This post is all about me, Kristen, walking my walk, practicing what I preach and all that jazz.  You see, I’ve been doing some serious soul searching and some business development.  I’m sure you know how that can bring about some major changes.  Well it certainly has brought some major changes for me!  As a result, you might start to notice some changes on this blog.  The biggest of which will be a discussion around trust marketing (building trust with potential clients and your community).

When it comes to maintaining trust with your community, it’s important to keep them informed.  So, here I am informing my community of the changes that are taking place on this blog and in my business.

With the help of a mastermind group, I discovered that I have completely removed myself from my business and I have no focused “expertise” that I’m known for.  Hmmmmm….how can I be a consultant without an expertise? So I’ve spent the last 8 weeks learning what makes me (specifically me) special in my industry.  In the process I discovered that everything I do and have done in my business (I mean EVERYTHING) goes back to trust marketing.  All the processes I’ve set up for my team to follow, all the little details I focus on with my clients.  It all leads back to building trust with their potential clients.  It’s just something I automatically do.  Not something I was ever aware of.  Now that it’s been pointed out to me, I totally see how it’s what I’m all about.

So, I’m standing up and owning the expertise I’ve had all along.  I’m owning my differentiation and I’m standing on a platform that finally feels like I belong here.

This doesn’t mean I’m going to veer away from internet marketing tips for coaches.  In fact, the internet is a great way to build trust with your community.  So, I’m going to continue to give technical and strategical tips on internet marketing for coaches.  I’m just going to be adding in the piece about how to build trust with it.  As I go back and look at my past blog posts, all of them can be connected to building trust with potential clients…I just didn’t point out how.  Now I’ll be pointing out how.

So things around here are changing for the better.  I just wanted you to know so you aren’t surprised when the content of this blog has a new slant to it that it never had before.  I want to keep your trust.

I would love to hear your comments, thoughts and/or questions.

Kristen Beireis, Trust Marketing Expert for the personal transformation industry

Do you think about who you connect with on LinkedIn? I’m really picky as to who I connect with on LinkedIn.  Maybe it’s just me, but I think this network requires that you be picky.  Have you noticed what your options are when you get a connection request?  You don’t have the option to “ignore”, but you can say you don’t know them.  To me, this says don’t accept people you don’t know.   That’s point one.

Point two?  LinkedIn is a professional network. It’s not a “social” social network.  It’s not about weekend trips and games with your Hubby or dinner with your friends.  In my mind that kind of chatter is actually distracting on LinkedIn.  The conversation on LinkedIn needs to be a professional one.  More like going to a networking meeting and discussing your job or business.  Anything else is distracting and annoying, to be blunt.

Here’s my philosophy on LinkedIn.

1)  I connect with people I know and people who might be a client only. If you think you can offer services to my clients, I want to know who you are first.  People know me as a marketing manager and implementer for life changers.  I get web designers/developers, social media experts etc… trying to connect with me all the time on LinkedIn.  I see my network on LinkedIn as a way to recommend people.  I don’t recommend people I don’t know.  If you want to be a potential JV partner or referral partner, connect on my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter and help me get to know you.  Once I know you and I’m confident you can help my network, then I’ll be happy to connect on LinkedIn, as well.

2)  Automation is not recommended 100% of the time. I’ve noticed that some people have their twitter stream feeding into their LinkedIn status updates.  This seems like a great idea, doesn’t it?  Think about it.  On Twitter, you can talk about any kind of topic.  If you connect your catch all (this is all about me, my life, and my business) twitter stream with your LinkedIn account, it’s not in integrity with what the network is about.  Now, if you have a business only twitter account, then, yes, by all means connect that one up with your LinkedIn status updates.

I’ve just recently noticed that http://ping.fm allows you to create “groups”.  This makes it easy!  I have a personal group, a business group, and a few others.  I can post to all my networks at once if I want.  For business stuff I do that, including LinkedIn.

3)  Be aware of the conversation. One of the great features (that I don’t take advantage of enough yet) are the groups on LinkedIn.  There are some really great groups that are having amazing conversations.  So, check them out and sign up for a few.  At the same time, be aware of the converstiaon.  I see way too many people just throwing up promos left and right, without participating in discussion.  Remember Yahoo groups?  Same thing was/is happening there too.  Stick to the topic.  Put your promos in your signature, unless there is a specified way to send promos to the group.  Ask the administrator if you don’t know.

So, what are your thoughts on LinkedIn?  Do you agree that it should be professional conversation only?  What is your philosophy?

I’m not sure how often I will do this, but I feel this blog is a great place to share with the community events at Coaches’ Marketing Source and with our partners.  All of which will help you with your marketing and/or business.  Over the next couple weeks there are three such events going on.  So, I’m going to share them with you now.

1)  Wednesday - Saturday if you are in the San Francisco area, you may want to consider attending the Love & Money Business Summit hosted by Katrina Sawa.  She’s going to cover huge amounts of information on how to be happy in your life and your business.  It’s a great combo!  For more information visit: http://www.theloveandmoneysummit.com.

