Effective marketing for pennies

When you are starting a business by yourself, especially if your plans for the business are to keep it small and do it yourself, professional marketing can seem to be an impossible challenge.  But many businesses can be promoted successfully with social media marketing.  
Here is how we do it at Epona Communications.Net. 

Social Media Marketing

Do you have a product to market? Do you offer services to clients? Do you need help with your social networking for your business?  Epona Communications can help you with this.
To build your business the way you want to; with quality products, a great reputation, excellent service and happy clients.

Currently offering social media marketing for any business at a rate of $95/month prepaid.
This includes:

• Never sharing your log in and passwords. This work is done without you losing control of your sites.
• Carefully coordinating your goals for the month and the future with timely activities in social media.  Planning for a month at a time.
• Keeping your Facebook page up to date with interesting content and timely announcements of events and activities that you are sharing. An active FB page will encourage visitors to become regular readers and share your information with others.
• Ensuring that your blog, FB and Twitter feeds are working correctly and if necessary make manual feeds daily.
• Promote your products or services to the appropriate demographic; building your Facebook fan page audience and sharing information on blogs and websites and encouraging feedback.
• Taking every opportunity through social media to build your business.
• Your account, including planning notes, is always available privately online with Google docs.

Carefully written blog posts and articles with interesting content and good use of keywords are also available at an hourly or monthly rate.

Print media and online media marketing is also available on an hourly basis with no contract, some commitments are necessary.  I specialize in the horse industry for mainstream print media, i.e., products or services that are of interest to horse owners.

Email
eponacomm@gmail.com
Phone
720-434-3085
Website
http://www.eponacomm.net

Essential oils for everyone

Evening Star Essential Oils is launching their new business.  Aromatherapy for horses and for people.  When I first got Nina and she was so spooky and frightened I used the soothing scent of Lavender to calm her down.  I would just hold a bottle of the essential oil where she could smell it.  She would take deep breaths, walk away and then come back and inhale again.  It always calmed her down.  That is a fairly primitive use of essential oils by someone who is not well versed in what they can do for you.   

Evening Star Essential Oils combines wonderful essential oils to help ease the stresses and aches and pains of everyday living, for us and for our horses.  Visit the new blog/website, leave a comment, let them know what types of products you would like to know more about.

You can find the site here: Evening Star Essential Oils

blogging....

Are you thinking about blogging?

Blogging is not going away. I often read in the techie news that blogs are 'old' and not of interest to readers. I find that blogs are great social networking.
News blogs have more or less taken the place of journalistic editorials, techie blogs can save your lost files, the internet is littered with health blogs - anything you want or don't want to know. There are blogs in any field of interest, including the horse world.

Many blogs, like my own (Nina's Story), are more or less diaries of a project, often a project horse. But many professionals in the horse industry are finding blogs a great way to keep in touch with their clients, potential clients and other businesses.

Consider these blogs;

• ECOGOLD is building a following of readers by blogging about products and what is going on in the world of show horses.

• Boyd and Silva Martin keep their fans, students, owners and sponsors up to date on their competitions and training schedules.

• Eventing Nation is a sport specific blog that takes the place of a news report on the ins and outs around the sport of eventing. They also review products and promote their sponsors.
  

• Badminton Horse Trials is keeping the international community interested in their competition and making traveling to GB to see it yourself attainable.

• Jane Savoie is promoting her DVDs, books and clinics while offering detailed training advice and answering questions from readers.
  

• Many many amateur riders blog, sharing their training stories and their favorite products and professionals. Some do product reviews. Some bloggers have thousands of other bloggers that regularly visit their page and see these links.
  

If blogging could help your business you should consider it. Sites like Blogger and WordPress make setting up an attractive blog take only a matter of minutes.

In order to make your blog work for your business you need to interact with other bloggers and here are some of my pet peeves about which blogs I follow and which ones I don't.

• Blog on some sort of schedule. Daily, weekly, monthly. The time between posts is not as important as having some sort of schedule, you will develop regular readers who will look for your posts on your schedule.
  

• Follow other blogs, all that you can find that might be interested in your product, your farm or your sport. That is how other blogs will find you.
  

• Blog about your horses, your goals, your life (with limits). Do not promote your business on a non stop basis.
  

• Turn on the comments, feeds and any forms of sharing. If you don't want to hear what other people have to say about your posts then keep it on a website. Blogs are interactive.
  

• Don't pontificate. If you have the only training method, product or life view that could possible work, soft pedal it. I have several barefoot bloggers in my list of horse blogs but none of the ones who make shoeing horses a moral fault.
  

