One of the many pleasures of writing a book is writing the Acknowledgements section where you get to thank all the folks who have helped you at every point in your journey, whether it was last week, last year or all the way back to your childhood.

As you may know, I'm finishing up the final edits on my new book being published by AMACOM next summer. The Acknowledgements section has been top of mind for me this Thanksgiving week. 

Personally, I can't understand authors who write a slim paragraph and then end with "I have too many people to thank and their names could fill this book." REALLY? If that's the case, why don't you at least TRY?

I sure did...  and to celebrate this Thanksgiving week, here it is in its entirety - LARGE, LOUD, and PUBLIC!

Acknowledgements

The first acknowledgement has to go to YOU—for buying this book, for reading this book, and for applying its strategies, tactics and tools to grow your business.

After you, it gets harder to count all the individuals, friends, clients, collaborators, mentors, trusted advisors, and supporters who have made this book—and all the rest of my work—so easy, effortless and enjoyable. Unlike some authors who don’t even try… here goes.

First I’d like to thank my parents for not having a stroke when I announced I was leaving the pre-med program at Franklin & Marshall College to pursue a career in theater. Thank you to Dr. Gordon Wickstrom who modeled the highest gift of catalyzing the best in others while making them feel personally important and professionally capable. What do you get when you cross healing with drama? Of course, you get marketing.

My amazing partner, Vanessa Christman, gets a ton of credit for sticking with her lunatic husband through thick (my waistline) and thin (my hairline). Without you, none of this would be any fun at all. Truly.

My two awesome kids, Becca and Charlie, Woofie the Wonder Dog, and Mimi the cat also went to heroic lengths to put up with me long before, during and after the writing of this book. I love you guys like bananas.

Professionally, the list is even longer. Big thanks to my book agent, Michael Snell. He does business the old-fashioned way and it works amazingly well for all concerned. I’m grateful to my pal Gene Marks for sharing Mike’s genius with me. At AMACOM, Ellen Kadin is a rock star. She knows what works and she makes sure I DO IT. Her steady dedication to our shared vision of a “business book with attitude” shows up on every page. Big thanks and kudos to the AMACOM design team for realizing that vision with the bold design of this book.

And for you aspiring or experienced authors – especially those of you who, like me, HATE to be edited – meet my editor extraordinaire, Christopher Murray. Chris “got” this book right from the start and was an amazing collaborator, organizer and advocate for the business-building ideas you are about to profit from. Find Chris online at www.ChrisMurrayEditor.com and put your project in the hands of a supremely insightful editor and the best friend your writing ever had.

I deeply thank Dr. Michael Ray of Stanford Business School for introducing me to the Creativity in Business MBA course that changed my life. The very best advice he gave me was, “Stop starting things and get more into DOING.” The DNA of Michael’s wisdom runs throughout my work, my life, and by extension, this book!

Thank you to my pals from my corporate days: Sandy Frick, Trish Koons, Neal Duffy, Kim Nuzzaci and Benjamin Laden who were crazy enough to hire me, work with me, and recruit me away from one job into the next for a great 10-year run. I don’t know what you were thinking, but I’m grateful for all the fun we had “working for the man.”

Thank you to four very special people who helped me at every point in my entrepreneurial journey including the good, the bad and the ugly – in mind (Terry Fisher), body (Nick Odorisio), spirit (Scott Simons) and career (Ford R. Myers).

My involvement in the National Speakers Association (NSA) and Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS) has been an invaluable source of inspiration, insights and friendships. Thank you to my mentors, role models and friends Laurie Brown, Gideon Grunfeld, Michael Roby, Kirstin Carey, Steve Coscia, Avish Parashar, Michael Goldberg, Todd Cohen, Brian Walter, John Reddish, Marvin LeBlanc, Carol Fredrickson, Tom Stoyan, Toni Newman, Brian Lee, Scott McKain, Alan Zimmerman, Frank Bucaro, LeAnn Thieman, Thom Winninger, Patricia Fripp, Alan Weiss, Bob Burg, John Jantsch, David Meerman Scott, Brian Tracy, Randy Gage and Jeffrey Gitomer.

Thank you to my speaker bureau partners and friends – Andrea Gold, Shawn Ellis, Katrina Mitchell, and Nancy Vogl. You are the sharpest, most dedicated folks in the business and you model excellence and integrity in everything you do.

