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AUTOMATED

MARKETING

MONETISEYOURSALESFUNNELCanyoutrulyfullyautomateyourincomestream?

KYLEEELLIS

Thisisabookforanyone.Now,marketingexpertswouldtellyounevertosaythatasyoushouldnicheandonlyfocusonaspecifictargetmarketasnoteveryonewantseverything,butthis is theoneexceptiontotherule.That’sright; thisbookisforanyonewantingtomake money without doing anything (so long as you are willing to do some work tocomplete the setup phase). Any single chapter of this book once read and applied caneasilymakethereaderasix-figureincome.Applyallchaptersandthatisalreadyaseven-figureincome.Dothismultipletimesandyoucanmakethetransitionfrommillionairetobillionairequiteeasilysolongasyoucontinuetoreadandapply.

Butwait–yousay–Idon’thaveabusinesstomarketsothiswon’tworkformeinmy9-to-5 job.Holdona tick.Everybusinesssellseitheraproductorservice. Inmyopinionyouwould be a fool to sell either as a service is constantly exchanging your time formoney and a product means you have to constantly reproduce to resupply. In reality,however, tobesuccessful,youneedboth;youjustneed tobreak the traditional rulesofsupply. That is, you need a product that is produced once and can be sold an infinitenumberoftimescombinedwithaservicethatyoucandeliveroncetoaninfinitenumberofpeople.

Ifyoualreadyhaveavirtualbusinessyouarereadytobeginautomatedmarketingstraightaway.Ifyoucurrentlyhaveaphysicalbusinessyouwanttoturnvirtualora9-to-5jobyouwish to replace with a passive income make sure you read the prequel to AutomatedMarketing,which is calledVirtualBusiness (packaged as a free bonuswith this book),beforeyoustart.Ifyouhaveanexistingbusinessthenyoucanusethisbooktoadaptwhatyou already sell into this perfect monetising marketing system; however, if you don’talready have a business in a way you are better off as you can start from scratch (toprovideyourselfwithanongoing incomebeyondyourwildestdreamssoyoucan leaveyour9-to-5job)ratherthanreinventsomethingthatalreadyexists.Learnhowtobecomeacoach todaybymoving fromworking9-to-5 togettingpaid togiveothersadviceasanexpertinyourfield.

“WhenIstartedoutasaVirtualAssistantsixyearsagoIwishIhadKylee’s‘VirtualBusiness’book.Itisthe‘GoTo’bookforanypersontostartuptheirownbusiness.Highlyrecommended.”

DianaHolwerdawww.pa-on-the-go.com

“Ifyouwantcuttingedgestrategies to turnyourbook intoabusiness,THIS is thesystemtogetthebookwritten,haveyourtargetmarketfindyouandmonetiseyourIPinaveryleveragedway.I’veworkedwithmany‘writeabestseller’expertsanduntilnow,noneofthemdoallthree.KyleeElliswalksthetalkandcreatesrealresults.”

JenHarwoodMotivationalSpeaker,Author&BusinessCoach

“Fascinating and insightful … the definitive ‘how to’ of the new gen marketingmethod!!”

AmandaHodgkinsBeautician

“Youhavegottogetyourhandsonthis!Kyleetookmefromknowingnothingabouttheself-publishingworldtobeinga#1best-sellingauthor.IhadoftenwishedIhadthisbooknexttomewhileIwasworking.Sogladit’shere.ThankyouKyleeandThePublishingQueen!”

TaniaMarshallwww.aspiengirl.com

“WOW!!MymindbogglesreadingthisandItrulyunderstandwhereyouarecomingfrom.”

AmyMillsPre-schoolDirector

AutomatedMarketingCopyright©KyleeEllis2015www.virtualmarketing.biz

ThemoralrightsofKyleeEllistobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeenassertedinaccordancewiththeCopyrightAct1968.

FirstpublishedinAustralia2015IntroductionbyThePublishingQueen

ISBN978-1-921673-74-0-paperbackISBN978-1-921673-75-7-ebook

Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedortransmittedbyanymeans,electronic,photocopyingorotherwisewithoutpriorwrittenpermissionoftheauthor.

Disclaimer

All the information, techniques, skills and concepts contained within this publication are of the nature of generalcommentonly,andarenotinanywayrecommendedasindividualadvice.Theintentistoofferavarietyofinformationtoprovideawiderrangeofchoicesnowandinthefuture,recognisingthatweallhavewidelydiversecircumstancesandviewpoints.Shouldanyreaderchoose tomakeuseof the informationcontainedherein, this is theirdecision,and theauthorandpublisherdonotassumeanyresponsibilitieswhatsoeverunderanyconditionsorcircumstances.Theauthorand publisher does not take responsibility for the results of the reader’s decision to use this information. It isrecommendedthatthereaderobtaintheirownindependentadvice.

CONTENTS

Introduction

1.SuccessfulSpeaking

2.BlastOffWithSocialMedia

3.SayGoodbyetoPrintedMarketing

4.AutomateYourWebSales

5.SalesLetterstothePowerofX

6.PublishingWithaCapital‘D’

7.ThePODEvolution

8.SecretsBehindDigitalEvents

9.MediaMadness

Conclusion

IntroductionIamsureyouhaveallheardtheexpression‘Let’sstartattheverybeginning…’,andtheintroductionofthisbookseemsasgoodaplaceasanytogobacktothebeginning,backtobasics,andtellyoueverythingyoudonotyetknow,thatyoudonotyetknow.Yes,that’sright; Iwant tosharewithyou thedatedstuff, theold things, thestuffyoumayalreadyknow a little about, enough to know that nobody does these things anymore simplybecausetheynolongerwork.It’snotthattherewasanythingwrongwiththesetechniques,assuch;it’sjustthatthesecrettosuccessfulmarketing(whichIwillrevealtoyounowinthe very first paragraph of this book) is that marketing techniques stop working onceeveryoneknowsthem,becauseifeveryoneisdoingthem,firstly,peopledon’trespondtothem, as they have been done to death, and secondly, you don’t stand out from yourcompetitionifyouaredoingexactlywhateveryoneelseisdoing.

So why, if these techniques are so overused and ancient in the fast-moving marketingtimeline,amIstressingthemsoearlyonandwanttodiscussthemonthefirstpageofthisbook?Well, simply put, these dated techniques are the foundations ofwhat thiswholebookisabout.That’sright,youcan’tdoithoweveryoneelsedoesitandhasbeendoingforyears,butthevalidityofeachtechnique,whywefirstusedthemtomarketwithinthefirstplace,stillstands;thus,whatyouneedtoknowisthefoundationsyounolongerneedsoyouunderstandthebasisofthetechniquesyouneedtodoinstead.Hereoninthisbookwill be dealing with everything at a very high level so it is essential we cover theintroductorybasicsbeforewestartsothatyouareuptospeedandreadytounderstandandapplythenewandimprovedequivalentmarketingtechniquesofthoseyoumayalreadybeusedto.Thenyoucangetoutthereandstartgettingresultsbeforeeveryonebeginsdoingthese new techniques aswell, because then youwill need to be retrained in successfulmarketingagain.

Over the last 10 years working in the publishing arena I have taught three ways todistributeabook:self-distribution–sellinginperson;onlinedistribution–sellingonline;andbookstoredistribution–sellinginbookstores.Thesethreedistributionchannelshavenotchanged,andneitherhavethevariousmarketingtechniquesthatneedtobeappliedtoeachchannelinordertogetthebestresults.

Whilethesetechniqueshavenotchangedassuch,whattheyhavedoneisdevelopedovertime.Insteadoftellingyouabasictechniquethatyouallwouldbeawareofandhaveseenoverdone time and time again (e.g. for online marketing you need to build a list, adatabase,inotherwordsyouneedsomeplaceonyourhomepagewherepeoplecangiveyoutheirpersonaldetailsinexchangeforsomethingofvalue,inthecaseofpublishing–asamplechapterfromthebookyouarepromoting),Iamshowingyouhowtodothehigh-endequivalent(e.g. theonesubscriptionboxdoesn’tgivethemasmallfreeitembutaninfiniteamountofvalueturningtheinterestedprospectintoaguaranteedsale,onceagainin the case of publishing twoweeks of your best content delivered in automated auto-respondersinvideoformatsotheofferattheendinsteadofbeingfora$20bookwhichtheymayormaynotbuy is for aweeklymembershipprogram that theynow feel theycan’t live without due to the compelling content you provided while you built arelationshipwiththemoverthelasttwoweeks).

Itsoundslikealottofitintoonebookwhichiswhythisbookwillwalkyoustepbystepthroughthesehigh-endtechniques,tellingyouexactlywhatyouneedtodo,why,howandwhen.Anything Ican’t fit in thebook, forexampleexact templates to follow toensureyougettheprocessright,Iwillincludelinkstomywebsiteforyoutodownload.

Beforewe gomuch further, though, I need to say (and you can probably see frommypreviousexample) thatwearenot just talkingaboutbooks.Themarketing techniques Iteachareuniversal;Ihavejustbeenfocusingonbooksforthelastdecadebuttheycanbeused justas successfully tosellanyproduct. Ifyourbusiness is servicebasedyouhaveprobablyreadthisfarandthought,great,butwhatdoesthishavetodowithme?Andtheanswerisactuallyquitealot,asthewholereasononewouldsellaproductofanysorttoprofile themas theexpert in their field isnot for the$20salevalueof thebook,audio,video,etc.butfortheleadgenerationthistoolisintotheirservice-based(andhighervaluesale)business.

Beingpaid$20 tomarketyourbusiness insteadofpaying tomarket it isnice,butwhatyouarereallyinterestedinisthelifetimesalevalueofthetimeyouridealclientiswithyou;theclientyouwouldneverhaveotherwisegotwithouttheproductthatprofiledyouinsuchawaythattheycametotheunderstandingthemselves(insteadofyouneedingtoselltothem)thattheycouldnotaffordnottouseyourservice.Inotherwords,justlikeIteachtherearetwotypesofpeoplewhopublishabook–thosealreadyinbusinesswhoareusingthebooktoprofilethemselvesastheexpertintheirfiled(asalreadymentioned)andthosewhoarewritersanddon’tyetknowthattheirbookisabusiness(duetothefactthatifitisn’tmarketedthatwaypointblankitdoesn’tsellbutalsothatthecredibilitythatcomes from profiling yourself via an information-based product opens up all sorts ofentrepreneurial opportunities that youotherwiseneverwouldhavehad) – there are twotypesofbusinesses:thosethatsellaproductandthosethatsellaservice.

Inreality,however,(anditisveryimportantthatthisconceptisdealtwithupfront)thereisonlyone,asallservice-basedbusinessesneedaproducttoprofilethatbusinesstoturnmarketingfromatraditionalbusinessexpensetoaprofit-generatingexerciseaspreviouslymentioned. Similarly, all product-based businesses need more expensive, higher-endservicestoonsell/upsellthosepeoplewhonaturallybuyyourproductbutjustwantmoreofyoupersonally(andarewilling topaygoodmoneyfor it) thanyoucanpackage intoanyproduct.

Let’ssetasidewhetheryoupreviouslythoughtyousoldaproductorserviceforamomentand for the sake of you learning everything you need to know to fully automate allmarketingofyourvirtualbusiness(andthereforehaveasalesfunnelwhereyougetpaideachstepofthefunnelratherthangivingsomethingawayforfreetogetsomeonetoenterthefunnelortoentereachstageofthefunnelassomepeopleteach),andagreethatyounowsellbothproductsandservices.Let’salsoputthebooksasidethatIhaveworkedwithinthepastandsummariseself,onlineandbookstoredistributionofbooksasself,onlineandstoredistributionofanyinformationproduct.Bearingthisinmind,letmejustbrieflyshare with you the basic marketing techniques I taught in each of these distributionmethods, alongwith how they have changed, and then Iwill elaborate on each one inmoredetailinachapterofitsown.

Forself-distributiontherearethreemarketingtechniquesyouneedtouse:speaking,social

media and printed marketing materials. You don’t just need an information product tobrandyourselfastheexpertinyourfield,youalsoneedtoberegularlyspeakingtoyourtargetmarket, firstly to keep this status and secondly to keep the sales, as income andcredibilitygohandinhand.Whileyoukeepbeingcredibleyourproductwillkeepselling(e.g. people purchasing a copy of it after they hear you speak) just aswhile you keepsellingyourproductyouwillkeepyourcredibilityaspeoplewillpayonanongoingbasistopre-qualifythemselvesasyouridealclient(ornot,asthecasemaybe).Thiswayyougetridofthosetime-wastingprospectsthatnevergoahead;aswell,theypay$20fortheproductandthenattempttodowhatyouteachwithoututilisingyourservicesinsteadoftakingupyourtimewithnumerouscomparativequotestheyneverplantogoaheadwith.

Soweagreeyouneedtospeakandthat iswheresocialmediacomesin,as it isusedtoprofileyourspeakingengagementsbeforetheevent.Theprintedmarketingmaterialsarewhat isused tocollect the sale after theevent, e.g.pop-upbanner todisplaywhenyouspeak;order form tocollect salesafterwards;businesscardwithcall toactions forhowthey can buy after the day they hear you speak. This iswhat I teach business owners;however,thisisn’tabookjustaboutmarketingyourbusiness,butasequeltomypreviousbookVirtualBusiness,andallthesethingssoundratherphysical,right?Well,inthenextfewchaptersIamgoingtoelaborateonhowtoonlybookvirtualspeakingengagements(andget them regularly), how to use socialmedia to get the sale regardless ofwhethertheyeverhearyouspeakornot,andhowtodigitiseandautomatetheprintingmarketingmaterials soyounotonlyneverneed toprint anythingagain, but an infinitenumberofpeoplecanpurchasesimultaneouslyratherthanyoumanuallyhandingoutorderformsormanuallyprocessingcreditcards.

Whenitcomestoonlinethesamethingapplies.Thereisstilladistributionchannel,butinstead of it being speaking it is your fully automated webstore. There is still passivemarketing(that is,marketingthatyoudon’tneedtodoanythinginorder togetresults),like socialmediawhereyoupostonce togoviral (so everyone else commentsonyourcomment to expand the number of people seeing your post by sharing it with theirfriends),whichbecomesasales letterandaffiliatesystemwhereyougiveawayasmallpercentageof a profit youotherwisewouldn’t havehad to someonewilling to promoteyour book using their time, resources and contacts on your behalf. And your activemarketing where you previouslymanually had to collect the sale via order forms, etc.becomesthemanualcomponentofkeepingyourwebsitewithahighrankinginGooglesopeoplecanfindit,whichinvolvesbloggingandemailmarketing.Onceagain,thisistheoldway,sowhatarethenew,high-endequivalents?Yourautomatedwebstorenolongersellsjustyourproductbutallyourproductsandservices(whichyoucancontinuouslyaddtobutneverneed todoanywork to sell or fulfil on);yourpassivemarketing isn’tonesales letter and one affiliate system but a detailed two-week launch program with anadvancedaffiliatesystemandyourblogging/emailmarketingbecomesamagazinewhichcontainsyourblogcontentbutinsteadofbeingsenttoyourdatabaseforfreetheynowpaytopurchase.

Lastly,bookstores,ornow,stores.Thechannelmustbeprintondemandsoyouneverpaytoproduceaproductuntilyouhavealreadybeenpaidforit,anditmustalsoincludebothan electronic and physical version of each product to cater for your differing customerneeds. You must send one press release out per month to keep your topic hot in the

media’seyeswhiledoingonein-storeeventpermonthsopeoplehavedirectaccesstoyou(andalsobecause themedia loves it).Onceagain, though, theseare theold techniques,andthisbookisaboutthenew,high-endequivalents.Assuch,Iwillbesharingwithyouin future chapters how to find one channel that simultaneously does your printing andfulfilmentthroughallphysicalanddigitalstoresallovertheworldwithoutyouneedingtoleavethehouse,howtogetthemediatocontactyousoyouneverneedtosendorfollowupanotherpressreleaseandhowtorunvirtualeventsfromthecomfortofyourhomewithahigherconvertingratethananyphysicaleventeverhad.

BynowIamsureyouareprobablythinkingoneoftwothings,orifyouareatallhuman,probably a bit of both. You are probably a bit overwhelmed, thinking how can shepossiblyfitsomuchintoonebookandsecondly,whileslightlydoubtingifitispossible,thinkingifsheactuallydoesthenthiswillbethebestbookyouhaveeverread.Well,youarecorrectonbothcounts.See,Iintentionallyoverwhelmyouatthestartasitisessentialyougetabriefoverviewofeverythingyoudonotyetknow,thatyoudonotyetknow,soyouunderstandwhatitisyouneedtolearnandapplytogettheresultsyouwant,andifIhavedonemyjobrightthenthiswillbethemostvaluablebookyouhaveeverreadandifitdoesn’ttransformyourthoughtsonhowyouseebothyourbusinessandthepreviouslyconfusingworldofmarketing,while transformingyourbusiness and thereforeyour lifeinto the perfect work/life balance you have always wanted, then I will take that as apersonalinsult.Sowithoutfurtherado,let’sgettheballrolling.Joinmeinthefollowingchapters for a much more detailed and step-by-step, easy-to-follow explanation of theavalancheofmarketingtechniquesoverflowingintheselastfewpages,andlet’sgetfullyvirtualandfullyautomated!

1.SuccessfulSpeakingBeforewe launch into thischapterabouthow toget regular speakingengagementsofadigital manner, let’s address the changes in industry, firstly to make this possible andsecondlytomakethisanessentialpartofbothrunningandmarketingavirtualbusiness.Youwouldallbeawarebynow thatpublishingabook is thenewbusinesscard in thatinsteadof handing someone a flimsybit of paper thatwill be lost amongst all the rest,yours stands out like a sore thumb, amile above the rest. It is alsomuchbetter than abusinesscard;insteadofthecalltoactionbeingphone/emailmesoIcanwastemytimebuilding a relationship with you only for you to go elsewhere or provide you with acomparativequoteyouhavenointentionofgoingaheadwith,themessageisbuy/readmesotheycanfallinlovewithyouandyourserviceswithoutneedingtouseupamomentofyourtime,andchoosewhetherIamgoingtotryanddoitwithoutyouasIknowIcan’tafford touseyourservices,orcometoyouprequalifiedasyour idealclient ready togoandwantingtopaynowsoyouneverneedtospendanothercentonthemarketingprocessor anymore time on the sales process.One of the biggest business expenses has beenturnedintoaprofit-generatingexercise.

Thisiswhatcreatedthethirdsectionofwhatwewillbediscussinginthisbookandwewill still be using these techniques as they still work, just in a modernised way. Thesecond sectionof this book, though, is very new, aswhile people havebeendoing thiswithbooksforawhiledoingtheequivalentwithmagazinesisfairlynew.Notpublishingamagazine or even publishing a digitalmagazine, as people have been both able to anddoingforyears,butpublishingadigitalmagazinethatalsoturnsintobuildingalist:yourdatabase,yourmostvaluableasset inbusiness,asyoucanuse it togetmorecustomers,increasetheirspendorincreasetheregularityoftheirspend(theonlythreethingsoneeverneeds in any business) from a draining cost on your business to once again a profit-generatingexercise.That’sright;insteadofgivingawaysomethingforfreetopopulateadatabase,peoplepaytojoinyours.Betteryet,theypaywithaclickofabutton:nomessyputtingincreditcarddetailsorhavingtoentertheirpersonaldetailslikeanemailaddress,butyougetboth theirmoneyandemail topopulateyourdatabaseby themclickingonebutton,sometimeswithoutevenrealisingtheyclickedit.Andifyousetitupright(sincemagazines are subscription based), it does the other two things as well by regularlychargingtheircreditcardaminimalisticamount.

But as good as all this sounds, we are not talking about that. This chapter is aboutspeaking,sohowcanwemakespeakingaslucrativeasthesetwootherareas?Howcanspeakingbecomefullyvirtual?Howcanyoucombinethebookandthemagazinetoonceagaingetpaidtomarketyourbusiness,andbuildadatabaseorclientrapport?Well, thesecretiswebinars.Iamtalkingteleconferenceswhereyoucanshowslidesonscreen;IamtalkingGoogleHangoutswhereyoucanseealltheattendeesandtheycanseeyou;Iamtalking about live streaming you digitally into a physical event; I am talking aboutsometimes live (at leastwhenyou first start) but other timespre-recorded soyoudon’teven need to be there. Yes, that’s right. Not only virtual, but fully automated as well.Basically,Iamtalkingaboutanyonewhowantsmorethanwork-lifebalance,butjustthelifewithoutthework;Iamtalkingaboutmakingyourdreamscometrue.Ofcourse,Ineedtoclarifythis;Idon’tmeannowork–youwon’tbehandedanythingonasilverplatter–

butImeandoingthenecessarysetupworknow, thehardyardsbeforeyoustart,soyoucan reap the rewards of your efforts later and not need towork for yourmoney on anongoingbasis.

Onceagain,beforeItalkaboutwhatspeakingvirtuallyactuallyinvolves,itisimportanttolook at the foundations ofwhat it is not. I used to teach a six-step ladder of speakingelevation where you climbed each rung of the ladder gaining speaking experience,working up to the high-level speaking engagements. The first rung was a five-minutespeakingslotata localgrouprelevant toyoursubjectmatter, thena10-minuteslotatabusiness group youwere already amember of, followed by a 1.5-hour slotwhere youwere invited tospeakasapublishedauthorforagroupofaspiringwriters– theseweregenerally one-off engagements but you could findmultiple groups to speak at in eachstage.Thesecondthreerungsoftheladderwererepeatspeakingengagementswheretherewere multiple chapters/events to speak at so you could get anything from two to 20speakingengagementsundertheoneumbrella.Thisincludedthingssuchasa30-minuteslot at a small business networking event, a 45-minute slot at a corporate networkinggroupora1.5-hourslotonsomeoneelse’sstage.Idon’tteachthisanymore,notbecauseyoudon’tneedtospeakinthesecapacities,butbecausetruevirtualspeakingbringsallsixof these rungs into one event. If you are speaking to someone else’s crowd, nomatterwhether it is for five minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes or 1.5 hours, it isalways someone else’s stage.There can be both business and corporate people viewinganyvirtualeventbothliveandinreplaymodejustastherecanbepeoplerelevanttoyoursubjectmatter, fellowbusinessownersand fellowwriters.Youwant themall: thesmallslots,thelargeslots;youwantthemregularlyandyouwantthesameoutcomeoutofanylengthoftalktoanytargetmarketregardlessofwhattheyhaveaskedyoutospeakon.

IalsousedtoteachhowtogetspeakingengagementsbutIwillnotbedoingthatinthischapter.Why?Well, for tworeasons;firstly, thenoviceseeksoutspeakingengagementsbypropositioningthemselvesasanoptiontothoselookingforspeakersbuttheexpertgetsinvitedtospeakwithoutneedingtodoanything.Thisbookisshowingyoueverythingyouneed to both set yourself up as the expert in your field whilemonetising the situationwithoutusingupanyofyourtime,sothatismysecondreason.Don’tdowngradeyourselfby tryingdesperately tofindspeakingengagements–sitbackandwait for themtofindyou.Thismayseemlikebadadvice–builditandtheywillcome–buttrustme;ifyoufollowall the steps in theotherchaptersof thisbookyour speakingengagement funnelwill start flowing so fast youwill be struggling to keep up – all you need to do is beprepared.

