The word 'campaign' can seem really confusing and vague to many new business owners or organizational leaders. Below we'll talk about what a campaign is and the most important elements within all campaigns.

A campaign essentially starts with a single important objective, for example 'Sell our chocolate boxes for Valentine's Day.' You would likely call such a 'campaign' something like 'Valentine's Day Chocolate Box Campaign 2020.'

The above is simple enough to understand but where do you go from there? It is important to realize that every well-planned out campaign, event, or promotion is comprised of the same common elements. That's great news if you're working on learning marketing for your business or organization.  Once you get to know the elements everything has in common, you'll know how to plan, talk about and promote pretty much anything.

You can think of campaigns like books. Every book might hold a different set of details... but each can be broken down into the same 'literary elements'. The same goes for all campaigns, special sales events, special offers and promotions.

​When an author is planning a story, they can start with a list of elements like main idea, characters and plot etc. and jot down notes on each to have a good idea of the most important pieces of the story going in. It's very helpful to do the same to start your marketing. Try it for anything you want to promote whether it's a product, service or event.

The elements all campaigns will have in common are: an objective and or title, a brief description (of what it is), details (like location and how-to-pay details etc.), a 'why' to attend, a 'why now' attend (element of relevancy), credibility details, social proof, call to action, who should attend (audience), and sometimes a 'hook.'

Now that you know the above elements of a campaign you'll start to notice them within just about every piece of marketing you see from fliers, to billboards, etc. ​​Learning these key components can make you more of an 'expert marketer.'. It's so helpful to learn them whether you're going into full-fledged business or simply promoting a one-off event as a volunteer for a charity.

Also remember that many promotions and events themselves can fall under the category of a single 'campaign' objective.

Check out the Free Resource to Help Plan your Campaigns below: ​​

Campaign & Promo Planning Sheet
Objective or title of event / campaign:
What: Briefly describe the event. If needed, use these helpful prompts:
Who should attend? (If a campaign, include your ad segments / audiences here) 
Details & Logistics: Location / Payment details etc:
Why attend / opt in / participate:
Why ‘Now’:
Credibility Details (optional / important for courses etc. – degrees, awards):
Social Proof: 
Call to Action (*what should people do next after knowing the other details?)
"Hook” or associated hashtag (optional – a snazzy tagline that pulls attention in):


EXAMPLE: Special Event / Campaign Questionnaire
Objective or title of event / campaign:
Awesome Club’s 10th Annual Bake Sale
What: Briefly describe the event. If needed, use these helpful prompts:
Come and enjoy a variety of home baked cupcakes, cakes, and pastries!
Details: Location / Payment details etc:
Awesome club will be holding the annual (well-loved) sale at the local Awesomeville community auditorium at 5 Awesome St. on Saturday Nov. 5th from 10 am to 2 pm. Gluten free and vegan options will be available. All items are $10 or less. Bring cash or credit.
Why attend: Each pastry is delicious and helps to support Awesome Club and the free activities they offer to the community.
Why Now: Get there early and earn an extra raffle ticket for a free home baked bread basket!!
Credibility Details (optional / important for courses etc.): Each baker has been hand selected and qualified to offer pastries in our 10 year running award-winning bakesale!
Social Proof: “I look forward to attending the event every year and supporting awesome club. I always stock up on cookie doughs for the fridge at the edible cookie dough table!”
Call to Action (*what should people do next after reading the flyer?): Arrive early. Call us at 1-555-awesome with questions. Visit awesome club’s website for more details.
Who should attend? (If a campaign, include your ad segments / audiences here) Anyone in the community for has a sweet tooth, loves home baked goods.
“Hook” (optional): Add a little home baked sweetness into your holiday…without baking for hours!

