There are currently around 505 million podcast listeners in the world, with that figure increasing steadily by about 20 percent per year. There were 3.2 million podcasts as of early 2024 and more than 150 million podcast episodes. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts are currently the top three platforms from which listeners stream their podcasts of choice.

The point of sharing all these numbers is to make you aware of the huge opportunity podcasts provide as a marketing tool. Whether you are planning to start your own podcast or not – which is a lot of work – you can still explore opportunities to be interviewed on existing podcasts.

Being interviewed on podcasts whose target audience aligns with yours can be an effective way to boost your visibility and awareness. As a guest, you also benefit from the enhanced credibility and authority of being perceived as the expert.

However, given the vast number of podcasts out there it may seem overwhelming to try to identify those that would be appropriate for you. Fortunately, there are a number of services and communities that can help.

Finding Podcast Guest Opportunities

Although you may want to start by casting a wide net to get onto any podcast, that’s only a good idea early in your podcast career. 

Gaining experience on podcasts that your target audience is unlikely to hear could be a smart strategy to become comfortable with the medium. That way, if you make a mistake or say something embarrassing, it’s unlikely to hurt you.

Some of the most popular free and low-cost tools to explore include:

MatchMaker.fm

Jon Coogan, host of Mindset Mavericks, describes MatchMaker.fm as “user-friendly…where both hosts and guests connect.” Guests can create a profile to showcase their expertise and to identify podcasts that may be looking for experts like them. You can try it free for 30 days and then pay $15/month if you opt to subscribe.

Coogan says that he has used MatchMaker.fm to expand his reach as a guest. “By searching for podcasts that aligned with my expertise and experience, I connected with the host of Leaders in Disguise,” he said. “They invited me to their video studio for an in-person interview, where I shared insights from my entrepreneurial journey. The episode lifted my profile and introduced me to a wider audience.”

PodcastGuests.com

The free version of PodcastGuests.com offers registrants a weekly newsletter service that shares podcast guest opportunities. There is also a paid directory available, to make you findable by podcast hosts.

PodMatch

“While PodMatch isn’t free, it’s a highly targeted tool that’s worth considering if you’re serious about getting on podcasts,” Coogan says. “It matches hosts and guests based on interests and expertise, saving you time and helping you find the perfect fit with minimal effort.” The current cost starts at $29/month, though there is an upgrade available if you want more exposure to potential podcast hosts.

Facebook Groups

Sheena Yap Chan, host of The Tao of Self-Confidence podcast, recommends joining free and paid Facebook groups dedicated to connecting hosts and guests; the hashtags #beaguest and #needaguest are the ones to search for, she says.

The top three she recommends are:

Need a Guest – has 39.9k members 

Podcast Collaborate – has 18.6k members 

Podcast Guest Connection – has 12.8k members

Participation in these groups has netted her invitations to be a guest on other podcasts.

TikTok

Coogan says that “TikTok has been a surprisingly effective tool for connecting with podcast hosts. Many share videos about their show and the type of guests they’re looking for, using hashtags like #PodcastGuest or #PodcastOpportunity. He recommends creating short videos to introduce yourself and your perspective.

LinkedIn

While you’re checking out TikTok for podcasts, don’t overlook LinkedIn, where podcast hosts also share information about their shows and the types of guests they’re looking for. Since LinkedIn is a business platform, you’re more likely to find business-related podcasts.

A Low-Cost Marketing Tool

All of these tools and platforms can help you zero in on podcasts that may be looking for someone with your expertise, background, or experience, but you need to be clear about what will benefit you most. Which topics do you want to be known for? In which industries do you want to make headway? How do you want people to think of you?

These are all important questions to be clear about before you start researching and applying to be booked as a podcast guest. Despite the fact that most guest opportunities are free, podcasts can be powerful tools for shining a spotlight on you and your business.

As 2024 winds down and we look ahead to 2025, attracting new business opportunities is likely at the top of your to-do list. Creating new revenue streams, finding new clients, and building new products are just some of the ways you can generate more business next year.

But before you start bringing in new business, set aside some time to clear out the clutter that is no longer serving you. Believe it or not, taking action to get rid of physical clutter can have a major positive impact on your business.

Benefits of Decluttering

In addition to the positive energetic boost many New Age practitioners say accompanies clearing out clutter, there are several other benefits of decluttering:

Save time

The less stuff you have to sort through to track down a misplaced object or document, the less time you’ll waste on a daily basis. Stephanie Winston, author of The Organized Executive, says that managers waste about an hour a day looking for things; that’s 12.5 percent of a 40-hour week!

Save money

Extrapolating from Winston’s hour-a-day wasted looking for lost things, that equates to more than $8,000 if you’re paying yourself a $65,000 annual salary. 

On top of all that lost time, there is money spent replacing that thing you’ve been searching for. Can’t locate your calculator? After a certain amount of time looking, it’s likely you’ll just place an Amazon order to deliver a new one tomorrow. But all those duplicates add up and can cost you serious money.

Finally, losing track of bills also costs money. According to Harris Interactive, 23 percent of adults claim they pay bills late and incur fees and penalties because they lose them. Business owners who pay bills late can see their buying power decline and the cost of borrowing money increase.

