Now that you have created a personal profile on Local Smile, what’s your story?The platform was created for individuals, businesses and organisations to publish the stories that they believe matter to the local community – their stories; your stories.You can now tell your story with ease and publish it directly from your profile. Here are a few hints to get you started.

Where to start
- What matters to you?
- What’s your passion?
- What are your interests?
- What events or causes would you like to promote – which ones deserve the attention of your community?

So many questions – and you have all the answers! This is about you, who you are, how you think, wha you do.

Types of stories
What we have just mentioned above is the first kind of story: from you, the person.

Me
You tell these stories from the ‘About me’ perspective to get known by your community and those that find you online. This is your platform for shameless self-promotion.
Over time you need to become an authority on your subject and people will then have a personal dimension to add when considering whether to contact your company or organisation; because they feel that they know you.

The basis of the social media revolution is to see how people are connected and their interactions. Your stories will show how you are connected to your community and what results from that engagement.

Us 
You tell these stories as part of a company or organisation to demonstrate your approach in your field of work. This is the ‘About Us’ perspective:
- who we are 
- what we stand for
- what we do
- how we do it that makes us different

This is the ‘why’ of why you would buy our goods or services. There are a lot of companies out there competing  - how does yours stand out?

This story is then reinforced by the ‘Meet the owner’ link (About me) where an enquirer can see your personal stories too.

We
This is the Royal ‘We’, the collective knowledge of an industry or profession, from the perspective of an authority.
You tell these stories to educate about subjects related to your field.
This includes: 
- technical information
- best practice
- industry developments.

Demonstrating that your organisation is authoritative requires ongoing education – storytelling. You are offering knowledge as an education service and process.
In part 2 we’ll tell you how many times you need to tell a story, and how many ways.

In the meantime, you are ready to start; so tell us, what’s your story?

See how Local Smile makes a difference - presentation Thursday 6th November - Mulu Char - Waterfront at Aurora 4-8 Duporth Ave Maroochydore - 1pm

Local Smile Sunshine Coast is running a presentation this Thursday that will have a number of high profile Local Smile business users in the area attending showing what they are doing in the platform and what results they are achieving.
It's a perfect opportunity to have you introduced to a number of these businesses, and get you cross promoting with them and leveraging your Business Profile to gain access into their networks to generate leads/sales for your business. 

RSVP support@localsmile.com.au or Ph 1300 331 481 or call Anthony 0409 086 610

How to get the most out of Local Smile - presentation Friday 9th November - Local Smile Logan Office 124 kingston rd, Underwood QLD 4119- 1pm 

Our Local Smile office in Logan is running a presentation this Friday that will have a number of high profile Local Smile business users in the area attending showing what they are doing in the platform and what results they are achieving.
It's a perfect opportunity to have you introduced to a number of these businesses, and get you cross promoting with them and leveraging your Business Profile to gain access into their networks to generate leads/sales for your business. 

RSVP support@localsmile.com.au or Ph 1300331481

Paul Hill
Local Smile
| p: 1300 331 481 |  f: 07 3259 8817 | m: 0402986145 |

The Local Smile network is growing!

So we’re now looking for a select group of enthusiastic people who are interested in running a Local Smile business in their local area.

Wherever you are in Australia, it's an opportunity to own and grow a scaleable web business built on cutting edge technology (The Smile Platform), supported by dedicated people (us) all while strengthening the local community.

Sound interesting to you? 

Find out more

If you market for a living or thinking about marketing a product, service or even someone else's product, you have probably been told that it is all about the offer. And it is. In this hub, I intend to show you some key components to creating the most irresistible offer that will attract responsive customers. 

There are some keys to creating a great offer though... 

1. There must be a demand for the product- You've probably heard the saying "he could sell ice to eskimos". That is a nice saying but in the real world, the chances of doing that are going to be few and far between.The less risk to the potential customer, the better chance they will give it a shot- The most classic example is the guarantee....Orek vacuum's ads tell the person to try it free for 30 days and if they don't like it, they can return it, no questions asked. This marketing technique is known as risk reversal. If you can assume the risk, you irresistible offer becomes world's better than someone offering the same thing at the same price.
2. Bonuses are good ways to counter "limitation"- Direct response ads do this as we as infomercials. The idea is to sweeten the deal to the point where it seems dumb not to take the offer. A classic example is the "act now and you will get not one but __ of ____."
3. Defeat limitation by showing savings- Another very good copywriting strategy on defeating limitation is to show that the benefits significantly outweigh the "cost" of the item. For instance, let's say you are selling solar heaters for the house. By building an offer to show that by using a solar heater, the could pay for it within 6 months because it will lower heating bills.
4. Call to Action Matters- Once you have them, a good offer will give them a reason to take up the offer right then and there. You probably have noticed this in infomercials that say that the first 50 will get this, or that the "if you act right now, you will get ____". In internet marketing, you will see this in long copy ads. Most marketers view this as icing on the cake when it comes to building an irresistable offer.
   

