Guest Interview with Kelly Watson with eBook Giveaway!

Today we invite you to join us for an interview with Kelly Watson of Womenwise Marketing.  Kelly is a copywriter and marketing consultant who specializes in marketing to women. She recently launched an e-book titled “Small Business Blogging Blueprints,” available for sale on her website at WomenwiseMarketing.com along with other resources for women in business.

In conjunction with our interview and the release of her new eBook Kelly is giving away a copy to one of our readers.  More on how you can win a free copy of Kelly's eBook at the end of our interview. 

MP:  Tell us about Womenwise Marketing.

I started Womenwise Marketing about a year ago, when I was looking for a copywriting “niche” I could feel passionate about. Reflecting on my own experiences in marketing, I remembered how it brought out many insecurities that kept me from promoting my business effectively. I also realized that few resources exist to help myself and other women deal with these insecurities. I wanted to make these resources readily available, so I created a blog, newsletter and podcast all devoted to helping women market themselves successfully.

MP:  Why focus on women?

Anyone who’s seen “Mad Men” knows that advertising and marketing are traditionally male-dominated industries. And those male-created marketing techniques don’t always resonate with women, whether they’re responding to TV ads or trying to market their own businesses. 

Women not only grow up with a different set of social expectations, but they have different brain compositions that affect their values, behavior and decisions. It’s about time marketing reflected this.

MP:  You have a book in the works. Can you tell us more about it?

After coming up with the idea of Womenwise Marketing, my first goal was to create a book that would explore why so many women have trouble marketing themselves, and offer ways to make it fun and effective. I spent a year collecting research and interviewing women from all walks of life.

After hearing horror stories about the current state of the publishing world, however, I decided to take a year for speaking and leading workshops before I pursue it further.  Now that the heavy research is done, I feel it’s time to get feedback and gather success stories from women who use the material before making it available in book form.

MP:  What’s one of the biggest mistakes women make when marketing?

They don’t value their services enough. They also have a hard time closing the sale, and charging what they’re really worth. There’s a great book titled “Women Don’t Ask,” by Linda Babcock and Sarah Laschever, that explores these issues in greater detail. Basically, we allow our self-worth to get mixed up in our work, making it hard to put ourselves in a situation where someone might say “no.”

MP:  How can we change this?

I struggle with this myself, though I’ve gotten better. Self-awareness is the first step: simply notice the times you hesitate to ask for a sale or charge a fair price. Then work on taking small steps outside your comfort zone. It’s also a matter of confidence, and being mindful of the negative self-talk that ultimately sabotages your financial success.

MP:  What’s the number one thing anyone can do to take their business to the next level?

Create and nurture relationships. It’s not only important to business, but it comes naturally for many women. One person may be comfortable attending local networking groups, while another person does most of her relationship-building by phone or internet. There are so many tools to help us keep in touch, we just need to make the time to do it.

I schedule reminders in my e-mail program to contact a client if I haven’t talked to her in a few months and see if I can offer any help. While I don’t do it simply to generate new business, it often comes back to benefit me.

MP:  What about social networking – how much do we really need?

It’s a great marketing tool, but it can be addicting. I recommend that people try the big three: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. LinkedIn takes very little time to maintain; all you have to do is create a profile and add people to your network. Twitter can be the most time-consuming: people usually expect you to update your account at least once a day.

Once you’ve tested the waters, you should be able to tell what social network will benefit you most. Perhaps you enjoy Facebook but not Twitter. Great! Just delete your Twitter account and start budgeting some Facebook time into your schedule. The key word is budgeting: you don’t want to go overboard, but you don’t want to disappear for months at a time. Ten minutes a day is usually all you need to reap social media’s benefits.

MP:  What one piece of advice would you give to someone running their own online business?

Keep forging those connections! It can get lonely sitting in front of a computer all day, and when you go through a rough patch, as all business owners do, it becomes easy to get discouraged. But when you talk to other women in business, you quickly realize that you’re not alone … and you may get some great insights into problems, too. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! Just be sure to provide value on your end of the relationship, and you’ll be amazed at how generous others are with their time and expertise.

 

If you would like to have a chance to win a free copy of Kelly's eBook, leave a comment to this interview telling Kelly your biggest marketing challenge. 