Save space

The more extra stuff your business owns or stores, the more you’ll pay for space, either to squeeze in more equipment or more storage. Conversely, the more clutter you can clear out, the lower your space requirements and the more money you can save. 

Do you really need an entire room filled with filing cabinets, for example? If not, can you repurpose that space to prevent your company from outgrowing it too soon? Look for ways to reclaim space previously taken up by stuff from which your business isn’t benefiting.

And if you do clear furniture, décor, and old office equipment out, you can claim a tax deduction if you donate it to an eligible nonprofit. That way you’re also reducing your tax bill come April.

Improve focus

Clearing out unneeded items in your office can have a positive effect on your ability to concentrate. Fewer visual distractions improve the ability to focus, according to Psychology Today.

If you can see all the potential benefits of decluttering but aren’t sure how to begin, follow these steps to get started.

First steps

No matter how bad your clutter situation is, you can make a serious dent by following this advice:

Start small. Pick a small space to work on, rather than getting overwhelmed by tackling too much. For example, clear out a desk drawer or the top of a filing cabinet rather than attempting to clear out your entire office in one fell swoop. Keep the task manageable.

Single touch. Commit to touching each item only once. It has been said that clutter is caused by delayed decision-making, so when you pick up something, decide what needs to happen to it and then move it there. If you’re going through paperwork, for example, does that paper need to be filed, tossed, shredded, handed off to someone else, or acted on? If action is required, set it aside in a pile or file for that purpose. Otherwise, put it where it belongs or give it to someone who can take care of it.

Digitize. Where paper is concerned, consider digitizing it to be able to find it faster in electronic form and reduce the amount of space it takes up. You can purchase a physical scanner or download a scanner app to your phone to convert hard copies to electronic form.

Keep going. Once one space is cleared, move on to the next.

Decluttering is never really done, since there is often more debris and litter that can be eliminated. Make decluttering an ongoing process; you could make it a quarterly task. 

And as new items enter your workspace, commit to removing an equal number of items to keep clutter at bay. That means every new book, notebook, or pair of scissors requires that an existing one be removed. The same goes for furniture, wall hangings, and other décor items.

Clearing clutter from your office or workspace will make it easier to find things, prevent spending money on duplicates, and improve your ability to focus and think strategically – all of which will help you become a more successful business owner.

We reached out to TWO of our 2023 Year-End Grant Winners, asking each to share the business lessons they’ve learned from the past year:

 

Nikita Seal and Sallie Plumley both answered the call! Below are the answers they gave us.  Please give it a quick read. We’re sure there are some nuggets of wisdom you can apply to your business.

 

	First, we’d like to reintroduce you to Nikita Seal with ZZ’z Ice Cream Puffs, our 2023 Year-End Amber Grant winner.

What advice would you give to a new business owner in the food truck industry?

Entering this food truck industry can be daunting, but I’ve learned that kindness and camaraderie within the food truck community make all the difference. To succeed, prioritize customer service – treat every customer like family. Focus on a smaller, curated menu for quality control and efficiency.

Additionally, build strong relationships with fellow food truck owners, vendors, and suppliers. Stay adaptable, define your niche, and maintain organized operations. Engage with your community through social media and events, and don’t forget self-care.

At ZZ’s Ice Cream Puffs, we’re passionate about spreading joy through our treats. Remember, kindness, quality, and community are key to success in this industry.

Where do you struggle most to manage your work-life balance in the food truck industry, and how have you overcome it?

In the food truck industry, weekends are prime business hours, which often conflicts with family time. As a mom, I struggled to balance work and parenting, especially during the early days. With my food truck booked on weekends, it was challenging to spend quality time with my kids.

However, entering our fourth year, I’ve established a loyal, trustworthy, and reliable team. This has allowed me to step away and prioritize family time. Previously, I made sure to be spontaneous with my kids, maximizing our time together whenever possible.

To overcome the guilt of missing weekends, I communicated openly with my children, explaining that ‘mommy’s busy’ phase was temporary. I promised them that soon I’d have more time to devote to them, and now that’s becoming a reality.

Key strategies that helped me achieve better work-life balance include:

– Building a dependable team
– Setting clear boundaries
– Prioritizing quality over quantity time with my kids
– Open communication with my family
– Self-care and flexibility

It’s not perfect, but with time, intention, and support, I’ve found a more sustainable balance between growing ZZ’s Ice Cream Puffs and nurturing my family.

 

	Second, we’d like to reintroduce you to Sallie Plumley from Sallie Plumley Studios, our January 2023 Skilled Trades Grant winner and one of our 2023 Year End Grant winners.

What advice would you give to a new business owner in your industry?

What was the most important lesson you’ve learned in your business?

In your industry, where do you struggle most to manage your work-life balance? How have you overcome it?

I doubt this is industry-specific, but finding a work-life balance as a mom is challenging. I find it helpful to practice time blocking and batch work so that I can ensure I get my work finished in a timely manner.

