Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

As you know, the LAST thing I ever want to be called is a "social media expert" or social media marketing coach. Yech. That ain't what I do and it aint' who I am. Ain't. Ain't. Ain't. 

There, that feels better... now what I AM is a social media enthusiast. I love it and I think it's a great tool to add to your internet marketing game plan.

Is it perfect for everyone? No.

Is it useful for some? Yes.

Is it vital for a few? Certainly.

So... to help you ramp up the effectiveness of your social media efforts, you need to know what to say and how to say it.

And most outreach "templates" that these social media tools offer you are pretty weak. Things like the standard LinkedIn connection invite, the Facebook friend connection, and others. No worries, you're about to get hooked up.

LinkedIn:

Quick Marketing 101 review - Do people care about YOU or do they care about themselves? Yes - that's right! 5 points. They don't give a rat's tushie about you and they care 100% about themselves.

Now look at the standard LinkedIn connection invite:

===

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

===

Hmmmm... how do you feel about being "added"? And who cares about "my professional network"? This is all wrong.

Here's your new template - notice the switch in focus and benefit. Plus I added a new line with even more value. Finally, I prevented someone from clicking the "I don't know them" button which LinkedIn penalizes you for:

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I'd like to put my professional network on LinkedIn at your disposal. After we connect, if there's someone to whom you'd like a personal introduction, just let me know.

If you prefer not to connect at this time, please archive this message now. Thanks in advance.

===

Facebook:

You can't really go wrong here but I still have a useful connection "script" for you.

Let's say you notice that through your Facebook "Suggestions" (currently on the right side of your home page immediately below the section labelled "Requests"), there are people listed with labels like "37 mutual friends," "51 mutual friends" and so on. 

You can connect with these folks, but chances are excellent that they might not know you from Adam - or Eve. Thus, you need a fun, approachable, and appealing script to drop in when you want to click on them to connect.  After you click "Add as Friend" you'll want to click the link in the dialog box that says "Add a personal message" and type:

===

Vanessa - Wow! We have 37 mutual friends. We GOTTA connect simply so we can talk about all these people!

===

Twitter:

First rule, don't use automatic Direct Messaging (DM). People hate 'em. I hate 'em. Most savvy Twitter users hate 'em too.

They're used by spammers, affiliate marketers, and MLM salespeople. Just awful.

Not sure how to set that up? Good. You don't need to know. Didn't I just specifically ask you NOT to do it? No matter how "cool, valuable, friendly" you think they are - DON'T do it.

This next bit isn't a script, it's more of a practice. It's called ENGAGEMENT. Rather than simply pumping out clever tweets and retweeting others, build relationships. My formula for social media success (as a social media enthusiast, remember!) is the 3 R's formula:

Resources - Yes, certainly share your blog posts, your micro-ideas, and retweets of cool links and thoughts from others. Your first week on Twitter, this is fine if it's all you do. The second week, though, you better get busy with...

Relationships - Build relationships with other users you follow, admire, or resonate with. Use public @ messages or private DMs to connect with them, comment on their latest contributions, or thank them for an idea. Be detailed - so don't just tweet "@dnewman Hey - Cool!" Instead tweet this: "@dnewman David, awesome ideas on your blog about those social media scripts. Thanks!!!"

Reciprocity - Once you get the Twitter thing going, you've built some good relationships and you're seen as a valuable resource and contributor, it's only natural that people will start to promote you with some reciprocal love. They'll respond to your ideas, they'll Retweet you, they'll promote you in their #followfriday recommendations, and they'll scratch your back as you scratch theirs. 

Your Email Signature:

This is where I see all kinds of stupid stuff. For example:

====
Joe Shmoe
Profession - Email - Phone
Feel free to subscribe to my newsletter / read my blog / check out my articles - Web link
====

What's wrong with this signature file? 2 little letters - MY. MY. MY. Remember marketing 101, nobody gives a hoot about YOU. 

