Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

Testimonials are among the most powerful marketing ammunition in your marketing arsenal. As a small business marketing speaker, I'm often asked if testimonials are important - and if so, why?

Testimonials have the power to achieve a variety of things for your marketing and customer retention programs.

Each time you use a testimonial you need to decide what you are trying to accomplish or what message you are trying to support. For example, they can:

* Overcome buyer skepticism. Use a testimonial to shine light on your credibility, or on the quality of your product or service. This type of testimonial builds trust and overcomes natural barriers. In the example above, the testimonial could have read: "Best product I've tried in this price bracket - and I've tried many. Great value for money, and no shortcuts on quality."

 * Overcome objections. Your readers are going to be naturally skeptical of any claims, promises or bold statements. As much as you can back yourself up with facts, a third party experience or opinion will work wonders to overcome unspoken objections in the customer's mind. "It all sounded too good to be true, but when I used the hair straightener, there was more shine and less breakage."

* Simplify or make a point. A customer's personal experience with your product or service will work to persuade your audience like a story does. Complex explanations or abstract applications will make more sense when applied to real life examples. This works well with highly technical products or complex services where the customer doesn't need to understand all the details.

* Break up and maintain interest in long copy. Readers have short attention spans and they will get bored unless you can change up the structure on a regular basis. Quotations and testimonials will break up the tone or voice of the copy, and sound like the customer is reading dialogue, which will keep them engaged. You can also break up paragraphs with a testimonial that supports the point you have just made.

* Target anxieties or doubts. Just like they can overcome skepticism and objections, they can also overcome hidden anxieties or doubts at each stage of the sales process. Anticipate questions like "is this worth my money?", "do I really need this?", "can I trust the guarantee?" and "will they sell my information?", and place testimonials accordingly.

Use testimonials in your marketing efforts and you'll unleash the power of social proof, reduce risk, and induce the "I gotta get me some o' that" factor!

What has been your experience with testimonials? Use the comments area below to share your thoughts...

1. The first secret is to have a compelling business idea, one that is differentiated and sustainable.
2. The second secret is to be a zealot.
3. Third on my list of secrets is to have a conservative business plan.
4. Secret number four is to work effectively with others.
5. The last secret of truly successful entrepreneurship is to change and grow as your business grows.

"We often talk about ourselves as if we have permanent genetic flaws that can never be altered."
-- Marshall Goldsmith

This snippet from America's preeminent executive coach (and founding director of the Alliance for Strategic Leadership) speaks volumes about where most people are today, and where they COULD BE.

My wife was on the phone a while back with a friend who runs a video production business. She asked him, "So, Ron - do YOU have the sales gene?" Turns out that neither one of them believed they had "the sales gene." Problem is, HE was in sales and my wife wasn't!

Guess how robust his sales are?

Exactly.

Although I'm a marketing speaker and not a sales trainer, I can tell you that this mindset WILL hurt your bottom line.  

And the term "gene" - as in the creativity gene, the leadership gene, the money-making gene, the happiness gene - is as FLEETING in reality as it sounds BIOLOGICALLY PERMANENT when we talk about it!

Thomas Watson, Jr. of IBM weighed in on this issue when talking about excellence (or the 'excellence gene' as we might call it in this context):

"If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work."

Try this version on for size: If you want to achieve X (sales, dating, marketing, whatever), as of this second, start believing that you DO possess that gene -- and then ACT on that fact!

Marketing speakers and marketing consultants are famous for packing in "over 100 strategies you can use immediately" and "97 secrets" or "51 immutable laws" of this and that.

Problem is - those numbers are too high. You don't need 100, you can't implement 97, and you'll never get a handle on 51.

You need 3-4 max. Three strategies. Or four tactics. Used with focus, momentum, and consistency...

Less is truly more. Here's Picasso's take on it:
===
You must always work not just within, but below your means. If you can handle three elements, handle only two. If you can handle ten, then handle only five. In that way, the ones you do handle, you handle with more ease, more mastery, and you create a feeling of strength in reserve.

-- Pablo Picasso
===

If any one thing characterizes the time in which we live, it is the tendency to strive and to overreach and to want more, more, more, now, now, now.

The problem with multi-tasking and this go-go-go pattern of life and work is that there is no room for mastery, for ease, for “strength in reserve.”

• If you want to get more done, work more slowly.
• If you want it faster, develop a singular focus.
• If you want to get better, do less.