So you're a new business owner or an established business owner and you want to create your website. It's an exciting yet sometimes (or let's be honest) often, stressful time.  You want to get your website up and going, and you want to do it right.  Yet, you want to just start serving your customers already and have them be able to easily find and stay in touch with you. Where will you focus your time? ...and to complicate things for you further, the modern online landscape has you questioning, 'Do I even need a website?' (As a trainer, I get asked this question all the time.)

A little reassurance - If you're in it to serve your customers for the long haul, your very own website as a hub, is yes, the right way to go! You're doing (or planning to do) the right thing. Social media profiles and individual landing pages are great and important too, but they still (yes, even in 2017) can't even compare to the flexibility, credibility and possibility potential of having your own established website. Your website helps you build authority both on and offline, with search engines & with customers.  

While you can have plenty of web space akin to rental and vacation properties, your very own website is truly your home sweet home online and its where your customers will always know that they can find you. It gives them a sense of stability, trust and reliability that they just can't quite get from a landing page or a social media account.  

Let's say you're a restaurant.  You could host your menu on Yelp or a Facebook page, but wouldn't it be easier for your customers to simply type in your restaurant name or food + your location, pull up your website in the search results and go right to the correct page and menu?  ...without any of the distractions of Yelp ads or the usual 'shiny object' syndrome that exists across any type of social media. Only on your website can you truly serve up the information your customer is looking for in a deliberate manner, organized on your terms and show them where to go or what to do next (with minimal distraction). 

With that all said, you're probably thinking 'great, so I know I need a website... and this helps me to reaffirm, but what do I do or where do I go next?' How do I cover all my bases? What should I say on my website? How much is too much or what is too little?  Well, that's exactly where a 'Website Planning Checklist' comes in and why you really need a game plan (a simple framework) going in. This will help you to Simply Take Action. Sure, there may be hurdles along the way (there usually are for everyone)... but a website planning checklist will keep you moving Forward. No more struggling to recall "What have I done?" "What information do I need now / What do I need to do next?"  A true planning checklist helps you to know just that so you can continue your forward momentum and get things (in this case, your website) up and running.

Good checklists can help you move through each mini-step and obstacle without giving you extra work to do or more points to consider than necessary (right now).  For websites, there are a few different types of checklists out there, but the first and foremost thing to consider when looking for a website planning checklist to help you with your website game plan is 'Is this to the point?'

The following website planning checklist is made with that first and foremost point in mind.  It is for both new and established business owners, both entrepreneurs who are doing business on and or offline and it can also even be used for putting up not-for-profit and organization or cause websites.

While a strategically shorter checklist (like this one) might not answer every single question you'll ever have, you can always quickly and slightly modify a step to customize it to meet your needs.  More often than not its a much more helpful way to get started with your website than, for example using a very information-heavy planner, workbook or checklist. It saves more time in the long run to start using a to-the-point plan to follow rather than an overwhelming one.  With less to sort through, a shorter checklist will usually have more of what you need, less of what you don't.  In fact, this is a good principal to adopt and look out for in any future resource that you seek out to help you build your business.

When planning your website, if you don't know what to focus on, you can lose hours of precious time doing extra research, posting in groups, asking friends, playing around with graphics or wondering about what types of copy you absolutely need to add.

This free website planning checklist helps you save time because it will keep you focused and working towards completion even if you're jumping around from step to step.

It's the one I use with my students, clients an small to get them started.  The checklist both takes into account the principals of 'conversion' (driving results and sales) and is tailored to to optimize your (or you and your designer's) own time and productivity.d companies big and

(This link above takes you to the website planning checklist.)

#HappyBirthdayHashtag

You may not have realized it but this year the 'hashtag' unofficially turns ten! Though it may not seem like it, that's right... it's been a full decade since we've been commonly seeing the little hashy-helper all around social media.

Now to be clear, the 'hash symbol' has actually been around much longer than that , just not as we now know it today. (Yes indeed the # has past lives in the world of data and network computing.) Today we take a little look back at the history of the hashtag to give you a great foundation for the future.  

