question that arises, what about the influence I have on all my connections regarding that politician? If they do not want to accept connections on LinkedIn, then why are they there? People have no idea how much influence I might have, with my audience and this is just one example.

LinkedIn is the most professional social platform for business that is available on the net. The average age of people on LinkedIn is 43 years, and the average annual income of people on LinkedIn is $125K. Compared to Facebook’s average annual income of $25k per person, where do you think the people are who can afford to buy your “stuff”? -And by extension, where do you think the people are who have the most influence on the voting public…or can contribute to your campaign for office?

This is Christine Till, as in “Till we meet again”, the LinkedIn Marketing Mentress. When you request a connection with me, I always accept. It is not all about me…it is all about you and how I can help you!

Make it an awesome week!

www.marketingmentress.com

Thursday 2 October 2014

Wuss or Warrior?

So you’ve been “laid off, pink slipped, downsized, side-stepped”. If your employer does not have another position to send you to, you are just plain fired…short and simple! People use the above to soften the blow, so to speak. But if you see it like I do, it is just plain and simply “fired”.

That fateful day in January 2011, when my then boss “laid me off” as he put it, he had no idea the repercussions that would result. Too bad I could not put names in my book…my publisher wouldn’t let me. So I resorted to finding my own solution in a constructive way. As a result, I found that I was not alone.

As I travel to speaking engagements and sell my book, I met many different people and circumstances. One gentleman came up to me and told me he had been “fired” at 62. An attractive woman said she was “fired” 2 weeks before her 50th birthday. Another person was “fired” 2 days before their 50th birthday. – And the list goes on…

Through meeting these people and hearing their stories, I discovered that there is definitely a trend going on in our world today. I discovered that there are some companies out there who make it a policy not to hire anyone who is 50 or over. Based on my experience, here are the three key reasons why:
1.     Companies know that people over 50 tend to use their extended health plans more than younger workers, thus driving their monthly premiums up.
2.     Companies want to avoid paying pensions of any kind.
3.     Companies wonder “if we train this person, how long will they stay with us?”

Here is the “straw that broke the camel’s back”…The main reason that people over 50 don’t get jobs again is because the majority go into interviews with HR managers who are half their age and while they are being interviewed, they are thinking, “I could do her/his job ten times better than them!” Whether they want to admit it or not, it comes across in the interview.

I had the opportunity of speaking with a young, vibrant HR Manager, who was in charge of hiring, training, and developing staff in her department at a major hospital in Florida. Over time she has developed a unique way of interviewing people that brings out their true self. I was impressed with her technique so I kept prodding her with more questions. After all, I had taught a course at the local college on “Hiring, Training, and Developing Staff”. I was twice her age. She made me dig deep. I was humbled as I reflected on how I had interviewed for jobs after I was “Fired at Fifty”.  I asked myself if I had been one of those she described.

Know what? I can honestly say that I did not think those thoughts when I was interviewing. I just wanted to pay my mortgage and keep up my car payments. I was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill my desperate needs financially…as long as it was legal, morally right, and non-fatening. I was willing to clean bathrooms if necessary. That’s just the way I am.

Does this provoke you to thought? Where have you found yourself if you were “Fired at Fifty”? Are you one of the thousands who have not been able to find work? Would you like some ideas on how you can monetize yourself and become your own company?

Are you a “Wuss or a Warrior”? Let's find out together. 

Even a wuss can make money at this: www.kbintro.com & www.karatbars.com/?s=christinetill49

Christine Till
The Marketing Mentress
www.marketingmentress.com

Fired at Fifty: Stop Looking For Work and Discover What You Were Meant to Do.
http://bit.ly/FiredatFiftyKindle




Wednesday 10 September 2014

Like riding a bicycle...NOT!

How long has it been since you rode a bicycle?

Do you remember when you first started to ride a two-wheeled bicycle? It was not a simple thing, was it. If you were like me, you ended up with a few scraped knees, elbows, and a bruised backside...more than once.

Then you finally caught the hang of it and you sailed off down the roadway feeling like you had just been given new wings! Remember? Remember the exhilaration that flushed through your entire body as you actually rode your bicycle all by yourself, no training wheels.

Now think about marketing your business. Are you still trying to market "using training wheels"?

What I am referring to of course, is are you moving your marketing techniques into the 21st century, or are you still using the "old-school" systems? My question then is, are those old systems still working as well as they used to or are you questioning what you need to change or upgrade?

I can hear many voices groaning as you force yourselves to keep reading this blog post. But you know what, I understand where you are coming from.

You are already working twelve to sixteen hour days and are having challenges fitting anything more into your day. This makes me wonder if you are trying to wear all the hats in your business. Does your business rely totally on your own actions? If so, perhaps you need to learn how to delegate.

There are definitely some things that you cannot delegate, but when you have a business, you need to decide what parts of the business only you can do, and what parts you can pay someone else to do for you.

Or perhaps you just don't have the budget that allows you to delegate yet. You will be elated to hear that you can use online systems and social media marketing programs to help gain exposure to a greater market potential with only 30 minutes a day! Yes! I kid you not!