• Don't be afraid to put advertising in your sidebars. Ads, links and promos of your products belong on the page, just not overwhelmingly in the posts.

• Put a link to your blog on your website, feed it to Facebook and Twitter, make it easy to find.
  

Have fun with your blogging, but because it is a face of your business, read it, edit it, review it and make sure you are not going to regret saying, sharing or speaking out.

stepping outside the box

The recession has a lot of people thinking about what they do for a living. Many people have never felt so vulnerable. There is a lot of press about the demise of the middle class and the power of corporations.

There is a way for some people to gain freedom from some of the worries of our economy. We are all affected by the ups and downs but we don't all have to feel like the end of a whiplash.

Many of us can become self employed. If your idea of self employed is get rich quick, create a giant corporation overnight or take part in one of those fly-by-night schemes that quick talking salesmen hawk on TV, then you should quit reading right here because that is not what I am talking about.

Many people have skills and interests that can be marketed to generate a living.
I work with entrepreneurs; people who had an idea, developed it and brought it to market. These are people with a physical product to sell, but there are other ways to market yourself, your knowledge, your service, what you have to offer.

There are many people online offering information, ideas and even a cheering section to help others become successful.
Facebook, blogs and other forms of social networking are good sources of information; like any other source you have to separate the salesmen selling charm from people who actually have good advice to offer.

Marketing yourself as a second job can let you figure out exactly what you want to do, keep the security of your current income and use the freedom to experiment to find a niche where you can be self employed.

USEF approves new Eventing helmet rule

Read the article here:
Eventing Nation: news on the helmet rule

Eventing News.....

The talk in the eventing world today has been about Robert Costello and Phillip Dutton throwing their hat(s) into the ring for Mark Phillips job as coach and chef of the US eventing team.
You can find info on Robert's blog, on Eventing Nation and discussion at the COTH forums.

Happy New Year!