Get the Smarter Start Hashtagging Guide

Hashtag's Past Lives

In the early days of computing, the hash symbol was simply used to 'denote special information' and the use of the 'hashtag' (or pound symbol as many traditionally know it) for labeling 'groups' and 'topics' goes way back to the 1970s.  However, the use of hashtag in helping to make topics easier to find on social media didn't come into play until the late 2000's. (2007 to be exact.) #Happybirthayhashtag

The Initial Suggestion for & Appearance of the Hashtag on Social Media

Developer Chris Messina is credited with first suggesting the use of the 'hashtag' on Twitter [wikipedia].  Inspired by the use of the hash symbols in the earlier days of more 'insider' networked computing, he suggested that 'hashtagging' on Twitter could also 'make it easy for "lay" users to search for content and find specific relevant updates.'  

Though Twitter didn't officially adopt or promote the practice upon suggestion, in 2007 hashtag use took off after they were widely used by Twitter users in tweets relating to the 2007 San Diego forest fires.  This helped Twitter users to easily 'pull up' the latest update posts and all posts about the event.  [Wikipedia.]  

(TLDR: Hashtag makes its way onto social media. Hashtag gets famous!) 

What is a hashtag as we know it today?

A 'hashtag' is simply a # coupled with a word.  For example #SanDiego.

Though we now as of this writing in 2017 unofficially celebrate the tenth anniversary of the first widespread public use of the hashtag, today hashtags are still used very much the same way today as they were in 2007.  The only difference? Hashtag use has, of course grown exponentially.  Today it isn't only the general public using the hashtag to share and spread news and find keywords and topics. Business owners, content marketers and bloggers commonly use the practice as a standard part of 'getting found' on social media as well.

Today, as a business owner you can use hashtags on many social media and microblogging platforms including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.  Arguably, the culture of hashtag use is perhaps most widespread on the first two - Twitter and Instagram.  To do so, simply post as usual and add the # symbol before any word in your post.  For example: #trending or #nightsky.

Happy Big 1-0 Hashtag! #Happybirthday

If you're a new business owner or new to social media and online marketing, you may be asking 'What are hashtags?' and 'Why should I use them?'.

You're not alone.  Although the ability to 'hashtag' your content on certain social platforms has been around for a while, there is still a great deal of confusion around the web when it comes to exactly why to use them, when and how.

Why would you want to go through the trouble of using hashtags if you own or are starting a business?  Put simply, 'hashtags' help you get found or discovered more.  When you add a hashtag (add the # symbol) in front of a word, users of a social media platform will be able to find your post by searching for that word.

Get the Smarter Start Hashtagging Guide

For example if you are a vegetarian restaurant in downtown Manhattan you might use the hashtags for #NYC and #vegetarian etc. on Instagram.  If I'm a vegetarian visiting New York City during lunch for the day, sure I Could search Google Siri to find you, BUT I could also quickly search Instagram for '#vegetarianfoodnyc' or a similar hashtag.  In that case, the advantage for me as the searcher is being able to quickly pull up all the beautiful timely images people have posted along with the #vegetarianfoodnyc hashtag to Really see what resonates with me - a picture is worth a 1,000 words. The advantage to you as the business owner is that you will be incidentally found just the right customer.

As a business owner, hashtags are also 'just best practice' today to help you categorize your own posts. In general, you have nothing to lose by using hashtags and though you can certainly be found in other ways, when you don't use hashtags you are losing some good opportunities to be discovered on the table.

Now that you know about the history of hashtags and a general idea of why, as a business owner you should consider using them, your next step is to learn how. I've put together a complete 'cheat sheet' guide on how you can use hashtags as a small business owner or solopreneur to grow your fans and improve your posts.

So you'll want to keep this valuable 'cheat sheet' by your side when posting on your social media accounts.

Use these 'hashtag tricks' and they will help your follower counts on Twitter and Instagram go up / grow with the right potential customers for you.  

