Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I've seen small businesses at both ends of the spectrum - from the very successful to the very NOT successful (and, of course, a lot in between).

Of particular interest to me has always been the small business marketing challenges of the solopreneur.

You too may have come to the realization that running a successful solo business is a real F.E.A.T. -- and here's what that means to YOU: 

Fee - Demand high fees. Right from the get-go. Why? Because if you're a solo business owner, you live or die on your margins. Profits are not optional, they're required for survival. Early on, they help you stay afloat and that's even more important at the outset than later.

Wanna be cheap or affordable? Terrific. But wait til you're successful and your retirement fund is in the bag!

Starting out at the shallow end of the money pool is a fast way to drown!

Enthusiasm - Energy and drive and fun are REQUIRED to keep you going. You won't always be up and happy, but your core enthusiasm is the deep-rooted foundation that will help you get back up just one more time after you're knocked down. Again and again. And again.

You gotta love what you do - or do what you love. This is a decision, by the way - not a circumstance and not a "woo-woo" pile of nonsense. If you need a personal "live-with" or mantra to keep you on track towards enthusiasm in your business, then so be it.

I'll share mine with you if it's helpful:

"Do work you love WITH those you love and FOR those you love." 

That's it - pretty simple. But if a project, task, client, or intitiative comes across my desk and it's NOT in line with my personal live-with, I DON'T do it. And you shouldn't take on people or projects that violate yours, either.

Altitude (aka what I call the "Alpha Dog Effect") - Your ambitions and accomplishments ALWAYS gravitate to the same level as that of the people you hang out with.

What does that mean for you? Easy: Hang with the cool kids, successful kids, optimists, drivers, movers, shakers. Seek out the people who are doing more of what YOU want to do more of.

Hang with people who earn more than you - and you'll soon join their ranks.

Make friends with people who are dedicated to bringing MORE to their business, their clients, their prospects, and their marketplace. And you'll bring more to yours.

Do NOT waste a moment of your time with the brokeass losers, whiners, coulda-beens and excuse mongers ("It's the economy, it's the banks, it's the government, it's the weather, it's the market, or my favorite - it's the stupid prospects")

Tenacity - Like a dog chewing on a bone, you have to stick it out.

If you are able to get up in the morning and just as happily work for someone else - you're MUCH better off if you just go do that. Entrepreneurship might not be for you. 

If you're like most of us, then you're in business for yourself (and for YOUR specific business) because you don't know how to wake up and NOT do it.

Bust through walls for your business and soon you'll be sitting on an empire.

Not because you read it on some marketing guy's blog -- but because you're on your way to doing it anyway. Long before you landed here to get my encouragement, respect, and congratulations!

Guest column by Nick Usborne

The Rule of One falls into two areas...what you write about, and who you write to.

Here’s the first part of the rule...

Confine each communication to a single topic

This is a battle that has been raging between copywriters and their clients for a very long time.

Twenty years ago I remember trying to discourage clients from wanting to say too much in a single ad or direct mail letter.

I think they felt that if they were going to pay the media costs, they would get “more for their money” if they used every opportunity to say as much as possible about their products, services and company.

My counter-argument was that they would communicate much more clearly, and with better results, if they stuck to a single topic and a single message. The same problem persists today on the web.

Too many web pages try to cover too much ground.

Think of it this way. Very few people arrive at your site wanting to hear about all of your different products or services. Most will have used a search engine to find information on a single, clearly defined topic.

Whether you bring them to a specific landing page or some other interior page, build your pages so that they focus on just one topic at a time.

Do that and you will stay focused and please your visitors.

As a side benefit, you will also please the major search engines, which consistently reward pages that are confined to a single topic. The more clearly defined the page topic, the higher the listing.

And now for the second part of the Rule of One.

Write to one person at a time

You have probably heard this advice before. But as I read web pages across a variety of industries, I see little evidence of writers following this simple rule.

