Women in Small Business
Katherine Miracle at Ursuline College

That is how Katherine Miracle of Miracle Resources introduces herself. She uses this elevator speech to tell people who she is and what her firm does. This is what sets her apart from the crowd.

She believes that in order to succeed where others fail you need to be a good listener and also attract attention, enough to be memorable. If you don't create enough "intrigue" to set yourself apart, you will just be like everyone else.

Develop an attention grabbing statement that describes the type of "Return on Investment" that a client will receive by working with you.

This will feature the actual work you perform, the advantages they receive from working with you, and the benefits your work provides for them. And, repetition is the key. Driving this message home over and over again is extremely important to creating that awareness.

Katherine Miracle speaking at Ursuline College

You need to connect with where your customer lives, works, and plays. Sometimes you may need to let your potential clients "test drive" your product. Doing some pro-bono work, writing an article on a particular topic of your expertise could be part of this test drive.

The Marketing umbrella is a full and multi-faceted one. And, it may seem to overwhelming for the small business owner to tackle all at once. There are resources and tools out there that are free. You don't need a huge budget to handle some of these.

This umbrella covers: sales, advertising, public relations, cause related marketing, branding, prospecting, market research, the four P's, social and direct marketing, e-mail marketing, search engine optimization, and permission marketing.

Don't forget to ask your BEST customers what will work best for them! Use them as a focus group before you see what serve there needs best.

Katherine touched on all of these "marketing umbrella" topics briefly in her presentation, given her 40 minute time frame. You should always be thinking about who is your customer? How can you catch their attention and get them to buy?

Remember the four P's: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Cause related marketing is more prevalent today with companies supporting different causes such as AID's or Breast Cancer. Find out what causes your clients are passionate about.

Who should you be doing business with? Sometimes strong bonds are created between competitive business, that help each other and share the business market.

Katherine believes in getting sponsorships. Be creative and spend other people's money to help with your events. This will offset the costs where you know your budget will fall short of completing your goals. It is all about creating relationships and alliances.

She attributes much of her success to the mentor's in her life. Also, other business owner's as a support group, such as the U.N.I.T.E. (Ursuline Network of Inspiring Talented Entrepreneurs) group who sponsored the event.

U.N.I.T.E. President Lauren Penca, Darlene Morales and Katherine Miracle

This formula for success demands all three. Katherine took questions after the program and stayed after for additional help with the group. Feedback from the crowd was very positive.

They commented on what an informational and engaging speaker Katherine was. An educational and enlightening experience was had by all.

by Darlene A. Morales

Miracle Resources was created in August of 2003. The Miracle Resources team consists of a diverse group of professionals who use their creativity and contacts to increase awareness and revenue for clients.