We Have Been Nominated for the 2011 Sydney Business Awards!

Win $1,500 in cash – by voting for the Cavalletti Communications team.

Vote & Win at http://bit.ly/jbmoe4, or simply SMS “Words” to 0447 447 070.

Thank you for your support,

Daniela
daniela@cavacom.biz

Use our Networking Tips to Increase Your Visibility, Credibility – and Profitability.

Work Your Networking Muscles – And They Will Get You Work in Return

Our Networking Tips:

1. Arrive early – and leave late
2. Work the room – spot the connectors, open groups and “lost” people. Don’t barge into closed groups deep in conversation
3. Sit next to or talk to someone you don’t know
4. Bring a lot of business cards, and any marketing materials. If you think you are taking enough, take 20% more
5. Act like the host and not the guest – welcome new people, be warm and open
6. Book a meeting at your meeting, if you get the opportunity
7. Listen – givers do gain, hard sellers that talk only about themselves are perceived as rude and pushy
8. Have focus and an objective – what are you networking for?
   
9. Be visible, build trust – and reap the rewards. Trust takes time to develop: network regularily
   
10. Follow up, Follow Up, Follow Up after your networking event

These networking tips are of course not all there is to successful, profitable and fun networking. But with practice these first steps will get you a long way in establishing a good network and building trust – essential to getting referrals, making lasting connections and growing your business.

Best of Luck and Success,
Daniela

daniela@cavacom.biz
www.cavacom.biz
We Take Care of All Your Business Writing

As an entrepreneur, business owner or marketing manager, you all face the same issue: how to create engaging and on-target marketing messages, and truly connect with your audience. How to create leads and convert them into (preferably repeat) customers.

Here are five steps for creating an effective marketing message:

1. Identify your Target Market
2. Understand your Target Audience’s unique Problems, Needs and Wants
3. Offer a Solution to those Problems, and Fulfill Desires
4. Provide Testimonials (customer experiences) as a Proof of your Solutions
5. Differentiate Yourself from your Competitors

And remember: what your prospects and customers really want to know is “what’s in it for them” when they buy your product or engage your services. How you achieve that result for them that (i.e. what you do), is of secondary interest to them. So, your audience mainly wants to know you provide a specific benefit that’s important to them. For example, that what you sell provides security and safety – not so much the details of the insurances you offer or the technical specifications of a security system.

Read more on how to create a strong marketing message here.

Until next time,
Daniela

Are you a soloist, entrepreneur, micro- or small to medium business?  If so, sometimes, as the owner of such a business, it can feel like you are all alone, out there on a big big ocean and only a few islands in sight.  But you are not alone.  And dry, solid land is there for the taking – if you know how to look for it and stake your claim.

In their book The Risk Takers Renee and Don Martin identify ten common traits, challenges and ultimately opportunities for entrepreneurs:

1. Trust your Instinct
2. Challenge Convention
3. Persist
4. Find your Niche
5. Spot Trends and Act
6. Fill the Gaps your Competition’s Left
7. Just Start – there is no Perfect Time
8. Get Creative in Marketing
9. Competitor’s Weakness = Your Strength
10. Never stop Changing
11. I like to add another point here: Be Clear and Consistent about your Brand.
    Ensure you communicate clearly, regularly and in an engaging way with your target audience, i.e. your potential and existing clients.
    Be relevant, give them something for free, don’t just hard-sell. Be professional, yet personal. Put yourself in the client’s shoes and think how you would like to be communicated with and treated.
    There is much you can do yourself towards this aim. Everything else a good copywriter and communications expert can help you with.
    Help is at hand – for all budgets.

Read more on how to get motivated, find your niche and not lose the edge over your competition here.

Until next time,
Daniela

A friend of mine, who loved how he could relate to my recent post on Allizan Nazarian’s shitty day advice, asked me to re-post her humorous and wise insights into coping with “The Lull”.

So here it is…. Click here for the link to “The Lull” and enjoy.

Until soon,
Daniela

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine who is changing careers and starting his own business.

We chatted about layouts & copywriting for websites, and social media.  I was singing the praise of blogs and LinkedIn (and Twitter and facebook, but we’ll leave those for another time) and the many ways of meaningfully connecting websites with social media.  I talked excitedly about he possibilities of writing in a professional yet personal way to bring your business and value to your audience – and generally displayed my inner communications nerd -, when I heard a big silence spread at the other end of the line.

Assumption is a dangerous thing, they say.  Luckily, sometimes it’s just impolite. Phew!

My friend was new to social media for business, and especially a”LinkedIn virgin”.  He, understandably, felt a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities and confused by the mechanics.  So we ran through the gist of set up and options – and I think I created a fellow LinkedIn devotee. And all in half an hour. It’s easy to get started and quite a bit addictive to keep going and growing.

Try for yourself: Read here about the essentials that will get you a long way, and here for a few further bits of how to utilise LinkedIn for your business.
Drop me a line via the comments box below. I am looking forward to hearing about your experiences.
You can connect with me via my LinkedIn profile here. Let’s get connected….

Until next time,
Daniela

First there was the Website…

You own a business and have set up your website. It’s informative, it looks fab and it gets a lot of hits.
But does it get you customers, clients – and sales? Hmmm….

So, you start spreading the love, trying to find your potential clients elsewhere and keep in touch with your existing clientele.  These days, your next step is entering the world of social media: you get a facebook page, spruce up your LinkedIn account and you are Twitter-ing away.

But what next? How can you use your social media presence to grow your business, spread your ideas and create a following – all while contributing something valuable? Is it only looks that count, to be seen to “do the social media thing”?

Content is King

Potential clients are people, not just an abstract construct. And people want substance, something useful and not just a sales spiel. Getting your product, brand and marketing message across in a way that is valuable to you as well as your target market gives everyone something to be happy about.

Taking without giving or contributing does not work in 2010. Content, value and sharing is what your target audience – your “tribe” – needs and wants. Write a blog, offer some free resources, share your thoughts. Your readers want substance.

Give it to them

Find 10 tips on website content and social media strategy here.

Few of us are immune to getting sucked into our inbox and our social media interactions: 
What’s out there that I might be missing out on if I don’t read this email, this newsletter, this blog?

But where does the ability of these technologies to be helpful, constructive and enhancing end – and where does the time wasting and procrastinating begin?

Are you a slave to your inbox and social media interaction?
How many hours a day do you spend checking your email and facebook page?
What is this interaction adding to your day, and what does it take time away from – your core business, your family, your quiet time?

While email and social media are useful tools to communicate, learn and do business, I believe it’s all about balance.
More on this subject in this blog by marketing “guru” Seth Godin.

You are facing a challenge or change – in your business or on a personal level:  Uncertainty and fear of failure can be paralysing.
But they don’t have to be.

This article on how to overcome fears related to starting your own business has five tips by Ron Koss (o-founder of America’s first nationally distributed organic foods company) that can be applied to many situations.

Need some answers?
Would you like to share some of your thoughts on writing, marketing and other business or creative areas?
Want to discuss a marketing or social media topic close to your heart?

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Post your thoughts, ideas, worries, recommendations and experiences as a comment to this post,
or here on our facebook group wall and discussion board.

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