Basically, you will write more clearly, more personally and with better results if you picture an individual prospect or reader as you write.

Don’t write to some amorphous demographic group. Write to one person within that group.

Don’t create a mental picture of “that kind of person”. Picture a real person with a real life. Think about that person’s life. Think about what they want out of life.

Now think about how your product or service fits that person.

If you do this well, if you can truly see an individual prospect in your mind, it will have a profound impact on what and how you write.

Your text will read and feel as if it is being written to a real person. The corporate-speak jargon and biz-speak nonsense will disappear, and you will suddenly begin writing more clearly, with a true empathy for the person who will be reading your text.

Keep one thing in mind. This is not a “copywriting trick”. This is writing pages in a way that corresponds to how they will be read. It may sound obvious, but so many people lose touch with the fact that every page you write WILL be read by individuals with unique lives and needs.

No “group” will ever read your page. No “industry” will ever read your page.

The web pages you write will always be read by individuals, one at a time.

Concluding thoughts

Stick to one topic and write to one person.

It sounds easy, but very few people do it. Sometimes copywriters fail to write in this way because they haven’t thought about it. Sometimes it happens due to unrelenting pressure from above.

Either way, sticking to the Rule of One will always help you. Discipline yourself and fight your clients and managers if you need to.

In the end, the results will speak for themselves.

====

Note: Nick Usborne is the leading advocate of good writing on the Web. He is an 
author, copywriter, consultant, speaker, and the publisher of the Excess Voice 
newsletter for online writers. Read his articles at http://www.excessvoice.com  

A colleague recently said to me, “No one has found the top secret formula for successful online marketing yet.”

I disagree. A number of companies know exactly what works and are making small fortunes with it.

The primary concept is that online marketing works best when you e‐mail to people who ALREADY know you. Therefore, successful online marketers build their “house file” or “e‐list” (lists of prospects and their e‐mail addresses) using the process outlined below, and then sell to those people via e‐mail marketing:

1. Build a Website that positions you or your organization as an expert, guru, or leader in your field or industry. This is the “base of operations” for your online marketing campaign.

2. Your Website should include a home page, an “About the Company” page and a page with brief descriptions of your products and services (each product or service description can link to a longer document on the individual item).

3. You should also have an “Articles Page” where you post articles your company has published on your industry or area of specialty, and where visitors can read and download these articles for free (e.g., a home improvement contractor would have tips for small do‐it‐yourself home improvement projects).

4. Write a short special report or white paper relating to the problem your product or service addresses, and make this available to people who visit your site. They can download it for free, but in exchange, they have to register and give you their e‐mail address (and any other information you want to capture).

5. Consider also offering a monthly online newsletter, or “e‐zine.” People who visit your site can subscribe free if they register and give you their e‐mail address. You may want to give the visitor the option of checking a box that reads: “I give you and other companies you select permission to send me e‐mail about products, services, news, and offers that may be of interest to me.”

6. The more “content” (useful information) on your site, the better. More people will be attracted to your site, and they will spend more time on it. They will also tell others about your site.

7. The model is to drive traffic to your site where you get them to sign up for either your free report or free e‐zine. Once they register, you have their e‐ mail address and can now market to them via e‐mail as often as you like at no extra cost.

8. The bulk of your online leads, sales, and profits will come from repeat e‐ mail marketing to this “house” e‐list of prospects. Therefore, your goal is to build a large e‐list of qualified prospects as quickly and inexpensively as you can.

9. There are a number of online marketing options, which can drive traffic to your site, that I can help you with. These include free publicity; e‐mail marketing; social media advertising; search engine optimization; direct mail; and e‐zine advertising.

10. The key to success is to try many different tactics in small and inexpensive tests, throw out the ones that do not work, and do more of the ones that are effective.

=====
Need a great marketing speaker for your next association conference, company meeting, or franchisee/dealer event? Marketing speaker David Newman delivers the goods - over 600 presentations since 1992. David's clients include 44 of the Fortune 500 and countless small and mid-size organizations, associations, and non-profits.
=====

I was browsing through my ebook edition of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich and this particular passage jumped out at me.