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach to other professional speakers, CEOs, and business owners - and certainly from my own experience - I can safely say that too often, we get caught up in trying to get everything just perfect.

While you are working on “perfect,” someone else with “just okay” is raking in all the money. 

Face it - Reading the next book, attending the next seminar, or trying the latest software alone will do nothing for you. This is the classic "Ready, Aim, Aim, and Aim" syndrome. Always aiming and never pulling the trigger.

The key lies in taking action. I would like to invite you to try a technique suggested by my colleague Michael Masterson—the Ready, Fire, Aim technique. Do something; even if it is wrong, go ahead take the shot -- screw up.

At the very least, you are moving in the right direction.Fellow speaker and prosperity guru Joe Vitale says, “Money loves speed” those who take the swiftest action make the most amount of money.

Go ahead -- DO IT, and once you're moving, then worry about making it perfect.

Let's take the specific context of internet marketing as an example. And we'll start with your e-zine or blog...

In its simplest form an e‐zine or blog is all about information. Give your reader the information he wants to read about, and he will reward you with his trust and eventually his money.

There are five phases for any Internet marketing entrepreneur. In phase one, you read and study Internet marketing, go to conferences, devour e‐books and courses. At this stage, you are thinking about internet marketing all the time, yet you are not actually in it yet—not actually doing it. You don’t have a list, product, or the infrastructure in place to do business online.

In phase two, you dip your toe in the water—developing a product and making a few sales. The income is not significant. Except now, the idea of making money online is no longer merely a dream, an idea in your head. It’s reality. Making your first few sales will energize you and propel you forward to phase three.

In phase three, you develop more products, build your e‐zine subscriber list, and start making a significant spare‐time income online. Maybe it’s a thousand dollars a month in sales. Maybe it’s a thousand dollars a week. It’s not enough to live on, yet. But the extra money allows you to buy nicer things and become more financially secure.

In phase four, you reach a point where your Internet business makes enough money for you to live on—enough for you to quit your job and leave the rat race behind forever. For some people, this might be $2,000 to $3,000 a week in net online revenues.

In phase five, you double or triple the size of your list, add more products make more deals, and start making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, or even a million dollars or more. You become an Internet millionaire.

The problem is that the large majority of people who explore Internet marketing never get past phase one. They get addicted to reading “make money on the Internet” materials and attending conferences and tele‐seminars on the subject. But they never actually do something.

No matter what the marketing strategy, tactic, or business development effort - get going with baby step... RIGHT NOW.

You want an inbound link back to your blog or website? Great - leave a comment below with your reactions to the "Ready, Fire, Aim" technique - and you'll have DONE something to build your business. Do it!!!

Many people I speak to tell me they do not use e‐zines because they simply do not have the time. As a marketing speaker and marketing coach to very busy CEOs, business owners, other professional speakers, and consultants, I hear you. 

Here's the secret: It only takes me two hours or less per month. And those two hours are some of the highest ROI hours I can spend.

You're getting my simple formula for writing e‐zines that will make your ezine much easier to write - and more profitable to send.

Write five to seven short stories about a topic, one to three paragraphs each. You want the reader to be able to get through each story in under a minute. You do not have an unlimited amount of time with your reader so make sure he can read your entire e‐zine issue in about five minutes.

The next little tip might seem insignificant but I think it is vitally important. Do not put any click links to your stories; you do not want to give the readers mind a chance to wonder, because they are waiting for another page to load.

Many Websites like to give you a brief description of the article and then ask you to click on a link to read the whole article. That is just too many hoops to go through to read the story. Do not have just a story title and first paragraph with a link to the entire article.

Write short articles and include the entire article in the e‐zine itself, not a teaser part.

So here, it is in 4 Simple Steps:

1. 5 – 7 stories

2. 1 – 3 paragraphs each

3. Maximum reading time < 1 minute per story < 5 minutes per issue

4. No click links to stories—the full story is in the e‐zine.

There you have it quick, simple, and effective.

BONUS: Here are 8 more tips for writing an e‐ zine, courtesy of Dan Ranly, www.ranly.com:

1. Write for surfers and scanners

2. Provide information quickly and easily

3. Think both verbally and visually

4. Cut copy in half

5. Use lots of lists and bullets

6. Write in chunks

7. Use hyperlinks

8. Give readers a chance to talk back (feedback)

Feedback from YOU is always welcome in the comments area below...