Believe me, there is a great deal of misinformation out there when it comes to hashtags. Though, use them the right way and you will gain new fans / followers and customers as a business owner.

​One of the most common questions I get asked is 'Where can I find my audience?' Over the years I've found that the real question every business owner should ask themselves first is "Am I even READY to find my audience?"  Here's why.

The audience for your product or service can be verified by you in one of two main ways:

THE 'TRADITIONAL' WAY

The first way is by identifying your desired audience ahead of time and creating a traditional customer avatar.  You're probably familiar with this one.  This is when you go about naming the exact demographics and behaviors of your customer
to-be beforehand either on paper or on a worksheet.  In this case, before you can find your audience you need to ask and will ask and answer 'Who exactly am I looking for?' (Otherwise you'd be in for a pretty tough game of hide and seek right?)

THE SOMETIMES 'MORE REALISTIC' WAY

The second and other realistic but lesser talked about way you can learn about your audience is through the 'discovery' method.  This is a trial and error process during which you put your product, service or content very related to your product or service in front of a very broad audience (almost anywhere and everywhere) to see who it most resonates with.  You then narrow down your audience from there.
​
In this case, before you go trying to find more of your specific audience or even before you put your product or content in front of the initial broader audience, you need to first ask and answer the question 'What am I selling or offering?" (in the case that you don't have a paid product or service to offer just yet).  If you don't yet know who your specific audience is, you need to get ready to speak clearly about whatever it is you're providing.

A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE... WHEN IT COMES TO GOING OUT AND FINDING YOUR AUDIENCE

You may have noticed that in either of the scenarios above, (whether you plan to use traditional audience targeting by defining your customer avatar ahead of time... or to play the field a bit and see who is a best fit for your product first...) you are still left with a question that must be answered first before you are really ready to 'find your audience.'  'Who is my audience specifically?' or 'What am I clearly offering?'  You should be armed with the answer to at least one of these questions before putting a great deal of energy into 'finding your audience.'  Otherwise, you are going to find yourself spinning your wheels.

If you're a new entrepreneur, take a moment to pause and ask yourself first "Am I really READY to find my audience?" If the answer is no, there's no need to panic. You've just got a little homework to do. It can sometimes some take time but it will be worth it.  That homework?  Answer at least one of the unanswered questions above.  Do I know exactly who I want to work with?  Do I know and can talk about exactly what I'm providing?

KNOW YOU'RE READY TO FIND MORE OF YOUR SPECIFIC IDEAL CLIENT OR AUDIENCE?

Already defined what you're selling or providing and / or your exact client avatar? Then, you are indeed ready to get into more accurately answering the question 'Where can I find and reach my audience?' or 'How can I find out where the audience for my business hangs out?'

Here are a few tips to get you started.

Firstly, avoid getting too hung up on 'trends.'  With the natural pendulum swings of time, your audience (or any business's audience for that matter) will migrate around from time to time. In other words, where your audience 'hangs out' will shift now and then.  The best way to combat that is not to panic and run around chasing them. Set yourself up for success up front. Instead of worrying only about learning the latest social media platform or technology, worry first about taking the time to lay a good foundation for yourself by really outlining your message and getting good insights into the your audience's needs.  These things will tend to change less than hang out spots do... and with them firmly defined, you will be more prepared to ride out any changing tides in technology or otherwise.

The best way to see where your audience hangs out right now is to ask, to look around to brainstorm.  I like to break down this audience brainstorming down into two categories - 'in real life' and 'online,' (where your audience is online or in the digital space).  When brainstorming where your audience hangs out, really think outside the box and go deeper than just 'what social media platform is the age group on.'

Taking just a little time to do your homework before asking and answering 'where can I find my audience?' can really pay off.  Skipping a few steps can seem like you're racing forward, but in the end you'll find yourself spinning your wheels and taking longer to really get going in the long run than you would have should you have prepped ahead of time.  