Thought you should see it. YOUR comments welcome below in the COMMENTS section... just scroll down and let me know what you think.

9 Reasons People Fail

1. Lack of well‐defined purpose in life. There is no hope of success for the  person who does not have a central purpose, or definite goal at which to aim.   Ninety‐eight out of every hundred of those whom I have analyzed had no such  aim.  Perhaps this was the major cause of their failure. 

2. Lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity.  We offer no hope for the person  who is so indifferent as not to want to get ahead in life, and who is not willing to  pay the price. 

3. Lack of self‐discipline.  Discipline comes through self‐control.  This means  that one must control all negative qualities.  Before you can control conditions,  you must first control yourself.  Self‐mastery is the hardest job you will ever  tackle.  If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.  You may see at one and the same time both your best friend and your greatest enemy, by  stepping in front of a mirror. 

4. Procrastination.  This is one of the most common causes of failure.  “Old  Man Procrastination” stands within the shadow of every human being, waiting  his opportunity to spoil one’s chances of success.  Most of us go through life as  failures, because we are waiting for the “time to be right” to start doing  something worthwhile.  Do not wait.  The time will never be “just right.”  Start  where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your  command, and better tools will be found as you go along. 

5. Lack of persistence.  Most of us are good “starters” but poor “finishers” of  everything we begin, moreover, people are prone to give up at the first signs of  defeat.  There is no substitute of persistence.  The person, who makes persistence  his watchword, discovers that “Old Man Failure” finally becomes tired, and  makes his departure.  Failure cannot cope with persistence. 

6. Negative personality.  There is no hope of success for the person who repels  people through a negative personality.  Success comes through the application of  power, and power is attained through the cooperative efforts of other people.  A  negative personality will not induce cooperation. 

7. Lack of a well‐defined power of decision.  Men who succeed reach decision  promptly, and change them, if at all, very slowly.  Men who fail reach decisions,  if at all, very slowly, and change them frequently, and quickly.  Indecision and  procrastination are twin brothers.  Where one is found, the other may usually be  found also.  Kill off this pair before they completely “hog‐tie” you to the  treadmill of failure. 

8. Over‐caution. The person who takes no chances generally has to take  whatever is left when others are through choosing.  Over‐caution is as bad as  under‐caution.  Both are extremes to be guarded against.  Life itself is filled with  the element of chance.

9. Wrong selection of associates in business.  This is one of the most common  causes of failure in business.  In marketing personal services, one should use  great care to select an employer who will be an inspiration, and who is, himself,  intelligent and successful.  We emulate those with whom we associate most  closely.  Pick an employer who is worth emulating. 

=====
Need a great marketing speaker for your next association conference, company meeting, or franchisee/dealer event? Marketing speaker David Newman delivers the goods - over 600 presentations since 1992.
=====

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas above.

Are you a DO IT freak? Welcome to the club!! Please use the social media buttons at the top of this post to share it with your network. YOU are a rock star!

A famous trapeze artist was instructing his students how to perform on the high trapeze bar. Finally, having given full explanations and instruction in this skill, he told them to demonstrate their ability.

One student, looking up at the insecure perch upon which he must perform, was suddenly, filled with fear. He froze completely. He had a terrifying vision of himself falling to the ground. He couldn’t move a muscle, so deep was his fright. “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!” he gasped.

The instructor put his arm around the boy’s shoulder and said, “Son, you can do it, and I will tell you how.” Then he made a statement, which is of inestimable importance. It is one of the wisest remarks I have ever heard. He said, “Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.”

Heart is the symbol of creative activity. Fire the heart with where you want to go and what you want to be. Get it so deeply fixed in your unconscious that you will not take no for an answer, then your entire personality will follow where your heart leads.