The giveaway ends at 12 Noon EST on Tuesday, October 13, 2009. After a random drawing, the winner will be announced here later that afternoon.  

EDITED 12:05 EST 10/13/09:  COMMENTS ARE CLOSED FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN A COPY OF KELLY'S E-BOOK!   WE WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER SHORTLY.

HOWEVER YOU ARE WELCOME TO CONTINUE TO LEAVE COMMENTS TO LET KELLY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU ENJOYED THE INTERVIEW AND SHARE YOUR MARKETING CHALLENGES.  WE HOPE TO ADDRESS EACH OF OUR CHALLENGES AT A LATER DATE!

If you enjoyed our interview with Kelly, please leave a comment to let her know you appreciate the time she took to share with us.

To learn more about Kelly and her business visit Womenwise Marketing.

Kelly thank you for the interview and offering our readers a chance to win your new eBook!

_____________________________

Congratulations Robin McCoy!

The winner of Kelly's e-Book, Small Business Blogging Blueprint was chosen using Random.org!   Kelly will be in touch with you soon.

 

Comments

[Karen Carnabucci, MSS, LCSW, TEP]

Kelly, I so appreciate your succinct writing and your entepreneurial spirit! Thanks for continuing to contribute the conversation about marketing and client education. I'll be adding this information to my blog at http://wholepersonmarketing.blogspot.com.

[Brenda Wampler]

Kelly, thanks for you insight and experience.
Bren

[Robin McCoy]

loved the interview and I really think this is a book that could help me. I do have a hard time saying the price of my paintings. I know they are worth it, but worry about disapointing people. I guess I want people to like me as well as my art. And I want the people that like my work to be able to have a piece. Thanks for taking the time to do this and I will be looking at your web-site. Aloha, Robin

[sue pieper]

Kelly, GREAT interview, and thanks so much for taking the time to do it! You hit the nail on the head regarding one of my biggest marketing challenges, (I have several, I think!) when you said "Basically, we allow our self-worth to get mixed up in our work". That is so true! Whenever I price anything, I almost want to follow it up with an apology, even though I know perfectly well that the price is more than fair, especially considering the materials thatI use. See, here I go again-justifying-this has to stop! Which means I really hope I win your book:) Win or lose, I'll be hanging around your site, you seem like my kind if poerson!

[Debbie Overton]

Kelly, thanks for a great interview and offering a copy of your e-book to one of our readers. I spent the weekend reading through my e-book and found it to be very enlighting on some things I new I should be doing and keep pushing down my to-do list!

[elizabeth p]

Thanks for the great interview, I found several things you said that resonated with me.

[Casie Metcalf]

Thank you for the great information! I find balancing work and home to be my greatest challenge - working from home can be difficult. And I sometimes struggle with pricing and valuing my time.

[Leasa Ash]

Hi Kelly, I could definately use your book. I would love to blog but don't know how to get started. For me, my biggest marketing challenge is making time for it in the first place -- day to day work and new ideas always seem to push it to the bottom of the list but after reading your interview I realize I allow that to happen because I have an issue tauting my creativity and worth.

Thanks for taking the time to share and help us.

[trish]

thanks for the great interview!!!

[Cindy Forrester]

Hi Kelly, thank you for the great information. I can totally relate to struggles with pricing, valuing my time and finding time to do marketing!

[Cynthia Nicklus]

How ironic! We were just talking about starting a blog and had no clue where to start! This is excellent!

[Mishia]

My biggest challenge is generating traffic.

[Veronica Garrett]

My biggest marketing challenge is generating new leads and translating them into sales.

[Donna K]

My biggest challenge is getting sales.

[alicia]

what a fantastic interview and such great info. i think the most challenging thing for me, is choosing which of my businesses to market more/first: web design, which of course generates more income and creates stability (but is starting to bore me after 16+ years) or my little art site which is fun and makes me happy because in turn, i can art all day.

[lisa mitchell]

Interesting interview on some very real issues.
The pricing issue is challenging for me, as I have had customers make issue of prices, and I in turn, found myself explaining/convincing them of what they are getting for their money (when I instead would have liked to just say "so if you think it's too much, don't buy it! Go to Walmart!) :P