Whether you sell products or services, the last few weeks of the year are an opportunity to profit from prospects and customers who are in a buying mood. Even in business-to-business (B2B) sales, there is a season to purchasing and your previous clients may have money to spend in their budget before December 31.

Although you may want to use the opportunity to connect with new customers, you would be wise to focus mainly on people who have bought from you in the past. Research shows that previous customers spend 67 percent more than new customers, so you’ll make more money if you heap attention on your existing customer base.

So, what can you do to encourage more buying? If you have a storefront, here are some ideas:

Host in-store events

They can be holiday-themed or not, but give your shoppers another reason to stop by. It could be an evening with a charitable focus –— a percentage of the night’s sales go to a deserving organization –— or a demonstration by an artist, or even a trunk show. If you sell books, you could have an author come by for a talk. Sell cooking-related utensils? Have a chef come in to host a quick cooking class. Get creative and then invite your entire mailing list to come.

Make a big deal of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday

Since consumers are already on alert for great deals the weekend after Thanksgiving, give them something to look forward to. It could be big discounts that decrease each hour during the day. It could be a free swag bag for coming in and making a purchase. You could bring in a limited-edition product to sell on those days. And on top of that, spiff up your sales space. Go all in on holiday spirit with decorations in the windows, hanging from the ceiling, and throughout your tabletop displays. Remind buyers that it’s gift-giving season.

Throw in some freebies

Shoppers love to get a deal, so make yours enticing without breaking the bank. Depending on your price points, you could offer free gift wrap with every purchase. Or throw in a small sample you’ve received from one of your suppliers. You could offer discounts during slow times of the day, like first thing in the morning. Or provide free shipping for orders over a certain amount. The better the deal customers feel they are getting, the more buying they’ll do.

Incorporate video marketing

We all know that video now dominates social media, which suggests that people want more of it. Take your cue and start recording related to your business. Show behind-the-scenes snippets of employees restocking shelves or wrapping and shipping gifts. Interview employees about their favorite Christmas memories, or about their favorite product in the store. Or just shoot video quick vignettes showing sections of the store, in the hopes of catching their eye. Curated by Justin Interiors in Webster, New York does an excellent job with this technique on Instagram.

Branch out to Pinterest

If you aren’t already active on Pinterest, where shoppers go for holiday inspiration, consider investing some time on it this year.  Pinterest is the social media platform where consumers turn for ideas on how to do things better, whether that’s decorating their home, organizing their desk, managing projects, painting their walls, cooking a Hannukah treat, or finding an outfit for a friend’s wedding. Not only that, Pinterest users spend more at the holidays – as much as 40 percent more, according to Retail Insider. It is all visual and a great place for you to be to showcase your skills and wares.

Leverage email marketing

If you have a way to reach your customer base by email, use it during the holiday season. Send out thank you messages around Thanksgiving, then follow it up with gift ideas to help your customers with their shopping –— even better if you can customize it based on past purchases. Highlight new merchandise as it comes in and keep everyone up to date on special events and new offers, like free expedited shipping later in the month of December.

But even if you aren’t a retailer or don’t have a physical storefront, there are plenty of things you can do to encourage your clientele to buy.

Send schedule reminders

Not everyone realizes how crazy busy November and December are, especially in businesses having to do with festivities. So, if you’re a holiday light decorator, party planner, caterer, musician, hair stylist, limo company, freelance bartender, or business owner used to seeing a big jump in demand at the end of the year, ask your past customers if they want to make arrangements for your services now, to be sure they can get on your schedule when they need you. Also let clients know about your holiday schedule and when your offices will be closed, so they don’t miss important deadlines. These reminders will be much appreciated if your customer has lost track of time. It will also help you better plan your schedule and offer alternatives to previous customers you want to continue to serve.

Host a holiday gathering

Getting your staff mixing and mingling with satisfied clients helps strengthen your relationship and forge new ones. It also leaves everyone feeling cheerful and positive about your business, which can last into the new year. If you hold your soiree off-site, at a gallery, museum, or club, rather than your offices, you may find clients more enticed to stop by because of the novelty of the location.

Help clients plan ahead

If you have a client you’ve been working with and they have a stated need for your services in the new year, ask if they’d like to pay for it in the current year, to help make full use of their current year’s budget. Pre-paying is always good for your cash flow and can help your customer use up this year’s budget while lightening the financial load next year –— which is always a good thing.

Say thank you

Before the end of the year, send a personal note to let your current clients know how much you enjoy working with them. Go above and beyond simply signing your name on a standard holiday card though –— write a few sentences letting them know how much you value their business and how proud you are of the work you did together during the year. Be sincere and specific. You might also consider sending along a small token of your appreciation, such as a nice box of truffles, or fruit –— Harry & David Royal Riviera pears are a popular choice –— or an item related to your services, such as a book. Check to be sure there are no limits on what you can spend on a gift, however, since some organization prohibit their employees from receiving gifts valued at over $20.

Check in by phone

Since so few people use the phone anymore, you’ll stand out by reaching out to say hi, check in on how your clients are doing, tell them how much you appreciate their business, and ask if there’s anything you can do to help them. Even if they don’t have something to hand off to you work-wise, you’ll be top-of-mind for a while because you bothered to pick up the phone.