Use this expert resource to help you brainstorm where your audience hangs out or 'seems to be hiding.' I've personally created The '15 Prompts to Brainstorm Where your Audience Hangs Out' worksheet to help you make sure you're not leaving any audience hiding spots behind.
​
Download the 15 Prompts to Brainstorm Where your Audience Hangs Out PDF to help you brainstorm and perfectly hone in on your your audience 'is hiding.' 

Ready to build your small business website but not sure which builder platform to go with?  This will depend on your type of business and end goals. To help you determine those, here are a few questions to ask yourself.  I recommend you go through these in the order below and answer honestly.

First Ask Yourself...

• Will my team and I (realistically) be blogging extensively?
• Is Wordpress (or any self hosted site) the only industry standard in my industry (for example: as in large corporate, professional news media, custom web development?)

If you answered Yes to one of the questions above, you will most likely want to go with Wordpress (whether pushing through the learning curve yourself or hiring credible help.)  If you answered No or 'I don't think so...' to the questions above, move onto the next questions below:

• Is your business outside of one of industries mentioned above?
• Are you a mom & pop shop or brick & mortar who will not be blogging extensively (on a daily basis)?
• Will you need yourself or your non-technical specific staff to easily be able to update your website at any time?
• Do you feel like taking on a lot of new (less-intuitive) technology would slow you way down right now?
• Do you absolutely, positively, need to go the Do-it-Yourself route right now but have no interest in taking on too many moving parts and technologies?
• Do you like your builder to be fully supported and to be able to write a support ticket for help if something goes wrong and have it responded to quickly?

If you answered Yes to one or many of the second set of questions above, then I strongly recommend you consider going with a DIY builder website service like Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace to build your website.

"If I decide to use a DIY website service (each has a user-friendly drag-and-drop builder), which one should I choose?"

There's no (really) right or wrong answer to this, but you can see my personal favorite below in the last paragraph of this post.  As we mentioned, the three most popular DIY website builder services at the moment are Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace.  What I first recommend doing is utilizing the free trial version of each of these to play around with and build a trial site.  (Just make sure you don't publish it before you're ready.)  This will give you a chance to get a feel for the different designs (templates) each service has available to you and which appeals to your eye most as well as which builder interface you yourself find easiest.  (The easier it is for you, the less it will slow your business down in this case.)

Still need an easy way to build your small business website?  You can learn about my Favorite tool, and the one I use to create my very own website here.  I've been using it for years and I loved it so much I partnered as an affiliate to share it to help others.  Here it is - my personal favorite website builder tool: Weebly.

The days of having to hire a developer or designer to get a good-looking and very functional website for your small business are in the past.  I'm here to assure you that obtaining a great website is within reach today even if you have to do it yourself.  Outsourcing budget or tech skills lacking?  No worries!  These are no longer serious barriers to entry.  You can still get your website up quickly with the right tool for you. In this post, we're going to to break down the popular website building tools you can choose from.

Get to know your options for creating your website:

Option 1: Use a Drag & Drop Builder Service / Tool

Vast improvements have been made over the last 5 years when it comes to how easy it is for you, without any coding or programming skills to make a good looking website.  There are Do-it-Yourself builders out there with amazing 'Drag & Drop' capabilities.  Some of these builders are so easy that if you can use an iPhone, you can be assured you can learn how to build your own good looking website (and quickly.)  The three most popular 'DIY website builders' at the moment are Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace.  Each has its own set of reasonably-priced plans & we'll go into those more in a moment. Don't let the term 'drag-and-drop' fool you into thinking such tools / services create inferior websites. The right Drag and Drop builders can create SEO friendly, great-looking, and highly functional websites that also look perfect on mobile.  Ready to get started with one of these builders?  I've created a free checklist for you to ensure you're including everything you need for a modern professional website.  Download it here:

Download the Free 'Website Planning Checklist'.

