I have to confess: I’m a hypocrite. In the past, I have harped on having a marketing plan, but all too often I have let my own slip by and not get updated. For 2010, with all the changes and laser focus I’ve had that you’ve witnessed in my Branding Friday segment, I knew I had to get an updated plan.

First, I broke down my business into categories that make me money (or will soon):

• Consulting
• Marketing EggSchool

Then I listed those things I do that don’t directly make me money:

• Blogging
• Speaking

I took speaking off the table for now, because I would like to do it to make money, but at this point I need to focus on the things that are a bit easier. I don’t want to have too many areas to focus on or I will certainly lose focus.

Under each category, I described my plan. How will I market my consulting practice? My ecourses? I need a separate and very different plan for each. This year I will be writing more whitepapers (see Connecting Brands with Bloggers as my first one), attending the right conferences and continue to build Susan Payton as The Marketing Eggspert.

I’ll do a better job of measuring my efforts and dropping what isn’t working. I will check in quarterly and update my plan as it evolves. Will you do the same? Let’s hold one another accountable this year and make sure we stay on target.

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Christmas is an exiting time of the year and everyone always seem to be rushing around scooping up gifts for family and loves ones. So, will your eBay listings be part of the Christmas commerce gold rush or will your sales be left dwindling in the dark?

When I first started eBay’ing I simply assumed that no one would be buying anything from my eBay stores because there are so many people in the physical high street shops at this time of the year. And ‘Oh Boy’ was I proven wrong. The first Christmas my eBay store was open, was a booming success. Sales were high leading up to the Christmas week and I was even making sales on Christmas day! (Yes I am a workaholic and I do check my email after the turkey has gone).

So what can you do to make sure that your eBay listings are making sales this Christmas? Here are a few tips to make sure your store is seen in this festive seasons shopping spree;

1) If you have heard of the 80/20 rule, then you will know that in any business you will usually find a pattern emerge, and that is that 20% of the products make 80% of your profits. So spend more time promoting your best sellers. If you take a look at all your eBay listings you will probably find that some are selling better than others. Most people spend time trying to figure out how to sell their most unpopular products. This is time usually wasted. Instead, spend that time promoting your best selling products. Those are the products that are proven to make money, so it makes sense to try and make even more sales of those popular products.

2) Bundle your best sellers. If you have products in your inventory that compliment each other, package them together and offer those products as bundle promotion. For example, you could offer a ‘Stocking Filler Bundle For Him’ and a ‘Stocking Filler Bundle For Her’. Bundling items can work well at this time of the year and saves your buyers having to spend more time manually searching for different gifts.

3) Get more exposure! Don’t forget about auction style listings. If you use ‘Buy it Now’ style listings or store inventory, add a few more of those items as auction style listings. That way those listings will be guaranteed to appear on the first page of eBay’s search results and those hungry Christmas shoppers will be exposed to more of your listings.

4)  Consider holding a ‘Christmas Sale’ on selected items. Discounting one or two items can lull more traffic into your store. Buyers see the great bargain you are offering and click through to your listing. From there you have the chance to offer more of your store inventory in cross promotion links.

5) Spread the cheer! Christmas can be a stressful time for many people putting a strain on their time and their bank account. If you see that someone might be a little stressed, try to be patient with them and offer your help. This includes customer service emails. If you get a pushy customer, remain patient and calm. Its probably not your fault that the customer is being too aggressive, but maybe they are just having a bad day. Money is important but there are other things that are more important in life.

These are just a few examples of things you can do to increase your eBay sales this Christmas and it doesn’t stop there. You can use these tips to boost your sales at any time of the year. So take a little time to relax and enjoy your Christmas holidays.

Happy Christmas!

Egg recently released a new whitepaper called The Importance of Connecting Brands with Bloggers. If you’re not already working with bloggers to expand your visibility online, I recommend you read it.

You know I’m all about bloggers. You know I’m a strong believer in the fact that they can help you find brand evangelists and new customers. But did you know I help my clients through Egg connect with bloggers? We’ve helpd PicClick, the visual online eBay auction site, get the attention of fashionistas. And when Glitch Gear released its new line of Left 4 Dead apparel, we connected them with gaming bloggers.

And we get results. The blogs that write about our brands have gotten them hundreds of new visitors to their websites. Couldn’t you stand a few more visitors?

Download the free whitepaper now.

I got some steaks to review and we are currently doing giveaways of the product. Let that be my disclosure. I get paid in steaks. The products are excellent, and I wish they sold more variety in my area. (Still, Gary was nice enough to mail me some of their fabulous 100-calorie steaks). I didn’t used to eat red meat, but now, thanks to Chef’s Requested and a really good cook for a husband, I am a steak monster.

