What I've Done Right...Since the Startup Princess Retreat

I never got around to doing a worth while post about my amazing weekend at the Startup Princess Retreat at Zermatt - Midway, Utah.

Instead, I thought I would post about what I've done SINCE the retreat (and perhaps share a little of what I still need to do). Sometimes checking in after a few weeks is a good way to remind yourself of what you learned and see if you are putting the information to good use.  It's easy to be pumped sitting in a room full of 30 AMAZING women, but when I get back to the day-to-day it's easy to slip back into my old ways.  Do you find that too?

Here are a few things I've done right since November 8-9.

1. I updated my website with my new logo. Doesn't sound like it has much to do with marketing to women online, but I felt like that needed to be done first before I push people that direction.

2. I added my photo to my "About Us" page.  Holly Buchanan talked about how women want to shop online, but they like to see the personal side of who they are buying from.  My new headshot was taken at the retreat by Justin Hackworth.

3. I've fallen in love with twitter.  Thank you @gwenbell!  I still don't use it to promote my business as much as I should, but it's so fun to keep up with what everyone is doing.

4.  Finally, I've learned that there are some things that need to be adapted for my business.  Since Promotional Products is more of a "Business to Business" operation, I have a lot of male customers too, so not all of my marketing efforts can be focused on women.  

Now for some things I still need to do:

1. I need to make it easier to search for products on my website.  It's still hard to get to the full searchable database.

2. Though I've done a little better with my blog, I need to do A LOT better.  Some of the things I'm looking forward to doing in 2009 are: first, having a product spotlight every week, that would also be on a discount; second, more business related articles that provide value to those who check the site more often; finally, I need to figure out if I can incorporate giveaways as part of my business that would improve blog and site.

3. I need to wrap my arms around Kirtsy.  I've sent a few articles, but haven't figured out how to incorporate what I do on the blog to make it Kirtsy popular...Perhaps my business to business focused articles won't fit?  Still working through that.

4. I need to write my FULL marketing plan for 2009.  Where will I spend my money to promote my business, but more importantly, where will I spend my TIME?  I'm loving social media outlets, but need to focus my efforts and make sure I'm spending the right amount of time in the right places.

 

For those of you who missed out, here are a few shots that show how hands on and mentor focused this event was:

Above, Janet Meiners Thaeler consults with the team from You Can Make This

If you missed the Startup Princess Retreat - Marketing to Women Online, go to Startup Princess and sign up for the monthly emails.  They are doing 2 more retreats in 2009, one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast for those who couldn't make it to Utah.  If you market to women, and since 85% of all purchases are influence by women, you can't affort to miss this valuable information.  Though my background and education are in Marketing, Advertising and PR, I know that the way I think about marketing has been forever altered.  Times have changed and the Internet has opened up new doors for spreading the word like never before.  If you haven't adjusted your marketing efforts, you may find yourself falling quickly behind.

What have you done since the retreat to change the way you promote your business?  If you didn't go to the retreat, what changes have you made to your marketing plan that are making a difference to your bottom line?