In the retail industry alone, holiday sales in 2023 totaled $964.4 billion. Make sure you give your company the best chance of claiming some of all the money that will be spent by individuals and businesses in the next few weeks.

Now that we are officially in the last quarter of 2024, some companies can expect an uptick in revenue over the next several weeks. 

We’re heading into the big season for Christmas tree farmers, snowplow services, event planners, caterers, accountants, hair stylists, among others. And even if your business isn’t typically affected by holiday activities, you may still see a surge if potential clients are suddenly feeling pressure to wrap projects up by year-end.

However, year-end is also the off-season for some businesses, like swimming pool maintenance services, seasonal ice cream shops, landscapers, and New England beaches. It’s a time to regroup and recharge while the weather cools off.

No matter which season you’re in – crazy busy or cautiously quiet – if you’d like to take back control of demand for your products and services, there are things you can do to find and connect with new customers.

Ideally, you have a process in place that ensures you’re always promoting your business and finding new prospects, but even if you don’t, you can choose now to ramp up your marketing and promotional activities.

Get clear about your ideal customer

The first step to finding more customers is to define who they are. 

Don’t assume that everyone is your target customer – that’s not true.

There are certain types of people or businesses that are the best fit for what you offer. Those are the ones you’ll want to invest your resources in attracting.

For example, if you run a pet grooming business in Brooklyn, New York, pet owners in California or Kansas should not be your target because they are unlikely to need your on-site services. Likewise, if you own an interior decorating business in Ann Arbor, Michigan, you should focus the majority of your time and attention on homeowners in the surrounding area and not on, say, homeowners in Dallas, Texas.

Now, the only exception here is if you run an online business and can just as easily serve people in Atlanta as clients in Seattle or Toronto. Then, location is not as important a factor.

There may be other demographics you’ll want to pay attention to, however, such as age, gender, household income, type of business, age of any children, or type of car owned. Which factors are most relevant will depend on the type of product or service you sell.

However, before you start investing more of your money in attracting new business, be sure you know how to find your best prospects. You’ll waste valuable resources if you don’t.

Identify how to find them

Study your best customers so that you understand them. What interests them and, therefore, where are they likely to spend their time?

When you know that, you can start to present them with information about your company that may pique their interest. But before you start designing ads, you need to figure out how to get in front of them, either in-person or online.

For example, if your clientele consists of high-net-worth individuals who golf, finding ways to connect with them through country clubs and golf courses could be useful. Or, if your ideal customers are new moms, marketing through pediatricians, diaper services, or Mommy and Me classes could be a smart approach.

Take your description of your ideal client and list what they are likely to be interested in, where they spend their free time, and who they might be paying attention to. Those are your clues for where to invest your marketing.

These could include:

• Physical locations – grocery stores, libraries, hospitals, schools, hair salons
• Local online platforms – Nextdoor, Thumbtack 
• Social media platforms – LinkedIn, Facebook, X, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok
• Facebook groups – search for keywords associated with your business to find them
• Newsletters – free and paid; many have advertising opportunities to explore
• Community groups – such as Moms in Motion, travel soccer, religious organizations
• Volunteer opportunities – local clean-up groups, trustees, food cupboards
• Classes – free community-sponsored courses, recreation center-based, or even college
• Trade shows – local, regional, or national
• Civic organizations – Rotary, Kiwanis, Shriners
• Events – community parties, festivals, galas, running races

Make your own list of where you are likely to come in contact with your potential clients.

Share your message

Finally, to find new customers you need to tell them what you offer. 

That is, you need to package your products or services in such a way that it will be clear to your ideal customers why they need to buy from you.

In your message, you’ll want to emphasize the benefits of doing business with you, rather than the features or description. Meaning, how will they be better off thanks to your product or service? Will they save time, look better, lose weight, make more money, or something else?

As you’re sharing information about your business, whenever possible include testimonials from satisfied customers. You may even want to feature them prominently in your promotions. Testimonials and endorsements give you credibility and enhance your trustworthiness.

Be aware that you’re going to need to present your information more than once for prospects to consider doing business with you. Current estimates are that it takes at least seven exposures, which is referred to as the Marketing Rule of 7.

Which means that you can’t just buy one ad, send out one newsletter, or put a poster in one place and expect that it will yield results. You need to be consistently spreading the word about your business.

The power of focus

Although finding new customers is a numbers game, it is much better to focus on a few marketing channels than to try to do all the things. You’ll get better results by, say, investing time on one social media platform versus three, or buying ads in one newsletter for the next year instead of one ad in 10 different newsletters.

Rank the places where you’re likely to come in contact with your ideal customers and start at the top. Invest time and attention there, until you’re confident everyone there has heard about or seen information about your business more than seven times. Then move on to your second-best potential source.

Over time you’ll be able to determine which methods work best and you can spend more on those activities and less on the ones that aren’t yielding results.

Start today so that you have a chance to drum up business this quarter.

In a nutshell, yes.