Consider my new signature file - and one that you should feel free to copy, emulate, or steal:

====

_____________________________
David Newman :: Tel 610.716.5984
Helping professional services firms do a better job of marketing themselves
to get MORE leads, BETTER prospects and BIGGER sales

Three resources you can grab right now:

1. Fat-free marketing ideas for the brave, fast, and smart:
http://www.doitmarketing.com/blog

2. Follow me on Twitter to get cool micro-ideas to grow your business:
http://twitter.com/dnewman

3. Connect with me on LinkedIn so you can tap into my 1600+ connections:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjnewman

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!

If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?
-- Will Rogers

To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

Trying to solve problems or find answers with the same set of information that got us "into this mess" in the first place indicates one of several things:

1. We are dangerously insane.
2. We are incredibly irresponsible.
3. We are sadly unaware of our own trailblazing and "off the charts" navigation capabilities.

What only a handful of very successful individuals realize is that, in fact, the current landscape, as perceived by others, is irrelevant as far as you're concerned.

One of the most powerful tools you have is self-knowledge. In the simplest terms, this comes down to answering these basic questions:
* Who am I?
* What am I all about?
* What do I love to do?
* Who do I want to be?
* What's the best way for me to get there?
* Where would I like the journey to take me?

Spend a few moments completing the following. Yes, you! Yes, right now.

Find a pencil. I'll wait...

Good. Here we go...

Exercise: List 10 things you LOVE to do. Any context is fine. Use your personal life, professional life, with your family, friends, civic and church groups, anything:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Now review your list and summarize each of these ten items
into a 1-word VERB, such as "communicate" or "connect" or
"share."

These are ten of your core action words that define you at
your best.

How can you bring more opportunities to use these actions
into your life? In answering this question, please remember
that even a small change can have a huge impact.

You don't need to quit your job in an office in New York
and move to a kibbutz in Israel if one of your key words
turned out to be "share."

Why don't you share some of what you know with your
colleagues? Teach a class, write an article, start a
discussion group, create a lunchtime seminar series, or
start an interactive message board on your corporate
intranet?

So many people are unhappy because the opportunities to use these core actions have evaporated from their lives or have become blocked by schedules filled with "too much to do" and "never enough time."

But stop and ask yourself, "How effective is my mind if my heart and soul are starving?" And if you don't take care of them, who will?

THIS is your real work for 2010 - enjoy the ride!

As a marketing speaker, I'm often asked the question if I'm also a "motivational speaker" and my answer is no. Although I do admire motivational speakers and topics - and HAVE trafficked in a bit of leadership thinking and writing.

Here's an oldie but goodies from the archives: 

===

There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you
damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human
duty, the duty to take the consequences.
-- P. J. O'Rourke

As a leader, I will expose you to the options and the
likely consequences of those options.
-- Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

The Leadership 22

Leadership means...
* Exposing people to options
* Getting along with people
* Being a dealer in hope
* Sales (products, services, ideas, values)
* Teaching, mentoring, guiding
* Be the example
* Results, not talk
* Bringing sides together
* Being a dispenser of enthusiasm
* Solving problems
* Blazing the trail and leaving a path
* Producing more leaders
* Showing average people how to do the work of superior people
* Character and integrity
* Putting first things first
* The capacity to translate vision into reality
* Finding a parade and getting in front of it
* Your switch is never turned off
* The ability to communicate something people want
* Action, not position
* Backbone, wishbone, funny bone
* Doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons

What do YOU think? What would you ADD? Leave a comment below and share your opinion...

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I'm often asked for "key nuggets" for small business marketing success. Here's a short list for your consideration...

Rather than blather on in a long-winded marketing coaching session, here it is in bullet format. Quick. Simple. Just not easy!