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PERSONAL NOTE: Although I started my marketing speaking and consulting business in 2001, my work has focused almost exclusively on making professional speakers successful since 2003. For the last 7 years, that's what gets me flying out of bed each morning (sometimes at 5am!) and it's what brings me the biggest professional joy on a daily basis. Enough about me - let's talk about YOU...
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If YOU are a professional speaker, coach, consultant, author, or thought-leading solopreneur, your marketing and business development prayers may be only a few days away from being answered...

Whoa... Stop the tape! That paragraph sounded like a lot of hype and malarkey, didn't it?

It did to me, too - except that for YEARS, my secret dream was to find a "Magic Service" that would take marketing, prospecting, and booking tasks (and all the gruntwork too!) OFF my plate and let me refocus 99% of my time and energy on working with my amazing clients and speaking to the groups I love.

• Was it a Virtual Assistant firm? That helped - but no
• Was it my Webmaster? Great for tech - not for this
• Was it my Sales Coach? Love the guy, but he wasn't gonna do my work for me
• Was it my Mastermind Group? Super for accountability - the work was still on me
• Was it my own Marketing Consultant (yup I've hired 'em too) - wonderful insights but zero implementation help
• Was it my Intern? She's awesome for prescriptive tasks, but not the marketing brains + marketing brawn "Magic Service" I was envisioning
• Was it recruiting and training my own Marketing Manager? Over the years, I tried - but it was hit or miss. Faith came from the printing industry and was great at selling printing - not speakers. Pete was a radio guy - and smart, hardworking, and persistent. But this wasn't radio. And Glenda - well, don't ask about Glenda. As she tells it, she couldn't book me because I "wasn't already famous" and "nobody knows my name" (Guess whose job it was for them to GET to know my name!!) 

So where did that leave me? I had three options:

1. I could wait to get rich and famous on my own and then maybe - just maybe - work with one of a few "elite" speaker agencies like Holli Catchpole's SpeakersOffice. (As of now, unless you're willing to change your first name to Nido, Jim, or Desi, Holli's roster is full up.)  
2. I could wait to get rich and famous on my own and then perhaps some wonderful speaker's bureaus would become interested in booking me once I was already booking 30-40 gigs a year under my own steam at fees between $7,500 and $10k per speech
   
3. As a marketing speaker as well as a marketing coach to some of the best and brightest NSA speakers and other experts who speak professionally, I could create the "Magic Service" that I myself wanted to use. 

(Music - Lights - Drums): NEW "Done For You" Marketing Services and NEW Speaker Booking Service debut in May 2010...

Part I: Done for You Marketing Services

This idea has been percolating - and our team has been strategizing together on how to best launch these services for you since January of 2009, so this is definitely not some random collection of subcontractors that other consultants may trot out from time to time.

I've worked individually with each member of our team and they have proven themselves time after time on multiple client projects ranging from a few hundred dollars to design your killer business card to $10,000+ for creating your complete online and offline marketing platform, print materials, video, social media, and a host of monthly ongoing "done-for-you" services.

Part II: Speaker Booking Service

The most exciting part - for which we're almost at capacity even before the launch - is the new Speaker Booking Service...

Because of the devastating 2008-2009 downsizings and layoffs in the world of speaker's bureaus, event management companies, trade and professional associations, and meeting planning firms, there's an unprecedented glut of amazing talent out there who...

• Know the meetings industry inside-out
• Can articulate the value proposition of hiring strong professional speakers
• Will hit the ground running already well-practiced with between 70-80% of what they need to know, say, and do to get the interest of decision-makers and open long-lasting relationships (and between you and me, we'll teach them the other 20-30% of what they'll need to book YOU specifically!)
• Don't need to be "shown the ropes" in the speaking industry because they've already been actively working in it - either on the buying side or the selling side or both
• Will get to know you and your thought leadership platform in detail so they can represent you as your dedicated marketing and sales rep with no overhead, no recruiting hassles, and no turnover headaches 
• Will stick around because YOU don't need to feed them 40 hours of work per week - we will!
• Will get better the more you use them because you will get a dedicated agent with whom you book a block of outbound marketing hours. Our booking staff becomes your booking staff
• Will become more affordable the more you use them because as you buy bigger blocks of time, your hourly rate will go down. If you become a high-volume client, it's possible that based on our work together, your hourly fees eventually disappear in exchange for a higher commission rate on booked business. (Totally your call, but the service is designed to maximize the value for you either way)

Finally, the kicker is - with these two new services, you get BOTH the brains AND the brawn. You may not want consulting from me right now and you might just want some "done-for-you" services such as the booking service...