Now, exactly how you should use AI will vary by industry, even as the technology continues to evolve and improve, but refusing to at least explore what AI can do may end up stalling your company’s growth.

Some of you may be asking what, specifically, AI is and does.

AI is a type of software program that right now is frequently faster at handling repetitive tasks or for quickly tracking down publicly available data than humans are. You can use AI to automate processes that were previously manual, freeing up time to handle activities that require more brainpower, such as strategizing or problem-solving.

Some of the best current uses of AI include:

Customer service

Introducing chatbots and pop-up windows to answer customer or prospect questions on your website isn’t new, but as AI becomes more robust, so too do chat programs that answer the most commonly asked questions. 

With access to all the information on your company website as well as data on the back end, chatbots can now confirm that orders have been shipped, research policies, or gather feedback, all without human intervention. They can serve customers while you’re engaged in higher-value tasks.

You can also design the process to allow chatbots to refer questions to live humans when AI doesn’t have access to the information your prospect needs.

Scheduling

Quirks reports that 60% of small businesses use online calendars, which means there is a big opportunity to rely on AI to manage your time. 

Tools like Calendly and Motion help you share your availability with team members, clients, and prospects. No more time-consuming back-and-forth emails checking everyone’s availability.

You can also use scheduling software to track where you’re spending your time online. RescueTime can provide reports on how productive you’ve been, breaking down how much time you spent on certain documents, within certain apps, or on certain websites.

Financial management

If you currently pay a human bookkeeper to review your income and expenses regularly in order to prepare your books for tax time, you now have the option to automate that whole process as well. 

Online bookkeeping programs, such as Bench or Bookkeeper360, allow you to connect your bank accounts, credit cards, lines of credit, and any other financial instruments and have AI routinely categorize and aggregate all of your financial details for easy processing for taxes.

Hiring

New AI-powered hiring tools can take care of the first round of qualifying job applicants, by reviewing submitted resumes and determining which candidates may be a fit and which are too big a stretch. 

By setting up keywords you want the program to watch for, you can quickly separate the high-potential applicants from those who lack any relevant experience.

Content creation

One of the biggest applications of AI is for content creation, to create from scratch blog posts, articles, web copy, white papers, and other written materials. AI can be extremely fast at generating documents, which is certainly appealing, but it can also be wrong (AI hallucinations are when the program makes information up and presents it as fact.)

For that reason, the best uses of AI for content creation at the moment include generating everything except the body copy. Meaning, use it to create potential titles, headlines, and/or to generate a potential outline – but don’t use it to write the blog post or article. That’s the piece you’ll need to create yourself to avoid the possibility of either plagiarism or fiction being inserted without your knowledge.

Some of the most popular AI tools for content creation right now are ChatGPT, Bard, and Claude.

Then editing tools like Grammarly help by pointing out grammatical or spelling errors within your draft.

You can also use AI to generate illustrations to accompany your written work, though since you can’t copyright it, be aware that you can’t claim ownership.

Audio transcription and summaries

As the use of video conference technology has become the standard in businesses today, transcription tools can do everything from turning audio into text to summarizing meeting notes and even developing action items to assign to participants. Transcription tools like Rev and Otter are now commonly used for the quick conversion of audio files to text.

AI and other machine learning tools are increasingly being incorporated into work processes, to automate tasks that don’t require human involvement. It can also be used to process data, such as statistics, to reveal answers faster.

If you’re looking for ways to wring more minutes out of your busy day, consider exploring how AI tools can assume some of your workload.

You’ve heard me talk about “publicity” and the positive impact it can have on your business before, but I really want you to spend time now learning more about it. 

Publicity – also known as earned media – is that free media exposure you get when you’re quoted in the press. It could be an interview for a(n):

• Radio talk show
• TV news or talk show
• Magazine 
• Newspaper
• Online media outlet or content site 
• Blog
• Podcast

When you’re quoted by the press, you get an authority boost. That makes publicity more powerful than advertising and other paid-for marketing tactics. 

People are smart enough to know that journalists are selective about who they use as sources. So, if a reporter chose you, you must know what you’re talking about, they presume.

But how do you get that free media attention, whether your market is local or national? 

Here are four easy and effective ways to do that.

Start Locally

Even if your audience isn’t limited to the surrounding area, starting locally with publicity when it’s a new tactic for you is a good idea. You’ll discover what resonates with the press while gaining interview experience in a more forgiving marketplace.

Start by researching your local media outlets

In most areas, these include some or all of these: 

• Daily newspaper
• Weekly community newspapers
• City business journal
• Radio stations
• TV stations
• Community bloggers
• Local women’s magazines
• Regional parenting publications

After you’ve identified your local media outlets, read, watch, and listen to them so you get a sense of what is and isn’t appropriate for them. 

What kinds of articles do the daily and weekly newspapers use? In fact, weekly newspapers are typically very receptive to information they can just copy, paste, and use, and are well-written, too. 

Do the radio stations have talk shows with guests? Do the TV stations have early morning or noon news casts that feature in-studio interviews with community residents? 

Studying how each media outlet handles news and information helps you figure out where you might fit in at each. 