2)  Tuesday, November 17 @ 5:00 pm EST, Scott Lewis of Focused Business Action has asked me to present the More Money Marketing Systems call.  It’s been revamped to include action steps that you will put together on the call, so you can get started right away.  This is going to be a great action-oriented call on how to earn more money with the systems you already have in place.  Oh, and it’s FREE!  Sign up at http://www.focusedbusinessaction.com/marketing-action-seminar/

3)  Thursday, November 19 @ 2:00 pm EST, I’ll personally be interviewing Milana Leshinsky about affording your dream team without breaking the bank on this months Build Your Dream Business Tele-Series call.  I’m going to pick her brain about virtual dream teams. If you are wondering how to get the right team for your business, you want to be on this call!  Register for FREE at http://www.coachesmarketingsource.com/tele-series.html.

So, what do you think?  Is posting events like this on the blog helpful to you?  Let me know.

I talk to so many people about marketing and all they talk about is what technology they use, the marketing tasks they do on a regular basis and the processes they go through.  Ugh!!  There is so much more to marketing than that!!

• Marketing is an education platform.

• Marketing is a relationship machine.

• Marketing is a way for you to reach out and help people understand what is possible.

• Marketing is the place where you can open minds and hearts.

• Marketing is the first step in creating change.

• Marketing is your first coaching platform.

No matter what you DO in marketing, you need to make sure you are BEING the coach.  Every little corner of your marketing systems, your marketing language, and your marketing strategies must keep these things in mind.  You see, many people become internet marketers and have great success at it.  Many coaches have followed the advice of big wig internet marketing trainers and they’ve experienced the succes that comes from it.  How much more success could be gained if the “being” of the coach was carried through every little piece of the marketing puzzle?

Here’s an example; Michelle Ward, The When I Grow Up Coach has been invited to be interviewed on a call.  Michelle is energetic, kooky and crazy fun to talk to (I know, I’ve had several conversations with her).  She also has some great info. to share.  So, she put her fun personality totally out there in her blog post inviting her community to sign up for the call.  Here’s the page - http://is.gd/2dPhK.  Go read it!  Can’t you just imagine how much fun she would be on a coaching call?  It oozes through her marketing, doesn’t it?  The coach (Michelle) is totally present in her invitation.  Take a look at her blog design, picture, colors etc…it all matches, doesn’t it?  Even her font matches!!  This is what I’m talking about!  She’s giving you an experience of her coaching throughout all her marketing.  Now, don’t go trying to get all creative like Michelle did.  That’s HER, not YOU!  So don’t sweat the creativity…just make sure your marketing feels and looks like who you are on a coaching call.

I see too many coaches passing off their marketing work to someone who is technical and doesn’t have knowledge of coaching or what it can do for people.  A coach may know how to create great copy , which is great!  It’s a MUST!  Then they hire skilled labor to put the marketing into place.  This skilled labor knows technically what to do, but has no idea how to make the sales process “FEEL” like that particular coach’s brand of service.  It’s that personal touch of consistency that makes all the difference in the world for increasing your response to a marketing campaign.  So, hire someone who can translate your unique coaching brand into the process of marketing for you.  Especially if you aren’t the one doing most of it!

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.

If you are at all active on Facebook, you’ve seen all sorts of things flying around about Facebook usernames or Vanity URL ’s recently.  I’ve had several people ask me; Why should I care?  Well, there are several reasons getting your own personal Facebook username is important.

First off, for those who aren’t sure what we are talking about…you can now get your own personalized URL for Facebook.  For example, I got http://www.facebook.com/lifeenthusiast last Friday when they went live.  You can read more on the Facebook website at http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=897.

NOTE:  If you signed up for Facebook after 3pm Eastern time on June 9, 2009, you will not be eligible to get your username until June 28.

So, why should you get one of these Vanity URL’s for Facebook?  Here are a few reasons:

1)  It’s MUCH easier to send people to this shortened link than that really long profile URL that you would have without it.

2)  A domain name ranks better with Google than content, so if you have a branded facebook URL you are more likely to be found and ranked higher by Google.

3)  Claiming your name keeps other people from using it on Facebook.

The next question I’m asked is “What name should I use?” That’s a question you need to ask anytime you sign up for a username on a social network.  You need a social brand that is consistent amongst all your networks.  You’ll notice my username on Facebook is lifeenthusiast.  On Twitter I’m life_enthusiast.  On LinkedIn I’m lifeenthusiast etc… you see how I’m branding myself across all the networks so that my social brand is Life Enthusiast.  FYI - on Twitter, I have a profile for lifeenthusiast that points over to life_enthusiast.  I’m not sure how long Twitter will let me keep it, but for now, it works.

Now, I’m not saying you have to come up with some super duper coachy name that describes who you are as a coach.  I’m not even suggesting you get creative and come up with a new identity across social networks.  All I’m suggesting is that you be CONSISTENT.  Now, I just happened to choose Life Enthusiast when I signed up for Twitter because I liked it.  Many of the social networking experts recommend you brand your name.  I find that my last name, Beireis, is a bit hard to spell (let alone pronounce) so I chose a different name to be known by.

If you are going to use your name, then by all means, use your name.  Just make sure you use it across all networks!  So, when you go in to get your Vanity URL at Facebook, make sure it’s consistent with your username on your other networks.  Remember, Facebook will NOT let you change it later, so whatever you choose, you are stuck with it.

Oh, and if you have a Fan Page (Business Page) and you have over 1000 Fans, you can claim a Vanity URL for that too.  If you don’t have 1000 Fans, then you will be eligible to claim your page URL on June 28.   I’ll be on Facebook claiming mine that day, that’s for sure!

Happy naming!  Let us know what you decide and why in a comment.