You STILL get my input as your "marketing quarterback." As you work with our team of speaker booking agents, graphic designers, web designers, social media specialists, ghostwriters, and the rest of my team, I'm watching the process, helping guide your decisions, and serving as "creative director" to the team and "marketing advisor" to YOU. 

Frankly, it's amazing to me that nothing like this hybrid marketing strategy plus done-for-you services firm existed to help make professional speakers, consultants, and thought-leading solopreneurs successful. But it's here now!  

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. If you're equally pumped about this and/or want to learn more, call me at 610-716-5984 or drop me an email at david@doitmarketing.com and we'll talk about which of these services might help YOU become more visible, more marketable, more bookable - and more successful!!!

Keep your eye on the Done For You Marketing Services page over the next few weeks as we roll out the details and initial service offerings so you can see all the "marketing jobs" we'll be able to take off your plate. 

You could pay a marketing coach or ad agency or brand consultant BIG bucks to create (or recreate) your brand. A word of advice: DON'T!

You need a snappy name. Something sharp, clever, clear, and concise. Something you’d be proud to have your fans and customers display on a t-shirt, coffee mug or bumper sticker. You want to be the go-to resource – no – you want to be the rock star in your profession or industry. And you’re just one strong branding step away – you can almost TASTE it!!!

But you’re not smart enough to do it yourself.

Oops, wait a minute… yes you are.

Fact is, a lot of advertising agency types and “branding gurus” are simply overpriced hacks. Shocking, I know… you’re stunned that coming up with a cool name for your new services, programs, and products could be simple, straightforward, and easy.

Well, sit down with a nice hot cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage and strap in – ‘cuz you’re getting my secret stash of branding whoop-ass.

Take your topic or product or service (Leadership or Cookies or HVAC or Recruiting or Plastics) and add one or more of these brand building blocks. Some stand alone – some work in combination with others. Sometimes you’ll want to put the building block BEFORE your service/product and sometimes it will sound better AFTER. Play with these – they’re my gift to you.

Instant Branding Toolkit

Market
Exchange
Zip
Zap
Focus
Momentum
Fun
Power
Professional
Savvy
Smarts
Sense
Action
Pyramid
Dive
Redline
RPM
GPS
Roundtable
Summit
Slide
Swing
Sandbox
Playground
Monkey
Chimp
Rhino
Hippo
Gazelle
Tiger
Lion
Shark
Dolphin
Insights
Forum
Café
Center
Storm
Success
Life
Mojo
Club
Hub
Lounge
Launchpad
Library
Archive
Free ____ tips
Free ____ tools
Tips
Tools
Toolbox
Toolkit
Club
Network
Posse
Bakery
Mashup
Focus
Resource
Queen
King
Flyer
Circle
Gameplan
Blueprint
Treasure chest
Strategies
Tactics
Secrets
Profits
Revealed
Disco
Party
Pantry
Bakeshop
Factory
Foundry
Vortex
Nexus
Universe
Galaxy
World
Planet
Star
Done right
Made easy
Cocktail
Bar
Game
Advise
Monitor
Puppy
Daddy
Mama
Baby
Zoom
Boom
Direct
Show
Thunder
Undercover
After hours
After dark
Agent
Sauce
Juice
Jazz
Page
Letter
Book
Cruise
Action
Roadmap
Max
Navigator
Gps
Master
Accelerator
Advisor
Lightning
Bullseye
Profits
Revenues
Hang out
Shout
Scream
Bam
Mall
Feast
Meal
Lunch
Zone
Poop
Scoop
Machine
Force
Onramp
Route
Highway
Express
Check
Box
Square
Speed
Accelerate
Compass
University
U
College
Academy
Institute
First
Prime
One

I'm looking forward to buying from the following businesses in the very near future... maybe one of these will be yours:

• The Cookie Machine
• The Video Advisor
• CareerNavigator
• SalesGPS
• Coffee Hangout
• Guitars After Dark
• The Fitness Foundry

And if you end up using something you create with this list as your new brand, do me a favor – please make a generous donation to your favorite charity. Even a tiny fraction of what you would have paid the “ad agency” will make a BIG difference to the non-profit of your choice. If you don’t have any particular good cause in mind, here are three I recommend:

http://www.acumenfund.org     
http://www.roomtoread.org
http://nsafoundation.org

Rock on, you do-it-yourself brander, you!!