Next, figure out your “news hook” – your angle. Your “hook” is what makes you or your topic newsworthy or interesting. 

You won’t get very far with “local woman starts home-based business,” but winning a grant could get you publicity, particularly with a weekly newspaper or a local women’s magazine. 

Perhaps you’re collaborating with another business to host a community public safety event or nonprofit fundraiser. Maybe you’ve developed breakthrough technology that you can demonstrate. 

Think about what’s happening in your business that might be interesting to the community at large, especially if it’s something visual that would attract TV news cameras. 

Once you’ve figured out your topic, determine who to contact. In most cases with local media outlets, you want:

• Radio talk show: producer or host
• TV talk show: producer
• TV news: assignment editor
• Magazine: editor
• Newspaper: section editor or “beat” reporter (education, food, etc.)
• Community blog: blogger/blog owner

Once you know your news hook or angle, which outlets it’s appropriate for, and who to contact there, you “pitch” the idea to them via email. Explain your idea, why their audience will be interested, and provide relevant information that will help them decide it’s a good fit. That can include providing other sources to interview if you’re pitching a newspaper or magazine feature article.

Subscribe to Services That Help journalists Find Interview Sources

Several free services help journalists find sources to interview and quote in articles and broadcast segments. Some of the most popular include:

• Source of Sources
• Qwoted
• Connectively 

They are one of the easiest – if not the easiest – ways to get national publicity. 

Here’s how they work: For most of them, after creating a free account, you receive an email listing “queries” from journalists, writers, bloggers, etc. Queries outline what they’re working on and the information they need from potential sources like you. 

The queries come from a wide range of media outlets, podcasts, and bloggers. For example, one of the services recently sent an email with requests from MarthaStewart.com, Family Business Magazine, and Business Insider, among others. 

Here are a few tips for responding appropriately to queries: 

• Be selective about those you respond to. If you don’t fit the description in the query, or you “kind of” know about the topic but “not really,” responding will only waste your time. 
• Don’t use AI to write your response. AI responses are shallow, impersonal, often inaccurate, and generally useless. If you can’t respond from your own knowledge and experience, don’t respond at all. 
• Respond to queries quickly. Some journalists will stop reading responses when they believe they have enough sources to proceed. Others will wait and review all of them. You never know which is which, so make an effort to show up in their inbox sooner rather than later.

If you’re the type of business owner who prefers to outsource this type of work, you can pay a service to do it for you. Costs range from $1,380 to be quoted four times to more than $4,000 a month for five. 

If you are budget-conscious and prefer to be more hands on, you can find more affordable DIY resources for mastering the art of the query response.

Write and Distribute a Publicity Tip Sheet

A tip sheet is a type of press release that offers tips or advice in a bulleted or numbered format.

Like a press release, it’s written like a news story so that a media outlet or blogger can run it as is. No additional research or writing is necessary.

Tip sheet elements include: 

• Attention-getting headline that includes the number of tips
• Summary first paragraph
• Your expert quote
• Sentence introducing the tips
• Short tips presented as bulleted or numbered points

Media outlets, especially newspapers and magazines, like tip sheets because they can pull out just one or two tips to fill space. They also run them as short articles or use them as a starting point for longer feature stories.

Radio stations share the advice in snippets or, like TV talk shows, build author interviews around the tip sheet topic. 

Bloggers run them as new posts because tip sheets give them useful information they don’t have to write themselves.

Blog Regularly

Many reporters, writers, and podcasters use Google to find sources to interview. 

Search results often include blog posts on the topic referenced in the search terms. That means the more you blog on your business’s area of expertise or product line, the more likely your content is to turn up in their search results. 

Here’s how you can leverage your blog’s content to get publicity:

• Make sure your email address and telephone number are on your website and easy to find. More and more business owners don’t have this information on their sites, but nothing says, “I’m not interested in talking to you about what I know” quicker than no contact page, or, almost as bad, just “Follow me on Instagram!” on the contact page.
• Respond to media inquiries quickly. Keep media folks from moving on to someone else by prioritizing responding to these calls and emails. 

Publicity begets publicity

When you’ve been quoted a couple of times, something interesting often happens:

• Journalists who see you’ve been quoted before are more likely to contact you for an interview. That’s partly because another reporter has vetted you, but also because it’s clear that you’re willing and able to talk about your topic.
• You and your business show up higher in search engine results when journalists are looking for people like you to interview.
• You earn the right to share media outlet, podcast, etc., logos on your website in an “as seen on” banner. That’s impressive social proof that you’re credible and authoritative. 

Don’t wait to pursue publicity. Let it help you reach more of the right customers so your business grows. 

No matter who you pay attention to online or what industry you’re in, everyone is preaching the importance of highlighting what makes you special. Gurus in all fields recommend that you find what makes you different and point a spotlight at it. 

Not only does this help catch the attention of potential customers, but it begins to position you as the superior choice.

This is true whether you’re posting on your website or blog, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, a podcast, or some other platform.

Right now, different is good. Different is what you should be leveraging.

So, how, exactly do you do that?

It starts with determining what is different about you as an entrepreneur or business owner, or what makes your company a standout.