“Throw your heart over the bar” means to throw your faith over your difficulty, throw your affirmation over every barrier, throw your visualization over your obstacles. In other words, throw the spiritual essence of you over the bar and your material self will follow in the victory groove thus pioneered by your faith‐inspired mind.

Expect the best, not the worst, and you will attain your heart’s desire. It is what is in the heart of you, either good or bad, strong or weak, that finally comes to you. Emerson said, “Beware of what you want, for you will get it.”

Excerpted from BLAINE LEE, THE POWER PRINCIPLE, SIMON & SCHUSTER

=====
Need a great marketing speaker for your next association conference, company meeting, or franchisee/dealer event? Marketing speaker David Newman delivers the goods - over 600 presentations since 1992.
=====

Just came across this terrific item from my fellow marketing speaker and marketing coach, Jose Palomino of Value Prop Interactive - take a look. (Jose's ideas are ALWAYS worthwhile so you may want to subscribe too!)

=====

Just when we thought we had exhausted our creativity with YouTube, up comes this small brand with a truly and literally “out of the box” idea. Bringing to mind those old “Choose-Your-Own-Adventure” books that became a fad among young readers in the 90’s, this recent promotional spot from Tipp-Ex (BIC’s European brand of correctional fluids and tapes) lets viewers interact with the video to change its outcome.

At first, viewers might not realize that the advertisement is interactive, or even that the video they’re watching is an advertisement at all. It starts off as an apparent home video of a two-man camping trip, but their adventure (and unfortunately, their language as well) turns sour when a bear wanders into the campsite. Much to the viewers’ surprise, they are asked to choose what happens next...

Read the rest on Jose's blog, Strategic Propositions

What do you think? Crazy? Innovative? Effective? Share your thoughts in the COMMENTS section below.

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, some clients have, on occasion, accused me of being "all about the money" and ignoring or downplaying the other (very) important parts of their business.

The bottom line is that of all the professional speakers, consultants, and professional services firms I've helped with their marketing strategy, tactics, and tools - 100% of them came to me with NOT ENOUGH focus on the money side of their business. Thus, their struggle.

Yes, I focus on the money... and so should YOU because money does bring you some very valuable advantages.

These include:

Power Bill Gates can do more good in the world than I can because he has a $37 billion charitable foundation. Money enhances your ability to help others.

Security When you attain financial independence, your money worries are gone for good, an enviable position to be in. Millions of Americans worry about money.

Comfort Money insulates you from hunger and homelessness, and ensures access to basic services such as heat, electricity, potable water, and health care— stuff we take for granted but millions worldwide lack.

Luxury For those who desire it, wealth allows you to indulge yourself, whether living in a mansion on the ocean, driving a Porsche, or dining on the finest caviar.

Freedom With enough money, you choose what you do, where and when you do it, and who you do it with…and never have to work at a job you hate because you need the cash.

I rarely - and I mean RARELY - promote products and programs presented by strangers. You'll only hear from me about top-notch folks whom I personally know or whose materials I've personally used and benefitted from.

Allyson Lewis' brand new "7 Minute Life" Productivity Tools is one such resource you really have to take a look at.

Have you ever felt like you were...

• Working harder than ever, but not accomplishing anything that made you feel truly purposeful, proactive, and productive
• Doing 'what you needed to do' for your family, friends and employer/clients, but weren't fulfilled
• Spending most of your time 'putting out fires' and not accomplishing the really important things
• Working hard for 'someday' when you'll be able to do what you want with the ones you love  -- feeling like there had to be more?

My friend, professional speaker and productivity expert Allyson Lewis felt that way too. But when someone introduced her to a new way of thinking many years ago, her life began a radical and wonderful change in just 7 minutes. And, yours can too!

Allyson Lewis’ work is about making things possible. With The 7 Minute Life™ System you get the motivation AND information to take you to the next level. This is a highly accessible resource you can immediately benefit from. 