Small Business Marketing 10 Commandments of Success

I. Take Responsibility
II. Raise the Bar
III. Dream Big
IV. Develop the Action Habit
V. Visualize your Success
VI. Associate with Winners
VII. Give Something Back
VIII. Embrace and be Flexible to Change
IX. Learn to Love the Process
X. Have Faith and be Patient

Guest column by Regina Brett, Cleveland Plain Dealer

To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 50 this week, so here's an update:

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

To reach this Plain Dealer columnist: rbrett@plaind.com, 216-999-6328

Original article appears here:

http://www.cleveland.com/brett/blog/index.ssf/2006/05/regina_bretts_45_life_lessons.html 

She asked me what I thought of that name.

I told her - we gotta be careful.

The name is not going to stand on its own - it's going to become your methodology, your approach, your brand, and the umbrella that spans all of your offerings.

Soooo.... make sure you love all of the following, too... (Go ahead and plug in YOUR brand or YOUR words that articulate your fabulousness below):

• Responsible Leadership Assessment
• Responsible Leadership Retreats
• Responsible Leadership Survey
• Responsible Leadership Seminar
• Responsible Leadership Training
• Responsible Leadership Coaching
• Responsible Leadership IQ
• Responsible Leadership Conference
• Responsible Leadership News
• Responsible Leadership Blog
• Responsible Leadership Ezine
• Responsible Leadership Summit
• Responsible Leadership Tools
• Responsible Leadership Certification
• Responsible Leadership - the book
• Responsible Leadership - the keynote
• Responsible Leadership - the MBA guest lecture
• Responsible Leadership - the podcast
• Responsible Leadership - the PBS Special
• Responsible Leadership - the video series
• Responsible Leadership - the E-learning course
• Responsible Leadership - the 6-month leadership development course
  
• ... and so on!

So naming your company is no joke. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a marketing speaker and marketing coach and do this work all day long for a living! It really is a BIG, far-reaching decision.

You want everything to line up under your brand so you get a self-reinforcing marketing system where all the pieces "fit and click" - or in sales-speak, so you have plenty of opportunities for cross-selling, up-selling, and cross-pollination.

You want to own the "thought leadership platform" around your name and your offerings.

Question: How does YOUR professional services empire stack up?

Please leave a comment below and let us know!!

Now go charm the socks off someone!!

"When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game, you have to learn."
-- Tom Landry

When teams go in at half-time, whether they are ahead or behind, they talk about what is working and what is not.

They talk about what both they and their competitors are doing that is hurting them.

And then they talk about what they need to change and do differently. They make adjustments. They learn.

Exercise: It's half-time in your business.

• In which areas are you ahead or behind?
• What's working? What's not?
• What are you learning?
• Which plays consistently score points?
• What adjustments do you need to make?
  
• What changes do you need to make?
  
• When are you going to make them?

What does your referral blurb look like?

Excuse me? What?? You don't know what a referral blurb is?

Hmmm... don't tell me, let me guess: 

• YOU are not getting enough referrals
• You'd like to get MORE referrals but you're not sure how
• You HATE asking for referrals
• You do GREAT work - people should just refer you on the basis of your great work alone, shouldn't they?

Well, maybe all of that is true - but as it turns out, my friend, you are living in what we marketing coaches call "Referral Fantasy Land."

Want more referrals? OK listen up. 

YOU need a referral blurb. My friend, management training expert Eric David shared this idea with me. I wanted to introduce him to the CEO of a small 10-person professional services firm, one of my clients. He said, "David, that would be great. I'll send you the email."

I asked Eric, "What??"

He said, "I have an email ready to go that contains everything you need to send your CEO contact about meeting me, what I do, and why it might make sense for him." 

Dang... I was impressed. He says, "I'm building my business 100% through three strategies: 1. Personal networking; 2. Referring good people I know to others they should be connected to; and 3. Arming my network with this paragraph of email copy - his referral blurb.

You want to see what this looks like, don't you? Sure you do... OK you win:

===

Dear XXX,

I want to introduce you to my friend and colleague Eric David. Eric is the Delaware Valley licensee for Crestcom International, a leader in management and leadership training. After meeting with Eric and hearing about his training program, I think his materials and training methodology make a lot of sense (and could really benefit your organization). I suggested that you would be a great person for him to meet and feel completely comfortable asking if you would be open to meeting him for 30 minutes or so. Based on what I know about Eric and Crestcom, this 30 minutes will be well worth your time and there is no obligation if you are not interested after the half-hour meeting.