Step One – How are you different?

To determine what makes you different, you’ll need to do some basic competitor analysis.

Basically, you need to list all of your direct competitors and then conduct a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis consists of four elements:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities 
• Threats

Take your list of your competitors and assess them on each of those factors. 

What are each competitor’s strengths – what can they offer or claim that you can’t? 

Then, what are their weaknesses — where can you beat them? 

If you can spot where they could make headway, list their opportunities (said another way, think about what you would do in their shoes to grow their company). 

And then list where they may soon run into trouble — the threats.

You may have to do some online research, or even ask your customers for feedback on your competition in order to evaluate how you stack up.

Once your SWOT analysis is completed, take a step back and think about your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, paying particular attention to your strengths and opportunities.

What can you promise that no one else can? What technique or skill do you have that is better than your competition? What conveniences can you offer that no one else can? What degree or certification do you have? What testimonials do you have? Success stories?

What makes you different and sets you apart from everyone else that your customers value?

Step Two – Position that difference as superior

Now that you’ve zeroed in on your differentiator, you need to educate your market on why that difference makes you the better choice. Don’t assume they understand how your difference is a competitive advantage — spell it out for them.

For example, your central location means that you can provide faster delivery. Your newer equipment delivers better results. The training you invested in means you understand all of the issues surrounding your customers’ problems and can make more informed recommendations. That award you just won confirms that more customers prefer doing business with you.

Think about how your differentiator is better for your customers, and then tell them. 

It’s always better to emphasize the positive about your capabilities or offerings than to speak poorly about your competitors. So, keep the focus on you and your business by highlighting what makes your approach, products, or service better than other alternatives.

Step Three – Leveraging the difference to win more business

Many customers today are skeptical. Sure, you can claim your solution or approach is better but they won’t necessarily believe you. 

However, they may be swayed by:

• Facts and figures — cite statistics from legitimate sources to make your case
• Customer success stories — record short videos of customers talking about the work you did for them and why they’re so happy with it
• Publicity — look for opportunities to be quoted in the media, interviewed on podcasts, or mentions in blog posts
• Endorsements — do you have other businesses you’ve collaborated with who can sing your praises?

Now that you’ve uncovered your competitive advantage — what makes you different and better — the key to success is repeating it and making sure potential customers understand why what makes you different makes you better for them.

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously stated that “The fortune is in the follow-up” when it comes to business opportunities, and he is right.

Once a potential customer or client indicates any interest in your business or your products and services, it’s your responsibility to educate and inform them until they have enough information to make a purchase decision. Depending on what they already know and how financially able they are to proceed, they may make that decision in a matter of minutes. But it could also take days, weeks, months, or years to get to that point.

According to The Brevet Group, 80% of sales occur after at least 5 follow-ups, although 44% of salespeople only follow up once.

If you give up on staying in touch after only the first interaction, it’s very likely you’re missing out on countless sales.

Besides staying top-of-mind with prospects, following up also helps deepen the relationship you’re building with your potential customer, builds trust, demonstrates your interest in working with them, and provides an opportunity to gather useful feedback on why prospects aren’t buying, which can help increase your conversion rate with other potential clients.

If you haven’t been following up consistently, here are 5 different ways to approach the process:

Provide additional information

If your prospect hasn’t said “yes” yet to buying from you, it may be because they don’t yet feel they are well enough informed. Maybe they’re not convinced they have a need or that your solution is the best for them. If you sense this is the situation, or if your prospect has told you as much, your follow-up messages should contain more helpful information.

Keep in mind that at this stage, they do not want more sales or promotional material. Your goal should be to position yourself as a trusted ally who is trying to help them make a good decision. To do that, regularly send them articles about your type of product or service – but not ads. White papers and industry reports are great for this.

If a new study comes out that confirms your solution helps clients save money or make money, forward that to everyone on your list with a quick note that you thought they might find the report interesting. Or if someone in your company is quoted in an article, send that along. The same if someone in your business is interviewed on a podcast – send the link.

Do not, however, add prospects to your email list without their permission. This is not the time to overload them with spammy messages. Pick and choose useful content that might help push them to make a purchase.

Connect via LinkedIn

You don’t want to overwhelm your potential clients with messages from multiple platforms, but connecting via LinkedIn provides another way for you to stay on top of what they share about their work and also offers a way for them to be exposed to what you post.

Although your LinkedIn posts won’t be personalized to them, being connected there gives you another potential way to stay top of mind. Each time they come across one of your posts, that’s essentially another indirect follow-up.

Check in via phone

Email is one of the most efficient means of following up with prospects, but it’s reactive and asynchronous. Calling someone allows you to speak in real time to see where they are in their thought process. Do they have any questions? Any new concerns that have emerged?

It’s also an opportunity to inquire about what’s holding them back? Why won’t they decide to move forward? That kind of specific information is worth its weight in gold.

Offer added value

As part of your follow-up messages, look for ways to help your customers more broadly with their purchase. Provide useful information that addresses their larger reasons for considering a purchase.