WhatdoImeanbybeingprepared?Well,firstly,ImeanhaveyourPowerPointskillsuptoscratchasifyoudon’tyetknowwhatyouaregoingtobeaskedtospeakonyouneedtobe ready to create a presentation, and secondly, have your calendar ready to slot theappointmentintoaswithavirtualspeakingengagementthatisallyouneedtodo.Ifyouare visually being seen, i.e. Google Hangouts, I recommend you obviously getprofessionallydressedanddoyourhairandmakeup,butifyouaredoingateleconferenceorwebinarwith slides and voiceover only, then the slides are all you need to do to beprepared.Foralltheattendeesknow,youcouldbeinyourpyjamasinbeddoingtheeventand theywouldn’t know any different as you are delivering your information from thecomfort of your home. While this relaxed approach is a viable option it is not one I

recommend,asobviouslytherearecertaindistractionsandnoisesthatcouldcomethroughliveorintherecording,soIrecommendsettingasideaquietspacetodotheseevents,e.g.a home office which you can close the door on (not open plan), where you can shutwindows forunexpecteddomesticnoisewhenyour event is scheduledbutwith enoughairflowthatairconditioners/heaters/fans,etc.won’taffectyourdelivery.

Remember, if this sounds daunting to you, initially you will not need to apply thistechniqueasyouwillbewaitingforthemtoapproachyou,andifyougetoverwhelmedattheavalancheofpeopleapproachingyou,youcanslowthevolumeof trafficbeingsentintoyourautomatedsalesfunnelbyhowmanyspeakingengagementsyouacceptand/orreject.Youarealwaysincontrolofmarketingthiswayandturningtheentryspoutofyourfunnel on and off to adjust your work-life balance up or down to meet the needs ofanythinggoingoninyourlifeinanygiventime.

Iamsurebynowyouarethinking,Ican’twaittogeteverythingelseinthisbookdonesoI can get all these lucrative speaking engagements as this is the best chapter yet. It isbasicallyachaptertellingmeIdon’thavetodoanythingasitwillallbedoneforme(andbythewayallchapterswillbelikethis;ifyouneedtodoanythingmanuallyoncesetupthen it isn’t fullyautomated.There isnopointbeingfullyvirtual ifyoustillhave tositthere9-to-5workingvirtually–andanyonewhorunstheirownbusinessknowsthehoursaremorelikedoublethatandnothingliketheusual9-to-5ifyouarestrugglingforwork-lifebalanceandfittingyourbusinessroundyourpersonalcommitments,kids,travelling,etc.),butyoudostillneedtodothesetupwhichIalludedtobefore.

Iftheyaskyoutospeakonanything(generallyrelatedtoyourfieldofexpertisebutnotnecessarily the standard PowerPoint you pre-prepared as youwanted to give the exactsametalkeachtime–yeah,likethatwillwork!–yetsomanypeopleteachyoushoulddothis)youneedtoknowhowtobringthattopicbacktoyourtwostandardcallstoaction:

1.Buymybookor2.Buymyhigh-endproduct.

Bothwillgetyouinstantsalesondayonefromthelowspendersandtheotherfromthehigh spenders. Your book is designed to turn your low-end spenders into high-endspendersbymovingthemthroughadifferentmini-salesfunnelperchapterwithrepeated,slightlyhigherspendseachtime,creatingregularincreasingvaluerepeatbusinessaswellas referral business, as each time you transform part of your client’s businesswith theproduct/service you are providing themwith (e.g. multiple small sales hasmanymoretouchpoints thanone big sale plus they aremore regularly recommendingyou to theirfriendsaswhatyouhavejustdoneforthemjustnaturallycomesupinconversation).

Let’stakealookathowthisworksrightnow.Iamsureyouarealldyingtoknowwhatneedstogoonthe15slidesofthiscompletelyadaptablepresentationsoyoucanquicklyandeasilyacceptanyspeakingengagementandhavethetalkreadytogoonlymomentslaterwithoutneedingtowriteanything; justupdateafewheadingsandimages thatwillpromptyouastowhatyouneedtotalkaboutandinwhatorder.

1.Titlepage2.Whatisoption1(whattheythinktheywant)?3.Whatisoption2(whatyouthinktheyalsoneed)?

4.Tellthemthefirstdecisiontheyneedtomaketoproceedwitheither5.Tellthemtheseconddecisiontheyneedtomaketoproceedwitheither6.Talkabouttheresultsofdecision1(theoutcometheythinktheywant)7.Talkabouttheresultsofdecision2(theoutcomeyouthinktheyalsoneed)8.Explainhowoption1cangetchoice2results9.Explainhowoption2alsogetstheseresults10. Recommend using a combination of option 1 and 2 (meet their wants whileprovidingtheirneeds)11.Showthebetterinstantresultsofthiscombinationandsellintoyourbookwhichshowsthemhowtodothis12.Showthebetterongoingresultsofthiscombination13.Doapracticalexercisetoproveyouknowyourstuff14.Sellintoyourmembershipprogramwhichshowsthemhowtoalsodothis

Unfortunatelythereisn’ttimetoelaborateonthisinanymoredetailinthischapterbutifyougoto:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4ayouwillfindsomeoptions:youcaneithera)watchavideoshowingyoustepbystephowtodothisorb)downloadmyready-to-usetemplatetoallowyoutodothisyourself.

Now, thatwaseasy,wasn’t it?Makesureyouread thischapteron two levels, though–both what I was telling you to do and what I did in it as you need to employ bothtechniquesaspartofyourbiggerpicturetosuccessfullyestablishafullyautomatedvirtualbusinesstogiveyouthetimetolivethelifeyouwantwhilefinancingitforyou.

CASESTUDY1Here’sanexampleofbothhoweasyit is togetthemtocometoyoubasedonyoudoingnothing(otherthanthecontentoftheotherchapters)sotheydiscoveryou,andalsohowtobuildthatrelationshipbeforetheeventsotheyloveyou.JustbeforeIevenstartedtowritethisbookaboutmymarketingphilosophiesbasedon10yearsofbusinessexperience,Iwascontactedbysomeoneaskingmetospeakabout ebooks. I took advantage of this opportunity for a range of reasons: firstly,becauseyouneversaynotoaspeakingengagement;secondly,becauseIdidn’thaveapresentationonthistopicsothiswouldgivemetheopportunitytowriteone;andthirdly,becauseIhadwrittenseveralpresentationsovertheyearsjustasIhadgivennumeroustalksbutwhileIwasquitehappytogivetalksonanongoingbasis(solongas theywereonmy terms–wewillcome to this inamoment), Iwasn’thappy towastemytimewritingnewpresentationssowantedtocreateonetemplatethatcouldbequicklyadjustedand thereforeused foranypresentationanyonewouldeveraskmetogiveinthefuture.SoletmeexplainwhatImeanbymyterms.Theconversationwentsomethinglikethis…Them:Canyouspeakatmynetworkinggrouponsuchandsuchadate?Me:Sure,but Idon’tactuallyappear inpersonanymoreasI runavirtualbusiness(cuttingmeoff)Them:Noworries,wewillbeamyouintoourliveeventoverwebinar…Me:AndIwillbehavingababythatweek(cuttingmeoff)Them:Yousoundalittlebusysowouldtwoorthreemonthslatersuityou?Inotherwords,yousayyesandgiveyourtermsinbite-sizechunkssotheycandigestandacceptasyougo.Remember,youdidn’tpitchyourselftothem,theyfoundyou,sothebargainingchipsareinyourcourt.Afewmonths later for reasonsbeyond theircontrol theywereforced tocancel theevent.Didthisupsetme?No.MostwouldseethisasalostopportunitybutIseeitasa new one. Rescheduling not only allowsmore time for the suspense to build upbeforetheeventbutitalsoallowsyoutofurtherdeveloptherelationship–theyknowyouareunderstanding, flexible, there tohelp themand theirnetwork,etc. sowhenyouactuallygivethetalkyouaremuchbetterreceivedwithmuchmoreofaravingtestimonial beforehand from a host who you have pre-built and strengthened arelationshipwith.TechnicallyIrescheduledthemthefirsttimeandtheyrescheduledmethesecondtimesothat’sonlyfairbutbasedonwhatboththeyandIget(theygetabetter-preparedpresentationasIhavethoughtabouthowtoadapttheslidestotheiraudiencelonger,justasIgetabetterreceptionwhenIappear),youshouldregularlyusereschedulingasamarketingtechnique–ha,ha,I’mkidding…oramI?

2.BlastOffWithSocialMediaSocialmediaisessentialforanyvirtualbusinesswhichshouldbeagivenconsideringwearetalkingabouttheonlinespaceandthereisnofasterwaytoinstantlygetamessageoutto your target market or have it syndicated and going viral worldwide. The basics,however, you need to know are this. Firstly you must be on YouTube for video,SoundCloudforaudio,PinterestforimagesandFacebook,Twitter,LinkedInandGoogle+fortext.TheotherthingyouneedtobeawareofistheregularityofpostswhichIamnotgoingtoputinprintheresimplybecausetherecommendationschangesoregularly,butifyou thinkofyourday in threechunks–morning8-12, afternoon12-4andevening4-8(statistics show late evening 8-12, night 12-4 and early morning 4-8 posts are lesseffective timeslots forbusinesses),youwant tobepostingonaverageonceper timeslotvaryingbetweenvideo,audio,imageryandtext.

Howorwhattopostistherealsecret.Firstly,thereasonwearetalkingaboutthisnowisbecauseitisthebesttechniquetobothkeeptheflowofspeakingengagementscomingaswellaskeepthesalesofyourbookgoing(yes,thoseofyouwhodon’tyethaveabook,wait forChapter7when Iwill tellyouwhyevery seriousbusinessownerneedsone toposition themselvesas theexpert in their fieldandalsohow togetone ifyoudon’tyethave one or don’t believe you are theworld’s bestwriter, etc.). Secondly, because it ismultiple touch points with your prospective target market, allowing you to build arelationshipwith them one sentence at a time, a technique I call socialmedia blastingneedstobeimplementedaswell.Let’stakealookattechniqueonefirst.

As I said, you need to promote where you are speaking after you get the speakingengagement.Notonlydoesthiskeepthehostoftheeventhappybutitalsoensuresyougetregularspeakingengagementsandregularsalesofyourbook(thenewandimprovedbusinesscard)which leads to regular,pre-qualifiedbusiness flowing intoyourbusiness,i.e.customersnotleads.Here’showitworks.Whenyouwriteapostlettingpeopleknowwhereyouarespeaking,yougetoneoffouroutcomesbutonlythreeofwhichyouwant.Firstly,youget someoneasking formoredetailsas theywish toattend theeventwhichincreasesthenumberofpeopleattendingontheday;secondly,yougetthosewantingtheinformationwhocan’tattendandyoucandirectthemtoyourwebsitetobuythebookyouwouldhavesoldtothemattheendofyourspeakingengagementwithoutneedingtohearyouspeak(we’llcometohowyourwebsitesellspassivelyonyourbehalfinChapter4);and thirdly,you’ll startgettingapproachedbypeoplewantingyou tospeakas theywillseeyouareaspeakerand thesubjectyouspeakon–subtleyetpowerfuladvertising tokeepthisprocessself-watering.

ThefourthandonlyundesirableoutcomeisthatyouwillgetnoresponsetoyourpostatallsoIguessthequestionyouareaskingmeiswhatyouneedtodotoensurethisdoesn’thappen,and theanswer isgiveacall toaction. Ifyouwantsomeone to takeactionyouneedtotellthemwhatactiontotake.Atraditionalcalltoactionmaybeanewspaperadwithaphonenumbertocallyouformoredetails.Ifyouaskme,thisisaterribleformofbothmarketingandcalltoactionasnotonlydoyouhavetopayforthenewspaperadbutyouneedtowasteyourtimephysicallytakingthephonecallorworsepaysomeoneelsetowho isn’t as equipped as you to turn that prospect into a sale – nothing virtual orautomatedaboutthat.Themodernequivalentintheonlinespaceisalinktoyourwebsite

which,whilemuchmoreeffectivebothfinanciallyandtimewise,costingyounothingandtakingupnoneofyour time to fulfil on, is alsonot agoodoption as statistics showa)people don’t like being sold to and b) as a result theywill seldom click a post whichcontainsahyperlink.SowhatdoImeanwhenIsayacalltoaction?Well,Imeandonotunderestimate the power of the question mark. That’s right; when you ask someone aquestiontheyfeelcompelledtoanswer.Therefore,Iwantyoutoletthemknowaboutyourspeakingengagementintheformofaquestion:

e.g.Lookingforwardtospeakingat…on…about….Whowillbejoiningme?/Wouldyou like to attend? orWhatwould you like to see covered?/Whatwould you suggest Iincludeinmypresentation?etc.

What you say really doesn’tmatter as youhave three times a dayon average to adjustwhatyouaresayingtotestandmeasurewhichquestionsworkbest,asnoteverypostyouwrite will get the perfect outcome first time around. All thatmatters is that you ask aquestionandthatyougetaresponse.Fromthatresponseyouneedtodotwothings(apartfromansweringit,thatis).

1.Youneedtoansweritwithanotherquestiontokeeptheconversationgoingand

2.Youneedtotagthepersonwhoanswered,notonlysotheygetnotifiedthatyouhaveansweredyourquestionbutalsotosyndicatethepost.

Whatdoesthismean?Thismeansthatnownotonlyareallyourfriendsseeingthepostbutsoareall theirfriendsasbytaggingthemit isappearingontheirwallandthemorepeoplewhoseeit,themorewhocomment,themorequestionsyouask,themorepeopleyoutag, themorepeoplewhoseeyourpost–yougettheidea.Bythetimeyouputthefinalcalltoaction(andtheremaybemultiplesmalleroneswithintheconversationstring)whetherthatbedetailsofhowtheycanbooktoattendtheeventoralinktowheretheycangotogetsimilarinformationinbookformat,yousuddenlyhaveamuchlargertargetmarketbothdoing these twothingsaswellaspotentiallyaskingyoutospeak,nowthattheyknowaboutyouasyouhavebeentalkingtotheirfriendsaboutwhatyouaredoing.ThisiswhatImeanbygoingviralandsharingapost,retweetingorpinningsomethingareverypowerfulwaystodothiswhichbothcostyounothinganduseupnoneofyourtime.

WhatIhavespokentoyousofaraboutishowsocialmediawasoriginallydesignedandthat is to be social, e.g. you could post a post like this just after you got the speakingengagement,whenyouarepreparingforit,onthewaytoit,afteryouhaveattendedit,etc.–anytimeitisrelevanttowhatyouarecurrentlydoingasthatissocial.Theotherhalfofsocialmedia,whatIrefertoasa‘blast-outcampaign’islesssubtlebutaquickandeasywayofreachingyourtargetmarketeffectively.WhileeverythingIhavementionedtodatecanbedonemanuallyyoumaywant toautomateitusingsoftwaresuchasHootsuitesoyoucanwriteyourthreepostsatthestartofthedayinsteadofhavingtostopwhatyouaredoingduring theday towrite them.While this is traditionallyoptional,withablast-outcampaign this iscompulsory.Runacampaignoveroneweekandyoucanprepareyour21+posts(somepeopleliketodotwotofourpersessioninsteadoftheusualonewhenrunningoneofthesecampaigns)inadvancesoallyouhavetodoismonitortheresponsetothemthroughouttheweek.Youcandothisbymanuallyopeningupeachsoftwareonyourcomputerandlookingfor thenumberappearinginthetoprighthandcorner totell

youhowmanynewcommentsyouhave,ormoreefficiently,tobefullyvirtual,downloadtheappstoyourphoneandthenyoucanseethemomenteachnumberappears.Peoplesaytheproblemwithagoodcampaignisthetimeittakestoanswer(eventhoughweareonlytalkingaboutwritingasentence)but,seriously,monitoredthiswayyoucanrespondwhilewaitingforyourflightat theairportorbreastfeedingababy(and,yes,Ihavedonebothandmadeinstantmoneyasresult).Allyouneedtodoiskeepthatconversationgoingtogettheresultsyouwant.Youwoulduseacampaignlikethistoannouncesomething,e.g.a new product/service which could be the first time you release your book, magazine,membershipprogram,etc.–wewilltalkmoreabouteachoftheseinlaterchapters.

Thinkofablast-outcampaignlikethestarttothefollowingconversation…

“Hey,didyouseethatprogramontellylastnight?”

“No,Idon’twatchTV;Idon’townaTV;Iwastoobusy;Idon’tlikethatgenre,”areallvalidanswersbut theyallalso result in theconversationcoming toasuddenhalt; sincethereisnothingtodiscussasonlyonepersonknowswhatistobetalkedabout.Theycanalwaysinformthemwhattheymissed(thiswouldbetheequivalenttoreferralmarketingwhensomeonetellsanotheraboutsomething theyhavepreviouslyenjoyed)but togetaconversationgoingtwopeopleneedtohaveexperiencedandthereforehaveanexperienceto talkabout/opinion to share.This iswhywe run theblast-outcampaignand it is alsowhywedon’tdothemcontinuously,onlywhenlaunchingsomethingnew,e.g.newbook,newwebsite,newmagazine.Continuouslyistoomuchandwilloverwhelmpeople,appearlikespamandnoonewillbeinterestedinwhatyouhavetosayanymore,butaweek-longcampaignwheresomethinghappenseveryhour,forexample,meansitishardforanyoneonyourlisttomissatleastoneofthe80-oddannouncements.Youdon’tcareiftheyaretheexpertinwhatyoudo,justthattheyhavesomeideaaboutwhat’sgoingona)whenitcomesupinconversationandb)sotheycanbeawareiftheyneedto(orwhomtheyneedtoletknowneedsto)startaconversationwithyou.

Aftereachblast-outcampaign (andyoudon’twantmore than three to fourayear) it isimportant to resume the usual three touch points approach the rest of the time in aconversational style as the posts are better received, i.e. get more likes/favourites, getmorecomments/repliesandaremorelikelytogoviral(e.g.youarelikelytogetabetterresponseonsocialmediafromapostabouthowwellyourblast-outcampaignwentthananyofthepostswithinit),butthatisbecausepeoplecanrelatetowhatisgoingonastheywere involved in thepreviousconversation.Blast-outcampaignsare to informyour listand three touch campaigns are tobothbuild a relationshipwithyour existing listwhilesimultaneously growing it, but neither are designed to collect the sale as a hard call toaction/hyperlinkonsocialmediadoesn’tconvertverywellanymore.Thisisjustonestepin the much bigger marketing picture that if correctly done allows those portholesdesignedtoautomaticallycollectthesaletodotheirjob.

Thequickestwaytogrowanylistwithoutpostinganythingistolike/favouriteotherssotheya)like/favouriteyoubackandb)thesocialnetworkssendyourecommendationsofwhoelsetheyrecommendyoulikesoyoucanlikemoreagaintokeeptheprocessgoing.Ifyouonlylikethoserelevanttoyourtargetmarket,guesswhatkindofpeoplewilllikeyouback?Thisishowtoexpressbuildaqualitydatabasespecificallybuiltforthetargetmarketofyourproduct/service.Don’tforgettosendawelcomemessagetoanyonewho

asksyoutoconnectonanyofthesenetworks,though,justasyouwouldwelcomeyourselftoanygroup.Itisimportanttoalwayssteertheconversationinonlinenetworkinginthedirectionyouwantittokeepgoingandthereisnobetterwaytodothisthanifyouaretheonewhostartstheballrolling.

Don’t forget, just likeYouTube,SoundCloudandPinterest are specificallydesigned forvideo,soundandimagery,thefourtext-basednetworkshavetheirownuniquemarketinganglestoo.Forexample,LinkedIngroupsallowyoutorunrotatingpinnedpostsatthetopofanygroupyouarerunning;FacebookallowsyoutouseGraphSearchtosendpersonalmessages to members of your target market you have never met before via anautomaticallybuiltpersonaliseddatabase;Twitterallowsyoutoreplytokeywordsearchestoanswertheneedsofthosereachingouttotryandfindsomeonelikeyou;andGoogle+allowsyoutousehangoutstorecordyourwebinarssoyoucangetmultipleplacesonpageoneofallGooglesearchesforthekeywordsrelevanttoyourproductand/orservice.Thesetechniques are therefore worth utilising too if you ever want to do any other optionalmarketingtoincreasetheflowoftrafficintoyourautomatedsalesfunnel.

Youcanalsoupdateyourbannerinthelastthreegroupsonyourpersonalpagestoincludeyournewbrandingwewilltalkaboutinthenextchapter,andthenjoinasmanygroupsaspossiblewelcomingyourselftoaninactivegrouporthankingsomeoneforwelcomingyouto an active one to build relationships and increase your subscribers/followers, etc.Remember,youdon’thavetoonlyuseyourthreetouchcampaignsonyourownpagesbutcanpost in relevantgroups (maybebasedondaily themessomehave) in theafternoon,e.g.eithersideofyourmorningpostabouttheday’splansandyoureveningpostabouttheeventsoftheday.Youjoingroupstobegiventheopportunitytocomment,commenttobegiventheopportunitytoeducateandeducatetobegiventheopportunitytodirecttraffic.Makesureyoutellpeoplebefore,duringandafteranygivendayaboutwhat’scurrentinyourfieldofexpertise,yourdayandyourworld.

UnfortunatelyIdon’thavetimetogiveyouexactscriptsofwhattosayinyourpostsorhow to automate your socialmedia campaigns but if you go to the followingwebpagebothareavailableforyoutodownloadinvideoandtemplateformat:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4b

CASESTUDY2Iwould like toonceagainusemyselfasacasestudyheresimplya)asapracticalapplicationforwhatyouneedtodo,whatkindofresultsyouarelookingforandhowquicklyyoucangetthemandb)becausethetechniquesIamteachingaresonewIwillbetheonlypersonwhohascompletedallofthempriortoreleasingthisbook.First thethreetouchpointcampaign.It is important tobelettingpeopleknowonaregular basiswhat you have been up to both before, during and after a significanteventaspeoplearemorelikelytocomment,share,tagandallowyourposttogoviraliftheyfeeltheyaresharingyoursuccesseswithyouthaniftheyfeeltheyarebeingsoldtobybeingplasteredwithvarioushyperlinksbasedonanygivenpromotionyouhave running at any given time.What oftenworks best, though, is if these eventsaren’tevenaboutyourself.Forexample,youcouldputupapostaboutyourcustomer’ssuccess:

Or share one of their posts about the success of something you have helped themwith:

Fortheblast-outcampaignthisisadirectsell;however,youmustn’tmakeitsoundlikethatifyouwantpeopletopayattention.Ifyouaresendingacampaignoutoveraone-weekperiod, sayeight timesaday for fivedaysyouneed to find40differentways of saying the same thing yet all making it seem like a conversation withwhomeveryouarehavingitwith.Thiscanbeadirectposttoyourownwalleitherbeforeorafterthecampaign(togetthemessageouttoyourowndatabase):

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Orwithinagroupyouareamemberof(toutilisesomeoneelse’s):

PRE-PREPAREDPOST:

RESPONSIVEPOST:

Asyoucanseesomeareinitiatedbyyouandsomebyothersbutallareasaresultofsomethingyouinitiated,e.g.providedaproductorservice/joinedagroup.Similarly,somearemanualandsomeareautomatedandithelpsforautomatedpostsifyouuseatoollikeHootsuitewhichallowsyoutoscheduleallyourpostssoyoucanensuretherearesubtledifferencesbetweeneachdependingonbothwhothetargetmarketisandwhethertheylikeasoftorhardsell.

