Dr. Daisy Sutherland is known to many on the internet as Dr. Mommy. She is in the business of helping mothers so that they can help their families.

She hired Social Savvy Online Business Solutions to help her put together a Virtual Tour. She wanted to stick with blogs and she wanted them to be geared towards healthy living. We decided to center is around the holidays.

I wanted to ask Dr. Mommy a few questions about her experience and she obliged.

Why did you want to do a virtual tour?
I chose to do a virtual blog tour because I wanted to give my site and my topics more exposure.  I recently added a podcast to my site and felt with having a virtual tour, I would have the opportunity to market my site and podcast to a larger group of people

How did you find the hosts for your tour?
Thankfully I had a social media strategist that was able to help me promote my upcoming tour on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn as well as marketing on my site.  The hosts who showed interest were given the information necessary to be a part of my tour.

How did you create the content for your tour?
Creating content was the easy part.  Since my strategist and I had chosen the theme, I simply found posts or articles I had written in the past that would fit the theme.  I then re-purposed them by changing the titles, some of the paragraphs and updating the topic to fit the theme better.  I also wrote some fresh new content but that was not entirely necessary.

What was the most beneficial part of your tour?
The most beneficial part of the tour was the opportunity for a larger group of people to learn more about my site, my information and my products.  It was also great for the hosts, because they were able to take a break from writing and allow me to share pertinent content related to the tour and their market as well.

What was the outcome of the virtual tour?
The virtual tour was very successful.  I had several sign up for my weekly Ezine, as well as many more downloads of my podcast episodes and sold several of my products as well.  All and all it was very successful.

Do you suggest that one organizes their tour with or without assistance? Why?
Although it is possible to organize a tour on your own, I suggest having assistance if available.  The assistance makes it easier for you to concentrate on providing the content.  The assistant will take care of the posting of your articles and communication with your hosts which is less work for you in the end.

Would you do another virtual tour?
I would absolutely do another virtual tour.  Marketing online is essential to any business whether online or offline.  With an online business it is even more essential to find ways to market your site, services and products.  A virtual tour gives you the opportunity to market to more folks that may not be aware of your business and what you have to offer.  If exposure is your desire, then a virtual tour is the way to go.

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I want to thank Dr. Mommy for answering the questions about her virtual tour experience. To learn more about all the Dr. Mommy does be sure to visit her site today. For healthy tips for better living check out her health tips blog.

Day 9 will be all about Promoting Your Tour.

If you want to catch up with all the posts on Organizing Your Virtual Tour click here.

Welcome to the first episode of the Social Savvy Minute! These  60 second or less videos are all about helping you be social savvy, marketing wise, and promotion smart. Enjoy!

Please be sure to leave a comment or shoot me an email at latara @socialsavvyva.com to let me know how you enjoyed this video and what topics you would like to see me cover in 60 seconds!

I was speaking with a client who told me a coach informed her that with all she does her list should be in the 1000’s and that she needs to partner with some big list people to get more folks on her own list. She then told her to do a one day give away of all her products or a day of coaching in her key areas of focus.

Here was my reply to her…

YOU DO YOU!!!

Why did I say that? While I don’t totally disagree with the coach, I do not agree with aligning yourself with people for the sake of a growing list. When you align yourself with folks for the sake of just growing your list, you can find yourself in some serious trouble.

Everything you do in business should come from the standpoint of quality for quality results. It makes no difference if you align yourself with Mr. Guru 123 if he is a crook and all about self. He could have the list but may be receiving horrible results because his marketing effort involve no true communication and connection power.

The bottom line is that in order to get quality results you have to produce quality marketing strategies. You need to understand what you want to get back for your efforts before you start giving one day coaching sessions for an entire day or give away all your products for free. Free is good but it is not all gold.

Sorry, but I think the coach gave my client some very bad insight into how to build her list and I told her such.

What she should have told her was to consider her marketing plan and find ways to connect to your market that will benefit all involved. She should have suggested that she look at what she is doing that works and keep at it; and take a look at what does not work and toss it.

Maybe the client has too many irons in the fire and needs to focus on some key areas of her business and grow her list in that area. Sometimes if a person has a plate full of stuff and no one to help her eat it then she ends up throwing the stuff away or getting sick from eating too much.

Here are some hidden dangers of not focusing on quality marketing:

• You get a list of a 1000 people but 75% are freebie seekers. They only joined your list for the free stuff. You never make a dime off of them and they never tell anyone about you because they really don’t care. They just want the free stuff they will probably never use.
• You align yourself with Mr. Guru 123 only to discover that he has been blacklisted and banned from many networks. His list is a one that he purchased and the people on it never opted in or they simply don’t exist. Oh yeah, they still do that. I had to help a client get out of a mess like that about three months ago…so yes it does happen!