Thank you to my expert contributors: Jay Baer, Scott Ginsberg, Corey Perlman, Dan Janal, Mark LeBlanc, Barry Moltz, Mark Hunter, Henry DeVries, Tom Searcy, Melinda Emerson, Stephanie Chandler, Mary Foley, Gene Marks and Viveka Von Rosen. You are each superheroes in your own realm and I hugely appreciate your generosity of expertise.

Thank you to my colleagues in Vistage International, the world’s largest CEO peer group organization: Jose Palomino, Gerry Lantz, Chris Farias, Scott Messer, Brian Carney, Skip Lange, Carl Francis, Marcia O’Connor, Michael Gidlewski, Steve Van Valin and Jim Lucas. You’ve shared your insights and advice with me even when I didn’t want to hear it, didn’t follow it, and didn’t want to believe it. However, you were right four times out of five. I’m learning.

Thank you to my Do It! Marketing team members, past and present. Especially the uber-awesome Catherine Bernard, the ultra-amazing Katie Hanna, the super-productive Rachel Rodden, and Liz Crider aka “the one that got away.” I love working with you and appreciate you more than you know.

Thank you to my amazing clients. Man, when YOU work, this program works! I’m continually humbled and grateful for your confidence, your business, your friendship, and the credit that you bring to our work by DOING IT consistently, smartly, bravely, and quickly. You are the embodiment of my mantra that “Only action creates results.” Thank you for the privilege of working alongside you as you create your next level of success. 

Sooo... even if you're not writing a book at the moment, you will experience BIG gratitude if YOU write the Acknowledgements section of your (future) book. 

Let me know what you think in the COMMENTS area below. Happy Thanksgiving!

For your marketing - and in business in general - simple SELLS. As a marketing coach for speakers, authors and independent professionals, I see it time and time again...

You're making it HARDER than it needs to be. Honest.

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction."
-- Albert Einstein

What kind of professional would you be if you specialized in the small, the simple, and the gentle solutions?

Or does your style lean more towards the thicker report, the more complicated answer, the more expensive technology, and the more complex project plan?

Winston Churchill was asked how much time he would need to prepare a talk.

He replied that his preparation time depended on the talk's duration.

When asked about a 2-hour speech, he said he could deliver that immediately.

When asked about a 2-minute speech, he said "I should need a fortnight to prepare."

The short, simple, direct answers are often the most valuable - and take the longest time and the hardest work to prepare!

Question: What could you simplify right now that would make a difference to you and/or the people you want to impact the most with your marketing?

Tip: Whether you're selling your products, your services, or your ideas, the age-old fact is: simple SELLS.

What do you think? Use the COMMENTS area below to leave your advice and experiences on this topic.

p.s. Attention Speakers, Authors, Consultants and Independent Professionals: Enrollment is now open for the next 30-Day SpeakerLiftoff program that blasts off on December 7. Check out the details and info here. Let's work together to create YOUR game plan for simple marketing success in 2013 and beyond.

Marketing Coach: Grow Your Business with Selective Access

There's an old marketing saying - create services around your products and productize your services. 

This is good advice because it works for big businesses like IBM and it works for smaller businesses - like yours. 

IBM used to be in the computer hardware business... They were struggling and almost went under in the early 1990's when IT hardware was becoming commoditized. Under new CEO Louis Gerstner, they decided they were in the business of solving business problems, not selling boxes. Within a few short years, their services and consulting revenue dwarfed their hardware sales.

For most small and solo professional service providers, our commodity is our time. Yet our value lies in our expertise.

So how YOU package, market and distribute your expertise become central to your lead-generating and revenue-generating success.

And the best way to do that is to implement a model I call "Selective Access."

Imagine you are running a 5-star restaurant. Your flagship offering is a 7-course gourmet dinner. You also offer lunch which is less fancy (and less expensive). And perhaps you have an up-scale catering or to-go division too.

Prices vary depending on the following four factors:

1. Quality and quantity of ingredients

2. Complexity of preparation

3. Level of service

4. Level of access to the dining environment

Put simply - dinner costs more than lunch which costs more than a snack to-go. 

In my own business, I offer 1-on-1 marketing mentoring (dinner), I run group marketing programs several times each year (lunch) and I work with a few people each month via 1-hour pinpoint sessions (just-enough, just-in-time power snacks!)