For example, if you’re an interior designer, you might send along some initial thoughts about the best use of the client’s space, or you could alert them to an upcoming sale on an item that is an essential piece of their room design. Demonstrate that you’re trying to help them achieve their objective of getting their room professionally designed.

Be persistent

Even when you may be getting tired of following up, your prospect may still be considering their purchase. Right now, they may not be ready but next week or next quarter they could be. 

To ensure that you’re still in the running for their business, follow up regularly. Remind them that you’re still available to answer any questions that have come up.

And if you’ve let some prospects fall off your radar over the last few months, you can always circle back and follow up to see where things stand. Are they still considering your company? Would they like an updated price?

You really can’t over-follow up. Stop only when the prospect asks you to or when you determine they aren’t a good fit for your business.

Owning your own business has so many advantages. Although the top reasons women start their own companies are schedule flexibility, the potential for financial independence, and a passion for a particular product or service, one of the biggest challenges is getting everything done that needs to be done in the time you have available.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take, or tricks you can employ, that will help you cram more productivity into your day.

Although the overall theme here is focus, focus, focus, there are some specific interim steps that can help set the stage to allow you to better concentrate single-mindedly on your most important tasks.

Set goals

Before you jump in and get to work on a task, stop and take a step back. Consider your bigger, longer-term business goals. Are you aiming to achieve a particular annual revenue goal this year? Do you want to roll out a new product or service in the next few months? Do you want to pivot your business? Start a charitable foundation? Partner with a major corporation?

What’s your big goal or goals for the year? Once you’ve set your big intentions, you can then reverse engineer how you’ll reach those goals.

When you’re clear, you can then assess whether the items on your current to-do list will help you reach that goal. If not, you need to evaluate whether you can put those tasks off until later or cross them off your list entirely.

If certain tasks don’t help get you closer to your goal, why are you expending time and effort on them?

Prioritize

Next, look at your to-do list and prioritize what’s on it. What are the most important items – rank them from most to least important.

Then, take that list and organize it by due date. Your most important, most urgent tasks should now be at the top while those items that have no due date or which will have little impact on how your business functions should be at the bottom.

Investing quality time in projects that will yield the biggest payoff for your business will make you the most productive.

Plan your time

Now that you have a list of critical tasks organized by importance, take out your schedule for this week.

Estimate how long each task will take and then assign it a block of time on your calendar, keeping in mind due dates. It’s possible that some days you’ll have to work more than eight hours in order to get everything done.

I break my week down first and then time block each day, so that I’m more realistic about what can get done in 24 hours. For example, if you have six tasks planned for today and estimate it will take a total of 18 hours to get them all done, you will likely want to try to reschedule some by moving the due date out. Sure, you could work 18 hours straight today to get everything done, but the quality of your work probably won’t be optimal, so if you can slot some tasks for tomorrow instead, you’re more likely to get better results.

Group like tasks

As you’re planning your week, or your day, try to group together similar activities – especially those that require you to leave the office.

Batching like tasks can save you a lot of time.

For example, if you have a meeting on the north side of town, look at your list of errands and see what else you could cross off while you’re out of the office. Can you pick up your drycleaning? Pick up a library book that came in and is on hold? Stop and grab some more printer ink, since you know you’re running low?

Instead of having to make separate trips for some of your errands, try to knock them off while you’re already in the neighborhood.

Likewise, if you have a bunch of follow-up phone calls to make, line them up and tackle them one after the other, rather than spreading them out through the day. Or if you have online research to complete, get all of those research questions addressed one after the other.

Eliminate distractions

It’s much easier to focus on your task-at-hand if you’re not distracted. 

To reduce distractions, consider turning off notifications on your computer or phone. Put a note on your office door or cubicle entrance that you’re not to be interrupted until X p.m. Turn off your phone’s ringer, and look into installing an app like Freedom, which locks you out of social media for as long as you specify, so you won’t be tempted.

Being able to work until you’ve completed your most important task will have the biggest impact on your productivity.

Once you’ve completed your top item, move on to your next most important priority.

Avoid multitasking

Just as distractions can prevent you from sticking to a task until it’s done, trying to accomplish multiple tasks at once can also impede your productivity. According to Curt Steinhorst, founder of Focuswise, multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40%, even though you may think you’re gaining ground.

When you’re trying to do three things all at once, for example, odds are good that you’ll do none of them well. 

So, stop trying to read and respond to emails, text on your phone, and participate on camera in Zoom meetings simultaneously. You’ll appear disengaged in the meeting and are more likely to make mistakes when also making plans.

Delegate

Finally, you’ll be even more productive if you can identify tasks that you don’t personally need to do yourself, or that someone else can do better or faster. 

Sure, you may need to make that phone call inquiring about an overdue invoice from a client if they’ve been ignoring previous mailed requests, but you probably don’t need to design a post social media content, make travel plans, or create the work schedule for next week. Pick people who can do those tasks in your place.

The more you can hand off work to other capable employees, freelancers, or consultants, the more time you’ll have to focus on the most important, highest impact tasks that only you can do. While at the same time, other tasks that need to get done – just not necessarily by you – are also being completed.

That’s how you boost your productivity.