Whenusingboththeseformatsofsocialmedia,though,makesureyouarereadyforthe results. Iputonepost suchas theabove inoneparticulargroup Iused tobeamemberofanditwentviralallright.Itwasgettingaresponseeveryfewminutesfornearly seven days straight, going all day long, starting at the wee hours of themorning and going well into the night. The posts were not positive as my initialcommentcausedsuchagreatdebateoveratopicinitthatwhatstartedasharmlessself-promotion, lettingmycolleaguesknowwhatwasgoingon,resultedinamajorbitchfestfromtheminoritybutstillopinionatedmembersofthegroup.TheysayalladvertisingisgoodadvertisingandpeoplewerecertainlytalkingaboutmesoIdon’tdisagree;allIamsayingisyoubettermakesureyouarereadyforwhattheyhavetosaybeforeyou take thismarketingapproach.Whileall thenegativecomments thatcamemywayasa resultof starting theconversation (that I refused to takepart inafterafewhoursduetoitsunconstructivenature)wereanythingbuttrueitdidnotstopthembeinghurtfuleverytimetheypoppedupinmysocialmediaalerts,asmycharacterwas defamed.Let’s just say I can understandwhy some celebrities can’ttakethelimelightandprematurelyendtheirlifeduetoallthepressure.Please find below some other examples to give you ideas of a) how to apply theaboveandb)thekindofoutcomesyouarelookingfor.NOTE: Inboth the followingexamplesand thepreviousexamplespayattention tobothwhatIhavesaidthetechniqueisforaswellasthedirectandindirectresultsofeach, i.e. people liking/favouriting, tagging you/commenting on and/orsharing/retweeting your post with others in a matter of seconds and/or buyingsomethingfromyouinamatterofminutes.

YOUSTARTTHEPOST:

THEYSTARTTHEPOSTTheinitialpost:

Theresultsof:

Whatcausedittobewritten:

Whattriggeredmyattentiontoit:

There are different kinds of shares on different platforms and they can be seendifferentlyonmobiledevicesastheywouldonacomputer.

Andhere’s an example of differentways you can utilise your daily postswithin agroupthathasthemesoftheday.

Sat–Hottip:

Sun–Spreadtheword:

Mon–I’mfamous:

Tues–Connect:

Wed–Showuswhatyou’vegot:

Thurs–Askforhelp:SimpleComment–

Howtomakeonebecomeanongoingconversation–

Fri–Profileboost:

P.S.Don’tforgetwhencheckingeverythingisprofessionallybrandedbeforeyoustartmarketingthiswaytoupdateyourFacebooktabs/appsfromwhateveryoupreviouslyhad(evenifthatwasnothingasuntilrightnowyouhadneverheardofaFacebooktab/app)tothesamecallstoactionasIwilltalkaboutinChapter3,i.e.oneforthebook/specialofferandoneforthemembershipprogram/two-weektrial.

3.SayGoodbyetoPrintedMarketingNowwecometoprintedmarketingmaterialandIhearyousaying,holdonatick,there’snothing virtual about that, that’s physical stuff, and you would be right. Once again,however, you need to understand the foundations to see the importance of the newdirectioninthisarea.Iusedtoteachathreefoldmarketingtechniquewhichallowedyoutonotonlyincreaseconversiononthedaybutspreadyourconversiontoafterthedayandto higher than 100%. This means if only 50% of people purchased on the day, forexample,andfromtheother50%(say10peopleifinfrontofacrowdof20)yougetsomesales from afterwards and some never purchase, the amount of people those whopurchasedontheday,thosewhopurchasedafterwardsandthosewhoneverpurchasedtalkto after the event results in a lotmore than 10 extra sales as a direct result of the onespeakingengagement.

Whatyouneededtomakethishappenwas:

a)apop-upbannertodisplaywhenyouarespeakingtoincreaseyourcredibilityandthereforesalesaspeoplecanbothseeyouaretheexpertwhilehearingyouareb)aflyermatchingthebrandingofthebannerbutwithanorderformonthebacktocollectthesaleafterwardsandc)astrategicmarketingtoolinthesizeofabusinesscardtocollectmoresalesaftertheday.

Thisworked inmuch the samemanner as the dual purpose socialmediamarketing foryourspeakingengagementexceptinaphysicalsenseinthatonesidepresentedyouasaspeaker,theotheryourentrypointproductforsale,e.g.abookprofilingyouastheexpertinyourfield.Whateversomeoneaskedyouforyoupresentedthemwiththeoppositeasasoftsellintoboth,e.g.iftheyaskformoreinformationonwheretheycanbuyyourbookyouhandthemthecardwiththesidepresentingyouasthespeakerandtellthemtoturnitoverformoredetailsonwhere togoasyouare indirectly letting themknowyouaren’tonlyanauthorbutyouarealsoavailabletobookforspeakingengagements.

Youstillneedallofthis;itjustcombinesinadifferentmannerinthefullyvirtualworld.Firstly, your banner – it moves to the side of all your PowerPoint slides for the samereason so they are visually seeing the professional face of youwhile you are speakingaboutwhateverisontheslides.Secondly,youstillneedanorderformbutthisisadigitalpagethatcantransacttheirsaleinoneclicktoPayPalthatyouhaveahyperlinktofromyourcalltoactionslides,andthirdly,yourbusinesscard–youstillleavethemwiththisafterwardstoconvertsalesafterthedaybuteventhoughyouhaveheardmerefertothebookasthenewandimprovedbusinesscard(whichitwellandtrulyis)inthisinstanceIamreferringtoanactualbusinesscardeventhoughthecontentonitwillbeverydifferent.

Ifthebooktrulyisthenewbusinesscarditineffectnegatestheneedfortheold;however,before we discard this old-school marketing technique let’s look at how it can bereinventedasaverypowerfulstrategicmarketingtool.Firstly,westartwithtwocallstoaction,theonlytwoyouwilleverneed.First,toyourbook:anofferof50%offgenerallysparkspeople’sinterest,andthentoyourmembershipprogramwithafreetwo-weektrial.Oneisonthefrontofthecardandtheotherontheback.Don’tworryaboutgivingyour

bookawayforhalfpriceasthisispurelyanotherleadgenerationtoolwhereyougetpaidtomarketyourbusinessinsteadofpayingtodoso,i.e.sayyousella$20bookfor$10anditcosts$5toprint;therefore,youareonlymaking$5sosomepeoplewouldsay,what’sthepoint.Isay,holdonatick,someoneispayingyou$5toreadmoreaboutyouandyourbusiness andqualify themselvesasyour ideal client, coming toyou ready topayyoualarger sumofmoney insteadofyouwasting timeandmoneywith traditionalmarketingtryingtofindthem.

Theflipsidemembershipprogramisalsoanobrainerasyouwerealreadysetuptogivethetwoweeksforfree;thisisjustawayoflettingpeopleknow.Nowallyouneedtodoisgetthisinformationinfrontofpeopleandthereareseveralwaystodothis(andfeelfreetoget as creative asyouwanthere), but theprimary two I recommend is firstlygivingthesedouble-sidedcouponsawayasapromotion inclusion ingoodybagsat liveevents(for example, daily requests for this in your target market can be found from SourceBottle) and secondly purchasing this as a coupon (e.g. paying $1 for 50% off throughsomethinglikeGroupon).Eithercanbedelivereddigitallysothereisnocostinvolvedandeverything is fully virtual but for those when they want a physical product (e.g. mostshowbagswouldpreferyousendthephysicalitemforthemtoincludethanadigitalonethey have to print) you can fulfil on this via drop shipping in that you only print thequantity required and send straight to the desired address so you never need to see orphysicallyhandleanyofthestock/printing.Atthiseconomicalsize100-odddollarsforafewhundredcardsisagoodvaluewayofbridgingthegapintothephysicalworldwhilestillhavingallyouroperationsinordertodothisfullyvirtually.

Yourmagazine(whichwewillcometoinfuturechapters)alsoallowsyoutodoasimilarthing directly and indirectly the whole way through as you have the same two call toactions.ThereasonIrecommendyoureplacethe‘bookyoutospeak’sideofthecardwithyour ‘membershipprogram’ is firstlybecause thesespeakingengagementswillpopulatethemselves as previouslymentioned but secondly because these involve using up yourtime(at least for the initial recording)whichyouactuallydon’twant todo toomuchaswhileyoucan speak in a fullyvirtualmanneryou can’t fully automate speakingwhichmeansyouarestillmanuallydoingthispartofyourbusiness.Really,youwanttogettothe stage where you are turning speaking engagements down as your sales funnel isrepopulating itselfwithoutyouneeding todoanything(which isanother reasonIdidn’tteach you how to get them two chapters ago). The second side of your businesscard/secondcalltoactioninyourmagazinepromotion(aswellasyourbookitself–whichworks as the new and improved business card in that as already mentioned you havedifferent calls to action, each chapter relevant to the topic being discussed as you havemore space to both build the relationship and convert to the sale than you do on a55x90mmbusinesscard)shouldthereforealwaysbeyourmembershipprogram(whichwewill talkmoreaboutinChapter5)whichoncesetup(beingpopulatedwithcontentyouwillhavealreadycreatedbeforelaunching)onlyusesupanhourofyourtimeonaweeklybasiswhereyouanswerpeople’squestionsonalivecall.Inotherwords,whetheryousellonemonthly,say,$50membershiporonemillion(youdothemathsonthedifferenceinincome)youstillonlyneed toworkonehouraweek tokeepup the lifestyleyouwant.This,inmyopinion,istheonlyspeakingyoushouldbedoingonanongoingbasis.Someofyoumay think$50 anhour for a regular speaking engagement isn’t badbut for $50

million(orplentyofniceintervalssomewhereinbetweenwhichiswheremostbusinessesfit),well,let’sjustsaythat’sawholelotbetter.

Insummary,gettheconnectionwhilepeoplearesmallandlookingfornewsponsorsandthenbuildtherelationshipsotheykeepcomingback,askingyoutoutilisethistechniquetime and time again. You could also consider offering sponsorship in other ways likegiving one free copy of your book away at other places people meet; the choice ofsponsorshipoptionsisonlylimitedbyyourimagination.Theeasiestwaytodothisisbylisting as a source on something like ‘SourceBottle’ but also consider approaching theorganisersofeventslistedonEventbriteorgroupslistedonMeetupanddon’tforgetwhenyouRSVPtoaneventorjoinagrouptointroduceyourselftothisnewdatabaseyounowhave access towith the same techniquesmentioned in the previous chapter so you canbeginbuildingrelationshipstoutiliseonanongoingbasiswithinthismarketingmethodaswell.

Formoreinformationonhowtousethesetechniquesyourselfgoto:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4ctodownloadatemplateorwatchstep-by-stepvideosthattalkyouthroughthisprocess.

CASESTUDY3Here’swhatyouneedtoknowaboutsponsorship.Lookoutforsomeonerequestingitwho shares your target market, offer it in a way they can’t say no to, provide itpromptlyandsupport theireventwhilebuildingarelationshipwith thehostsoyoucanbeinvitedtoutilisethissametechniqueagain.Therequest:

Theresponse:

Theirresponse:

Myresponse:

TheOutcome:

Remember when using referral marketing you want to receive recommendationsfrompeoplewhodothestepsbeforesomeoneneedsyourproduct/servicejustasyoumakerecommendations topeoplewhofulfil thestepsafter.Therefore,youwant torespond to sponsors in these before-steps just as you want to look for a financialincentive,e.g.affiliateprograms,tothoseyourecommendfortheafter-steps.

4.AutomateYourWebSalesNowcomestheexcitingbitwherewemovetotheonlinespace.Ifyouarewantingtosetup a virtual business ormove an existing bricks-and-mortar business from the physicalspacethenthisisobviouslyanessentialstep.It isalso, ifyouaskme,whereall thefunbitsareasthisiswhereyoubegintobuildyournewstore,sotospeak,withyourinbuiltandautomatedmarketing, salesand fulfilment teamwhich,allbeingdigital,meansyoudon’tneedtoemployanystaff(includingusingyourowntime)tomarketyourbusiness,collectthesaleandfulfilonit–prettyexcitingstuff!

Onceagain,let’slookatthefoundationstoexplainthemasterfuldesignofthisnewandinvaluable tool to both your business and your new lifestyle. I used to teachmy bookcustomersthatyouneeded10pagesonyourwebsite(withdifferentessentialcomponentsoneach)inordertosuccessfullymarketandsellaminimumofabookaday.Thesepagesincluded:

1.Homepage,2.Aboutthebook,3.Abouttheauthor,4.Blog,5.Specialoffer,6.Store,7.Contact,8.Media,9.Eventsand10.Testimonials.

The homepagewould have a video introducing you and your book alongwith sign-upsectionsforbothyournewsletter(whereyouwouldexchangesomethingofvaluefortheiremailaddress,e.g.asamplechapterofyourbook)andyouraffiliateprogram(whereyouwouldgiveawayasmallpercentageofasaleyouotherwisewouldn’thavehade.g.10%,to anyonewanting to promote your book on your behalf, in return forwhomever theyrecommendwhoconverts).Theaboutthebookpagewasmostlytheblurbofyourbook,the about the author mostly your bio, a blog – the regular updating content for SEOpurposes,aspecialoffer–aprofessionallywrittensaleslettertoconvertsomeonetoasalewithout needing to speak to you. The storewas how they transacted the order and thecontact page how they got access to you to ask any related questions. Themedia pagecontainedbothdownloadsfor themediatouseaswellasevidenceofyouinthemedia,the events calendar allowed people to seewhen andwhere youwere speaking and thetestimonialspageallowedyourprospectivecustomertoseeallthewonderfulthingsyourpreviouscustomersweresayingaboutyou.Youstillneed todoallof theabovebut thesameoldwaythateveryoneelseisdoingitnolongerworks.

Instead,thenewandimprovedstructureIrecommendisasfollows:

Home– Aboutthebook(renamedProducts/Services)– Abouttheauthor(renamedAboutUs)–

newslettersignupisnowmagazinead/link stillyourbiobutwithan

(whichcombinesyourblogandemailmarketingtogether)

salesletterbecomespageoneofyournewandimproved(salesletterlevelone)

inthemediasectionadded

affiliateprogramsignupisnowmembershipprogramad/link(whichincludesanaffiliateprogram)

asecondmenuitemonyourdropdownmenubecomespageoneofyourmembershipprogram(salesletterleveltwo)

contactdetailsarethesecondnextitemondropdownmenu

videoincludesahomebannerwhichisanimatedtotalkaboutyourtwocalltoactions

Your credibility statement (your image, brief summary of what you do andwhere youhavebeenfeatureddoingitinbothtextandimageformat)isnolongeryourheaderbuttheopening screen of your promotional video and the testimonials page is moved to yourfootersoitcanbeutilisedoneverypage(bothwithpre-enteredtestimonialsfromexistingcustomersandalivethreadwherepeoplecanleaveyouanewone).

Theothersevenpagesarenolongerneededastheyarebuiltintoorreplacedbythefiveaboveasyouareeitherintroducingorelaboratinginmoredetailonthewebsiteaboutyourproductsoryourself.Yourblogisbuiltintoyourmagazineasyourbiweeklyarticlesbuildthecontentforyourmonthlyeditionwhileyouronesalesletterisreplacedbytwo;oneasimple two-stepupsell foryourbookand theother a sophisticated two-weekmarketingcampaign for your membership program. You no longer need a store as the manualcheckoutprocesshasbeenreplacedwithasingleclicktoPayPalcheckout,meaningyoualsonolongerneedatraditionalmerchantoremerchantconnectedtoyourbankbutcanbeginsellingwithinsecondsofbuildinganygivenpageandsendingitlive.Yourcontact,mediaand testimonialsarebuilt into theabovestructureaspreviouslymentionedwhichonlyleavesyoureventspagewhichyoudon’twantanymoreasyoudon’twantpeopletoknowwhereorhowoftenyouareoraren’tspeakingsinceyouareeventuallygoingtofazethisaspectofyourbusinessout.

Thisstructureismuchsimplerandyetmuchmoreeffectiveaswhiletherearelesspagesand less happening, each tiny step is not one single step but a multi-level, in-depthmarketing, sales and fulfilment funnel turning your traditional sales funnel on its head.Actually,Ialsousedtoteachanewandimprovedsalesfunnelthatthrewtheteachingofgivingawayfreeproductsoutthewindow,whereyoustartedwitha$20book,movedtoa$50 seminar through to a few thousand dollars for a one-offworkshop and then a fewhundreddollarsanhourforregularweeklycoachingafterthat.Thisalsoturnsallofthisonitsheadjust likethespeakingladderdid,asall fourarecombinedintoone–abookthathasacalltoactiontocovervariousstepsultimatelyendinginamembershipprogramwhich has your seminars, workshops and coaching all built into it. Therefore, aspreviouslystated,onceallpre-recordedyouonlyneed toworkonehourperweekforafully automated business that has the potential to grow to an infinite amount of saleswithoutyouneedingtodoanymorework.Yourseminarbecomeshow-totrainingvideos,yourworkshopsdownloadable,do-it-yourselftemplatesandchecklistsandyourhigh-endcoachingoneweeklygrouprecordedcall.

CASESTUDY4ForthiscasestudyIwanttoshowyouwhyyouonlyneedfivepagesonthewebsiteaswellastheautomationofeachfromfirstpointofcontacttotheendofthefunnel.Assuch,IbuiltthewebsitebelowusingthetechniquesabovesoIcoulddemonstratethisforyoubysellingthebookyouarereadingrightnow.1.Template/Homepage(3-5secondintroductiontoyouandyourbusiness):

Video/textcontentofsecondanimationinbanner:

Video/textcontentofthirdanimationinbanner:

Tab2ofrotatingcontent:

Changingtestimonials:

2.Booksalesletter(salesletterversionone–videosalesletterwithintext-basedsalesletter):

Pop-upbeforesalesletter:

Checkoutaftertheyaredatabasedassomeoneinterestedinpurchasingyourbook:

3.Courses(salesletterversiontwo–twoweeks’salesprocessdatabasebuildingsignuppage)

NOTE:The next steps for this part of yourwebsite, form awhole newmarketingtechnique,sowillbetalkedaboutinthefollowingchapter.

4.AboutUs(credibilitybuildingpage):

5.ContactUs(communicationwithyoupage):

There is, of course, also a series of autoresponders that accompanies each buttonabovewhenclickedbutunfortunatelywedon’thavethetimeorspacetogothroughall thatdetail in thiscasestudy.Todownloada templatewith thisalldoneforyoualongwithvideosofhowtopopulateitwithyourcontentclickthefollowinglink:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4d

5.SalesLetterstothePowerofXNow that you have the perfectmarketing funnel designed you need to populate itwithboth the sales and fulfilment funnel so that everything is fully automated.We will becoveringthepassivepartofthesales/fulfilmentprocessinthischapterandtheactivepartinthenext(e.g.justlikeyouactuallyhavetospeakforaperiodinChapter1andrespondtocommentsinChapter2thisiswhatyouactuallyneedtodotoreleaseadigitalmagazineeach month). In other words, I am talking about the new and improved sales letter/affiliateprogramprocess.

TherearetwolevelstothenewandimprovedsalesprocessIbrieflyalludedtopreviously.Thefirst isadual-levelsales letterwhichincludesanupsellorsecondarysaleofhighervalueafter someonehasalreadyagreed topurchase/transacted the first.Thesecond isafully fledged two-weekmarketing campaign that takes someone from knowing nothingaboutyouandyourproducts/services to signingup,excited tobeginworkingwithyou.Wewilldiscuss in thischapterboththefirst, ideal tosellyourbook(aproduct)andthesecond,idealtosellyourmembershipprogram(aservice).

Thefirstlevelworksasfollows:

Step1–offerthemsomethingofvalueinexchangefortheiremailaddresstobuildyourdatabase–freesamplechapter

Step 2 – after registering they get an email with the download link but the page thatdisplaysisatext-basedsalesletterforthebook

Step3–afterpurchasingtheygetanemailwithdownloadlinkortosaythephysicalbookisbeingshippedbutthepagethatdisplaysisthesalesletterforthemembershipprogram

Step4–afterregisteringtheygointoanautomatedevergreenemailmarketingcampaignbutthepagethatdisplaysisavideo-basedsalesletterforthemembershipprogram

Nowlet’stalkaboutthesecondlevelasitisalittlemorecomplicatedandasyoucanseethefirstsellsdirectlyintoitaswell.Thisisatwo-weekprogramwhereyougiveawayanawful lot of value in week one for free and then give multiple purchase options allthroughoutweektwo.

Day1–freevideoonwhattheyneedtodo(theory)withasampledownload,ofwheretostart

Day3–freevideoofsuccessfulcasestudies(practical)withachecklistdownloadofallthestepstheyneedtotaketoachievethesame

Day5–freevideoansweringallofthemostFAQwithaninteractivecommentssectionbelowforthemtoaskquestionsforyoutoanswer

Day8–fullpricesaleopens

Day10–timepaymentoptionsavailable

Day12–salecloses

Youneed threewebpages, threevideos, twodownloadsandonecomments functionalityforweekone,andsixwebpagesandtwovideosforweektwo,alongwithadetailedemail

marketingcampaignforthewholeprocess.Youalsoneedtwosignuppageseachwithavideoonthem:onefortheprocessmentionedabove(asseeninthepreviouschapter)andthesecondforaffiliateswhowillhavetheirownseriesofautorespondersinstructingthemon how to promote each of the above days of the launch. Once both the automatedprogramandtheautomatedaffiliateprogramisallsetupyouonceagaindon’tneedtodoanythingtoeithermarketorsellonanongoingbasisotherthanyouronehour’sworthofworkpreviouslymentionedand,ofcourse,drivingtrafficwhichiswhatwewilltalkaboutinthenextchapter.

CASESTUDY5SimilartothepreviouscasestudywhereIleftyouwiththesignupvideotobuildthedatabase ready to launch your membership program/run it evergreen, please findbelow screenshots of every phase of successfully launching your membershipprogramsoyouensurenostepismissedwhenyoudosoyourself.Video1–deliveredinstantly:

Video2–delivereddaythree:

Video3–delivereddayfive:

Salespageone–delivereddayeight:

Salespagetwo–delivereddayeight:

Salespagethree–delivereddayeight:

And,ofcourse,youneedthreeautoresponderseries:1.Forthosewhosubscribetoreceivefreepreview:

2.Forthosewhochoosetopurchasetheprogram:

3.Forthosewhochoosetoonselltheprogramforyou:

Unfortunately,onceagain,Idon’thavespaceinthisbooktoputtheexactwordingIrecommend you use in each of these templates but youwill findmore videos andtemplatesonexactlywhattodoineachofthesesteps/daysmentionedaboveonthefollowingpage:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4e

6.PublishingWithaCapital‘D’Lastly, before wemove onto the book itself which starts the whole automated processrunningforyourvirtualbusiness,let’stalkaboutthemagazinethatreplacesbothyourbi-weeklybloggingandbi-monthlynewsletterwhichIhavetoldyoumustbereleasedeachmonth.Itdoesn’tneedtobecomplicated;infact,thesimplerthebetter.Itjustneedstobereleasedonaregularbasis.Italsodoesn’tneedtobeexpensive–a99cpublicationwilldo;itjustneedstobepaidfororthismarketingtechniquewon’twork.

