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Small Business Owners – A Step-by-Step Formula for Raking in Serious Profits

Susan L Reid

You know who your niche market is. You also know you have a great product to offer them.

Congratulations!

Now comes the hard part:

• finding a way to connect to them that hasn't already been done a thousand times before, and
• getting in on the front end of a marketing trend.

Figure out how to do these two things, and you're golden. Wait until after the big players get involved, and… game over.

Want to start raking in serious profits? Ready to lead the pack? Tired of being the last one in? Then follow this formula for success:

• Discover unique ways to find your niche.
• Jump in early on the front end of new(er) viral marketing trends.
• Get involved with promising niche-rich networking sites.

Below is a step-by-step formula for success. Follow these steps and you'll not only use a unique tool to find your niche, you'll also utilize one of the hottest online multimedia tools to reach them, and get in on the ground floor of a new entrepreneur networking site that's just opening up.

Step-by-Step Formula for Success

1. Unique way to find your niche.

Start by visiting the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) website. Here you will find an easy-to-use, comprehensive directory of professional associations called Gateway of Associations. To get there, click the "People & Groups" tab, then "Directories", and then the "Gateway to Associations" link.

Once there, you can search for an association by name, niche, or geographic location. For niche marketing purposes, type in your niche market (e.g.: small business) and location (e.g.: Oregon) if you want to narrow it down. Then click "search" to find out who is where.

When you find organizations that match your niche market, navigate to their websites and start networking directly with them.

2. New(er) viral marketing trend.

If you are like most small business owners, you might have thought the viral video phenomenon was just a silly craze. But it's not too late to get on board with this hot marketing tool. Video marketing is a great way to get your niche market's attention.

To begin, create three to five short video clips (one to two minutes in length) about you, your business, your niche market, and your product or service. Talk about the type of customers you appeal to, why your product is the perfect solution to their problem, and what makes your product or service unique.

Although YouTube is the definitive place for marketing your videos and getting them published, it isn't the only place. Here is a sampling of other video sharing sites that online small business owners might use:

• www.dailymotion.com
• www.5min.com
• www.revver.com
• www.metacafe.com
• www.video.yahoo.com
• www.tubemogul.com

In a short period of time you can generate a number of video clips targeted to your market. As your clips get passed around to millions on the Internet, they will enable your potential clients to see, hear, and get to know you and what you’re offering.

3. Promising new networking site.

Many small business owners use LinkedIn as their professional networking site of choice. Still other more adventurous business owners have used Ning to create their own social network specifically for their target market.

If you've not used Ning before to create a social network for your niche, go to Ning's website, give your social network a name, create a web address for it, and you're ready to go! Sound like too much trouble? Then join a social network that is already established at Ning or a professional group already set up at LinkedIn.

Better still (here's where the promising part comes in), join Red Wire Nation and get in on the action right from the start. Red Wire Nation is a new networking site just for entrepreneurs. Sign up on their website to receive an invitation to their beta launch. Then, as soon as they launch, start getting involved with your niche.

Two of the hardest things online small business owners have to do are to find a unique way to connect to their niche and to be on the leading edge of marketing trends that will rake in serious profits. Learn how to do both by following this step-by-step formula for success. Don't wait! Get in on the action before the big business players get involved and ensure your business success.

Copyright © 2008 by Susan L. Reid

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