Allyson developed a simple, yet powerful process for prioritizing, organizing and simplifying your life - to get more of what you really want in life and make more of a meaningful contribution to those around you!

Now, she's put some of the key processes and techniques she uses into a series of short videos so that you can become more productive and feel more purposeful in just 7 days! And, best of all, she's allowing me to give these videos to you for FREE!

Anyway, enough about what I think - pop over to the free videos on the site and decide for yourself if this is (finally) the "go-to" productivity resource you've been looking for to make "getting things done" easy, effortless, and enjoyable.

I know that's what it is for me!

"I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow."
-- Woodrow Wilson,
28th president of US (1856 - 1924)

As I was preparing for a marketing seminar last week, it occurred to me that there are very few people who know MORE than you do.

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, my clients and fellow speakers sometimes say, "Wow - you know so much MORE about marketing than me." And I guess I better if it's my life's work, right?

But they know so much more than I do about how to run a $2 million consulting business, how to operate a $50 million franchise, how to apply paint protection film to the front end of a Maserati, and how to design a build a LEED Platinum-certified office building.

POINT: Sure, I might know more in a particular area, but then YOU know more in different areas than I do (a LOT more probably!!)

So, perhaps a way to cross-pollinate ideas, surround yourself with "smart" people, and learn from your peers is to seek out NOT people that know MORE than you do - but to seek out people that know DIFFERENT than you do.

When's the last time you spent some time with a college professor? I live next door to two of 'em.

When's the last time you spent some time with a storyteller, actor, or improv comedian? Not to hear stories or jokes, but to exchange ideas and think WITH them.

Do you know the Guinness Book record-holder for balloon sculptures? I do. He's a great guy.

How about a puppeteer? Psychologist? PR guru? Web designer? Pastry chef? IT geek? Nurse?

Talk to these people. Seek out people that know DIFFERENT. Very few people actually know MORE.

What do you think? Ideas, comments, additions, rants, raves? Use the COMMENTS area below and let's hear from YOU. Yes, you in the blue shirt. Just click below and start typing...

Guest post by Chris Di Fonzo

It's true, where to seat a prince for dinner as a guest in my home, never became relevant.  Still, those professional etiquette workshops "the man" made me take had value.  Shake hands, even if someone is visibly sick?  Yes!  Lift your glass when being toasted?  Nope.  Arrive late for calls and meetings?  Obvious.

Then what gives?  Lateness, lack of follow up, and lack of formality are prolific today, even among enterprise consultants, salespeople, managers, and executives.  The worst thing about perpetually more casual behavior in business is it's a death spiral.  Business culture is organic, not static, and our daily interactions either raise the bar or push it down.

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, and creative independents, this is as opportunity to differentiate ourselves.  I'm calling myself out and asking you to join me.  Let's set the example by bringing back (a little) decorum.

Three basics to get us going:

1.     Say what you're going to do, and do it.  A simple formula – Learn it and live it.  Your word matters; treat it like a contract.  Think before making commitments.  Once made, follow through.

2.     Thank people.  Walt Disney was known for handwriting thank you notes daily.   Try it for your most important ones, it feels great and people remember.  Always formally thank customers and people who refer you business.  Failure to appropriately thank others is lazy and tragic.  (Self-disclosure: A little behind on thank you notes myself; I'm going to start catching up today.)

3.     Learn names and use them.  A dollar for every time you’ve heard, "I'm not good with names;" you’re a zillionaire.  Excuse, copout, laziness.  Make it a point to learn people's names and use them, it's fundamental.  The first rule to remembering names (and anything) is intent to remember.  When we care enough to remember, it's amazing how easy it usually is.

Why bother with decorum?  Many reasons, here’s one.  You represent your company, yourself, your cause, your town, your community.  Entrepreneur is a hard road, requiring more of us, not less.  Independence is not a reason for a lack of decorum; rather a responsibility to embody it.  Whatever your perspective on business etiquette, consider applying a little more protocol, formality, and decorum.  Represent.

-----