What is the marketing technique? Well, simply put, it involves being paid to build adatabase instead of paying to purchase one and this is achieved through Apple’sNewsstand.Therearemanydifferentwaystopublishadigitalmagazineastherearemanydifferentchannelstopublishthemon,asthisformofpublishingisnotanewtechnique.What isnewisusing it tomonetiseadatabaseandbetteryet todoso fromscratchandbuild the database while making the money, which is why I don’t recommend everpublishinganythinginanyformatotherthanonApple’sNewsstandasotherwiseyouarejust creating work for yourself rather than utilising technologies that already exist tocontinuetomonetiseyourfullyvirtualandfullyautomatedbusiness.

Itgetsbetter:ifyourmagazineisonlypublishedonApple’sNewsstand,asIamabouttoinstruct you to do, then it is one click to subscribe and their money is not onlyautomatically inyourbankaccountbut theiremailaddress isalsoautomatically inyourdatabase. To top that off, a magazine is subscription based, meaning next month theyautomaticallypayyouagainwithoutneedingtoclickanybutton.Asifthisisn’tenough,unlikeaRSSfeedtoablogtheyneedtoopenabrowsertobealertedaboutoranemailnewsletter theyneed togetoutof their junkmail folder inorder to read,all subscribersautomaticallygetapushnotification (theequivalentofanSMS)sent to theirphone thesecondeacheditionispublishedtoletthemknowitistimetoreadthismonth’sedition.

BynowIamsureyouaresaying,“Thatallsoundsgreat,buthowdoIknowwhattoputinthismagazine?Andhowmuchisthisgoingtocostmetogetsomeonetoprogram?”Well,thegoodnews is, it doesn’tneed to costyouanythingas there isnow technologybuiltsuchasPressPadthatallowsyoutobuildboththeapptogoonthenewsstandaswellaseacheditionwithinityourself.Inanswertoyourfirstquestion,though,startsmall,astheonlythreethingsthatmatterarea)thatyoureleasemonthly,b)thatyouchargesomethingforeachedition(i.e.thismarketingtechniquedoesn’tworkifthemagazineisgivenawayforfree)andc)thatitincludesbothsubtlyandmoredirectlyoneverypageacalltoactionto one of the two things previously discussed: either a) the bookor b) themembershipprogram.

Isuggestyoubeginwitha10-pageedition.Atitlepage listing twoarticlesand twoadseachwithacalltoactiontooneofthetwosamethings,yourbookoryourmembershipprogram,andyouhaveacombinedadonthebackcoverforthesesametwothings.Thiswillthenprettymuchfillupthecontentinsideaswellifyouhavepagetwoasatableofcontentsandpagethreeasavideo.Thiscouldbeasummaryofonechapterofyourbook,meaningonebookcouldprovideyouonaverageoneyear’sworthofcontentoranyvideofromyourmembershipprogramwhichcouldprovideyouwithawholelotmorecontent.Afteryour first lotofcontent,a two-pagearticle followedbyasinglepageadand then

yoursecondtwo-pagearticlewithasinglepageadthereafter.Thatis10pages,sofor99cit’seasilyworth10capageandthenitissomethingeasyforyoutopopulateeachmonthasallyouneedtoupdateisonevideoandtwoarticles,whichisactuallylessworkthanwritingeightblogpostsandsendingtwonewsletters,andnowyouaregettingpaidtogetbetter results. If you are smart you can even take twoparagraphs fromyour book eachmonthandelaborateonthecontenttocreatethearticlesandthenyoudon’tneedtothinkaboutorcreateanythingnew,justrecycleexistingcontentininnovativemannerstoensureyou effectively monetise everything you have, i.e. produce once but sell an infinitenumberoftimes.

CASESTUDY6ThisisthecasestudyIfoundhardesttowriteaseachtimeIwenttousemyselfasthebeta customer to demonstrate this technique something changed as this industry ischangingsoquickly.Firstly, I had no one understanding what I was asking them to do, which seemsstrangeasthemarketingtechnique,whileverynew,hadalreadybeendonebysomepeoplewhichiswhyIobserveditinmyresearchandbeganteachingit.Secondly, I found people chargingme thousands of dollars to build a platform foryou,mycustomers,touseasapparentlytherewasnowayofdoingthisusingexistingplatforms,but ineachcase I found thepeoplequotingme,while theycamehighlyrecommended,hadneveractuallyusedtheexactmarketingtechniqueIwasteachingandthereforeIwouldbethefirsttechnologyofthiskindeachrespectiveprogrammerwouldbebuilding–scary.Thirdly,ItooksometimeoffthistaskasIfiguredtheremustbeaneasierwayandafter asking theonlyAustralianbusiness I could see currentlyusing this techniquewhotheyused,andtheyconfirmedmysuspicionbasedonmyownresearchoverthistime,Iconfirmedtheeasiest,mostefficient,mosteconomicalandmosteffectivewayofdoingthisforyousoIknewwhichproviderIwouldrecommend.Fourthly,Iwenttousethemtodothebetatestinordertowritethiscasestudy,onlytofindtheirpriceshadgonesohightheywerenowjustasexpensiveasbuildingyourowncustomisedsolutionfromscratch.SoIpausedandthoughta)howamIgoingtoreleasethisbookifIcan’tcompleteoneofthecasestudies?andb)ifIcan’tfindawaylessthan$5000tousethistechnique,whythehellamIrecommendingittoyou?Thus, I went back to the drawing board and tested many solutions (which afterwaitingafewmonthshadsuddenlypoppedupovernightastherewasnowademandforthisservice):somebadastheydidn’tletyoutrialthembeforebuying;somebadas theircustomerservicewasappalling;somebadas their softwaremalfunctioned;somebadastheypromisedyouonethingandthencouldn’tfulfilonit;andonegoodasitwasnoneoftheabove.Onethatchargedyoumonthlyinsteadofyearly/onceoff.Onethatyoucouldbuyonlywhatyouneededandnotthingsyoudidnot,e.g.onlypublishtoApplestoreasthesemarketingtechniquesdon’tyetworkonotherdevices,don’tforceyoutohaveaplugintosoftwareyoumayneveruse,etc.,andthatistheoneandonlyproviderIwilleverberecommending.Clickonthefollowinglinktodownloadatemplatetogetyourmagazineunderway,aswellasvideosshowingyouhowtopopulateeachedition,whilequicklyandeasilylistingitforsaleviathisamazingplatform:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4f

Insummary,however,youwillneedthefollowing:Pushnotificationswheneacheditionisreleasedand/oryouhaven’treadanyeditionforawhile:

An app on newsstand containingmultiple editions of yourmagazine to choose tobuy/subscribeto:

7.ThePODEvolutionNowwe reach the chapter on the foundations of where this all came from as I beganteachingthesetechniques tomarket theprintedbookbeforeIrealisedthebiggerpictureclearlypaintedforyouinthisnewbook.Asalreadymentioned,thebookisthenewandimprovedbusinesscardandifyouhavebeenwatchingwhatIhavedonetillthispointinthebookaswellaslisteningtowhatIhavebeenteaching,youwillseehowpowerfulthistechnique is. Not only does it allow you to cover multiple topics and have multiplerelevantandcorrespondingcalls toaction(i.e.differentonesperchapter)butgivenyouhavea lotmorespace thana tinybusinesscardyou’renotonlyable toprovide these todifferingtargetmarkets(asonegroupofpeoplewillbemoreinterestedinacertainareathenothers)butyou’realsoabletoconverteachtargetmarketbeforethesale.Thisshowsthem how important each and every call to action is to their business by explaining tothemexactlywhattheyneedtodotoachievetheresultstheywantinsimplestep-by-stepexplanations that summarise the trainingvideosandassociated templates/checklists theyneed to watch/download to do the practical component of the theory you have justdeliveredtothem.Talkaboutpre-qualifyingyourtargetmarket–thereneverhasbeennorneverwillbeabetterwaytodothis.

Just like themagazine, though, there is amagic formulaofwhat needs to go intoyourbook to achieve this outcome (other than just the calls to actions at the end of eachchapter)andthatisasfollows:

FrontMatter-blurb/testimonials,publisher’simprint/TOC

Content-chapters

BackMatter-appendices/resources,abouttheauthor/furtherpromotions(courses)

Forwhatneedstogoineachchapter(thebulkofthebook)checkoutthefollowingpage:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4gfor videos detailing how to create your content from literally nothing for a book youmomentsagodidn’teventhinkofwritingthroughtohavingprintedcopiesinyourhand.

The key things you need to remember are just like there is a tool to publish digitalmagazines there isalsoa tool topublish theprintedbookviaprintondemandanddropshippingmethods,soyouneverneeddoanythingotherthancopyandpastethenameandaddress fromadigitalwebsale intoyour ordering system toprocess (print and ship) anorder.Thissametool,forexample,IngramSpark,canalsobeusedtoquicklyandeasilyget both your digital and physical book into all digital and physical stores worldwidewhich gets your bookstore distribution (and therefore global coverage) underway, butnote,thisdoesnotmeanyourbookwillsell.Toensurethishappensyouneedtopaycloseattentiontothenexttwochaptersasthesearetheonlytwotechniquesthatcurrentlyworktomarketabookoncedistributed–onebeingdesignedtogetbooks intostoresandtheothertogetpeopleintostorestobuythem.

CASESTUDY7WhatisPOD?Howlonghasitbeenaround?ShouldIorshouldn’tIbeusingitandwhy?Thesearequestions Ihavebeengetting for the last10years.The immediateanswers arePrint onDemandhasbeen around for longer thanyouwould think. Itbecamecommonplace10yearsagobut thequalitywasappalling;as that improvedthepricewasstilltooexpensivefiveyearsago,butnowanotherfiveyearslaterbothof these thingsareno longeran issue.Therefore, theanswer isyes,you shouldbeusingitasitisnowcheapertoproduceonebookatatimelocallythanitistomassproducebulkordersoffshore,andawholelotquicker/moreeconomicalpostagewiseaswell.ThisiswhatIshouldbesayingtoyouandthisiswhatIusedtosaybutthiswouldnotbe a case study if I just repeated the content of this chapter.No, this is a casestudy aboutwhere the facts above start falling apart, one to give you an unbiasedoverviewofbothsidesoftheindustrysoyoucanmakeaninformeddecisionaboutwhatyouchoosetodo.Case1–Aclientofminehaddifficultyorderingbooksforabooklaunchofhers.ItwasinthebiggestbookstoreofAustraliaandherbookswerebeingdistributedviaaprint on demand porthole for self-publishers by one of the largest traditional bookdistributors worldwide.Why could a store that you would think had a history oforderingbooksnotknowhow toorder andwhywouldadistributor thatyou thinkwouldhaveanextensiveknowledgeofhowtosupplybookshavetroublesupplyingstock?Theanswer:PODcausedanissue.Case2–AcolleagueofminewhoIstronglyendorseandwhostronglyendorsesmeagreed to disagree with me as even though we both have a very high level ofeducationandserviceroundtheself-publishingspacewecouldnotseeeyetoeyeona few issues. Why was this? Why could we both think each other was worthrecommendingandreferringourrespectivecustomerstoandyettherewasoneissuewedancedaroundaswecouldnotseeeyetoeyeonit?Theanswer:PODcausedthisissue.Case3–AsupplierofminemisledmycustomerstosuchanextentthatIthoughtitneededtobebroughttotheattentionoftheirUSheadofficeonlytoendupburningbridgeswith this supplier as they took the ‘how dare you question our operationswithourparentcompanyinanothercountry’approachwhereasItooktheethical‘butwhatyouaredoing/instructingmycustomerstodoisillegal’approach.Whatcausedthispartnershiptofallapart?Whydidbothofuslosefaithintheother?Theanswer:PODcausedanissue.Here’swhatIwantyoutounderstand.Thereisnoissuesettingupyourbooksprintondemand–infact,Iencourageyoutodosoforreasonspreviouslymentioned–butknowthatjustbecauseyoucanprintyourbookinaslowquantitiesasoneatatimeandsupplyittoanycountryoftheworldinanyonlineorinanyphysicalstoredoesnotmeanyouneed to.Lookatyourneeds. Ifyouneed to sell yourbook in everystoreworldwidethismaybethewaytogobutifyoujustneedtoprintyourbookinsmalldigitalprintrunstokeeptheproductioncostsdownorsupplyonlythestores

you plan to do events in to keep this credibility marketing technique alivesimultaneouslywithkeepingyourprofitmarginshigh,thenyoumaywishtoconsiderotheroptions, e.g. ahigherquality localprinter thanPODspecsand supplying thestocktothestoresyourselfonconsignmentsoyoudon’tneedtogivetheprofitsofyour bookstore distribution sales away and can resell the remaining stock to fulfilonline/self-distributionorders.Remember,there’snopointbeinginastorewhereyoucan’t promote your book just like there is no point producing books that cost toomuch to freight to their place of sale tomake the transaction viable. Listing yourbook onAmazon, the biggestworldwide online store for both digital and physicalbooks,bothasanebookviatheKindlestoreandasaprintedbookviaCreateSpacemaybeallyouneed.

8.SecretsBehindDigitalEventsThis iswhere you start to think about how to get people into stores. Traditionally, thiswould involve running either a book launch, a book signing, author’s talk or authorinterviewinaphysicalbookstoreonamonthlybasis.Theideabehindthisbeingthatthestores order stock to sell at the event (as you can’t ensure just because your book isavailableforanystoretostockdoesn’tmeantheywillactuallyorderany).Nothingaboutthisisvirtual,however,sowewillobviouslynotbetalkingaboutthatinthischapter.

Whatwewillagainbetalkingabout ishowtocombineallfourof thesethingstogetherintothebestonlineeventspossible–inotherwords,adifferentlauncheachmonthwhichincludes you talking, you being interviewed and signed copies of books whereverapplicable.Howyouactuallyfulfilonthis iswhereyouget tobecreative,asthis isnotoneofthosethingsthatcanbetemplatedassuchbecausepeopledon’twanttoattendthesamethingmultipletimesbutliketoseevariety.

OneexamplemightbeaFacebookchapterlaunchwhereyoufocusonadifferentchaptereachmonth(orabigbangforthefirstlaunchwhereyoufocusonadifferentchapterperhourwhenlaunchingthewholebook).Eitherofthesewouldobviouslyincludeyoubeingthere live for the time the event is running to both talk about the book in the intro, beinterviewedbythoseattendingastheyaskandyouanswerquestionsonthesubjectmatterandthengivingawayacomplimentarysignedcopyofyourbookattheendofthehourtothepersonwhoasked thebestquestion.This isnotonlyagreat sell in techniquewhenyourcalltoactionwouldonceagainbethesametwothings(eitheradirectlinktobuythebook now or details about the free trial of your membership program where they canexperienceweeklyhourslikethiswithyouonaregularbasis),butonceagainitisafullyvirtualspeakingengagementinthatyoudon’tneedtophysicallybeseen(orevenheard)duringthistimeasthisisatyped-onlylaunchbutinliverealtime.

Alternatively, youmaywant to run the ever-popular (though inmy opinion overrated)Amazoncampaigntogetyourbestsellerstatus.Inshortformyouhavemarketingreadytogooutonsocialmediaandtoyourdatabaseovera24-hourperiodtoencourageaspikein sales all ononegivendayalongwith24-48people (dependingwhetheryouwant toupdateonanhourlyorhalf-hourlybasis) linedupround theclock topurchaseand thenwriteareviewtoboostyourratinginallofthethreecategoriesyoulistedyourbookin.Ifyou are implementing this techniquemake sure you have given them a complimentarycopyofyourebookbeforehandsotheyhavereadyourbooktoensurethequalityoftherecommendationandasa thankyou forpurchasing thebookat the timeyou request aspartofyourcampaignmakesureyougetthemtoleavetheirname,qualificationandwebaddress at the bottom as reciprocal marketing for them and their business. Also don’tforget (even though I have just revealed a technique in one paragraph that others willchargeyou$5000+toteachyouhowtodo,thuswhyIdon’tthinktheAmazonbestsellerstatusisworththepaperitisprintedon,sotospeak,asIhavejustshownyouhoweasyitis toget) to take a screenshot of your successbecause if you canbenumberone in allthreecategoriesifonlyforminutesandyoucapturethatstatusyoucanuseitinallfuturemarketing.

Forvideosonhowtodojustthis,alongwithwhatnottoforgetwhencomingupwithyour

owncreativeideas,clickonthefollowinglink:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4h

CASESTUDY8Okay,sothisistheexampleyouhaveallbeenwaitingforasIknowyouallwanttoknow – how you can become an Amazon bestseller. Well, that’s easy, pay manypeoplewhoofferthisservice$5000-odddollarsandtheywilldothisforyou.Okay,seriously,howtodoitfornothinginnexttonotime(withoutgivingyourbookawayforfree–becauseifyouhaven’tsoldanycopiesyouarenotreallyabest-seller,areyou?)orhowIdidthisforoneofmycustomersrecentlyoveroneweekend.

Simplyput,therearetwothingsyouneedtodotobecomeanAmazonbestsellerinanyofthethreecategoriesAmazonallowsyoutolistyourtitlein.Dobothofthesethingsandinquicksuccession,andthisisactuallyquiteeasytoachievebutlet’snotstop there (as ifyouareonpageone inanycategoryatanygiven timeyouareanAmazonbestsellersotakeascreenshotofthatandyoucanclaimthatstatusforlife).Let’suse these twothingsas thecustomerabovedid tobecomeanumberonebestsellerinallthreecategories.The first thing is, what are these categories? You want to pick the most relevantcategoriesasyoucan foryourbookas themoreniched thecategories, i.e. the lessbooksinthem,theeasieritistocompete.ToseeacompletelistofBISACcategoriesto choose from, clickon the following link:https://www.bisg.org/complete-bisac-subject-headings-2013-editionoralternativelyyoucanclick ‘FindSubject’on thedescriptionpageofyourbooklistingintheIngramSparkbackendandtypeinyourkeywordstoselectthemostrelevantcategories.Remember,subcategoriesarebetterthan main categories and the more levels you can go down, e.g. sub-sub-subcategories,thebetter.That’srulenumberone.Rulenumbertwoisyouwantyourresults togoviral;youwant tobekeepingpeopleup todatewithyour successonsocialmedia.Sowhatdidwedointhiscase?1.Wesearched‘Autism’asthatwastheprimarykeywordandselectedthefollowingcategories:autismpathology(asthiswasthesubjectmatter),parentingchildrenwithdisabilities(asthetargetmarketwasyounggirls)andwomen’shealth(asthetargetmarketwasfemale)2. We let people know about the results as they happened to ensure they kepthappening(andyes,youcandothismorethanonce),e.g.

Thefirsttimeshecommentedonherhighrating:

Theresults:

Thesecondtimeshecommentedonherhighrating:

Thesameresultsagain:

Now,thiswaseasybecausewepickedtherightcategoriesbutifyouhaveaharderniche toboost your campaignwhatyouneed todo is havepeople linedupon thehour/half hour to buy and instantly review (make sure they have been given acomplimentarycopybefore then to readso theycanwritea ravingreview) togiveyourcampaignakickstartbeforeapplyingtheabovetechniques.Remembertoalsocheckinonhowyouaregoingatthesameintervals,notonlysoyoucankeepyoursocialcommentsuptodateasyourstatusisontherisebutsoyoudon’tmissthoseever-previousscreenshots.You can go even further, though, to become a gold-sealed best seller in all threecategories.Howdoyouachievethis?Well,thesameway.Usesocialmediatomovefrom number one in one category to all three and then repeat the process so youbecomenumberoneineachenoughtimestogetthegoldseal.Afteryoudothis,yourbookispromotedbyAmazononotherpeople’spages,notjustyourown,asacrosssell to the product they recommend, e.g. ‘Others who purchased such and such aproductalsobought…’P.S.Don’tforgettopinyourpoststogetthebestexposurejustasTaniadid.

9.MediaMadnessLastly themedia– theonly technique that traditionallyworked togetpeople intostores(regardlessofhowmanyeventsyoudidorhowgood theeventswere) tobuy thestockthatwasorderedbeforeitwasreturnedsoyourbook’sshelflifedidn’tcometoanend(asyourreturnsexceededyoursales).Thisishowbookstoredistributionusedtowork;sadly,thewholereasonyourpublisher’snamewaswritteninthepublisher’simprintissopeopleknewwheretoreturnyourbookswhentheydidn’tsell.That’sright;thewholefoundationofyourbookitselfinitsopeningpagesandthisdistributionmethodwasbuiltbasedontheassumptionthatyouwouldfailbeforeyoustarted;prettysad,hey?

Anyway,aside fromthat, thewholeandonly reason this techniquewas implementedasfarasstoreswereconcernedwastosendthetraffic(inthiscasepeople)tothem.Whetherit be aphysical or adigital store, if people aren’t going in andpurchasingon a regularbasis,yourdistributionchannelobviouslyisn’tworking,andthiswastheonlymarketingtechniqueyoucouldimplementtoensurethishappened.Theaddedbonus,however,fromallthecredibilityfromthemediawastheindirectsalesyouwouldgetonyourwebstore(whereyoukeepall theprofits fromthesale insteadofasmall royalty foryourefforts)whichisthewholereasonyouwouldusebookstoredistributionasamarketingmethodinthefirstplaceascredibilitydrivessalesjustassalesdrivecredibility;inotherwords,justlikenoonewantstobuyyourbookuntiltheyknowwhoyouare,theyonlywanttoknowwhoyouarewhileyourbookisdoingwellandmediaworthy.

Toadegreethishasn’tchangedbutwhathaschangedistheamountofworkyouneedtodo.Iusedtoteachaprocessofsendingoutregularpressreleasesandfollowingthemup:how to get regular media exposure with your customised media list by buildingrelationshipswith therelevantpeople.While these techniquesstillwork, inmyopinion,firstly, there is toomuchwork involved and secondly, just like speaking Iwant you toemploythesametechnique–stopreachingouttothem(asthismakesyouseemdesperate,notliketheexpertinyourfield)butwaitforthemtocometoyou.Thiswon’tonlysaveyoutimebutitallowsforyourvirtualbusinesstoonceagainbeall themoreautomatedanditalsoallows,moreoftenthannot,theinterview(whetherlivebroadcastorinorderfor the newspaper/magazine article to be written) to be undertaken in a fullydigital/virtual/onlineformat.

Soyouareprobablythinking,well,that’snice,Kylee,buthowdoIactuallyachievethis?Thesimpleanswerisasfollows.Waittillthemediaiscallingoutforwhattheywantandprovidethemwithit.That’sright;insteadofyousendingtheminformationonastorytheymay not want to do, they may not have time to read it or something else was morenewsworthy, you find out aheadof timewhatwill be in themedia nextweek andwhoneedsmorecontent for theirpublicationand/orbroadcastandmeet theirneed.Thebestthing about this method is instead of writing a full page press release, a few linesansweringtheirimmediaterequestmaybeallyouneedtogetthecoverage.

Howdoyoudothis?Theanswer issimple:SourceBottle,asIalreadymentionedinanearlierchapter,whenyouwanttoknowwhoislookingforpromotionalgiveaways.Thisisanothergreattooltomeettheneedsyouhavewhichisalreadyestablishedandworkingforyou,andbetteryet,itisfree.Subscribetodayandselectthecategoriesrelevanttoyouand

yourbusinessandthenchecktheemailnotificationsinyourinboxeachdayrespondingtoany that are relevant. Think of it like your quick social media checks to keep theconversation going.You alwayswant to keep a conversation goingwith themedia notonlytokeepyourbookselling(whichasIamsureyouhaveclearlyseensofarkeepsthiswholeprocessself-fulfillingforyou)but tokeepyourstatusas theexpert inyour field,eventhoughonaday-to-daybasisifyoufollowedandcorrectlyimplementedallthestepsinthisbookyounolongerworkinit.