If you are a solopreneur or any type of entrepreneur trying to get connected to your target market, all you need are these five key elements:
1. A computer that works and is connected to high speed internet.
2. Be connected to the three basic platforms of social media - LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter.
3. A social media autoresponder, like SproutSocial.
4. A website with a blog, and a customer connect page
.
5. A mentor to help you with your plans.

Sound a little daunting for you?

Try scheduling in a time every day to concentrate on your marketing and start recording ideas on your smart phone to help you get your blog rolling. As thoughts come to you throughout your day, record them on your smart phone. Then when you get to your 30 minutes, you can just sit and write, publish and post. 

Easy-Peasy!

Christine Till
The Marketing Mentress
www.marketingmentress.com
Fired at Fifty: Stop Looking For Work and Discover What You Were Meant to Do.


http://bit.ly/FiredatFiftyKindle





Tuesday 9 September 2014

Are you “Stuck in the Ozarks”?

The world came crashing in on me January 4, 2011. I walked into my office where I had been working in the capacity of sales and marketing director. An hour later, I walked out of that office having been given my wings! 

Yup, I was fired!

The common terms you hear are pink-slipped, downsized, side-stepped, out-sourced, or laid off. Let’s face it, if that employer does not have another job for you, you are ‘fired’. . . plain and simple.

After a period of self-pity, I decided that I would search for another job. So I sent out a myriad of resumes and cover letters thinking that I present myself well, and don’t have dementia, so should be able to find work quickly. Well, I got 4 job interviews and one job offer at $10.00 an hour! I was stunned!

What was I going to do…work 3 jobs?

I went to my car and cried. I still had car payments to make and a mortgage to pay. I was at a loss for ideas.

Then I spoke with my son, Michael, and he mentioned that I had been doing podcasting for a while now, and was also very good at sales and marketing. Why not start a Marketing podcast show and coach people how to use LinkedIn?
Voila! The Marketing Mentress was born along with the Marketing Mentress show.

What I did was dig deep to find my strengths and then package them in a way that people would want to use my services…and pay me money.

Once I started networking and meeting others who had found themselves in similar situations, trying to build a brand around themselves and their strengths, I realized that I had finally found my niche, and could help these people, but you don’t just walk up to someone and give them advice, do you. That is how I came to write my book…”Fired at Fifty: Stop looking for work and discover what you were meant to do.”

Sounds simple, doesn’t it. Well it was not so simple. It took me time to find the resources I needed to bring everything I needed together. I found free resources and free coaching services. I traded for services. I did whatever it took to succeed with my brand. –As long as it was legal & morally right.

A few short years ago, I was literally dragged into the 21st Century kicking and screaming. Let’s see if you might have been too.

I figured that I had managed just fine without a cell phone and without a computer for most of my life. Then one day I walked into my office where I had been working as a real estate secretary and there sitting smack in the middle of my desk was an Apple 2e! My beloved IBM Selectric typewriter was gone! I searched everywhere for my beloved typewriter, and it was nowhere to be found. The nerve of my boss to do such a thing. Didn’t he know that he had just cut off my right arm?

How in the world could this be really happening to me? I had seen the fate of the Commodore 64, so to me it was a no-brainer that computers would never succeed further than the rooms full of computers that helped run big business. Come to think of it, I have a good friend who still laughs today about his degree in “Commodore 64”.

Who’d-a-thunk-it!

It is obvious that more than just one someone did “thunk-it”. Today we have computers everywhere around us. They run cell phones as small as a wrist watch, or as large as those that run automobiles, transportation systems, the petroleum industry, and the list goes on. Here I am typing on a laptop for goodness sakes!

Every once-in-a-while I have the privilege of meeting a business person who does not use a debit machine to perform financial transactions. Even the smallest sole proprietorship at least has a “swiper” these days to help them process purchases for their clients. You know, those square gadgets that plug into your iPhone or Android so you can swipe a credit card and have money deposited directly into your bank account.

In light of today’s high tech lifestyle, it is kind of shocking to find individuals who still choose to remain “in the Ozarks”.
Now using computers and cell phones have become just a small part of the whole online connection that can be utilized in today’s high tech world. Because of this new advanced technology, people and thus business have become mobile. We receive email and messages through our mobile devices. The goal today is to be able to still keep on top of our daily communications, find new products for business, and book appointments while we are out and about.

We as a culture have become totally dependent on technology. Can you imagine not having a microwave or a coffee machine or a stove? Computers are everywhere!

For over 20 years I have been involved with sales and marketing. It used to be that I would use the newspapers and phone books to find leads. –Or I just plain went door-to-door making friends.

Do you remember the good-old-days?

Although we can still find people using the old systems to generate sales, today we depend on more sophisticated means for finding new clients and keeping in touch with them. Instead of sending a physical letter or greeting card, we send email and text messages. –But then how do we become effective using this new type of communication to get sales?

All it takes to succeed with this new marketing medium is:
1.      Hard work.
2.      A system.
3.      Service with integrity.
4.      An unstoppable dream.


Let’s conquer this marketing together! What can I help you with?

Christine Till
The Marketing Mentress
www.marketingmentress.com