Plus I occasionally throw in a "happy meal" which is a free high-value session that's open to everyone. 

Now let's turn the spotlight on YOUR business. Think about - or grab a piece of paper and jot down - what the following looks like in your world: 

1. YOUR Flagship investable opportunity: 

2. YOUR Secondary investable opportunity: 

3. YOUR "To-go" offering (high-value, low-risk, fast, affordable)

4. YOUR FREE happy meal (think of this as a high-value "gift" you can offer to folks who might be good prospects.) 

YOU'RE INVITED: The next "happy meal" coming your way is Tuesday 10/30 at 2pm Eastern. It's a zero-cost high-impact Marketing Blueprint Session and you can read about it here. 

Hope you'll join us on 10/30. 

1. Tweet more regularly about resources, tools and ideas that link back to your website. Use tools like Hootsuite, TweetAdder and Buffer.

2. Create short 2-3 minute videos on YouTube and make sure to add titles near the beginning and end of the video inviting viewers to get more resources from your website.

3. Also make sure to optimize your videos' titles, descriptions, tags and use your full url (meaning include the http:// part!) as the first line of your video description so people see it right away without needing to scroll down. Example: Business Card Kung Fu

4. Get to know Pinterest. It is the fastest growing social media site in history and it's also a lot of fun. Visit my free marketing resources page and grab a fresh hot copy of "How to Use Pinterest for Business." Example: http://pinterest.com/marketingexpert/  

5. Slideshare: You know you've got 'em - PowerPoints. PDF's. All kinds of goodies probably littering your hard drive and you're not take advantage of ANY of 'em as marketing assets. But sure enough, you can start a free Slideshare account, upload your favorite 5-6 PPT or PDF documents, optimize the tags, titles and descriptions, and BAM - more web traffic for you. Example: http://www.slideshare.net/doitmarketing

6. Build an about.me page that collects all your important web links and can serve as an online "business card" or switchboard to connect folks to all your social media accounts in one handy place. Example: http://about.me/doitmarketing

7. Build a brand reputation profile on BrandYourself.com. It's a great way to monitor your online reputation AND build Google juice so you are more visible, more findable and more credible to folks searching for your type of product, service or expertise. Example: http://bobgarlick.brandyourself.com/

8. Boost the impact and SEO value of your LinkedIn profile. My pal, LinkedIn guru Viveka Von Rosen has 12 kickass tips for you on 12 Ways to Spice Up Your LinkedIn Profile. Hint: You also totally need to pick up Viveka's book LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day.

9. Blog, baby, blog... Research from our partners at Hubspot proves that businesses that blog twice a week generate 60% more traffic and leads than businesses that blog once a week or less. Not every blog needs to be a novel. Short is good. Medium is good. Long is good. Not blogging regularly is bad. Ya dig?

10. Infographics. Love 'em or hate 'em - they're hotter than a Vegas sidewalk in August. How can you present a simple, visual, and valuable piece of content that your readers, prospects and customers would really appreciate? Example: 12 Home Page Must-Haves. 

11. Post to relevant LinkedIn groups. LinkedIn is THE social network for business. But all I see in your message stream is who you connected with yesterday, who you endorsed as a great accountant, and that you changed your photo (which is great because that brown tie wasn't helping you). Post LINKS to your great content. Post provocative, interesting questions. Post answers in relevant Q&A Discussions. 

12. Don't ignore PR: Do everything you can to put yourself in a position to be quoted, interviewed, linked to, and featured in relevant blogs, articles, publications and newsletters aimed at your target market. If you're not sure where to begin, start with PRLeads.com and PressReleaseSender.com

13. According to my pal Jay Baer of Convince and Convert, text is going away. Everything online is moving to pictures and video. If that's true (and trust Jay - it is), then your two new best friends will be... 

14. Flickr.com: Post pictures of you, your clients, your projects, your meetings, your team, your best work. Don't be shy - Flickr is a great place to strut your stuff in an immediately impactful way. A picture is worth a thousand words, yadda yadda. Here's a great example from my pal Scott Ginsberg.

15. Animoto.com: Video, baby, video. Turn your photos, video clips, and music into stunning video masterpieces to share with everyone. Fast, free, and shockingly easy! You can use these for yourself, your products, your services, your programs and your ideas. You can also export your creations to YouTube and optimize them further there (See point #3 above.) Example: Top 10 Differences Between Girls and Bodacious Women.

