Everyday There is a Reason to Celebrate

With the weight of the recession bearing down on everyone, celebrating seems to fall by the wayside. Either people don’t think they have anything to celebrate, or they are concerned with the cost of doing so. I always think of the tooth fairy as a prime example of “anything can be celebrated”. Losing a tooth for a child is traumatic (at least for me it was!) and what a great way to get you through it then to celebrate it with a coin under your pillow and a story of a wonderful fairy delivering it.

The same goes for your business. Have you gotten new work from an existing client, finished a project initiative, get an article published, or get recognized by a peer? Items that in the fast and furious times we took for granted today should be celebrated. Not only should you stop and acknowledge it yourself, you should share it with your clients, colleagues and employees. Everyone needs a bright moment to hold onto and what a gift to deliver it.

This same concept goes for your clients—don’t they deserve a pat on the back? Everyone recognizes their clients at the holidays, but what about February, May, August, and October—aren’t there opportunities to celebrate and give back? Take an opportunity this summer to think of 5 existing/past clients that you would like to recognize. Did they just experience a “celebratory moment”, did they “loose a tooth”, or do you just want to say thank you for sticking with you? Then determine what you would like to do for them that is high impact and low cost. Examples:

• Ice cold lemonade and homemade cookies delivered during a heat wave.
• Ben and Jerry’s pint coupons hand delivered to each team member.
• Your favorite “beach read”.
• A bouquet of flowers from your garden.
• A kite or other fun summer toy—everyone likes to feel like a kid!
• Drop by on a Friday night with a “signature cocktail”.

The most successful acknowledgements are those that come from the heart and leverage your strengths—if you get excited about it, your clients will too!

And while we are on the topic of celebrating—Celebrate was listed for the fifth consecutive year on Boston Business Journal’s “Area’s Largest Meeting and Event Planners”. We moved up three spots this year to number 18!

Marketing--One Baby Step at a Time

I recently started training for a triathlon—I know I can’t believe it either. The entire concept of swimming a half mile, biking 18 miles and running just over three was so overwhelming that when I was first introduced to the idea I dismissed it without a second thought. But then my friend shared with me the 12 week training schedule that broke down each discipline into daily workouts that slowly builds up your endurance and stamina so that by the day of the race you “can do it” I realized that this might just be do-able.

I attended a New England Women Business Owners (NEWBO) program where Curtis Bingham of Predictive Consulting Group presented “Three Keys to Beat the Recession: Smart Strategies to Thrive Regardless of the Economy”. As a follow up to the program he distributed his “50 Ways to Make the Phones Ring”. I don’t know about you, but this definitely peaked my interest. As the weight of the economy continues to bear down on all of us—marketing becomes daunting. While business was booming we didn’t have time to market, now that we have the time, we don’t know where to start and/or we don’t have a lot of funds to invest. So I saw the list as a great guide to jumpstarting my own “recession” marketing efforts—but at first glance the list was very overwhelming. Or was it?

The same concept of breaking down the “training” for the triathlon can be applied to our marketing efforts. Decide what marketing goals you would like to achieve in the next 12 weeks. For example:
--Get one article published
--Get 3 testimonials from existing clients
--Create a Facebook page for my business
--Establish a Twitter account
--Update ¼ of my web pages
--Send out three electronic publications (email blasts and/or enewsletters)

Draw up a matrix showing each work day for the next 12 weeks and establish the amount of time that you can spend on marketing each day. Then populate the matrix with bite sized tasks that you can do each day and begin to build the momentum and increase your marketing stamina.

See how much you can get done in just one week without breaking a sweat—imagine what you can accomplish in twelve. Good luck!