Just today I noticed that Chef’s Requested is holding a contest. The winner will receive $1500 to attend a blogging conference of her (yes, her.) choice. They outline the rules here on Facebook. I love this. It shows again that they know that bloggers are key in helping them build their brand. And I certainly don’t mind passing it on to you.

If you’re a blogger, enter the contest. If you are a steak monster, buy the steak.

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This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Sponsored Tweets. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’ve been working with Sponsored Tweets for a while now, occasionally tweeting out a relevant tweet for an advertiser. It’s painless, easy and lets me make a little bit of pocket change. Let me explain how it works.

Companies are looking to reach a wider audience. What better method than through Twitter, the viral social media tool? If you’re a die-hard Twitter fan like me, you know that sometimes when you post something of interest, others will retweet it. It can spread like wildfire that way.

So as a Twitter user, why not make some money by spreading the word about quality advertisers (and every advertiser I’ve tweeted about has been a good one; no crappy spam tweets)? Getting started is really easy. Just sign up for sponsored tweets and start looking for good opportunities to tweet. You can set how much you make, although Sponsored Tweets gives you a suggested rate based on how many Twitter followers you have.

Once your account reaches $50 you can cash out. It couldn’t be easier.

Something I really like about Sponsored Tweets is that it requires you to disclose in the tweet that it’s sponsored. You can’t even submit your tweet unless it meets their stringent disclosure requirements.

If you’re on Twitter, check out Sponsored Tweets and sign up for sponsored tweets.

One thing I swore I’d never do is teach. Blame it on my stint working as a preschool teacher. There’s just something about getting in front of a group of people (potty trained or otherwise) and claiming to be the expert that never appealed to me. Until I became the Marketing Eggspert. And basically, that’s what I’m doing. Standing up and saying “I’m the expert. Listen to me.”

And so lately, I have gotten into teaching seminars. I’ve done this online over the past few years, but never in person until recently. I was fortunate enough to participate with Microsoft Office Live and Kirtsy’s Hands on Small Business events, where I got a taste of in-person teaching.

Teaching a seminar or course is a great way to show your stuff, to establish yourself as an expert.

How you can teach a course:

1. Decide what you want to teach. It should be something you know intimately, and that provides others benefits. For me, it was using internet marketing to grow a business.

2. Find a venue. It may be the local university or community college (I went through Continuing Education). It might be the library or small business resource center. Ask your Chamber of Commerce if you don’t know where to start.

3. Introduce yourself. Send a brief email introducing yourself, mentioning your experience (again, briefly) and your interest in teaching a seminar on X. Ask if this is of interest.

4. Follow up. If you don’t hear back in a week, call the contact. They’re busy. Follow up to see if it’s possible to work with this venue to offer a course. It may be next semester before they can fit you in.

5. Start planning. Once you get your course set up, plan your seminar with a syllabus or outline. Market it. Reach out to the Chamber and any business organizations (the venue may also have a database of contacts they can tell), and invite them to your course. Promote it up through the date. Facebook has a good tool called Eventbrite that you can use to get people to register.

FAQs

Should I charge for the course?

• This may depend on the venue. Most non-profit and government agencies (read: universities) won’t let you charge or promote yourself. You may just do it out of the goodness of your heart and then follow up with participants via email after. Your students will be impressed with you and will be more inclined to buy whatever it is you’re selling.

How long should my course be?

• Don’t keep participants longer than their attention spans can handle. I suggest 2 to 3 hours, with breaks. Provide refreshments to keep people happy.

What time of day should my seminar be?

• I held mine in the morning and had about 10 students. Many people expressed a wish that it was in the evening after work. Determine who your audience is and what their availability is. Or do 2 classes.

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It made me start thinking about double checking my eBay “TO DO” list. Am I prepared for the holiday? 

Here is just a quick glimpse of what I like to do to prepare for the Holiday rush:

- List all remaining Holiday items – clothes, toys, gift items. You can’t sell it if they don’t see it! I always tell my readers to just keep listing to your store. List all seasons, all the time. Don’t ever wait and hold on to an item because you feel it is off season and no one will buy it. Some of my best sales are from off season items.

- Clean out the toy boxes!! We do this twice a year – before Easter and before Christmas. Both times we list any sellable toys at least a month before the holiday. Any earnings go towards new toys, it’s usually a great motivator to get my 6 year old to write a Christmas list so we have a solid goal of the money we need to raise.

- Stock up on shipping supplies! I know a lot of eBay sellers get their supplies off of eBay. Boxes, packing supplies, postage supplies, mailing envelopes, extra printer paper, ink…etc. A couple of my absolute favorites for supplies and postage off eBay are, Uline.com and Stamps.com. Stamps.com has a promo code – C-8RRH-ZNJ – if you’re interested in checking them out.