There are some key points to consider if you list is not growing or your marketing efforts are not working:

• What does you marketing funnel look like? Does it have enough quality freebies, great low cost options, residual opportunities?
• What are your promotional efforts like? I wrote a post on this a couple of months ago. It is a great post all about creating tons of products and doing nothing with them.
• How do you communicate to your market? What do they know about you? How often  and what do they hear from you?
• What is the quality of your content? Are you re-purposing more and creating fresh content less? Re-purposing is good, but it can get stale.
• Who are you aligning yourself with? I never said don’t do it. I simply said be careful how you do it. Are you aligning yourself with people who share your core values and principles in business? Are you creating alliances with people who are about quality over quantity? What is your purpose for alignment? What is theirs?

There are so many facets to creating quality marketing strategies but please don’t let the main one be to simply grow your list. If you are marketing the right way, they will come. For some it takes more time than others to grow a list by number. However, you can have a list of 100 good folks who will buy your products, promote you, and stay loyal to you just because you took the time to provide quality marketing efforts that paid off.

How many products do you have available at this very minute that could be a part of your income stream? What does your product tree look like? Is it ready to be harvested and enjoyed?

I ask these questions because I watch many people pump out product after product and grow branches that are ripe for the picking. However their promotional efforts still need a lot of nourishing.

I have had clients approach me and ask why they aren’t making money. The first thing I ask them is how are they marketing and promoting so that their market knows what they offer. The answers often throw me for a loop:

• I have a few buttons placed on some sites.
• I don’t enjoy writing.
• I am not good with talking to people.
• I have a website. Isn’t that enough?
• Well you are my social media/marketing VA! What are you doing to promote me?
• What exactly is promoting?

Trust me the list goes on.

If you are pushing out report after report, e-book after e-book, internet marketing product after internet marketing product, but you are not going forth with your promotional efforts; then you are going nowhere fast. Been there, done that, wrote the book… wanna read it?

This was one of the many reasons I decided to start my VA business. I was watching too many people make the same mistakes I did when it comes to marketing and promoting- a lot of production but very little return due to poor promotional efforts.

Think of where companies like Coca-Cola or McDonald’s would be if all they did was push out products and did no promoting.

It makes little sense to pump out all the products if you have no marketing plan. Marketing includes the promotional part as well and  it is not as hard as it seems. It just takes time. If you invest and your product is good, then the money will come. It may trickle at first but then you will start to watch it grow and grow.

Promoting is a very important part of marketing and there are many ways to promote yourself.

• Content marketing: Content is King
• Video marketing…GOT FLIP!
• Teleseminars/Webinars: People love to hear you talk if you know what you are talking about
• Virtual Blog Tour/Guest Blogging: Strategic guest blogging is a great way to find your market and share your message
• Your own blog with great SEO in place and regular quality posting will keep your market coming back for more
• Podcasting: There is likely an audience who needs your expertise
• Talk it up: Using your social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Ning is a great way to share your message. Just don’t be spammy and remember to offer your help where you can. Be a value and not a nag
• Business cards: Every business needs them because you need to promote online and off.
• Speaking engagements: Trust me the more you do them the easier they get.
• Freebies: Are you giving away stuff to entice your market to want more
• A List: Opt-in lists are a great way to promote because the people who sign up are usually interested in what you have to say

These are only a few ways that you can promote yourself and your products. There are many more creative ways to get your message to the masses.

Have a good support team is a great way to outsource some of your promoting efforts. It saves you time and helps you to spread the word in a more efficient manner.

It makes not sense to have a full branch if no one is around to taste the fruit of your labor. It will just get old and rot!

The bottom line for most business owners is to earn money. Money is often accumulated through the of a particular product or service. However, to sell that product or service business owners need to alert the general public. Customer cannot buy a product or a service if they do not know that it exists. That is why, as a business owner, you need to advertise your business.

When it comes to advertising there are many business owners who literally cringe. The reason they cringe is because many of the advertising methods cost money. While it is good to spend a little to make a little, it would be even better if you are able to save by advertising for nothing. There are ways to promote your business and the products or services that you sell without having to spend any money at all.

Is your curiosity peaked yet?

One of the ways that you can promote your online business, without having to spend a dime, is by using something that is readily available online. That thing is an online social networking. A large number of internet users, in fact millions of them, belong to at least one social networking group.

When it comes to social networking,many people think of online friendships or online relationships. Yes, these are very common but many online marketers know that there is power in participating in social networking groups. In fact, it was through doing business online that social networking got it start.

If you are a small business owner, especially one that operates an online business or is trying to give your business a strong online presence, there is a way that you can use social networking sites to your advantage.

There are networking sites that are designed for business owners. These websites will not only allow you to share your business information with other business owners, but it will also allow you to develop close relationships with those that share an interest that is similar to yours. Essentially, this means that you could not only learn valuable business information, but you could also walk away with a new business partner or client.

Image via CrunchBase

If it is your goal to start social networking, be sure that you target networks that fit your needs and desires. This is why having a plan is so important. Writing down your social media marketing plan is a good way to guage which groups you join and which ones are just not for you. Many places like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning and even MySpace are helping business owners share their expertise, gain a following, and increase their income potential.

By joining a social networking website, especially one that is popular and has a large number of members, you should be able to generate interest in your business, including the products or services that you sell.

If you have not discovered a place that suits you ask around, talk to a social media expert, and get in where you fit in.