Thanks in advance for giving this your thoughtful consideration. I'm looking forward to hearing back from you soon.

===

Now, as a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I asked Eric 2 things: 

1. Do you mind if I steal this?

2. Do you mind if I try to improve it?

He gave his blessing, so here's my version. Notice that I changed not only the business (I'm a marketing coach, he's a management trainer) but I also tweaked some of the "ME" language into "YOU" language aimed at the recipient. Made it more about THEM. This is key. Take a look:

===

Dear XXX,

I want to introduce you to my friend and colleague David Newman. David works with small business owners and independent professionals who want to do a better job of marketing themselves and grow their business. After meeting with David and exploring how you are currently attracting, engaging, and winning clients, you may discover that his marketing programs make sense for you (and could really benefit your bottom line). I suggested that you would be a great person for him to meet and feel completely comfortable asking if you would be open to meeting him for 30 minutes or so.

Based on what I know about David and his track record of helping small and solo business owners succeed - even in this economy - your 30 minutes will be well spent, even if it's just to explore other ways you might be helpful to each other. Thanks in advance for giving this your thoughtful consideration.

I'm looking forward to hearing back from you soon.

===

OK, now it's your turn. You ready? Use this template:

===

Dear XXX,

I want to introduce you to my friend and colleague [YOUR NAME]. [FIRST NAME] works with [TARGET BUYER PERSONA] who want to [SPECIFIC BENEFIT or OUTCOME]. After meeting with [FIRST NAME] and exploring how you are currently [VERB STATEMENT OF AN IMPORTANT GOAL OF THEIRS], you may discover that his [TOPIC EXPERTISE] programs make sense for you (and could really benefit your bottom line). I suggested that you would be a great person for him to meet and feel completely comfortable asking if you would be open to meeting him for 30 minutes or so.

Based on what I know about [FIRST NAME] and his track record of helping [BUYER PERSONA CATEGORY] succeed - even in this economy - your 30 minutes will be well spent, even if it's just to explore other ways you might be helpful to each other. Thanks in advance for giving this your thoughtful consideration.

I'm looking forward to hearing back from you soon.

===

Send your referral blurb to 10 of your trusted allies, referral partners, and close business friends... and then leave a comment back here to tell me how much money you've made with this one incredibly powerful idea - your referral blurb.

Grab your FREE copy of the Strategic Marketing eBook.

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!

Are you are getting visitors, but Google Analytics are telling you that they are there one minute and gone the next? Getting traffic is only half the battle. Next you must convert them!

Here are some great ways to drive visitors AWAY!

1. Lose their trust right off by not having easy contact
information!

2. Offer so many choices to your customer they simply get
overloaded and leave.

3. Make a visitor click 18 times (well, 3 or 4 anyway) to get to the meat of what you are offering.

4. Have a great freebie to offer and require them to fill out more information than necessary... (their first name and email address is probably enough).

5. Create a really unique navigation system which no one has ever seen before. Have them figure out how to use your new whiz bang system.

6. Have a whole paragraph of instruction on how to perform a simple action...like ordering!

7. Go ahead and put some links on the page to some of your favorite sites so they will have a good excuse to click off your site. Who knows, they might want to check the weather while they are on your site!

8. Put several thousand words of text on your home page.

9. You have a great site about fixing computers and you can't wait to show a picture of your new puppy on the home page. Go ahead and put the picture on your computer site's home page along with a description of how smart the puppy is!

10. Create as many blinking gifs as possible and paste them all over the page to really make it stand out. While you are at it, use something like red font on a black background. Doesn't that look cool!

Don't let yourself go down these wrong design roads. Keep your site simple and focused!

Check at my radio show for more Internet Marketing Dos and Don'ts:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/steve-weber

Happy Internet Marketing to You!

Steve Weber
http://www.StevesClassroom.com