Do you like this list? Want to Tweet it? Quote it? Add to it? Use the comments area below and let's hear what's in YOUR can of branding whoop-ass!!

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!

By three methods may we learn wisdom: First by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is bitterest.
-- Confucius

Let's examine these three methods a little more closely.

Learn by reflection: My friend and mentor, Michael Ray, believes that the question, "What should I do?" is not really a question of action - it's a question of information.

When it comes to small business marketing, whenever you find yourself asking, "What should I do?" there's something you need to find out first: it could be information about yourself, your capabilities, your prospects, your marketplace, your goals, your resources, or your intentions, but there's some piece of information that is missing.

When you have all the information, you will know exactly what to do.

The best way to access this information might be to take 10 steps back from the problem - zoom way, way out - and spend some time on a mental "retreat." The retreat could be as short as an hour, or as long as a week, or even more if you have the time.

Take the time you need to re-examine the situation and your relationship to it. Look inward and explore your intuition and your feelings. If you need more external information, go find it - talk to people, do some research, get out and about.

But always bring that information back and examine it introspectively and holistically to put all the pieces of the puzzle on the table. Then, allow what you see and feel to help you decide what
to do.

Learn by imitation: Best practices are dead. So that's not what I mean by imitation. But if you see something that works in one company or industry, see how that might apply in a cross-pollinating way to your organization - and specifically to the marketing challenge you're trying to acquire wisdom about solving.

For example, what can you learn from:

Southwest Airlines flies to a limited number of cities that are profitable for them. They choose where they want to compete.

AOL used to send out countless millions of subscription CD's for people to try their service firsthand.

Sony prides itself on the speed with which they can take a new idea and prototype it in order to get feedback from internal groups. Their average time to prototype: 5 days.

As composer Igor Stravinsky put it, "A good composer does not imitate; he steals."

Learn by experience: People sometimes make the mistake of assuming that learning by experience is the same as learning from your mistakes. That's only part of it.

Perhaps more important is learning from your successes.

Look for what went right in the past; what successes were easy, effortless, and enjoyable? What did you put into motion that "just clicked" and turned out even better than you expected?

It is these successes that are some of your most powerful teachers in business and in life.

I'm not suggesting that you try to replicate past successes - you can't.

But you can replicate the conditions under which those successes came to be. You can look back and recall the tools, the skills, and the resources that you mobilized. You can start to inventory your strengths, personal preferences, and your own best ways of working.

And those things, if used intentionally and with clarity, are much more likely to serve you well in the future!

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I can tell you that Networking is one of the most misunderstood marketing terms there is.

Professional speakers, consultants, coaches, and independent professionals either love it or hate it - and no matter which camp you find yourself in, there are probably some misconceptions and misunderstanding that are preventing you from making networking as fully effective as it can be and should be to help you grow your business.

Networking: What is it?

• Meeting people at events, mixers etc. (the obvious first step)
• Goal: move it to a different level, namely...

Power networking

• Introducing people to each other (Netweaving)
• Having breakfast, lunch, coffee or dinner 1-on-1 to build new key relationships
• Meeting people in organizations (civic/social; religious; recreational)
• ASKING people to introduce you to someone
• Doing favors for people for no reason (random acts of networking kindness)
• Asking others for help and resources
• Bringing a group of your own together for brainstorming, mastermind group, etc.

Maximize Your Affiliations

• Friends, neighbors, church, hobbies, past bosses and colleagues
• Speakers Bureaus, meeting planners, training companies, event producers
• Your Professional affiliations (trade, professional, civic, etc)
• Other colleagues outside of your peer groups such as NSA (speakers), IMC (consultants), or ICF (coaches) 
• Your Industry affiliations within your target industry groups

Your Keys to Networking Success

• Over deliver make them look like a genius for referring or connecting you
• Lead and get involved (raise your visibility and credibility within each group)
• Serve on committees, projects, and bring “outside” ideas to solve big problems
• Become known as a connector, a hub, and a linchpin
• Give three times as much as you hope to get