Also, don’t forget the other thing youwill be notified of via thismethod is live eventslookingforpromotionalgiveawayseitherasluckydoorprizesorgoodybagfillers.Don’tforgetyoucanalwaysgiveacopyofyourbookoraccess toyourmembershipprogramawayinreturnforfreepromotionofyouandyourbusinesstoallattendeesalongwithacoupon asmentioned inChapter 3 to get your book for 50%off or a free trial of yourmembershipprogramintheirshowbags.Onceagain,findoutwhatpeoplearelookingforon a daily basis and meet their needs – after all, that is the true secret to successfulmarketing.

To download videos on how to do just this to ensure no steps aremissed, click on thefollowinglink:

www.virtualmarketing.biz/books4i

CASESTUDY9There are two examples I would like to talk about in this section, both of whichpersonallyhappenedtomeintheprocessofbothwritingthisbookandusingmyselfasthebetatestcustomeronalltechniquesinittoprovetheyworkedbeforereleasing.Thefirst isenforcingmy‘don’tchase themtheywillcome toyou’philosophyandthesecondis toshowyouhowtoget themtofindyouif this ishappeningquicklyenoughwithoutneedingtofollowthetraditionalpressreleasestructuretogetmediaattention.Inexampleone, I actuallygotmediaattentionwhilewriting thisbookprovingmyself-fulfillingmarketingphilosophynotonlybeforeIreleaseditbutbeforeIactivelyset about putting my teaching into practice as my own beta customer (as allmarketingisabouttestingandmeasuringandyoumustalwaystesteverythingyoudoonaregularbasistoensureitisstillworkingforyou).Itwasactuallyonlymomentsafter Icompleted the firstdraftof thischapter that IgotaFacebookmessage (yes,thisisthewholereasonyouwantagoodsocialmediapresencesopeoplecanbuildarelationship with you and see what you are capable of doing for them withoutneedingtoa)firstspeaktoyouorb)haveyousellyourselftothem)requestingtobeinterviewedbyaUSmagazinewhosetargetmarketwasbillionaires(notmillionairesas Iwasused toworkingwith andmaking)with thepotential offer (dependingonhowgoodthestorywas)ofmakingmecovergirl.Ihavehadlotsofmediaattentionin the past in the traditionalmethod, i.e. youwrite a press release, you send it torelevantmediacontactsbasedona targetedmedia listyouhavebuiltand thenyoufollowupthatlistreligiouslyoverthenextfewdaystogetashighaconversionrateaspossible.ThisapproachhasledmetogetalotofradioattentionineverystateofAustralia,a15-minuteprimetimelive-to-airTVappearanceaswellasbothlocalandvarious states newspaper coverage, but I had never to this point in time foundmagazines were interested in what I had to say (other than an online or digitalmagazinefromtimetotime).Whilethiscoverageatthetimeofprintinghasnotbeenreleasedyet (else Iwould include avisual sample in this case study) I found it soencouragingtoseewhatIwasteachinginstantlycometolifethatIdecidedtoupdatemyteachingwhichyouhavebenefitedfrombyreadingthisbookasoriginallythesetechniquesweredesigned tomakeyoua seven-figure incomewithout really tryingbutIimprovedonthemsothatpeoplewhowantedtotryhardwouldbeabletoworktowards that billion mark. At the time of printing, this result has also yet to beachievedbutIamcurrentlypersonallyworkingwithseveralpeoplewellonthewaytoachievingthis.Soforthesecondhalfofthiscasestudy,let’slookatwaystospeedupthisprocessofthemapproachingyou.Thebestwaytodothisistolookforsomeonealreadyaskingforwhat youhave to offerwhich as previouslymentioned in this chapter is reallyeasytodowithSourceBottle.IwasalreadyasubscribersoIwaiteduntilthedaymywebsitewentlive(chapters4and5)soIwouldhaveawayofcollectingmoneyfromtheresultsofthecoveragebeforetestingtheprocessonmyself.

ThatmorningIreceivedthefollowingemail:

You can see the post circled that I responded to and as this is a case study Iwillrevealeverythingtoyou…

ThisishowIansweredthepost:

Thiswastheresponse:

Itreallyisthisfastandeasyonceyouknowwhatyouaredoingandifyouhavereadthisbookcover tocover thenyoudo,sohavefun,playwith the techniquesIhavesharedwithyouandIwishyoueverymarketingsuccess.

ConclusionBynow if you still don’t think this is the best book you have ever read (after reading,digesting and applying the content of all nine chapters) Iwill blow you awaywith thebonusesincludedinthisconclusion.

Therearethreestepstobusiness:learn,createandmarket;inotherwords,research,spendmoneyandmakemoney.Researchwhatpeoplewant,researchwhocancreatethisforyoutosell to themandsell it to them– this ishowsuccessfulmarketingworksand itdoesworkbutallthat’smissingtomonetiseanymarketingisthetribe;thatis,peoplefollowingeverythingyouaredoingandpurchasingeverythingyousell.Wesay‘themoneyisinthelist’ and we have taken this from ‘you need to build a database’ to ‘you need asophisticated CRM system that can manage a multitude of databases back endsimultaneously’andeveryoneknowsyouhavetodrivetraffictowhateveryoudobothonandofflineoncethisissetup.Weknowweneedaffiliatesystems/JVpartnerstoexpandthe numbers on these lists but what we don’t know any more than where our nextcustomeriscomingfromiswhereournextstrategicallianceiscomingfrom.Credibilitymarketingis thesecret tobothoftheseandluckilyforyouthat iswhatthiswholebookhasbeenabout.

Here’showitworks:Setupphase(automatedmarketingofavirtualbusiness)

-buildwebsitetocollectleads/sales-publishbookPODwithdropshipping-buildmembershipprogramtoincreaseaveragesale

Dailytasks(goviralwithoutpayingformarketing)

-answerSourceBottlemediainterviewandsponsorshiprequests-replytoemailstoacceptanyoffers-commentonsocialmediaabouttheabove

Monthlytasks(getpaidformarketingaswellasthesale)

-releasemagazinetoincreasetraffic

Bonuses(stuffthataccidentallyhappensonceyoucompletetheothersevensteps)

-yougetaskedtophysicallyspeakatplaces-youbecomeanAmazonbestseller

Solet’sgetstuckintoit.

Pleasefindfollowingnotonlyasummaryoftheapplicationforyoufromeachchapter–that is, exactly what steps you need to do to achieve each goal – but also we haverearrangedthesestepsintothebestordertocompleteeachinsoallyouneedtodoisworkthroughthefollowinglistinorder–wow!Whataconclusion!!

Insummary,thewaymarketingtechniqueshavechangedoverthelast10yearsincludes:

OldTechniques NewDirection

Speaking–oneeventperweekVirtualspeakingengagements–letthemfindyouandeventuallyfazeout

SocialMedia(YouTube,Facebook,Twitter,LinkedIn,Google+,Pinterest)–twiceperday

Socialmedia–threetimesdailysocialinteractionmostlytodowithwhereyouarespeakingandblast-outcampaignsforeachnewproduct/service/versionofeachlaunched

Printedmarketingmaterial(pop-upbanner,flyer/orderform,booktospeak/buythebookbusinesscards)–reprintondemand

Printedmarketingmaterial–digitalmarketingmaterial,e.g.PowerPointbanners,digitalorderforms,promotionalgiveawaycards

Automated(template,webpages,shoppingcart,contentmanager)–one-offsetup

Automatedwebstore–five-pagewebsite–homepagewithrotatingbanner,booksalesletter,membershipprogramsalesletter,aboutyouandcontactyou

Passive(salesletter,affiliate)–one-offsetup Passive–twolevelsofsalesletters–dualupsell+two-weekproductlaunch

Active(blog,emailmarket)–twiceperweek/twicepermonth

Active–digitalmagazine–getpaidtobuildyourdatabaseandmarkettothem

Channel(POD,physicalbookstoredistribution,digitalbookstoredistribution)–one-offsetup

Bookstores–newandimprovedbusinesscard–POD/dropshippinganddigital/physicalbookstoredistribution

Events–oneeventpermonth Events–digitalevents–Facebookevents,Amazonbestsellercampaign,etc.

Media–onereleasepermonth Media–getthemtocometoyou–answermediacalloutandprizesannouncementsdaily

Thepriorityorderofthefollowingstepsisasfollows:

1.Automatesalesprocess2.Automatemarketingprocess3.Automatefulfilmenteverywherepossible4.Fulfilonanythingyoucan’tautomate

Inotherwords,onceyouautomatehowsomeonecanpayyou,youautomatehowtheygetto thatcheckoutpoint.Once thismarketing isautomatedyouautomate thefulfilmentofwhat theyhave justpurchased.Lastly,once there isnothing left toautomateyoudo thesmall amountofwork to fulfil onunautomated sales,or I should sayyoupay someonewiththemoneyyouhavealreadymadewiththepreviousthreestepstodothisforyou.

Insummary,youhavethefollowingthreecategoriesforeverythingwehavediscussed:

Automated Passive Active

Webstore

Book

MembershipProgram

Media

Speaking

Events

Sponsorship

SocialMedia

Magazine

wheretheautomatedtechniquesneverneedanythingtobedoneonanongoingbasis,you

accepttheresultsofpassivetechniquesastheyautomaticallybeginhappeningwhileyoudaily,monthlyorastheyarisetakeadvantageoftheactivetechniques.

ToachieveallthismakesureyoucompletethefollowingchecklistandIwishyouallthebestonyourwaytoyourfullyautomatedvirtualbusinessofyourdreamssoyoucantrulyhavethework-lifebalanceyouhavealwaysdreamedof.

Book(setuppartA)–plan1.Writebook(title,tableofcontents,chaptersandblurb)2.Designcover3.Editbookyourself4.Collecttestimonials

Webstore/membershipprogram(setup)

5.Purchasedomain6. Write webpage text, write autoresponder text, design images, film/edit/uploadvideos,create/insertbuttonsandcreatedownloads7.Proof/testall8.Golive

Speaking(setup)

9.Installcalendarapponyourphone10.DesignPowerPointslides

Sponsorship(setup)

11.Designcardsforpromotionalgiveaways

Socialmedia(setup)

12.Open/brandsocialmedia13.Download/setupappsonyourphone

Magazine(setup)

14.Buildapp/designfirstissue

Book(setuppartB)–create15.Proofbookyourself16.Editing17.Contentsdesign18.Proofing19.Releasebooktowebstore/bookstores20.Fulfilpre-orders

LAUNCHEVERGREENMARKETINGCAMPAIGN(seebelowforhow)

OnceyouhavecompletedtheabovesetupyoucanobviouslychoosewhenandhowyoumarketonanongoingbasisbutIrecommendthefollowing(mostofwhichcanbedonebyyourPAsoyouneverneedworkmorethanonehouraweekagain):

Webstore/membershipprogram(ongoing)

21.deliverweeklycoachingcall22.paymonthlyaffiliates

Speaking(ongoing)

23.Respondtoanyincomingrequeststospeak

Media(ongoing)

24.Respondtoanyincomingrequeststobeinterviewed25.Respondtoanyincomingrequesttobeamediasource

Sponsorship(ongoing)

26.Respondtoanyincomingrequesttosponsorevents

Events(ongoing)

27.CommenttoanychangesinAmazonsalesstatusonsocialmedia

Socialmedia(ongoing)

28. Respond to any incoming request to build lists and/or responses to yourcomments29.Postthreetimesdailyassocialcommentaryofeventstakingplace

Magazine(ongoing)–editions

30.Releasemonthlyedition(onevideo,twoarticles)

Oncesetup iscompleteyoudo theongoing toget thepassiverunningevergreensoyoucan collect themoney and fulfil on the sale fully automated.But remember, you don’thave todo thedailyworkyourself but I suggest payingyourPAoutof your evergreenself-generatingprofitsandthenyouonlyhavetoattendanyappointmentsbookedforyou(e.g. coaching calls, speaking engagements,media interviews, etc.) to instantly send anavalanche of traffic to your automated system to keep the funnel flowing. You are incontrolofturningthetaponandoffbyincreasing/decreasingyourPA’shours/thenumberofspeakingengagements/mediainterviewsyouchoosetoattendperweek/month/year.

Remember to focuson the rightkindofmarketing in the right season, e.g. first quarternew yearmarketing; second quarter end of financial yearmarketing; third quarter newfinancialyearmarketing; fourthquarterChristmasmarketing.Youhavea three-stepsellforyourcustomers(freesomething,salesletter,financestransacting)butyouhaveaone-step notification for you. As such you want to flag in your daily email scan PayPalnotificationssoyouareawareoftheflowofmoneycomingintoyourbusiness.Similarly,youmustwatchyourSourceBottlenotificationsjustascarefullybecausetheynotifyyouofcredibilitybuildingandthereforemoneymakingopportunitiescomingin.

Ifyoueverwanttopromoteyourfullyautomatedvirtualbusinessinamanualorphysicalmanner the best part about what you have set up is you can easily do that as yourmoneymaking activities no longer take up any of your time. Don’t get bored playingsmall,stayingathomenotsocialisingwiththeoutsideworldjustbecauseyoudon’thaveto,butplaybig,actthesizeofthereputationyouhavecreatedforyourselfandgooutandbethegreatestyoucanbe,howeveryouchoosetodothis.

Formeitwillbethefollowing:

-Goto the liveeventsIwant togotoasspeaker/sponsorandtopromote thebookdoingwhatIlove/whatcomesnaturally-Trainonwhat Iwant to trainon (answers to currentmostFAQ) in aone-minutevideoperdaysomyeducationcangoviral,e.g. filmongooglehangouts forSEOpurposes,releaseblogtofurtherincreaseSEO,emailmarkettoletexistingdatabasesknowaboutit,commentonsocialmediatogroweachofthosedatabasesandlastlytranscribe theabove intoarticlescontainingbothvideoand text tocreatemagazinecontentsoIgetpaidforwhatIwasalreadywillingtodoforfree;thatis,drivetrafficto an already fully automated marketing system for my virtual business by doingwhatIlove/whatcomesnaturally-StartmyownLinkedIngroupwithdailycategorieswherethelogointhecentreofsevenimagesonmybannerrepresentstheautomationofchapter4andchapters3+9combinedtogetherassourceday

Whataboutyou?

Inotherwords,activeiswhenyougotothemaspassiveiswhentheycometoyouandneitherwouldeverhappenwithouttheautomation;justliketheywouldn’thaveawaytofindyou,youwouldn’thaveawaytoconvertthem.Youstarttheballrollingbygoingtothem and control the flow of them coming to you by regulating how much activepromotion you do based around the available time in your lifestyle of choice and thebudgetneededtomaintainthat.

Nowit’syourturntotakeyourproduct/service,marketittocollectsocialproofandcreateyourcredibilitytokeeptheprocessgoing.Yourbookandmembershipprogramsareyourtwoproducts(chapters7and5),yoursponsorshipandmagazinepublishingareyourtwodatabase buildingmarketing techniques (chapters 3 and 6), your social proofwill be inyoursocialmediapostsandyourbestsellerstatus(chapters2and8)butyourcredibilitycomesfromyourspeakingengagementsandmediaattention(chapters1and9).Sowhychapter4?Becausethat’swhereyoustartbyautomatingyourpaymentcollectingportholeandthentherestischild’splay.Sogoon,gohavefun,butdon’tforgettocomebacktomywebsiteandshareyoursuccesseswithmeviathecommentssectionatthebottomofanypage.Ilookforwardtohearingeverythingyouhavetosay.

AbouttheAuthorTenyearsagoKyleeopenedagraphicdesignstudiowherethemajorityoftheirworkwasinpublishing.Asaresult,fiveyearsagoKyleerebrandedasapublishinghousewhereshebecameknownas‘ThePublishingQueen’asshenotonlypublishedbooksbuteducatedpeopleonhowtoself-publish.

Nowmarried and amother of two with 10 years’ industry experience Kylee turns herfocus to sharing her marketing expertise with those in the small business sector aspublishingabookisnowonlypartofamuchbiggermarketingpicture.Asthenewandimprovedbusinesscarditallowsyoutogetinstantcredibilityastheexpertinyourfieldwhile attracting your ideal client time and time again but this on its own is no longerenoughwhichiswhyKyleeisexcitedtomoveintothemarketingarena.

Kyleelooksforwardtosharingthenewandconstantlychangingcuttingedgemarketingtechniqueswith thosewanting tomove from a physical business (or a 9-to-5 job) to avirtualonesotheycanexperiencethejoysofafullyautomatedbusiness.Hertwonewestbooks,AutomatedMarketingandVirtualBusiness,formthefoundationsofeverythingshewill be teachingwell into the future including the fully automated sales and fulfilmentprocesswiththemulti-levelsalesletterandthedatabaseyougetpaidtobuild.

VIRTUALBUSINESS

ESCAPING9TO5Isitreallypossibletoachievework/lifebalance?

KYLEEELLIS

VirtualBusinessCopyright©KyleeEllis2014www.virtualmarketing.biz

ThemoralrightsofKyleeEllistobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeenassertedinaccordancewiththeCopyrightAct1968.

FirstpublishedinAustralia2014byThePublishingQueen

978-1-921673-76-4-paperback978-1-921673-77-1-ebook

Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedortransmittedbyanymeans,electronic,photocopyingorotherwisewithoutpriorwrittenpermissionoftheauthor.

Disclaimer

All the information, techniques, skills and concepts contained within this publication are of the nature of generalcommentonly,andarenotinanywayrecommendedasindividualadvice.Theintentistoofferavarietyofinformationtoprovideawiderrangeofchoicesnowandinthefuture,recognisingthatweallhavewidelydiversecircumstancesandviewpoints.Shouldanyreaderchoose tomakeuseof the informationcontainedherein, this is theirdecision,and theauthorandpublisherdonotassumeanyresponsibilitieswhatsoeverunderanyconditionsorcircumstances.Theauthorand publisher does not take responsibility for the results of the reader’s decision to use this information. It isrecommendedthatthereaderobtaintheirownindependentadvice.

Contents1.Who,WhatandWhy

Whoareyou?Whatcanyoudo?Whydoyouwanttoopenabusiness?

2.BeProfessional

LEGALBusinessstructureBusinessnameFINANCIALWhichbank?Whichmerchant?BRANDING

3.Let’sGetDigital

InternetLaptop/smartphoneFilestorageDomainnameHostingEmailWebsiteBookkeeping

4.HowtoAppearontheSamePageasSo-Called‘BIG’Business

APPEARINGPHYSICALPOBox1300numberVoicemail

5.IsSocialMediatheNewNetworking?

YouTubeFacebookTwitterLinkedInGooglePlusPinterest

6.DollarsandSense

NOCOSTMARKETINGPASSIVEMARKETINGSalesletterAffiliatemarketingACTIVEMARKETING

BloggingEmailmarketing

7.PayPer…

PAIDFORMARKETINGKeywordadvertisingMediaadvertisingTransitadvertising

8.AWell-ConnectedNetwork

SMARTMARKETINGCrosspromotionStrategicalliancesJointventures

9.ThePowerofLeverage

BUILDINGATEAM–outsourcingInnovatorsCreativetalentAdministrationBUILDINGASYSTEM–manualProductcreationServicefulfilmentOperations

10.Ongoingsuccess=ongoingeducation

PERSONALDEVELOPMENTSeminars/webinarsWorkshops/onlinetrainingCoaching

11.BecomingKnownastheExpertinyourField

CREDIBILITYPublishabookSpeakforprofitAttractthemedia

1.Who,WhatandWhyTherearemanydifferentreasonsthatsomeonemightwanttostartavirtualbusiness,butitisasafeassumptionthat ifyouareopeningthisbookyouareeitherthinkingofmakingthetransitionfromemployeetoemployerandstartingyourownhome-basedbusiness,oralternatively you are thinking of restructuring or downsizing your current operations asyouhavehadenoughoftheoverheadsofatraditionalbusiness.

Eitherway,thisistheidealbookforyou,notonlybecauseIamgoingtoshowyouhowtodoeitherofthesethingsintheeasiest,mostefficient,mosteconomicalandmosteffectiveways,butmore importantlybecause Iamgoing toshowyouhowtodosoaroundyourcurrent(andfuture)commitmentssoyourbusiness(thatis,yourworklife)fitsroundthelifestyleyouwantandnottheotherwayround,rememberingitiseasytostartabusinessbutmuchhardertobuildasuccessfulone.

Youhaveprobablyheard thesaying‘Anyonecan runabusiness’,which isvery trueasthesedaysit’sassimpleasprintingaflyer,stickingitonsomecarsatthelocalshoppingcentreandwaitingforsomeonetocallsoyoucanmowtheirlawn,cleantheirhouse,teachtheirkidspianoormindtheirpetswhiletheyareonholidays.However,thatisnotwhatthis book is about. It is not about using outdated marketing techniques that cost youmoneyupfrontwithnoguaranteeofaresultafterwards,norisitaboutspendingyourtimemanually to either promote your business or fulfil on your product/service.What I amtalkingaboutishowtotakewhoyouare,theknowledgeandskillsyouhave,andfindingoutwhatproductsand/orservicesyoucanprovide in thekindofbusinessstructure thatworksforyoutoachieveyourdesiredfinancialoutcomeinyourcurrentavailabletime.

Solet’slookatthefirststep…

Whoareyou?This might sound like a strange question but if you don’t know who you are, how isanyoneelsesupposedto?Ifyoudon’tknowwhatyouarecapableofofferingotherswhywouldanyoneelsewanttobuyit?Discoveryofone’sself(whetheryouthoughtthisbookwasgoingtobeaself-developmentcourseornot)isactuallythefirststepinestablishingasuccessfulbusinessmodel.

Solet’sthinkseriouslyaboutwhoyouare,and,no,Idon’tmeanyourage,sex,whereyougrewuporhowmanychildrenyouhave.Imean,whatisinyouasapersonthatcouldbesaleable?Weallhaveahistoryjustlikeweallhaveafuture,butitisofteneasiesttostartwiththepresentsolet’sdothatnow.

Whatdoyoucurrentlydo fora living?Howdoyou like tospendyour free time?Nowlook back at your past … what did you previously do for a living and how did youpreviously spend your free time? Are there any themes? Now jump ahead…withoutlookingany further into thisbook, ifyouwere toopenabusiness tomorrowwhat’s thefirstthingthatcomestomind?Likewise,ifyouweretohavethewholedayofftomorrow,what is the thingyouwouldmostwant todo?Haveyougotall these thingspictured inyourmind?Good.Nowit’stimetowritethemdown.Youcanhaveasmanythingsineachcategory as you like, but I usually findwhen I do this exercise that people statisticallyhavearoundthreethingsineachsection.

PAST

JOBS HOBBIES

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

PRESENT

JOBS HOBBIES

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

FUTURE

JOBS HOBBIES

1.

2.

3.

1.

2.

3.

OnceyouhavecompletedthetableaboveIwantyoutocircleanysimilaritiesorrecurringthemesyoucanseeandwritethosethemesonthelinesbelow.Onceagain,youcanhaveasmanythemesasyouwant,butpeopletendtohaveanaverageofoneortwo.

