Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

I am leading an ExecSense webinar on “How to Get Published as CEO of a VC-Funded Company and How to Make it Work Towards Your Company's Success” on Friday September 28th.

Shhhh... it's NOT just for venture-backed CEOs. It's for YOU!

What we'll talk about:

This video clip speaks for itself (you should have your audio/speakers turned on):

What can YOU do that will impress people with YOUR versatility and talent?

These days, "being good" (or even great) is merely table stakes - you need to MASTER your offerings so your audience knows they're in the hands of a professional good enough to deliver A+ work while being confident enough to have fun.

"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...

Just finished presenting for Steelcase to a group of really smart, entrepreneurial architecture and design firm principals and executives in Philadelphia.

When I asked them the overall purpose of marketing their firms, someone volunteered the notion that they want to become the "go-to guys" and "go-to gals" for their prospects and clients and the community of folks whom they serve.

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach to professional services firms, I pointed out exactly how important that was - especially in light of the fact that a survey of over 700 clients showed that between 52-72% of them would be willing to change professional services providers across a wide variety of industries. (Architecture and design was in the middle of the pack at around 60%)

For YOU, I'd like to raise the bar even further. Once you've successfully established yourself and your organization as the go-to resource... the key question becomes:

What do people GET when they GO TO you?

Do they get help, information, tips, actionable advice and a genuine thank-you for getting in touch?

OR... Do they get a sales pitch, a come-on, an invoice, a brush-off or worst of all - silence?

There's nothing worse than doing all the hard work to establish yourself, your team and your organization as the "go-to" resource only to blow it when prospects and clients ACT on your invitation to help them.

• For free...
• Because you care...
• And because you put their needs ahead of yours.  

When it comes to becoming the "go-to" resource, be careful what you wish for... Do it right and they WILL go to you.

Question is, what will they GET?

And will they come back for more or leave disappointed?

What do you think? Share your "go-to" guy stories, tips, and strategies in the COMMENTS section below...

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...

Professional speaker marketing tip

Most professional speakers, consultants, coaches, and solopreneurs have a hard time moving into a niche or declaring a specialty. Most want to attract as much business as possible, so they go for broad marketing across all topics, categories, and industries, trying to attract all audiences for all that they can offer.

If you fall into this trap, your marketing messages get spread so thin that soon, you’re spending more and more time, effort, and money on marketing and getting less and less return. Does this sound familiar?

The truth is that successful experts know who they are – they “move aside” and specialize in a niche. They focus more energy on marketing their “flagship” services to a very specific target market.

Why? Because – unlike Wal-Mart or Citibank, your business can’t be all things to all people. “Move Aside” is about finding your niche, and claiming your expertise in a narrow area of specialty. In plain English, this means you want to become the “Go-To Guy” or “Go-To Gal” for your specific audience – the exact opposite of a “jack-of-all-trades and master of none.”

Perhaps you want to be known as “the consulting firm that knows the insurance industry inside and out” or “the restaurant marketing coach” or “the manufacturing turnaround expert.”

Maybe you want to appeal to corporate executives with an elite image or appeal to family business owners with a homespun image.

The people you speak with will have a very different reaction to these two mental images of your products/services:

• “I think you might be a good fit...”
  
• “Finally! You are exactly who we’ve been looking for!”

Let me give you an example that will make this point very clearly.

In my hometown in suburban Philadelphia, there’s a real company that lists among its services “Carpet Removal, House Cleaning, Odd Jobs, Catering.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I want a caterer, I’m looking for someone who does professional catering all the time. I don’t want to have to worry about “Did they wash their hands after the carpet removal job and before serving the guests at my daughter’s wedding?”

In fact, even among “serious” catering companies (the ones that don’t do carpet removal) if I’m looking for a caterer for a wedding, I’ll probably be drawn to “Wedding Bells Catering” much more so than “Sam’s Catering” or “Good Eats Catering.” In today’s marketplace, specialists rule.

Create your own special niche. Developing a specialty can go a long way to attracting more substantial clients. Being known as the “experts” in a particular field gives you the opportunity to stand out from the crowd. This is the edge that will tend to draw prospective clients to you. The bottom line: more speaking gigs, more consulting offers, more coaching clients, more revenue, more referrals, and taken together, just a whole lot more fun in running your professional practice.

The fact is that the marketplace values clarity, focus, and direction.

Once you become known for being great at one thing, your company can spread its wings and start to attract more business across the board through a powerful “Halo effect.” If you get known over time for being great at one thing, in the future, people will begin to naturally assume you’re great in a variety of other ways, too. However, if you try to say you’re great at everything on Day 1, nobody will believe you!

The only way to know if this will work for your business is to try it! You’ll be pleased with the speed and magnitude of the results.

What do you think? What's YOUR success story with moving aside? Agree? Disagree? Please use the COMMENTS area below to jump into the conversation...