- Crock-Pot meals! – Nothing is more satisfying than sitting down to an already prepared meal after a busy day on eBay! Prepare it when you wake up and it’s cooking all day. Keeping a schedule is key to making sure your family is not neglected – and you need your down time as well. Keep crock pot recipes handy so you can fix it and forget it.

Good luck this holiday season!

Get a Free Week of email alerts on what is selling on eBay right to your inbox >>HERE<<

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For some direct selling consultants, November is the busiest month of the year bringing with it record sales. Notwithstanding, those record sales bring about an increased need to be extra vigilant with your personal safety. Below are a couple tips to remember to ensure your personal safety.

• Don’t brag about the day’s sales. All too often I have heard other vendors ask each other at the end of an event, “How’d you do today?” Some of the responses I’ve overheard include: “Fantastic!” or “I sold about $700”. Okay good for you; but you basically just told strangers that you have a wad of cash. Just in case someone was looking to rob a vendor on the way out, you’d be a great target.
• Keep money with you at all times. Use a fanny pack, apron or pocket to keep your stash. If you choose to use a cash box, make sure it is locked and out of sight; but not out of sight so much that if you turn to talk to a customer someone could unknowingly take it.
• Keep your hands free. Loading and unloading your vehicle to set up for an event can be a real pain in the dupa. We try to make as few trips as possible and carry as much with us so that we don’t have to make an event just out of setting up. However doing so, ensures that you are not hands free, thereby making you an easy victim should someone want to attack you in the dark or unattended parking lot. Instead use a roll-cart, suit case or take multiple trips so that you’re not so encumbered you’re unable to defend yourself should the occasion arise.

Ideally it’d be nice to have someone with you at these events. I realize that is not always possible. I’ve done more than a few by myself and it was fine. However if you can encourage a spouse, friend, teen, neighbor, someone to at least be with you during set up and tear down phase, it’ll provide an extra layer of protection. Otherwise, just be vigilant and make wise choices.

Give yourself plenty of time so that you’re not rushed into cutting corners or taking chances that you might not otherwise, if you did not feel compelled to beat the clock. Enjoy your business; enjoy your customers and have a safe holiday season!

Dear [blank]:

Thank you for your untargeted pitch. I can see you don’t read my blog about PR and how to pitch. Although your brief mention of my most recent post shows you can indeed read.

Although I find your [boring news] fascinating, I don’t write about cars/dog grooming/IT. You would know that if you read more than one blog post of mine.

Perhaps you should read my blog. It gives great advice about how to pitch. Rule #1: don’t give a canned pitch to someone who works in PR. You will get called out. On the internet. By me.

Best of luck to you! Maybe I’ll see you flipping burgers soon.

Sincerely,

The Marketing Eggspert

What do you think? Too harsh??

First you need to find a blogger that is passionate about your product. Or who can be. I hadn’t used True Lemon before working with them, but once I tried the product, I recognized it as unique to its industry, and I knew that other women would be excited about a zero calorie citrus product. So that made it easy. Search for your company name and see who is talking about you. You may have a brand evangelist you don’t even know about who would make a good candidate.

Next, find a conference that is a good fit for you. For True Lemon, a conference full of women and moms was ideal. It was a bonus that they all blog (more opportunity for them to spread the word). It may be a trade show or a technical conference, depending on your product and customer profile.

Now you’ll need to work out a package. If the blogger approached you about a sponsorship, she may have packages worked out in terms of what she will provide you. For True Lemon, I:

• Blogged about them using links before, during and after the conference
• Gave away samples
• Gave away bigger prizes
• Wore their shirt
• Took video interviewing people on their perception of the product
• Held a giveaway for non attendees on my blog at the same time

If you have samples, a conference is a great place to let them try it. If your product is bigger or more expensive, invest in some sort of promotional items that don’t suck and ask your blogger to distribute them. Contests are a great way to generate a buzz.

If you feel the need to draw up a contract, do so. Usually this is a pretty informal situation.

After the conference get a report back from the blogger on the feedback she received. Make plans and tweak what you did this time for the next conference. Find a way to measure results. How many people entered the contest? Did she bring new followers to your Twitter or Facebook account? More web traffic? Did she get business cards that you can use to send info to?

What about cost? We can’t afford to sponsor a blogger. The truth is: you can’t afford not to (I say that a lot, don’t I?). Think of it like this: if your company were to exhibit at the conference, you would spend probably $20,000 on a booth, marketing and display collateral and travel expenses. You can retain the services of a blogger for far less and probably get better results.

What do you think? Would you consider sponsoring a blogger as a new marketing tool?