THEME1:________________________

THEME2:________________________

Whatcanyoudo?Thisquestionshouldbealoteasiertoanswerthanthefirstasonceyouknowyourthemeyouarehalfwaythere.Nowwhatwearelookingforishowyoucanmovethethemeofyour present and past, that is already creeping into your future ideas, into your futurereality.Dependingonwhatyourthemeistherewillprobablybemanydifferentoptionsforyousolet’sbreakitdownabittomakethischoiceeasier.

Firstlywewant to look atwhat knowledge and skills you already have that you couldapplytoaproductorserviceyoumaywishtosellinthefuture.Remember,though,thatyou may have found more than one theme above and some themes may be fromsomethingyouhavehatedyourwholelife(forexample,youalwaysendedupgettingjobsinrealestateeventhoughyouhateworkinginrealestate),somakesurewhenyoupickthethemeyouwishtofocusonyoupickoneyoulove.Ifthethemeyoulovethemostisrunningthroughyourpast,presentandfuturehobbies,thatisnotaproblemasitisbetterto base your income-making ability off something you love rather than something you

havepreviousexperiencein.Ifyourheart isnot inityouarenotgoingtobesuccessfullongterm.

Solet’s lookatyourknowledgeandskillsfirst…list in the tablebelowtheknowledgeandskillsyouhavebasedonthethemeyoulovemost.Onceagainyourlistcanbeaslongorasshortasyouwantittobe,butdon’tbetemptedtokeepitshortintheinterestoftimeattheexpenseofquality.Youarebettertohavealongerlistthatyoucancutbackonthanone too short that you continuously have to add to because you weren’t sure whatknowledgeorskillsweresaleable.Experienceisnotasimportantasyoumaythinkasyoucanalwaysuseyourknowledgeandskills togainexperience.Noanswer is toosilly sowrite absolutely everything that comes to yourminddownanddon’t stopuntil there isnothingatallleftinyourheadthatcouldbeconsideredanareaofknowledgeoraskillsetrelatedtoyourtheme.

THEME:

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Onceyouhaveyourknowledgeandskills it’s time todecidewhatproductandservicescouldbecreatedfromthemwithoutyouneedingtodomuchadditionalwork;forexample,ifyourthemewasraisingchildrenasyouhadbeenahousewifeallyourlifeyouwouldbequiteknowledgeableinthisareaaswellashavingmanyskills,eventhoughthishadbeenunpaidwork.Don’t think that by listing knowledge and skills in this area that you aregoing to be forced to open up a babysitting service or become a nanny as it is not theliteralorusualoutcomeswearelookingforindoingthisexercise;whatwewanttodoisfindtheperfectbusinessforyou.

Yourlifestyle,ifyouhavefourteenagers,forexample,maynotallowforyoutosellyour9-to-5timeeveryday(andtobeperfectlyhonest,whywouldyouthinkofrunningyourownbusinesstoworkthesamehoursasyouusedto?);however,yourknowledgeorskillsmightbebetterapplied toaseriesofeducationalproducts thatcouldgenerateapassiveincomewhen sold online, such as educating newmothers on how to avoidmaking themistakesyoudidso theyhave lessstress first timearoundbyyou impartingyourhard-learntknowledgeandskillsonthem.

So,thinkingoutsidethesquare,listallpossibleproductsandservicesthatcometomindusingtheknowledgeandskillsyouhavelistedabove.Onceagain,don’tbescaredbythesizeofthelist;thelongerthebetter,asyoucanalwaysnarrowitdownlater.Moreoftenthannotyouwill findknowledge is easier to translate intoaproductwhereas skills areeasiertotranslateintoaservice.Itishelpfultotryandhaveabalanceofeachbutyouwilloftenfindthatthescalestoppletoonesideortheother.

THEME:

PRODUCTS SERVICES

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Whydoyouwanttoopenabusiness?Believeitornot,thisisthemostimportantquestionofthethreeasifyoudon’tknowwhyyouwish to go into business you are hardly going to achieveyour desiredoutcomebydoing so. The reason will be different for everyone but common responses I hear arepeoplewantingtobetheirownboss,choosethehourstheywork,travelless,spendmoretimewiththefamily,etc.Theseoranyotherreasonsyouhavearefine;whatisimportantisnotwhatyourreasonsarebutthatyouknowwhattheyare.Assuch,pleasequicklytakeamomenttolistthembelow:

WHYIWANTTORUNMYOWNBUSINESS:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Onceyouhavecompletedthetableaboveyouhavecompleted99%ofthework.Allthatislefttodonowistiethelasttwothingstogether.Youneedtoaskyourselfwhichoftheaboveproductsandserviceswillallowyoutoachieveyourdesiredoutcome;thatis,whyyouwishtogointobusiness.OnceyouhavethesolutionIwantyoutowriteitonthelinebelow.

SOLUTION:____________________________

Thissolutionisworthgoldtoyouasnotonlyisitgoingtoallowyoutocreatethework-lifebalanceyouhavealwayswantedbutitwillallowyoutocompletetheexercisesintherestofthisbookquicklyandeasilytoshortcutyourpathtoit.Iwishyoueverysuccess,butenoughsentiment;let’sgetstuckintoit.

2.BeProfessionalNowthatyouhaveconfirmedyouwanttogointobusinessandhaveworkedout,basedonwhoyouare,whatkindofbusinessworksbestforyouandwhatproductorserviceyouwanttosell, thenextstepistoworkouthowtodothiscorrectly.Iamsureyoualreadyknowhowtodothisincorrectlyasyoudon’tneedtolookfarthesedaystoseepoorlyrunbusinesses, from something as simple as receiving poor customer service to watchingshopsopenandclosearoundyouatfartoorapidarate.

Ofcourse,thesearebothexamplesofphysicalbusinesses,butthatisexactlymypoint.Ifyouaregoing tobeavirtualbusinessand thereforenothavea shop frontorphysicallyinteractwithyourcustomers,howcanyouensureyouhaveahighstandardofcustomerserviceandthatyouarenotgoingtobeoneofthosepeoplewhomayaswellclosedownas soon as they open up as they did everything wrong the first time around and setthemselvesupforfailurewithoutevenrealisingit?

Iguessthatbringsyoutotherealheartofthewholequestion:howdoyouknow,firstly,allthethingsyouneedtobeawareofasavirtualbusiness,secondly,ensureyoudothemcorrectly and, finally, what ‘correctly’ actually means in relation to each? The shortanswer to this is be professional! If, whatever the subject area, you always take theprofessionalapproach99%ofthetime,thehardworkisdone,sotherealquestionis,whatare the areas a virtual business needs to consider to be professional and how can youensureyouaresuccessfulwitheach?

Thekeythingsyouneedtoconsidercanbesummarisedintothreeareas:legal,financialandbranding,solet’slookateachnowinmoredetail.

LEGALTherearetwothingsyouneedtothinkaboutwhenitcomestothelegalsideofopeninganybusinessandtheyare,firstly,whatbusinessstructure isrightforyouand,secondly,doesyourbusinessneedaname,andifso,whatisit?Thesecondpointmaysoundstrangeas,ofcourse,abusinessneedsanamebutwhatImeanbythatisifyouchoosetobeasoletraderasyourbusinesstype(I’llprovideafewmoredetailsaboutthisinamoment)andyoudidn’twant tohaveanymarketing foryourbusinesswithanythingother thanyournameonit(e.g.ifyourbusinesswasontrainingdogsnottobarkandyournamehappenedtobeMrWoof)thenyoucanlegallyregisteranABN(AustralianBusinessNumber,whichIwillalsogiveyoumoreinformationaboutinamoment)inyournameandsolongasyounever had anything other than your name on all invoices next to yourABNyou couldlegallytradethatway.

Thatmaysoundlikeasillyexamplebutifyouareoneofthefewpeoplewhosesurnamehappenstotieintowhatyoudoforaliving(liketheydidbackintheday)andyoudon’tneedtheadditionalexpenseofregisteringabusinessname,thenbyallmeansdon’tspendmoneyyoudon’tneedto.Themajorityofpeoplesettingupabusinessforthefirsttime,however,won’thavethisluxurysoitisimportanttoknowtherearetwopartstothelegalsideofsettingupabusiness.Thefirstiswhatallowsyoutopaytax(theboringpart)butthesecondiswhatallowsyoutomarket(themoney-makingpart)so,ifyouaskme,thatisthemoreimportantpart.

Businessstructure

So let’s look at possible business structures first and findoutwhat is right for you andyour business.Basically, youhave three options: a sole trader (someone in business ontheirown,e.g.aone-manshow);apartnership(multiplepeopleinbusinesstogether,e.g.two or more people); or a company (a separate legal entity of which one or multiplepeoplearedirectors,e.g.generallyhasmultipleemployees).Therearemanyotheroptionsorcombinationsofstructures,suchasafamily/companytrust,sofeelfreetotalktoyouraccountantaboutwhichisrightforyoubeforeyougoanyfurther.Mostvirtualbusinessestendtofitintooneofthefirstthreecategoriesabove.

Onceyoupickyourstructureitisassimpleasregisteringyourbusinessandthenyouwillinstantly receive yourAustralianBusinessNumberwhich is required to go on all legaldocuments for you to trade; in other words, it needs to be clearly displayed on yourinvoiceandnotthatmuchelse.Thequickestwaytoregisteravirtualbusiness(because,ofcourse, why would you want to physically go out to do this as that negates the pointstraightawayofbeingavirtualbusiness) is todosoonline.I recommendthefollowinglinkasyoucangetanABNforverylittleexpenseextremelyquickly.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttp://www.easybusinessregistration.com.au

Businessname

Nextitcomestimetoregisteryourbusinessname.Youneedtothinkaboutthefollowingquestions:

1.Whatwouldyoulikeittobe?2.Whatdoesthisnamemeantoyou?and3.Willyourcustomersunderstandit?

There aremany different ways to choose a business name but I find the best businessnamesincludeasmanyaspossibleofthefollowing:

1.Relatedirectlyorindirectlytowhatyoudo

e.g.Iaminpublishingsoadirectlinkis‘ThePublishingQueen’,whereasmyfriendWilsonisintheautomobileindustrysoanindirectlinkis‘WilsonandWheels’ashesellstyres

2.Showwhoyouare,i.e.yourname(ifyouareofferingeitherapersonalisedservicetopeopleoronewhereyouwanttobeknownastheexpertinyourfield)

e.g.‘WilsonandWheels’tellsyoustraightawaywhoyouaregettingthepersonalisedservicefrom,justas‘ThePublishingQueen’tellsyoustraightawaywhotheexpertis

3.Containalliterationorassonance(whereverpossible)asthesenamesareeasiertoremember

e.g.‘WilsonandWheels’onceagaindoesthiswellwiththedouble‘W’whereasformetodothisIshouldhavebeen‘ThePublishingPrincess’butIdecidedagainstthisasIthoughtitwouldn’tsoundaspowerfulasthequeen(yes, therearealwaysreasons toskipa recommendation if itwillhavea lesspowerfuleffectonyourbusinessthanfollowingit)

4.Havesomewaytoconnectthesetwowordstogether

e.g.Formyself,‘ThePublishingQueen’madethiseasyasitputpowerbehindthename,givingmeatitleaswellas a name, just as ‘Wilson andWheels’ connects both whoWilson is and what he does for a living nicelytogether.Both‘PublishingQueen’and‘Wilson’sWheels’wouldhavemetalltheaboverequirementsbutasyoucanseenotbeenhalfaspowerful

Onceyouhavethenameitisonceagainassimpleasregisteringthisnameandthelegalsideofsettingupavirtualbusinessistakencareof.TraditionallyyouwouldregisteryourbusinessnameattheDepartmentofFairTradingorthesedaysdirectlywithASICjustasyouwouldsetyourbusinessstructureupthroughtheATOviayouraccountant,butonceagain ifyoudon’twant tophysically leave thehouse todo thisorhave the expenseofpayingsomeonetodothisforyouthesamewebsiteImentionedaboveallowsyoutodothistoo.Dependingonbothwhatkeywordsyourtargetmarketisregularlysearchingfor,aswellaswhichnamescurrentlyexistinyourfieldofexpertiseandhowsimilartheyaretotheoneyouareproposing,youmayconsidertrademarkingyournewnameaswelltoprotectyourIP.

FINANCIALNext you need to look at the financial aspects of being professional and that involvespickingwhichbank is right foryouand in turnwhichmerchant and I’ll explainwhat Imeanbythatinamomentbutlet’sstartwiththebank.

Whichbank?

It is important topicktherightbankbeforeyoustartandthereasonfor this isanythingcouldpotentiallygowrongalongthewayasgoingintoabusinessisjustasriskyasanyotherventure in life. Just likeyoucouldget robbedon theway toworkandhaveyourwalletstolenandasignificantamountofyourmoneylostbeforeyouwereabletocancelyour credit cards, the same can happen in the virtual environment; except they aren’ttakingphysicalmoney/plasticbutaffectingdigitalnumbers,whichattheendofthedayisjustasbad.

Itsoundsextreme;howregularlydoyougetrobbedonthewaytowork?Yet,atthesametime,peopledoget robbedeveryday. It is theminorityweare talkingabout,butdon’tthinkyoucan’tbe theminorityaswhen runningabusinessonlineyouare theminority(with themajority of businesses still having physical locations and themajority of theworldpopulationstillbeingemployees,notself-employed)andyouwanttobepreparedforwhen/ifsomethingdoesgowrongtoensureitdoesn’taffectyou.

Seriously,youareprobablyhappywithyourcurrentbanksotheeasiestthingtodowouldbe to jump online and open a business account, give them your ABN and the rest ispaperwork;however,beforeyoudothischeckyouareusingthecorrectbankforyou.

I don’t want to say anything negative about any banks in particular or my personalexperienceswitheach;however,IwillsaythatsomethingIfoundmosthelpful(lookingfromapositiveaspectofbankinginsteadofthenegative)andpartofthereasonIchangedtoCommonwealthBankwastheyweretheonlybankprovidinglivebankingatthetime.Ifyouwanttobeabletotransferfundsbetweenaccountsandhavetheminstantlyappearwhere they need to go or receive payments from customers also with Commonwealthinstantlyinyourbankaccount,livebankingisthewaytogo.IknowIamcertainlyneverlookingback.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttps://www.commbank.com.au/business/business-accounts.html

Whichmerchant?

Soonceyouhavethebankaccounttheonlyotherthingyouwillneed(meaninganythingelseanybanktriestotellyouthatyouneedisoptional)isamerchantasifyouaren’tableto take credit cardpayments in theonlineworldyou can’tmake sales.There aremanydifferent kinds of merchants, starting from your traditional eftpos machine, to anemerchant, which contains two half merchants (one to transact themoney online frompeople’s accounts and the other to connect to your bank and put it into yours), to apaymentsolutionwithnomerchantorhalfmerchantatall;forexample,thecurrentworldstandardisPayPalwhichIamsureyouhaveheardof.

Regarding the possible problems Imentioned before, some bankswill fix instantly andotherswillbedelayed in repairing thedamage, somewill coverany lossofmoneyandotherswillmakeyoupay,butPayPal isunlikeanyof these.Notonlydo they take fullresponsibility for any transaction going through them but they follow up anything thatdoesn’tworkonyourbehalfafterthemoneyisalreadyinyouraccount.That’sright;withPayPalyouneverneedfollowupan invoiceor loseasaledue toabouncedcreditcardpayment(greatiftheproductorserviceyouaresellingisamembershipprogramofsomesortandinvolvesweekly,monthlyorannualrecurringbilling).

Anythingyoucandoonyourownemerchant(theonlyotherwaytotransactasaleonline)cannowalsobedonethroughPayPal,i.e.notjuststandardsalesbutrecurringsalesasImentioned above; manually entering one-off payments not transacted online are alsosupportedandifyoueverdidchoosetogophysical(e.g.heldaneventtopromoteyourbusiness atwhich youwanted them to buy something afterwards), you can nowget anattachmenttogoonyouriPhonesoyoucanswipecreditcardsinpersonandcollectthefundsthroughPayPal,nolongerneedinganemerchantoratraditionalmerchantatall.Ofcourse, to have all of this youdoneed to set up a business accountwith themwhich Irecommendyoudoassoonaspossible.Ihaveincludedalinkbelowforyourreference.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttps://www.paypal.com/au/webapps/mpp/get-started

BRANDINGOnce the legalandfinancialsideof thingsare takencareofyouare justabout ready toopenupshopasyoucanbringmoneyinandhavepermissiontodoso;however,beforeyoustartyouneedtothinkaboutafewotherthingsastheywillrunthrougheverythingelseyoudo.Youneedto thinkaboutanythingaudio-visualrelatedtoyourbusiness thatpeoplewill ever see or hear, as if this is ever done incorrectly it is the fastest way toappearunprofessionalwhichwillloseyouanypotentialsalesbeforeyoustart.

Inessence,whatIamtalkingabouthereisbranding;thatis,whatyoulooklike,whatyourproductlookslike,howbotharephotographedand/orrecorded,whetherthatbevideooraudio. We are talking about a virtual business so the only face to your business aprospective customer has to make their buying decision off is what they see on yourwebsite.Have you used professional photography for any images of you, your productand/oryourservice?Istheaudioforanysoundfiles(whethertheybepromotionaloranelectronicproduct,e.g.anaudiobookyouareselling)crispandclearanddoes itsoundlike theywererecorded inaprofessionalstudio?Doesanyvideoonyourwebsite(onceagain for promotion purposes or the product itself if delivered in video format) meet

professionalstandards?

Whattheseprofessionalstandardsareisactuallyirrelevant;allthatisimportantisthatyoumeetthem.It’snotassimpleasfollowingasetlistofstepsandthenyourimagery,audio,video,etc.willbeprofessionalasthereisnosuchlist,butit’sassimpleaslookingatthefinished product and either approving it or going back andmaking changes. It’s eitherprofessionalorit’snotandifyouhonestlycan’ttellordon’ttrustyourselftomakethecallforwhateverreason,showeachtoyourfriendsorcolleaguesfirstandasktheiropinion,asyourbrandinavirtualbusinessisyourmostpowerfulasset.

Remember,dependingonyourbudget,youmayormaynothavethefinancestopayforaprofessionalphotographeroruseaprofessionalrecordingstudioand/orfilmcrewstraightaway;however, it isn’t aboutnecessarilypaying all theprofessionalsupfront andgoingintobusinessindebt(Idon’trecommendthisatallbutencourageyoutoruneverythingyoudo ina cashflowpositivemanner; that is,make itbeforeyou spend it).As longaseverythingappearsprofessionalonthefinishedproduct,howyoucreateditorwhatyouspenttodosoisirrelevant.

3.Let’sGetDigitalYou are now legally established, able to transact money and know how to create apowerful and consistent professional brand.What do you need to do next?Well, to befullyvirtualyouneedtobefullydigital,solet’slookattheeightstepsrequiredtoallowyoutodothis.

InternetIfyoudon’talreadyhaveabusinessaccount in this space I suggestyou lookatgettingone. If you are doing everything online you are going to have a lot of uploads anddownloadsgoingonbothyourcomputerandphoneandyoudon’twanttooveruseyourpersonalaccountandringupanunexpectedexpense.Therearemanydifferentprovidersbutagoodbusinessinternetconnectionwillincludefastuploadanddownloadspeedsaswell as exceptional customer service to rectify anything that can ever gowrong in thedigitalworldquicklyandefficiently.AssuchIrecommendgoingwithWestnet(oriinetasitisnowknown)asnotonlyistheircustomerserviceabovealltherestbutyoucangetahigh-quality,fast-speed,large-downloadbusinessconnectionusuallyforalot lessthanapersonalonewithawholelotmoreinclusions.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttp://www.westnet.com.au/business/small

Laptop/smartphoneOnceyouhaveanadequateinternetconnectionyouneedtolookatwhatdevicesyouwishtoutilisewiththisconnection.YoumayhavemanybutIrecommendasbareminimumalaptopandasmartphone.ItisuptoyouwhichbrandsyouuseforeachbutIfindDellhasthebestbusinesscustomersupportdepartmentandtheiPhoneismostcompatiblewiththerelevant apps you will need to utilise on this device. I would, however, recommendpurchasing your iPhone as part of a business plan to bring the cost of this technologydown just as Iwould recommend purchasing your computer on time payments to helpwithcashflowinyourbusiness.

RECOMMENDEDLINKShttp://www.dell.com/us/business/p/laptops.aspxhttp://www.telstra.com.au/small-business/mobile-phones

FilestorageOnceyouhaveaninternetconnectionanddevicestoaccessitonyouneedtothinkaboutwhere you are storing your files. There are a range of options available to you but Irecommendthefollowingthree:

Dropbox – to storeyour job folders for any serviceyouoffer so customers canuploadanything youwill need to commence any given job just as suppliers can download thewholebrieffromonecentralandsharedlocation

Googledrive– tocheckand thensave files received fromcustomers inGmailonyourphoneat theclickofabutton, forward themontoyoursupplierswithanotherclickand

establishtheshare/privacysettingswiththenext(andviceversa)

Onedrive–touseasonlinebackupasanyMicrosoftfilesavedhereallowsyoutorollbacktopreviousversionstorecoveranylostdataifyouaccidentallysaveoverthetopofacrucialfileoroverwriteanewerversionwithanoldercopybymistake

Theotheradvantage(solongasyoudon’texceedthestandardspaceallocationsofeach)isthatyoucanstoreyourdatainwhatisreferredtoas‘thecloud’(forsecurebackup/easeofaccessfromanydeviceinanylocation)atnocosttoyou.