Option 2: Use Wordpress.org + A Theme
 
If you decide that the Drag, Drop, and Done website building services like Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace aren't for you, there is one more very popular option and that is Wordpress.  Wordpress is not a ready-to-go out of the box DIY drag and drop builder.  It is a formally a 'self hosted content management system.'  (If you need to go the DIY route today or soon and that terminology is already scaring you, you might not want to go with this option except in some industry specific cases like professional blogging.) If you use Wordpress to build your small business website, you will have to choose and install a third-party theme that suits your needs.  In contrast, the DIY builders have several themes to choose from 'built right in' to start.  With Wordpress, you will also need to choose a third-party hosting provider unlike when using a DIY builder which hosts your site for you as part of your plan.  (A hosting provider is simply the company that actually stores your website content).

Some more about Wordpress.  You can (when you know what you're doing) get a good-looking website by using Wordpress.  Significant improvements have been made as well over the past couple of years when it comes to accessibility of nice themes you can use with Wordpress, but most do require at least some code modification, which can be difficult for many small business owners.   Wordpress is the preferred tool in some industries (such as news media), but it is definitely the more time and learning intensive option when it comes to creating a correctly displaying, fully functional website.  (Note: Do not confuse Wordpress.org with Wordpress.com as Wordpress.com does not permit business use.)

Let's Recap & Sum Up your Most Common Options for Building your Small Business Website:

When it comes to creating a website for your small business, it is most common to go one of two main ways.  (We'll break down the pros and cons of each below so you can decide what's right for you.):

1. Choose a DIY website builder service and build your website with it

OR

2. Go to Wordpress.org to download and install Wordpress onto your computer.  Then purchase / choose a Wordpress theme that suits your needs (from a third party theme creator) and use it in conjunction with Wordpress and the host provider of your choice to build your Website

Remember, there are 4 popular options for building your small business website in 2016:  Weebly, Wix, Squarespace (the DIY or drag and drop tools) OR Wordpress.

Which is right for you? This will depend on your type of business and required functionality.  Here's the thing though, I'm a strong believer that the builder you'll be most successful with is the one that feels most comfortable to you.  As long as you are using one of the professional standard builders above, you will be able to get a good looking website.  From there, go for what helps you stay in flow the most.  There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you come to the right conclusion for you, you can find them in this post. 

The tool you should use to create your website depends on your industry and needs.

While business's in some industries favor Wordpress, many others can do just fine with any option. Building your website quickly on your own is within reach today thanks to huge improvements in the website builder space within the last 5 years!  How much time each will take you will of course depend on your experience with technology, and the service you choose. To give you a rough ballpark, you can sign up for Weebly, Wix, or Squarespace and build an acceptably good looking functional basic site in just a few hours or less.  This would commonly include a home page, an about page, a services page, a contact page, even a menu page if you're a restaurant or salon.  On the other hand, although in some cases it can absolutely be done in less time, creating a Wordpress website without experience commonly takes small business owners several weeks or even months.  In special cases, as discussed above, this is still however the option with which to go.  Still not sure?  There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you come to the right conclusion for you, you can find them in this post. 

One more important note:  Although outside the scope of what we're covering here in this article on a building a basic small business web presence or website, if you want your website to include a functional online store or 'e-commerce' you can still use any of the builders we mentioned above (as well as e-commerce specific builders like Shopify and others) but this will take additional more time and you'll want to make sure you've purchased an e-commerce ready theme or plan.  Also, remember, no matter which service you use, unless using the free version, you will likely want to purchase and 'attach' your own domain name.

Ready to build your small business website?  Download my free website planning checklist to help you complete it quickly.  This free checklist also is designed to help you ensure you are include everything you need to be sure your website is up to modern professional standard.

