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Fuel Your New Year Marketing With Your Passion

It’s no secret that small business owners are some of the most passionate and hard working people around. It’s one of the main reasons many customers decide to shop small, and it’s probably the reason why you were able to open your doors to begin with. That passion is a huge advantage to you as a small business, and can make a big impact when leveraged in the rights way… especially as part of your marketing efforts. When you infuse your passion into your marketing you can really stand out from the crowd. You can also help you develop more personal connections with the people who matter most—your customers.

Following are easy, effective ways that you a can use to fuel your New Year marketing with your passion:

Show your employees hard at work

Snap photos of your employees working to make your business a success. You can post those photos on Facebook, add them to your website, or even plug them into your next email newsletter. You can also try a tool like Instagram to create photos your customers will love and want to share, and create a Pinterest board to capture all of those photos.

Solve their problems

Help solve your customers’ biggest challenges by creating content directly answer their burning questions in your newsletters, on your blog, and on social media. Add real-life examples from your own experiences, and offer actionable advice to help them overcome their own challenges and setbacks.

Make transparency a top priority

Whether you own a small retail store, run a local restaurant, or are responsible for marketing a community organization, you need to make sure that transparency is a top priority for you and your staff. This doesn’t mean you have to let customers in on all of the nitty gritty details of running your business, but it does mean that you should be open and honest with the people who matter most.

If something goes well — celebrate it!

Showcase customer success stories, testimonials, and positive reviews. If something goes wrong — own it. It’s better to address problems, setbacks, or mistakes than pretend they didn’t actually happen.

Put your passion to work in the New Year

Being a real person, with real feelings, and a real commitment to helping your customers is the biggest advantage any small business owner can have. Use that passion to fuel your marketing in 2014 and beyond!

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Gina Watkins is a leading expert on e-marketing for small business – and has a real passion for helping businesses to succeed. Her ongoing series of dynamic lectures are filled with real-world examples, humor and results-driven wisdom garnered from more than two decades of sales, business development and marketing experience. In addition to owning her own business, she is an award-winning direct marketer, has been featured on WUSA Channel 9’s Mind Over Money show, Dr. Gayle Carson’s Women In Business radio show, Morgan State’s Briefcase Radio program, and in numerous other media. In her role as Constant Contact Regional Development Director, she’s presented to more than ten thousand seminar attendees about the keys to success with easy, affordable, highly effective technology tools that grow trusted business relationships.

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