Contact your RedFox strategist, Roger now on 0434 293 815 to discover unique new ways to market your business online, including use of Local Smile through other hubs and media.

Dust off those old footy boots, pump up your deflated netball and cut up some fresh orange quarters; the Ipswich sporting community has a brand new spring in it's step!

Since the start of Local Smile we've been creating innovative ways for local people to discover the things they love in their neighbourhood.  So, when Ipswich Sports House began tackling the problems faced by sporting clubs, we knew we had to be involved.

Ipswich Sports House (ISH) is helping local clubs to grow, develop and strengthen their entire organisation. With a dedicated team of sport and recreation experts, clubs are offered training in the areas of strategic planning, club administration, in-house assistance, opportunity developments and club-culture growth; to help them kick more goals on and off the field.

If you're interested, you can also join one of their education and training courses (specially tailored to Ipswich clubs) to develop all the sporting essentials like; first aid, CPR training, financial and risk management, sports technology and lots more.

Because we're sporting fans too, Local Smile is teaming up with ISH to provide our online tools completely free to non-for-profit clubs.  We've made it easy to update your followers with the latest news, post must-attend events and establish your club's online presence with a few simple clicks!

So race on over to the new Ipswich Sports House website for all the details.  Then, follow ISH on Local Smile to stay up-to-date with all the local sporting news. If your a sporting club in Ipswich, make sure you get in touch to claim your listing!

No doubt you've been hearing about the government's new Carbon Tax, which may have left you in knots thinking about how it will affect your businesses.

Well, to help untangle the confusion, we've teamed up with the Council of Small Business Australia (COSBOA) to create a simple, useful and beautiful calculator for small business owners (like you) to get an idea of how the carbon tax will impact your everyday life.

Simply enter your annual or monthly business costs (like rent, power, wages, super, etc.) and see how the Carbon tax could affect your business.

Try out the Carbon Tax Calculator for small businesses

If you find it useful, help us spread the word. Share it on Facebook, email a colleague, tweet it – whatever!

The carbon tax calculator is just the beginnings of the brand new Small Business Centre which we're setting up as part of Local Smile. Look out for more news, tips, tools and resources in the coming weeks and months.

You can also find the full press release here.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments section.

Happy Friday and keep smiling!

The HIA Renovate & Build Expo is on in Brisbane this weekend, and if you haven't heard yet, Aussie Home Loans are giving away $20,000 for one lucky winner to put towards their mortgage!
 
Held annually, the Expo is dedicated to the home building industry and is brought to you by Housing Industry Association (HIA)-Australia’s largest residential building organisation. Whether you're looking to build, renovate, or just plain curious about the housing scene, it's a great opportunity to speak to professionals with industry expertise.

Be sure to visit the Smith & Sons stall to speak to them about your renovation plans, ideas and dreams. While you're there, speak to one of our friendly Local Smile staff members who can assist you to enter the Aussie Home Loans competition. You could be in the running to win $20,000 off your home loan!

Aussie brokers are now financing Smith & Sons renovation projects for homeowners around Queensland, ensuring you have the best deal on both your home loan and your renovation projects.

Smith and Sons are professional builders, with expertise in renovating and can assist client to improve their homes to better suit their lifestyle and future requirements, by providing high quality renovations, from concept to completion - on time and to budget.

Clients can increase the value of their home, and feel safe and relaxed throughout the entire process by providing high quality renovations, from concept to completion - on time and to budget.

So have a great weekend and head along to The HIA Renovate & Build Expo, say G'day to the teams at Aussie and Smiths & Sons and hop in line to win yourself $20,000!

As we turn the corner on Winter, the Local Smile team has been buried in scarves, knits and hoodies and kept themselves busy... and we've got so much to show for it!

First up, we're all excited about our ideas to create a better local community space online, for both people and small businesses. This week, in partnership with the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) we've launched the first part of our new Business Resource Centre - a Carbon Tax Calculator that is designed to speak 'Small Business Language' and make the impact of the new tax on small businesses easier to understand. We love the work Peter Strong is doing for Small Businesses in Australia, and were thrilled to team up with him on this one. More in this space soon.

Next, I was going to say we launched our first competition run on Local Smile - but Jane beat us to the punch on that one with her Menz RaspberryChocs post. In good news: I Won Chocolate, awesome. So instead I'll announce the second competition run on Local Smile: Ipswich School, University and TAFE Students can win an iPad - and nearly $3,000 worth of printing equipment for their schools - by suggesting ways Ipswich residents can save landfill space. It's being run by Cartridge World Ipswich, to celebrate their 10th birthday.

Oh, and how could I forget: we sent our new homepage live too :)

Great content keeps coming in from our community too: this week we've got tips for first home buyers, blog posts from Lucy and Emilia (Team Turtle on The Amazing Race), Rainbow Waterfalls at Springbook National Park, more Artist Interviews from Directions Magazine, and I'm enjoying reading the things Leah Gibbs has to say.

And last but not least we'll be at the Live and Local Expo in Redlands this weekend - so if you're in the area, please drop by and say hi!