An Ignoble Experiment: Helping Small Business help themselves - SolutionsArePower™ - Relationship Marketing for Everyone - Part 1

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Relationship Marketing for Everyone - Part 1 – An Interview with Mari Smith

Mari has been called the "Pied Piper of Facebook" but that really just scratches the surface of her talent and knowledge of social media and its application. Her specialty is called "Relationship Marketing". She is also an Internet Marketing Consultant and Facebook® Business Coach. Everything she does, according to her "revolves around people and relationships - fostering new ones, building and maintaining existing ones, helping others with their relationships." Her business and her mission is to help entrepreneurs or small business owners figure out how to monetize all these new social media tools and platforms.

We recently had an opportunity to chat as she was traveling across the country with her husband (I’ll get to that later) and discuss relationship marketing and social media. Here is part one of our two-part interview:

Steve: You are a relationship marketing consultant, could you explain that for those readers who might not be familiar with the term?
Mari: Sure. I work with solo professionals, entrepreneurs and small business owners to help them identify and nurture their most profitable relationships.

Since Web 2.0 and social media has become so widespread, the emphasis is on connecting with people. But it has to be the right people. It's all too easy to waste a lot of time going down "rabbit holes" in the social networking world. I teach my students and clients how to build a network of potential clients, supporters (fans) and strategic alliances and implement creative marketing strategies in a timely manner.

Steve: Does Relationship Marketing center itself on leveraging social media tools and platforms or is there an additional physical aspect to this?
Mari: My version of Relationship Marketing focuses primarily on social media tools, as well as websites, blogs, email broadcasts, radio and teleseminars.

In addition, social sites such as Facebook and Twitter allow us to create what I call "virtual rapport." Such that, when we do meet our online friends face-to-face, we already have a bond with them and it's a very natural-feeling relationship from the first in-person meeting.

I do encourage my clients to host and/or attend relevant in-person events to cement the virtual connections face-to-face. For example, you can host or attend what are called "Tweetups" – that is a local group of Twitter members who meet up in-person to network.

Plus, for those who are speakers or wish to do platform speaking, social media sites make it very easy for us to reach out and connect with key decision makers and secure more speaking engagements.

Steve: Do you feel that this is the most powerful and quickest path to establishing and building a personal/professional brand?
Mari: It really depends on the individual or company, their products and services, how established they are already, how much demand there is for what they offer, and other factors. The key is clarity, focus and consistency.

If you have many of the important pieces in place already – like a website and/or blog, products and services, testimonials and case studies, customer support systems, etc. – then, with the right strategy, certainly you could tap into the power of social media platforms and further establish a personal/professional brand.

Steve: What types of services do you provide to entrepreneurs and small businesses?
Mari: I provide three levels of services:
(1)    A self-study program, Social Marketing for Professionals, with a 250+ page guidebook, video tutorials, audios, an active forum and lifetime updates. The system is design for professionals to set up their social media strategy, then automate and delegate much of the day-to-day activities to a trained and trusted assistant.
(2)    Small group training where we meet weekly in my private webinar room and cover a wide range of social marketing and internet marketing topics. I bring on guest expert speakers on some sessions. And, due to the small group model, there is plenty time for hands-on support in the hot seat.
(3)    Private consulting and training. This is one of my more popular services and is designed for the professional, business owner and/or executive who wants a complete personalized crash course on both the technical side of the various social media sites and the strategic integration into their overall marketing plan.

My services – and free offerings – are all listed on my site at http://marismith.com under Services.

Steve: How is this type of coaching different from personal or business coaching that many people are familiar with?
Mari: The coaching I do tends to be more like consulting and training. My goal is to empower my clients to focus on implementation and generating measurable results, typically in terms of numbers of subscribers, traffic, paying clients and bottom line profits.

Having said that, due to my background as a Certified Personal Relationship Coach and a Developmental Coach, I do intersperse my consulting and training with models and concepts designed to help my clients grow personally and professionally.

I also have expertise in many of the personality assessments and often include those in my services. I'm a strong believer in focusing on your strengths – not trying to improve your weaknesses. Also, having a profound understanding of yourself, your preferences and your motivational sensitivities is one of the keys to designing a lifestyle and career that brings you joy and satisfaction every day. Given social networking may not come naturally to certain personality types, it's important to identify this for each person and design an approach that suits their style.

Steve: You have an excellent e-Course called "21 Keys to Profitable Relationships". Could you explain what the course is and why someone would benefit from it?
Mari: Sure. 21 Keys to Profitable Relationships is a free online course I offer at my main website http://marismith.com where, each day for 21 days, subscribers receive a solid proven strategy for building relationships that result in an increase in profits. I created the course from many years of experiencing what works well (and what doesn't!) in both my and my clients' relationships. In addition, I include a bonus screen capture video that demonstrates many of the 21 Keys in action.

NEXT TIME: In Part 2 of our interview we talk about her travels across North America, being a true virtual worker and looking at the future of social media.

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