RECOMMENDEDLINKShttps://www.dropbox.comhttps://drive.google.comhttps://signup.live.com/signup.aspx

DomainnameOnceyouareonlineandhavethenecessarydevicesandstoragetorunyourbusinessthenextthingyouneedtoconsiderisyourdomainname.Firstlyyouneedtothinkaboutwhatitis(e.g.thenameofyourbusinessisagoodplacetostart)butsecondlyyouneedtothinkaboutwhether this is available.Unfortunately these daysmost good domain names arealready gone which means you can either pay a fortune to buy your ideal name offsomeonewhoalreadyboughtit(sotheycouldmakeasignificantmark-upsellingitbacktoyou)oralternativelyyoucanbuyanotherone.Idon’twanttodisappointbysayingthisbutsometimesaminorchangecanbethedifferencebetweena$50domainanda$5000one.Forinformationproducts,forexample,ifyourseriesnamewasthevirtualseriesandwww.virtual.comwasalreadytakenthenIrecommendyougoforwww.virtualseries.comas this canbebotha seriesofbooks,DVDsormanyotherproductswhich leavesyouroptionsopenforwhatyoudowithitdownthelinewhilekeepingyourcostsdownrightnow.EitherwayIrecommendyoualwaysgowiththe.comnotthe.com.auasthisgivesyoumoreofaglobalpresencebut ifneitherareavailableyouareabusinessso there isnothingwrongwith the .biz toget thebestdomainnameavailable.Onceagain, though,don’tgetcaughtwithanyoftheupsellhere.BuythedomainnameanddomainnameonlyasyouneedtoconsidereverythingelseIamabouttosaybeforeyoubuythewrongkindofhosting/supporttogowithit.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttps://au.godaddy.com

HostingOnceyouhaveyourdomainnameyouneedtogetithostedsomewhere.Thisisassimpleaspickinganyproviderbutbeforeyoudosoandgetlockedintoamulti-yearcontractyoudidn’tmeanto,thinkaboutwhatkindofwebsiteyouwant.Mostpeoplewantsomethingcontentmanagedthesedays(whichisalsowhatIrecommendtoyou)asitallowsyoutoupdatethecontentofyourwebsiteyourselfwithoutneedingtopayawebdevelopertodothis foryouonanongoingbasis;however, it is important tonote that content-managedwebsites only work on the platform on which they are built (as the resources you areplugging into your website to make functionalities work, e.g. email marketing system,

affiliatemarketingsystem,blog,shoppingcart,etc.arecreatedonceatalargeoverheadbythepersonwhobuiltthesystemyouareusingandthensharedbetweeneveryoneusingthesystem with their costs recovered via your minimalistic monthly hosting fee incomparison).Acontent-managedwebsite’shostingwillalwaysbeat leastdouble, ifnotmore,thanhostingastandardwebsitebutitiswortheverypennytohavetheseresourcesatyourdisposalinaconstantlyupdatingmanner(astheyaremaintainedbytheprovider)rather than you paying thousands of dollars to have each built and then needing toregularly pay again to manually update the functionalities of each yourself with thechangingtimes.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttp://businesscatalyst.com/PartnerPortal/FreeTrialSignup.aspx?PC=Imagine+Art+Graphics

EmailOnceyouhaveyourdomainnameandhavepickedyourhostingprovideryouaretobeginthinkingaboutsettingupyouremail.BeforeyoudothisIrecommendyousetupaGmailaccount,notonlybecausethisisoneoftheeasiestwaystodownloadyouremails(soyoudon’t need to use slow, confusing or heavily text-based web mail systems) but alsobecause it has one of the best junk mail/subscription/social alert filters and storeseverythingonlinesoyouwon’tloseanythingifsomethinghappenstodatastoredonyourcomputerthroughaprogramsuchasOutlookorMail.Italsohasgreatappsavailableinconjunction with it so you can not only access your emails from any browser on anycomputeratanytimebutalsoviaone-clickonyourphonewithpop-upnotifications,anytimeyougetanewemailtoallowyoutoquicklycheckwhetheritisimportantornotsoyouknowhowurgentyourresponseiswhileonthego.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttps://www.gmail.com/intl/en/mail/help/about.html

WebsiteNowyouaregoodtogointheonlineworldyouneedtoletpeopleknowaboutyou.Wewilltalkmoreaboutnetworkingandmarketinginfuturechapterstoassistinthisareabutthemostbasicwaytopromoteafullyvirtualbusinessinafullyvirtualmanneristohaveawebpresence.Ihavealreadyrecommendedthiswebpresencebecontentmanagedsoyoushould already have picked an appropriate provider for hosting and have your gmailaccount ready to begin downloading your emails but how do you go about getting awebsite set up and what is the right content to have on one? You have two choices,basically; you can a) use an already existing template that comes with any content-managedweb solution or b) you can pay someone to custom build one tomatch yourbranding.Itistimetostartthinkingaboutyourvisualbrand–howyouandyourbusinesswilllooktotheoutsideworld.Assuch,Iheavilyrecommendyouspendsomemoneyheregetting the right appearance as good/correct versus bad/incorrect branding canmake orbreakanybusiness.

Onceyouhaveawebtemplate/stylesset,regardlesswhichwayyouchoosetogowiththisyouneedtopopulatethiswebsitewithcontent.Toadegreewhatcontentyouincludeisup

to you; however, at the same time there are a lot of useless websites out there withpointlesscontentonthemsoIwillgiveyousomedirectionheretoo.Youonlyneedtwokindsofcontentandideallyallcontentwillmeetthesetwoneeds:firstly,itmustserveamarketingpoint,e.g.ifitisnotinsomewaysellingyouoryourbusinessitisnotrequired,andsecondly,itmustbekeywordrich/regularlyupdatinginordertoboostyourrankinginsearchengines, e.g.howclose to the topofpageoneyouappear inGoogle.As such, Irecommendyouincludethefollowing:

1.A homepagewhere someone can register for your newsletter, affiliate program,watchasmallintroductoryvideotoyou,yourbusinessandwhatyoudo,etc.2.Apageabouttheteambehindthebusiness3.Apageaboutyourservices4.Ablogsoyoucanregularlyupdatethecontenttopre-educateyourcustomers5.Astoresoprospectivecustomerscanpurchaseyourproducts/services6.Acontactuspagesopeoplecanreadilygetincontactwithyou7.Atestimonialspagesopeoplecanreadabouthowgreatyouarebasedonpreviouscustomers’experiences

Thereareotherthingsyoumaywanttoaddlaterasyourbusinessprogresses,suchassalesletters for a special promotion you are running, a page displaying your previousmediacoverage and/or a calendar showing any events you have coming up, but these seventhingswillgiveyouaverygoodstartinthevirtualmarket.Makesurewhichevertemplateyouuse,though,whetherprovidedfreebyyourhostingcompanyorcustomdesignedbyawebdeveloper,isbuildresponsiveandthereforecompatibleonnotonlyallcomputersbutalsoallmobiledevices.There isadifferencebetweenadynamicsite that isenabledformobileuseandaresponsivesitespecificallybuilttoautoadjustonmobiledevices(andnoyoudon’tneedtobuildtwoassomeproviderswouldtrytosellyou).

BookkeepingYou now have taken your business structure of choice from not even being online tomakingmoneyfromitsonlinepresencesoitisnowtimetothinkaboutboththelegalandfinancialsidesagainandby this Imeanbookkeeping. Ifyouaremakingmoney, legallyyouneedtobereportingit,buttosubmitanykindofBASquarterlyorTAXannuallyyouneedbooksreflectingthecurrentfinancialstatusofyourbusiness.TraditionallyweweretalkingsomethinglikeMYOBorQuickBooks,butnotanymore.Ifyouwanttobeatrulyvirtualbusinessthenyouwanttokeepyourbookkeepingfullyonline;firstly,becauseitiseasiertohireabookkeeperwithoutthemneedingtocometoyourplaceofbusinessatatimeinconvenienttoyou(e.g.yourhomewhileyouarebusywiththekids/travellingtheworld,etc.);secondly,becauseitallowsyoutostoreallyourinvoicesvirtuallysoyounolongerneedanypaperwork(nortosortthroughittofindproofofanylegalrequirementatany time); and thirdly, because it connects straight to PayPal (the payment merchant Irecommended toyou) soyoucan importyourPayPaldetails just asyoucanyourbankaccountdetailssomostof thebookkeeping isautomated.Thiswayyouhaveaminimalamountofhoursmanuallyreconcilingyouraccountorminimalcostspayingsomeonetodo so for you.My recommendation of software to do this isXero for the bookkeeping(thoughthesedaysotherproviderscandothistoo)inconjunctionwithShoeboxforyourvirtualinvoicestorageandwewilltalkmoreabouthowtofindtherightbookkeepertobe

partofyourteaminlaterchapters.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttps://www.xero.comhttps://www.shoeboxed.com.au/xero

4.HowtoAppearontheSamePageasSo-Called‘BIG’Business

APPEARINGPHYSICALIf you are a small, one-person, work-from-home entrepreneur it can often be hard tocompeteonthesamestageasalarge,multinationalcorporatethatemploysthousandsofpeople.Theonlything,however,thattrulyseparatessmallbusinessesfromthecorporateworldistheperceptionofsize;inotherwords,tobesuccessfulyouneedtoappearjustascompetitively in the market place. I am not talking about lying or pretending to besomethingyouarenot,Iamjustsayingthatyouneedtohaveapresenceeverywheretheso-called‘bigbusinesses’doandideallyalsowheretheydonot.ThemorepeopleseeyouthemorepeoplecometoknowandtrustyousointhischapterIwanttolookathowtomakethefullyvirtualbusinessyouhavejustestablishedappearphysical.

POBox

Thefirstplacetostartiswithaphysicaladdressasnobodytrustsawebsitethatonlyhasadomainnameandemailaddressastheyappeartobespammers.Toshowpeopleyouarearealbusinessyouneedtohaveanactualaddressonyourwebsitesopeopleknowwhereyouarelocated.Forsecuritypurposes(ifyouareworkingfromhome)Iobviouslydon’trecommendgivingoutyourpersonaldetailssoitisagoodideatoregisterforaPOBox.Don’t be tricked into registering a business address unnecessarily as this can be veryexpensivebut ifyouareasoloentrepreneurallyouneedisapersonalboxregisteredtoyourname tooperate from.Oncesetup, though,youareprobably thinking,well, that’sgreat,oneproblemsolved,butnowIhaveanotheroneinthatIneedtomanuallygoouteverydayandcollectmymail(whichkindofdefeatsthepurposeofworkingfromhome).Notanymore,asyoucannowutilisetheservicesofacompanycalledMailPlus.Notonlydo theseguyscheckyourbox foryoubut theydelivermail straight toyourdoor–youcan’t have privacy combinedwith convenience in a fully virtual nature any better thanthis.

RECOMMENDEDLINKShttp://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/post-office-boxes-and-private-bags.htmlhttp://www.mailplus.com.au

1300number

Thenextthingyouneedtoconsideristheflipside;whatiftheywanttospeaktoyouasopposed tocorrespondviaemail?Obviously this isnotsomethingyouwantas thiswilltakeupyour timeunnecessarily just as ringingphones/walk-inswoulddo in a physicalbusiness;however,onceagainpeopleneedtoknowyouarenotonlyrealbutaccessibleiftheywishtocallyouforwhateverreason.Irecommendhereyougeteithera1300numberasthesecanbedirectedtoanyphoneline,physicalormobile(soonceagainpeopledon’thaveyourpersonaldetails), though thesedaysyoudon’tneed togo the traditionalwayandcanactuallygetaSkypenumberwhichisafullyonline/VoIP(VoiceoverIP)serviceopposedtoatraditionalphoneprovider.TheyalsoallowyoutohavethechoiceofafullyonlinenumberorarealnumbersonooneevenknowsyouuseSkypeforyourcalls.

RECOMMENDEDLINKS

http://www.telecube.com.au/1300-numbershttp://www.skype.com/en/business

Voicemail

Oncethisissetup,justlikeyoudon’twanttocollectyourownmail,youdon’twanttoanswer your own calls, so you have a few choices.You could direct either to a virtualoffice/virtual assistant to answer your calls for you or you could have the phone gostraighttovoicemail.Eitherwaytheperceptionthisgives(evenifpeoplearemomentarilyannoyedatnotbeingabletospeakwithyoudirectly)isthatyouareverybusyandthelessavailableyou appear tobe themorevalue theyplaceonyour time.Oncemessages aretaken ineithercapacityyoudon’twant towasteyour timeplaying themsoyouwantatranscriptionsenteitherdirectlytoyouremailorSMSedtoyou(differentproviderswillprovidedifferentoptions).Whoeveryouchoosetogowithyouwanttobeabletoquicklyglanceatamessagetoseewhohascalledandwhytodeterminewhetheritisimportantorurgentaswellashave time toprepareyouranswersoyousoundmore informedbeforecallingthemback.AlotofthetimeyouwillfindyoumaynotneedtocallpeoplebackasyoucanSMStheanswertotheirquestioninasentenceortwowhichgivesthemapromptanswerandallowsyoutogetbacktotherestofyourlifesoyoucancontinueplayingwithyour kids or boarding your next flightwhile stillmaintaining complete control of yourbusiness.Thesedaysitisreallyquiteeasytoappearphysicallywhileoperatinginafullyvirtualmanner.

5.IsSocialMediatheNewNetworking?Onceyouhavesetupboth thevirtualandphysicalcomponentsofyourvirtualbusinessyou are ready to begin looking for customers. Before we even begin to talk aboutmarketing techniques in thenext fewchapters,youneed to thinkabout thebestkindofmarketing; that is, relationship-based marketing. In other words, you need to beginnetworkingwithlike-mindedpeopletraditionallyinyourlocalarea/similartargetmarket.Howdoyoudothis,however,withoutleavingthehouse,withoutspendingmoneyonanattendancefeeorlosingtimeoverabreakfast,lunchoreveningevent?Iamsureyouhaveheardtheexpression‘Socialmediaisthenewnetworking’,buthere’showitworks.

Insteadofwalkingincoldandsaying,“Hi,mynameis…andIofferservicesin…andhereismybusinesscard,”youappearwarmstraightawayasthebrandingonanysocialmediasitebeforetheyevenreadanyofyourpostsclearlysayswhoyouareandwhatyoudowhileyourbusinesscardofmultiplepoststellsthemawholelotmoreaboutboththanyoucanfitonatinycard.Plus,theaddedbonusofonlinenetworkingisinsteadofhavingtowaitaweek,month,quarter,etc. till thenextevent tocontinuebuildingrelationshipsvia regular touch points with the same group of people, you can do so in a matter ofminutesfromthe timeyoufirstmakecorrespondencewithanewcontactviaaseriesofmessages toandfromeachother.Betteryet,youwill regularlyfindpeopleaskingtobeyourfriend,followyou,connecttoyouorjoinyourcircleswhichissomuchbetterthanphysicallywalkinguptosomeoneatanetworkingeventandhavingtobetheonetobreaktheice.

Themorefriends,followers,contactsorassociatesyouhaveoneachplatformthequickeryou can get a message out to people when you want to let them know about a newproduct/service;insteadoftalkingtopeopleoneononeorhavingtoattendmeetingaftermeetingyoucanleteveryoneonyourlistsknowsimultaneously.Also,ifyouareutilisingsoftwarethatallowsyoutoprepareposts,suchasHootsuite,youcanwriteonepostandupdate all platforms simultaneously. Remember to be careful to proof all posts (andresponsestoposts)whenbothpre-preparingandansweringonthespotasthereisnothingmore unprofessional than incorrect spelling and/or grammar in any of yourcorrespondencewith your targetmarket and socialmedia.The quick ease of using thistechnique can result in mistakes. There is no point visually having a professionallybranded website, social media banners, etc. and then taking away from thatprofessionalismwiththecontentofyourposts.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttps://hootsuite.com/signup

Please find below all you need to know to set up each of the current standards in thebusinessworldsoyoucanbeginyouronlinenetworkingtoday.

YouTubewww.youtube.com

1channel–namedafteryourbusinesswith1banner–showingwhoyouareandwhatyoudo

1videowith1subscriber

Facebookwww.facebook.com

1personalprofile–namedafteryouwith1banner–showingwhoyouare

1businesspage–namedafteryourbusinesswith1banner–showingwhatyoudo

1postforeachwith1friend(forpersonalprofile)plus1like(forbusinesspage)

Twitterwww.twitter.com

1channel–namedafteryourbusinesswith1banner–showingwhoyouareandwhatyoudo

1tweetwith1follower

LinkedInwww.linkedin.com

1personalprofile–namedafteryouwith1picture–showingwhoyouare

1businesspage–namedafteryourbusinesswith1picture–showingwhatyoudo

1postforeachwith1connection(forpersonalprofile)plus1follower(forbusinesspage)

GooglePlusplus.google.com

1personalprofile–namedafteryouwith1banner–showingwhoyouare

1businesspage–namedafteryourbusinesswith1banner–showingwhatyoudo

1postforeachwith1friend(forpersonalprofile)plus1follower(forbusinesspage)

Pinterestwww.pintrest.com

1channel–namedafteryourbusinesswith1board–showingwhoyouareandwhatyoudo

1pinwith1follower

6.DollarsandSense

NOCOSTMARKETINGWhen you are ready to begin promoting your business to people outside of yourimmediatenetwork,nocostmarketingisthebestwaytostart.Ihearwhatyouaresaying,though:“HowcanIgetsomethingfornothing?”but in reality itactually isn’t thathardonceyouknowwhatyouaredoing,particularlyonlinewhenyoucanpreparesomethingaheadoftime,schedulewhenitgoesoutandthenupdatetwonetworkssimultaneously–yourpersonalwhenyougotoHootsuiteandletthemknowwhatyouhavejustdone(e.g.checkoutmynewblogpost)and theworldwidewebwhenGooglenaturally increasesyourrating,movingyouclosertowardsthetopofpageonebasedonthecontentonyourwebsite regularly being updated. Please find below the four best ways to do this: twobeing passive,meaning theyworkwithout you needing to do anything, and two beingactive,meaningyouneedtoimplementthemonaregularbasis.

PASSIVEMARKETINGSalesletter

Youmusthaveone sales letterperproduct.This isnot a shoppingcart thathas severalitemsinit,e.g.aprintedbook,anebook,apackagetobuyboth,etc.withapicture,name,descriptionandpriceforeach,butaseparatepageofdedicatedsalescopycustomwrittento selloneproduct.Youdon’tneed this specialofferperproductbutwhatyouactuallyneedisaspecialofferthatcontainsseveralproducts,e.g.buytheprintedbook,getafreeebook, etc. This copymust be specificallywritten for both the product/service you areselling, the targetmarketyouare selling it to and thecurrentmarketing techniques thatwork for each. I recommend attending a course to learn how to do this yourself if youdon’tcurrentlyhavethisskillset,aspayingsomeonetodothisforyou,eitheronceofforonanongoingbasis,willbealotmoreexpensive.

SAMPLELINKhttp://sample2013.thepublishingqueen.biz/specials

Affiliatemarketing

Once your sales letters are complete I recommend you connect an affiliate program tothem,e.g.ifyouhaveonesalesletteryouhaveoneaffiliateprogrambutifyouhavetwosalesletters(e.g.youaresellingapackageofproductsandapackageofservices)thenyouwanttwoseparateaffiliateprogramssothelandingpageforeachuniquelinkisadifferentsalesletter.IfyouarenotfamiliarwithaffiliateprogramsoranyofthetermsIhavejustusedareunfamiliartoyou,letmeexplaininsimpleterms.AnaffiliateprogramworksbysomeonesigningupandreceivingauniqueURL(hyperlinkwhichwhenclickedbringsupaspecificwebpage).Theythenpromoteyoursalesletterforyoubysharingthislinkwiththeircolleagues/friendshowevertheywishto,e.g.socialmedia,email,ontheirwebsite,etc. and the back end of yourwebsite calculateswho sentwho,what they clicked andif/when theypurchased.Someoneagrees todo this foryouasyouagree togiveawayapercentageofaprofityouotherwisewouldn’thavehad;forexample,whenapersonwhoclicks their unique link converts to a sale you pay 10% back to them as an affiliate

commission.Mostgoodcontentmanagersalreadyhavetheirsoftwareofchoicetodothisinbuilt,butmakesurebackinChapter3whenyouarepickinghostingprovidersthattheyareabletoprovideyouwiththisfacilityasyoursalesofanythingwillbeheavilyaffectedifyouhavetodoallthepromotionofyourproducts/servicesyourself.

SAMPLE

ACTIVEMARKETINGBlogging

Once your passivemarketing is automatically working for you (as your affiliates sendtraffictoyoursitetopurchasewithoutyouneedingtodoanything),youarereadytobeginactivelymarketing.Thefirstmethodofactivemarketingintheonlinespaceforavirtualbusiness is blogging. The current standard is, you should be blogging twice per week.What a blog includes is up to you (e.g. text based, image based, video based, acombinationof,orallthree);allthatmattersisthatyouwriteapostregularly.Thelengthofeachpostisalsoirrelevant(e.g.afewsentences,paragraphs,pages);whatisimportantisthatyoumakesureyoualwaysincludeoneofthefollowingcallstoactionattheendofyourblogsotherwisewhen someoneenjoys reading themyouarenotdirecting them towhatyouwantthemtodonext.Inotherwords,youwastedyourtimewritingtheblogifitcan’teverconvertdirectlytoasale.Therearethreecallstoactionanyblogshouldhave:

1.Clickhereforourcurrentspecialoffer(salesletter)2.Clickheretoregisterforourfree…(newsletter)3.Clickheretogetpaidtopromotethisproduct/service(affiliateprogram).

Asyoucansee,thelanguageyouuseforyourcustomersisdifferenttothelanguageyouunderstand; for example, they hear “I get for free” when you hear “I am building adatabase”,etc.

SAMPLELINKhttp://sample2013.thepublishingqueen.biz/blog

Emailmarketing

Once you are an experienced blogger and you have started to build your database bygivingawaysomethingofvaluetothemforfree(thus,theyarewillingtoexchangetheiremailaddressascurrencyforit)youarereadytobeginemailmarketingtothepeopleyoualreadyknowareinterestedinyourproduct/service.Similartoblogging,whatisimportantabout emailmarketing is that it is done regularly and the current standard is twice permonth.Whatgoesintoanewsletteronceagaindoesn’treallymatter;whatdoesmatteristhatyoua)touchbasewiththemregularlyandb)alwaysincludethethreecallstoactionabove. If you are running short on content or ideas, a newsletter with an introductoryparagraph updating your subscribers of any developments over the last fortnight alongwithlinkstoyourlastfourblogpostswrittenoverthisperiodoftimewillsuffice.Dothisregularly and you will be pleasantly surprised at how regularly and how instantly thiscombinationofmarketingtechniquescanconverttosales.

SAMPLEDear{tag_recipientfirstname},Welcometomyfirstnewsletter.Iamreallyexcitedtosharewithyouhowmuchinteresttherehasbeenroundmynewbook‘booktitle’sofar.Wehavebeenreceivingamazingtestimonialsfromallwhohavereaditsayingthingslike‘testimonial’.TodownloadtheFREEsamplechapteryouwerepromisedwhenyouregisteredforthisemailclickhere.Asaresultofthisgreatfeedbackwehaveputtogethersomeveryspecialoffersforboththeebookandprintedbook,aswellasforpeoplewhocan’tdecidewhichformattheywouldprefer,adiscountedpricetoreceiveboth,includingcomplimentarypostage.ToviewourspecialofferclickherePeoplehavebeenenjoyingthebooksomuchtheyhavebeenrecommendingittoalltheirfriends.Asaresultwehavedecidedtoofferanyoneinterestedinpromoting‘booktitle’a10%commissionforanycopiessoldfromourwebstorebasedontheirrecommendation.ToregistertobecomeanaffiliateofthisgreatbookclickhereIlookforwardtosharingmoreaboutthisamazingbookwithyouinafewweeks’time.

7.PayPer…

PAIDFORMARKETINGThemostcommonmisconceptionisthatyouneedtopayforadvertising.Thiscouldn’tbefurther from the truth and yet somany people waste somuchmoney on a daily basispaying for advertising they don’t need to. We have already talked about ‘no cost’marketing in thepreviouschapterandIamgoing to talkabout ‘smartmarketing’ in thenext chapter as away of taking free advertising to the next level; however, if you areinterestedinpayingtoadvertiseyourbusiness(whichthereisatimeandaplacefor,e.g.whilenotessentialiscancertainlyexpeditetheamountoftrafficsenttoanygivensource)beloware themost commonmethodsandhoweachworks.Awordof caution, though,beforeproceeding:makesureyouhavea)alwayssetupthemoney-collectingmethodforanyadvertisingyoudobeforeyoustart,e.g.iftheycan’tgiveyoumoneyasadirectresultof you paying any, don’t shell it out and b) ensure that you have the potential to (andalways do) make a lot more than you spend otherwise cease marketing this wayimmediately.