Meet an Eventer.....Cassidy Sitton

Meet Cassidy Sitton

C Horse Event Team


~~~Doing my little bit to promote the sport that I love. I think that as a sporting community we need the support of the general public, if for no other reason than to help us save the land that we need to compete on. Another reason is to share this fantastic sport with people who may not know much if anything about it. And what better way than to introduce ourselves to others. I am going to feature dedicated event riders on this blog, pros and amateurs, young and old.
If you are a dedicated event rider and have a website or an up-to-date blog and would like to be introduced to people beyond the eventing world or if you know someone who fits this description, please contact me at eponacomm@gmail.com. Include contact information so that I can verify permission. This feed also goes out on Twitter.

Who should have a Fan Page on Facebook?

Well, let's see......
Do you own a business?
Do you have customers or clients?
Would you like to keep your customers or clients?
Would you like to know what they are thinking?
Would you like to send information out to them and get their feedback immediately?
Do you have something to say about your business and products?

You should have a Fan Page on Facebook.
Some people don't want to do this for themselves, it is too time consuming or social media is just not their thing.
So let me do it for you.
.

my own trials and tribulations

I decided to include my own horsey blog in the list. This is the sometimes slow account of rehabbing a TB mare. This horse came off of the track years ago and has had one unsuccessful owner after another. After a long struggle, things are turning around for her.
Nina's Story

WEG

Equestrian Lifestyle Magazine announcing the first horses to arrive at The Kentucky Horse Park for the World Equestrian Games.
click here

Blog list

The sidebar now has an updating bloglist of some good horse blogs. If you know of any let me know.

apologies

We have been on a short hiatus. Apologies to all and we are catching up at mach speed.

Eventing Blog

Here is an eventing blog that is about a year old that I just discovered. It features interviews with leading riders, coaches, grooms etc. I will be catching up on back posts myself and I have added it to my blog roll. It looks very well done. Three Days Three Ways. Check it out.

Have you seen this all natural sunscreen?

Do you spend time outside and do you like all natural skin products? This is a great natural sunscreen from Mea Culpa Body and Bath.

Here is the description from the maker.

Are you ready for summer? For the scorching and unforgiving sun? Well....I sure am!
Don't let the sun scare you. This natural sunscreen can help your skin fighting the sun rays and can help with a mild sunburn relief. By moisturizing every time you walk outside you can help your skin fight the UV rays.

Because of all the natural ingredients, this moisturizer can also help with regular rash, itchy and dry skin, and any irritated skin - especially because I have added Colloidal Oatmeal.

The cream will soak in very fast and its chalk full with zinc oxide! Its not in the minimal percentage - its 15% of Zinc Oxide!

I scented it with the refreshing aroma of cucumbers and green tea - dive into the world of greenness and freshness! Revitalize your mind and body!

I have formulated this with Rose Floral Water, which is an awesome moisturizer, aided by the all mighty Shea Butter and ever so soft Mango Butter. The cucumber peel extract and green tea extract are both natural sunscreens and give the skin a little cool feeling while nourishing it with vitamins and anti-oxidants. It is also said that green tea can help with minor cuts, burns and wounds.

Zinc Oxide is also here and I haven't been stingy with the ingredients - it's a mineral that the body requires for the synthesis of collagen, which is a requirement for the healing of skin wounds. Zinc is also a component in the proper functioning of enzymes that are required by the body to repair skin wounds. Another benefit of zinc for proper skin care is that it is a natural insect repellent and a natural sunscreen (zinc oxide effectively blocks the sun’s ultraviolet rays).

-- Shea butter is a wonderful agent for revitalizing our skin cells so that they regain their moisture retention capacity.
-- Rose Water is a gently cleansing and toning product for all skin types. Maintains the pH balance, stimulates regeneration processes, has a calming effect in acne and sunburns. As a result the skin texture becomes even and elastic.
-- Colloidal Oatmeal Colloidal oatmeal works great to help relieve dry, skin patches (Eczema), psoriasis, acne, bug bites, sunburns, and other minor skin irritations. It also helps relieve chicken pox, poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, and other itching and scratching rashes.
-- Rice Bran Oil stimulates collagen production and with that helps the skin heal faster, while keeping it soft and subtle.

Mea Culpa Body & Bath
http://www.etsy.com/shop/MeaCulpaBodyandBath

DISCLAIMER - This has not been approved by FDA. This is for informational purposes only. If you have a serious health problem, please consult your doctor.

The Art of Greg Evans....."Superman"

You can visit his new blog at Greg Evans Art and his website at Art Gallery of Greg Evans.

Social Media Don'ts

I am fairly new to the Social Media wave. My expertise is in print media so I am experimenting with sites like Facebook and Twitter as a business platform. Many people are jumping on the social media bandwagon as the greatest thing since canned beer. Others are convinced that it is a temporary craze that will burn itself out.

I don't have an opinion about the future of social media, but I have formed an opinion that many of the people online who are trying to market themselves or a product via social media might learn more from a slightly slower method.

I don't have a lot of advice about "how to" do this sort of marketing, but I have some advice about how not to.

Here are some of my pet peeves:

1. Tweets per hour is not a contest. Right now my limit is 25/hour. If I see a run of more than that on my page, you are gone. I don't care what you are selling, sharing or giving away. Go away. You are annoying. I will be shortening this up as I go along and I want to see what the more effective marketers are doing.

2. ANSWER your customers. Social media is supposed to be SOCIAL, when someone asks you a question, answer it. If you are so busy posting, tweeting, copying and pasting that you can't answer a question, don't expect that person to come back.

3. Be aware of what is going on in your own little corner of the internet. Don't tweet, post and blog about special offers, big news or new products when your site is down. Yes, stuff happens, usually at the worst time. How long does it take to make sure your site is operating properly before you blast the online universe with your ads?

4. If you are selling information and advice about marketing I would like to see what you have marketed, besides your own advice about marketing. Some of this stuff is just blatant pyramid schemes and some of it is earnest, well meaning advice from someone who has never actually put together a marketing campaign for a product, successful or not.

I'm sure I will have more as I get more experience myself. Perhaps I will even develop some of those "how to" rules.

The Art of Greg Evans..... "Brass Lass"

I am very pleased to be working with the artist Greg Evans. I will be featuring artwork from his many collections, but of course, I wanted to start with the equine collection. More coming soon and you can visit his new blog at Greg Evans Art and his website at Art Gallery of Greg Evans.

Starbucks giveaway....

TheJOYoftheJoyofPainting - $50 Starbucks giveaway - thejoyofthejoyofpainting.blogspot.com

This will be great fun! Share the Joy of Painting series on this blog.

sponsored like

Epona Communications's profile on MyLikes

Meet an Eventer.....Christan Trainor

Meet Christan Trainor

Trainor Eventing

~~~Doing my little bit to promote the sport that I love. I think that as a sporting community we need the support of the general public, if for no other reason than to help us save the land that we need to compete on. Another reason is to share this fantastic sport with people who may not know much if anything about it. And what better way than to introduce ourselves to others. I am going to feature dedicated event riders on this blog, pros and amateurs, young and old.
If you are a dedicated event rider and have a website or an up-to-date blog and would like to be introduced to people beyond the eventing world or if you know someone who fits this description, please contact me at eponacomm@gmail.com. Include contact information so that I can verify permission. This feed also goes out on Twitter.