​Happy Building!
​

1 - Realize you Don't have to be the Aggressive Enigma to Grow
Have you ever noticed there is a certain type of person (maybe 1 in 1000) who can comfortably even ‘spam’ friends and family about their business and still seemingly ‘get away with it’ still coming off as ‘likable’ and ‘trustworthy?’  Maybe you know or have observed something like this.  This person is a kind of enigma.  Even if friends and family aren’t interested in what this person is selling, they can kind of just shrug it off and separate the ‘person’ from the ‘promotion.’  As a new business owner, you ask, “What is it about this person that they can do this while I know I’ll never get away with it?”  Realize the ‘certain something’ this type of person has is 100% conviction and zero shame in these methods.  That is rarely the case with most business owners even if they put up the best façade (nor should it be).  I point out this enigma type of person to first dissolve the idea that we must be like that person in order to succeed or be heard.  Do not get this person entangled with the idea of the only way to success or ‘good marketing.’

When it comes to Self-promotion, you will get best results promoting in your own style (especially when you’re new), not attempting to emulate someone solely because they happen to come off as more aggressive.  If they are, the enigma is getting results with his/her ‘aggressive’ tactics in large part because they feel well aligned with them.  To try to simply copy this person when you know deep down you are not this person is a waste of time.  What works for them won’t work as well for you.  It is counterproductive to try to push yourself to do something you currently feel ‘wrong’ about.

2 - Learn to Recognize the Difference between Feeling Pushy / Wrong vs. Feeling Shy
People get a little mixed up here because they hear things like ‘fear is on the other side of your comfort zone.’  Still, if you feel wrong about something, let it go, don’t do it.  Feeling wrong or immoral about something is different than feeling ‘shy’ about something.  It’s such a subtle difference in the gut.  To understand the difference, think about the little boy who wants to give a Valentine’s day card to someone he likes in school.  He doesn’t feel like it’s wrong or immoral, he feels ‘shy’ about it.  If in a situation you have butterflies like that little boy, you are likely feeling shy.  If the word ‘pushy’ comes to mind and you feel like there is a wall of metaphorical concrete or a big red stop sign in front of you, you probably feel something is immoral, wrong, or pushy.  Real growth is on the other side of the butterflies, but not on the other side of that concrete wall or stop sign. 

3 - Talk to Friends & Family Differently than your Target Audience
Remember, your personal Facebook page is filled with friends and family, most of which are not your target audience.  When you’re promoting to this type of audience, to maintain being seen as trustworthy or in a positive light it’s best to keep things indirect.  Tell people what you’re up to, but forego the direct calls to action.  For example, you’ll get a better response to the status “So excited I just finished the new label design for the new soy candle I created” vs. “I created a new soy candle and super cool label today.  Check it out at my website here. Lucky for you, it’s on sale.”  Don’t waste your time on this too much, do more to start defining, finding, helping and getting involved with your target audience.

4 - Know when to do Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound
In short, in-bound marketing means delivering value or 'content' in order to grow your list and / or develop a trustworthy report.  You can then present your products to the audience once you’ve put in the time to develop report.  Outbound marketing has its place to.  Think radio ads and billboards.  These are also fine to promote with if you're a business to consumer business because they are still perceived as trustworthy.  Direct sales (direct calls / personalized emails) are also examples of outbound marketing and while still fine if you're a business selling to other business (B2B), as a small business owner selling to consumers (B2C), you should NEVER do this to your customer.  Reserve these tactics for initiating contact with potential collaborators / other fellow businesses.

5 – Most Importantly, Remember Good 'Self-Promotion' Really isn't about You
It’s important to remember that the promotion you're putting out there isn’t really for you or about you, even if you are the face behind the brand.  It’s ideally for your ideal customer (as win/win).  Ask yourself, what is the ‘why’ of my product or service at the most basic level?  Try to stay heart centered not self-focused when asking this and be sincere.  If you have a real viable product, service and/or special talent... at some point it will hit you that you are depriving those in your target audience by holding back or being too shy.  Keep on the look-out for evidence to validate this.  This can take time.  Once this realization really hits you, it will push you beyond your 'fear,' shame, or shyness. Repeat this exercise over and over again until you’re totally fine putting what you’re doing out there.