Keywordadvertising

Themostcommonkindofonlinemarketing ispayperclick.Thismeansyouseeanadsomewhereandyoupayeachtimesomeoneclicksit.Therearealsootherversionsofthis,such as pay per impressionwhere you pay each time someone sees your ad. ThemostcommonformofthisisGoogleAdwordswhichcanbefoundontheright-handside/topofanysearchinGoogle(meaningthepaidadsrankhigherthanyourfreerankingfromyouractive marketing, e.g. regular blog posts); however, these days the most popular isFacebook marketing as you can get a lot more exposure for a lot less money. Bothmethodsalsoallowyou to targetyouradssoyoucanchoosewhosees themandwhen,e.g. only women aged 25-35 who have not seen the ad before and are not already aFacebookfriendofmineandonlyuntilIhavespent$20aday.Iwouldsayplayaroundwiththisandtestandmeasureyourresults;however,remember$20adaysoundscheapbut that is stillnearly$600amonth. Ifyouarenotmakingsignificantlymore than thisspecificallyfromtheadsyouareplacingIsuggestyouseriouslyconsidernotusing thismarketingmethod.

RECOMMENDEDLINKShttps://adwords.google.comhttps://www.facebook.com/advertising

Mediaadvertising

The next most common form of advertising is media, i.e. radio/magazine. Most smallbusinessestendtoavoidtelevisionornewspaperadsthinkingtheyareoutoftheirbudgetbutyouwouldbesurprisedhowmuchtheywasteannuallyonradioandmagazineadsastheydidn’ttracktheresultsofeach.Iamnotsayingyoushouldnotbeinthesemediums,Iamjustsayingbecarefulwhatyouspendasonceagainifyouarenotgettingasignificantreturn on investment I would not recommend this marketing method. What I would,however,recommendisthatyouareregularlyinthemediabutstopthinkingyouhavetopayforitandlookathowyoucangetthiskindofexposureforfree.Sendapressrelease

onceamonthtoyourlocalmediacontactsandletthemknowaboutsomethinginnovativeyou are doingwith your business. You never knowwhat can come of this. Of course,regular publicity is a lotmore complicated than that and not something I am going tocoverinthischapterasyouneedtobewellandtrulyestablishedastheexpertinyourfieldbefore you begin looking at that, but getting the mindset now that you can get mediaexposure for free rather thanpaying toadvertise isagoodplace tostart.Don’t forget ifyouarebotheringtopaysomeonetogetyoufreepublicity(whichisstillonestepuponpayingforadvertisingevenifyourfreecoveragewasn’tfreetoobtain),makesureyougetacopyofallexposureanddisplay itonyourwebsiteonanongoingbasisandshareonsocial media when relevant so you can use the credibility you get not just when it ispresently happening but also utilise your credibility of the past in all your futuremarketing.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttp://ppr.com.auhttp://www.isentia.com/product/media-alerts

Transitadvertising

The last kind of marketing start-up virtual businesses or those physical businessestransitioningtothevirtualspacetendtothinkofistransitadvertising.Iamtalkingaboutthings like bus ads (these can also be on taxis, trains, trams, etc.) or billboards (whicharen’t just the large thingsonhighwaysbut thesedayssmallerversionscanbefoundincinemas,shoppingcentres,backoftoiletdoors,etc.).Bothoftheseareonceagaingreatfor exposure but before you jump into somethingyouneither neednor can realisticallyaffordthinkaboutwhetheryourtargetmarketwouldseethiskindofadandifsowhetherthatwouldnecessarilyconverttoasaleofyourproduct/service.Thenyouwouldneedtoconsiderhowmanyofyouraveragesalesyouwouldneedtomaketorecoverthecostoftheadandhowlikely this is tohappen.If Ihaven’talreadymentionedit in thischapterenough times Iwill emphasise it again – don’t pay for a reputationwhich can be heretodayandgonetomorrow;payforasaleyoucantaketothebank.Whilethesalesfromthismarketingmethodmeetyourtargetsfeelfreetospendtheprofitsitgeneratestofundthe ongoing running of it. The only time I recommend using thismarketingmethod iswhileit’sbothcoveringitscostsandproducingaprofitatthesametime.

RECOMMENDEDLINKShttp://www.busadvertising.com.auhttp://www.billboardsaustralia.com.au

8.AWell-ConnectedNetwork

SMARTMARKETINGWe’ve spoken about free and paid advertising but smart marketing is just that:‘marketing’, andnot ‘advertising’ at all.The conceptof advertising is an ad, and an adimplies paid and this can be a very non-constructive way of opening a new virtualbusinessormovinganexistingoneinthatdirectionifyouregularlyputoutmoremoneythan you bring in during the initial months, or worse, run on a continual basis, justcoveringcosts,whichissadlyhowalotofsmallbusinessesrunjustsotheycanprovidethemselveswithapaycheckastheydon’twanta9-to-5job.ThewayIseeit,ifyouhavebeenbotheredtogointobusinessthenyoucanbebotheredtodoitproperlyandproperlyis having your marketing working for you, not working to cover the costs of yourmarketing. There are three ways that you can take this concept of not paying toadvertise/marketyourbusinesstothenextlevelandIwillcovereachofthesebrieflyinthischaptersoyoucandecidewhichcombinationofthemwillworkbestforyouandyourbusiness.

Crosspromotion

Crosspromotionisagreatplacetostartasnotonlydoesitcostyounothingbutanyonecandoitwithnoexperience(yourselfincluded),whichmeansyoucanstartnow.Itreallyis as simple as finding someone with the same target market as you and offering topromotetheirservicetoyourcustomers,database,businesscolleagues,friendsandfamilyin return for themdoing the same for you. For example, amake-up artistmaywant topromoteahairdresserasusuallyifpeoplearegettingtheirhairdoneforaneventtheywillalsowanttheirmake-updone,andviceversa.HowyourunthiscrosspromotionisuptoyoubutIrecommendyousetitupinreciprocalterms;forexample,ifoneputsabrochurepromotingtheother’sservicesontheirfrontcounter, thentheothershoulddothesame.Wearetalkingvirtualbusinesshere,though,sointheonlinespaceyourfrontcounterinthisexamplemaybearecommendationofeachother’sservicesonyourrespectivewebpages,includeinyouremailmarketing,etc.

Strategicalliances

Thenextlevelisastrategicalliance.Youcanhavemanycross-promotionalpartners(forexample,youmightdothisfor12differentbusinesscolleaguesandjustbecauseeachofthemmayonlydo thiswithyouandgetone lotof referredbusinessyouaredoing thiswith12 soyouaregetting12 lotsof referredbusiness)but a strategic alliance tiesyoudown to the reciprocal arrangement as it is a more serious and usually exclusiverelationship. In the example previously mentioned, it might be you run an ongoingpromotionwhereeveryhaircutcomeswithafreelipstickoreverymakeupstylingcomeswith 12 complimentary foils. This could be somethingwhere you provide each other’scustomerswith gift vouchers as part of the service.Gift vouchers are also great as thestatistics on the amount of gift vouchers that are purchased and never redeemed issurprisinglyhigh.Howthisworksisalsouptoyou–youmightpurchasethevouchersofftheotherpartyandthentheymakethemoneyatthetimeofpurchaseregardlesswhethertheyareredeemedornot,oryoumightgivethemawayforfreeandtheyonlychargeyouwhen someone cashes one in. Once again, just becausewe are talking virtual business

don’tthinkyoucan’tusegiftvouchers.Codescanbeusedtoredeemvouchersonlineandtheycanalsobedelivereddigitallywhichmeansa)youdon’tneedtopayprinting/postagecosts andb)youget to indirectlybuildyourdatabasebycollectinganemail address inordertodeliver.Don’tforgettobuildthecostofthisintothepriceofyourproduct/service,as just like paid-formarketing, you don’twant any promotional offer you have to takeawayfromtheprofitsofyourbusiness.

Jointventures

Thethirdandmostpowerfulalliancewithanotherbusinessthatsharesyourtargetmarketiscreatingajointventureor,astheyareaffectionatelyknownasthesedays,aJV.Thisistakingyourmarketingtoawholenewlevelasthisismorethanjustpromotingeachother,morethanjustallowingyourcustomerstotesttheother’sservice,butitisworkingwithsomeonetocreateawholenewproduct. In thesamplealreadymentioned, thiscouldbesomethinglikeaweddingpackagewhereonebusinessdoesthehairofthebridalpartyandtheotherthemakeupbuttheybothsellthesamepackagetotheirprospectivecustomers;eachfulfilsontheother’ssaleandtakestheircutoftheprofitsinreturnfordoingso.Bevery careful with setting up this kind of arrangement that you are clear about what isexpectedofeachpartyandwhatreturnseachpartywillgetbeforeyoustart,asIhaveseenfar toomany JV relationships go sour due to communication being unclear. One partymight assume youwould equally promote the productwith a 50/50 profit share but inrealityonepartywillalwaysspendmoretimepromotingthantheother,justasthepricepointsontheinclusionsmaynotbeexactlythesamewhichmayleadonepartytothinktheyareentitledtoahigherpercentageoftheprofitsthantheother.

Whenitcomestoyourfieldofspecialityareyouthehairdresserorthebeautician;whoistheotherpartyyouarelookingforandwhodoyouknowthatmaybeabletoputyouincontactwiththem?

9.ThePowerofLeverageOnce you have begun playing with smart marketing you will begin to understand thepowerof leveragebut it isnot justyourbusinesscolleagueswithsimilar targetmarketsthatyoucanhavepromotingyourbusinessonyourbehalf.Youcanhaveateamofpeoplefulfillingonyoursalesforyousoyouneitherneedtoworktogetthesalenordotheworkonce the sale has been transacted. There are two things required to ensure the internaloperationsofyourvirtualbusinessrunsmoothly.Thefirstisthatyoupicktherightpeopletobedoingtherighttasksandthesecondisthattheyhavetherightprocedurestofollowtoensurethetaskisperformedexactlyasyoubothrequireandhaveadvertiseditwillbe.

BUILDINGATEAM–outsourcingTherearethreeareasyouneedtotakeintoconsiderationwhenbuildingyourteam:whoiscreatingtheoriginalwork–thepeoplecreatingtheproduct;whoisdoingthehand-and-feetwork– thepeople fulfilling the service; andwho ismanaging thewholeprocess–thoseresponsiblefortheday-to-dayoperations.Initiallyyoumayhaveonepersondoingall three and initially that personmaybeyou,but asyou split the job to three separatepeople,which eventually grows to three separate teams to replace you completely, youwillneedtobeawareofthefollowingthreeareas.

Innovators

Thesearethepeoplewhocreateforyoutheproductyouareplanningtosell,suchaswebdevelopers,programmers,etc.Thesekindofpeoplearegenerallybesttosourceoverseasasthiswillsignificantlydecreaseyourcosts;however,ensurethatlanguagebarriersaren’tanissuewhencommunicatinganytechnicalrequirementstoensureyougettheoutcomeyouwant first time aroundwith no hidden expenses. The best programmers tend to befoundinIndia.

Creativetalent

These are the people who fulfil on any service you are offering, e.g. in the case ofpublishingabookthesepeoplewouldbeeditors,designers,etc.Thesecanalsobesourcedoffshore for the same reasonsmentionedabovebut alsobecausedue to timeexchangesyoucangenerallygettasksactionedovernightreadyforyoutouseonthenextbusinessday.Becareful,however, thatwhoeveryouchoose is familiarwith the standardsof thecountryyoutradein,notjustthecountrytheyresidein.

Administration

Thesearethepeoplewhomakealloftheabovehappenforyou.Theseincludepeoplewhomanageanygiventaskforyou,suchasyourbookkeepermentionedinChapter3throughtoyourpersonalassistantwhocanmanageanyoftheseothertasksforyou.Traditionallyknown as PAs, personal assistants are now much easier to source, as VAs (virtualassistant)can,asabove,workfromanywhereintheworld,atatimeconvenienttothem,toensureyourbusinessrunssmoothlyinthemanneryouwantitto.Ifthispersonisgoingtobespeakingdirectly toyourclients,outsourcing to thePhilippinesgenerallyprovidesthebestgraspandfluentspeechoftheEnglishlanguage.Insummary,ifyoupicktherightstaff for the correct positions in eachof these three categories your businesswill begin

flowingsmoothly,solongasyoualsohavethecorrectinstructionmanualforeachpartytofollow.

BUILDINGASYSTEM–manualAsystemsmanual is therefore themost importantpartofanoutsourcedvirtualbusinesswhere you are hiring sub-contractors who also get to work from the comfort of theirhomes/theirlifeonthegoopposedtoemployingstaffinaphysicaloffice.Therearealsothreesectionsthatneedtobeincludedinyoursystemsmanualtotellyourteamwhattheyneedtodoandwhen.Irecommendthatyouhavetwosub-sectionswithineachof thesethree sections. Firstly, a heading for each and every task you need them to perform(preferably in the order you want them to perform them in) with detailed step-by-stepinstructions on how to do each underneath. Secondly, a sectionwithwhat to do at anygivenperiodoftime,e.g.daily,weekly,monthly,quarterly,yearly,etc.tasks.Irecommendthissectionlistbelikeahyperlinkedtableofcontentssotheycanclickanyitemineachlisttogostraighttotheinstructionsonhowtodothis.Ithelpstoalsohaveavideoversionof each written task and many people also like to have flowcharts throughout thisdocument.Pleasefindbelowsomeideasofwhatshouldgoineachsectionbutobviouslyyouwillneedtofleshthisoutforyourselfbasedonthespecificsofyourbusiness.

Productcreation

Designbookcover

-collectroughsketch/descriptionofcoverconceptfromclientandcreate/supplyfirstproof-collectclient’sfeedbackandcreate/supplysecondproof-collectclient’sfeedbackandcreate/supplythirdproof-collectclient’sapprovalandcomplete/supplypre-pressinallrequiredformats

Setuponlinedistribution…

Editbook…

Designbookcontents…

Proofreadbook…

Setupbookstoredistribution…

Servicefulfilment

Planoutinclusionsofmembershipprogram

-planvideotraining-planassociatedcheatsheets/templates/checklists-planweeklycoachingcalls-plansalesprocess

Design/buildwebpages…

Write/programautoresponders…

Film/edit/upload/insertvideos…

Testall…

Operations

Dailytasks

-Checksocialmedia/phonecalls/emails/mailandaddallactionableitemstorelevanttasklists-Followupallsupplierstoseewhenthenextthingyouareexpectingthemtodoforyouwillbeready-Followupallclientstoseewhenthenextthingyouareexpectingfromthemwillbeready

Weeklytasks…

Monthlytasks…

Quarterlytasks…

Yearlytasks…

10.Ongoingsuccess=ongoingeducation

PERSONALDEVELOPMENTThemostimportantpartofanybusinessiscontinualpersonalandbusinessdevelopmentofitsowner.Ifyouaren’tcontinuingtogrowasapersonandinyourknowledgeofyourfieldofexpertiseyouwillnotcontinuetobetheexpertinyourfieldandwill,overtime,do yourself out of business in a competitive and ever-changingmarket place.As such,therearethreekeyareasyouneedtoconsidertoensureyourongoingeducationkeepsyouonestepaheadofyourcompetition.

Seminars/webinars

Thefirstoftheseistrainingseminars,orthesedays,webinars(whenwearetalkingaboutthevirtualworld)whichare invaluable foryouwhen itcomes to findingoutwhatyourtargetmarketiscurrentlyinterestedin,changingtechnologiesandhowthetwoneedtobeintegratedintotheproducts/servicesthatyouoffer.Youshouldbesettingsometimeasideatleastonceamonthtocontinueyoureducationifyouwishtostayinnovativeandstandoutfromothersofferingsimilarproducts/servicestoyouinthemarketplace.

SAMPLELINKhttp://www.virtualmarketing.biz/coaching

Workshops/onlinetraining

Thesecondoftheseismovingthisconceptevenfurther,aswhileaseminardeliversthetheoryofwhatyouneed toknow,aworkshopdelivers thepracticalcomponents soyoucan put into action what you have just learnt. These days you don’t need to go to aphysicalweekendcoursetoapplywhatyoulearnt;onlinecourses,forexample,areagreatwaytodothis.

SAMPLELINKhttp://www.virtualmarketing.biz/coaching4

Coaching

The third is taking both the theoretical and practical to the next level byworkingwithsomeonemoreexperiencedthanyoutohelp takeyouandyourbusinesssimilarly to thenextlevel.It isnotimportantthatthispersonisanexpert inyourfieldofexpertise, justthattheyareabletohelpyoutakeyourbusinesstothenextlevelonaregularbasissoyouareregularlyreviewingyourprevioussuccesses,makingnewgoalstosurpassthem,andachievingandthereforere-evaluatingtimeandtimeagain.

Ifyouaredoingall threeof these things thenyouwillbegrowinganddevelopingasapersonsimultaneouslyasyourbusinessdoes.

11.BecomingKnownastheExpertinyourField

CREDIBILITYOnce you have sought the experts’ advice and applied it you will notice as you workthroughthechaptersofthisbookyouwillhavemovedfromastart-upvirtualbusiness(orexistingbusinessinavirtualstart-upstageasyoutransitioned)tobeingquitecomfortablewithyournewbusiness,yourproducts/servicesandyourtargetmarket,andhowthefirsttworegularlymeettheneedsofthethird.It’snotpossibletobecomeanovernightsuccessperse,butwhenyourealise thatyouareprettygoodatwhatyoudo,asyouhavebeendoingitforsolongyouhavenaturallybecomewhatisknownasthe‘expertinyourfield’,itistimetoleteveryoneelseknowaboutit.Theperiodoftimeittakesforthistohappenortheamountofknowledge/experienceyouneedfor this tobetruewillbedifferentfornotonlyeachindividualbutalsoeachfieldofexpertise.Youwillknowbetterthananyoneelsewhenyouhavetrulymasteredyournicheandarereadytoclaimyourstatusasexpertinyourfield,butoncethishashappenedyouneedtolettherestoftheworldknowand,assuch,yourmarketingneedstoreflectthis.

Publishabook

Thebestwaytoestablishauthorityastheexpertinyourfieldistopublishabookasthenew-and-improvedbusinesscard,tonotonlyclaimthisstatusbutalsoleteveryoneknowallaboutyouandyourbusinesswhilesharinghowmuchyouknowaboutwhattheydon’twiththemsotheyknowwhytheyneedtohireyoutoensuretheirX,YorZisdonebyonlytheverybest.IhopeyouhaveenjoyedreadingthisbookandgreatlybenefitedfromtheinformationIhavesharedwithyouthusfar;assumingthisisthecase,imagineifotherpeople could feel about you how you feel about me right now. This is the power ofpublishing an information-based book to educate people while indirectly being a verypowerfulmarketingtoolforyou.

That’sright;it’scalledthenew-and-improvedbusinesscard,andnotjustbecauseyoucanfitawholelotmoreonitthanyourtraditionalbusinesscard(asyounowhaveawholelotmorespacetorevealalittlemoreaboutwhoyouareandwhatyoudotoyourprospectivecustomers). That isn’t even the best part. The best part is you are now getting paid tomarketyourbusinessinsteadofpayingtomarketit,whichisthenextleveluponbothfreeandsmartmarketing.That’sright;yourprospectivecustomernowspends$20-odddollarstoqualify themselvesasyour idealcustomerandcomes toyouready to transactmoneyandstartworkingwithyoutodaywithoutyouspendinganytimeormoneytryingtofindthemastheyrealisetheycan’taffordnottoworkwithyouafteryouhaveproventhistotheminyourbook.Similarly,thosetime-wastingprospectsthatusedtoaskforaseriesofcomparative quotes they never planned to go aheadwith now spend the same $20-odddollarstoattempttodowhatyouareteachingthemselvesastheycan’tactuallyaffordtoworkwithyouduetotheirlimitedbudget(butnowtheyaren’twastingyourtimetillyoufindthisoutbutpayingnottobotheryou).Youarenowgettingpaidtosiftoutyourideal,regular,payingprospectsfromthetime-wasting,stressfulones–whatcouldbebetterthanthat?

RECOMMENDEDLINKwww.thepublishingqueen.com

Speakforprofit

Once you have the book underway the next bestway to claim your expert status is tospeakfromstage.WhatImeanbythisisspeakingeveryopportunityyouget.Idon’tmeannor do I expect you to become a professional and therefore paid speaker but don’tunderestimate a) the credibility that can come from speaking for free or b) howmuchmoney you can actually make doing so to cover your time if you sell your book towhoeverhearsyouspeak.Forexample,ifyouspeakfor30minutesto30peoplewitha50%conversionrate,meaning15peoplebuya$20book,thatwouldgiveyouanhourlyrateof$600–notbad foracredibilitybooster,not tomentiononceagainyouarenowgettingpaidtomarketyourbusinessinsteadofpayingtodoso.Becarefulonceagain,asjustlikesocialmediawhatyousayinpersoncanmakeorbreakyourcredibility.Sayingthat,don’tbetooscaredtostartaspracticemakesperfect;justmakesureyourpractisingdoesn’taffectyourcredibilityasthereisadelicatebalancebetweenthetwo.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttp://bigbrandspeaking.com

Attractthemedia

Lastly,mediaattentionisessentialinmaintainingyourexpertstatusaswhileeveryoneistalkingaboutwhoyouareandwhatyoudothereistangibleproofoftheclaimyouhavemade. The bestway to regularly be in themedia’s face is to keep them in the loop ofanythinginnovativegoingonwithyourbusinessonaregularbasis.Assuch,Irecommendyousendapressrelease(thelanguagethemedialikestoreceivecorrespondencefromyouin)torelevantmediacontactsonamonthlybasisandfollowitup,ideallywithin24hoursofrelease,soyoucanbeginbuildingrelationshipswiththosewho,justlikeyourbusinesscoach,cankeeptakingyouandyourbusinesstothenextlevelbyhighlightingyourexpertstatus and therefore giving you and everything you have done to this point in timecredibilityonaregularbasis.

RECOMMENDEDLINKhttp://freemediapublicitytraining.com.au

Thetripfrom‘9-to-5’to‘expertinyourfield’tookonlyafewchaptersformetocoverbutI hope you have enjoyed the journey so far and continue to enjoy the results of theconquestasyouputintoapplicationallIhavesharedwithyou.

TableofContentsIntroduction

1.SuccessfulSpeaking

2.BlastOffWithSocialMedia

3.SayGoodbyetoPrintedMarketing

4.AutomateYourWebSales

5.SalesLetterstothePowerofX

6.PublishingWithaCapital‘D’

7.ThePODEvolution

8.SecretsBehindDigitalEvents

9.MediaMadness

Conclusion

Here’showitworks:Book(setuppartA)–plan

Webstore/membershipprogram(setup)Speaking(setup)Sponsorship(setup)Socialmedia(setup)Magazine(setup)

Book(setuppartB)–createLAUNCHEVERGREENMARKETINGCAMPAIGN(seebelowforhow)Webstore/membershipprogram(ongoing)Speaking(ongoing)Media(ongoing)Sponsorship(ongoing)Events(ongoing)Socialmedia(ongoing)Magazine(ongoing)–editions

AbouttheAuthor

BonusBook-VirtualBusiness

VirtualBusiness-TableofContents

VirtualBusiness-1.Who,WhatandWhy

VirtualBusiness-2.BeProfessional

VirtualBusiness-3.Let’sGetDigital

VirtualBusiness-4.HowtoAppearontheSamePageasSo-Called‘BIG’Business

VirtualBusiness-5.IsSocialMediatheNewNetworking?

VirtualBusiness-6.DollarsandSense

VirtualBusiness-7.PayPer…

VirtualBusiness-8.AWell-ConnectedNetwork

VirtualBusiness-9.ThePowerofLeverage

VirtualBusiness-10.Ongoingsuccess=ongoingeducation

VirtualBusiness-11.BecomingKnownastheExpertinyourField