16. Don't ignore email marketing. One of the most common reasons you may be losing web traffic is simply because people who know you and like you have forgotten about how awesome you are. Email marketing reminds them. Not sure where to begin? Start with a Constant Contact free trial. 

17. Never Stop Marketing. That's both a mantra and the website of my pal Jeremy Epstein. But my point is... Never stop experimenting. Never stop testing. And only KEEP what works for you and generates results. You can safely toss the rest.

Go about your marketing with a sense of positive skepticism. Just because someone else says a strategy or tactic is great, doesn't mean it's great for YOU. There is no cookie cutter. You are no cookie.  

If you enjoyed this post, you may also want to read two closely related ones: 

Marketing Coach: "You Never Know" Will Kill You

Business Coach: 7 Keys to Help You Focus on Strategy Not Tactics

What do you think? 

Use the COMMENTS section below to share your insights, advice and recommendations...

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!

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:

One of my marketing coaching clients asked me last week, "David, are there rules for writing copy? I've written a ton of material about what we do and I never know what's going to work..."

This is like asking, "Are there rules for romance?" YES, as a matter of fact there are. Check out http://1001waystoberomantic.com/

Are there rules for writing marketing copy? Hell yes. My go-to guy on this is the incredible Bob Bly. Check out http://bly.com/

And the best book on the subject is The Copywriter's Handbook.

But I'll do you one better - you don't even need to buy a book.

Here are 17 rough and ready rules that will make you a better copywriter in 10 minutes or less.

Zero guarantee of completeness. Your mileage may vary. Proceed at your own risk...

1. Write like you speak.

2. Speak like a person, not a marketing moron or a sales robot.

3. As you write, ask yourself - if this next sentence is the last thing they read, is it worth writing or do I have something more important they need to know? (You can write a 3-page sales letter this way that will sell like crazy!!)

4. Use short paragraphs.

5. Use action words, not learning words (nobody wants to learn, find out, or get information... they want to BUILD, BOOST, CREATE, INCREASE, SLASH, REDUCE, ELIMINATE)

6. If you start to sound like a late-night infomercial, stop. Ease it back just about 10% - that's where you need to be. 70% substance with 30% sizzle. Articulate your value, your outcomes and your benefits assertively - not aggressively.

7. Take them on a journey - your copy should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

8. The four most powerful words in marketing are:
  a. YOU
  b. YOUR
  c. BECAUSE
  d. SO THAT

9. It is TOTALLY impossible to overuse testimonials and third-party social proof. Do you have 100 written testimonials? Great - find a way to use them. Do you have 50+ video testimonials? Ditto. Do you have two fistfulls of scanned in endorsement letters on letterhead? Post them. (Examples of each are here for you.)

10. Engage, engage, engage... appeal to the senses. Make the experience of working with you as 3-dimensional as you can. What does it smell like? Taste like? What's the overall experience when people walk in to your store? Hire your accounting firm? Bring you in as their architect?

11. What frustrates the hell out of your prospects and clients? Talk about that - show that you understand their heartaches, headaches, pains and frustrations at the deepest levels.

12. Your copy needs to convey TWO and only two ideas:
  a. You know what they are up against
  b. You can fix it

13. Stop selling YOUR crap and start solving THEIR problems. Yes, even before they buy.

14. Call to action is key. What's the very NEXT step you want them to take? Is there a free offer? A bonus gift to download? A free assessment? A no-strings phone consultation?

15. Make sure your call to action is a GIVE and not a GET. An example of a GET is "Click here and a member of our sales team will contact you within 24 hours." Stupidest damn thing I've ever seen. Useless.

16. Show them how to go from ZERO to HERO. Paint the picture of the current gap - the missing piece - the shortfall - the misfires - the problems - the glitches. THEN show them success stories, solutions, fixes, wins PLUS the specific ways that people who bought from you are better off, richer, smarter, happier, sexier - or all five.

17. Your copy should deliver three things at the end - the acronym is giving your prospects a big HUG:
  a. (H)ope - to improve their condition
  b. (U)rgency - to solve their problem
  c. (G)ameplan - to start exploring your solution

You can do this - it's a lot easier than you think. (H)

In fact, if writing copy is a challenge, you may want to join our next SIMPLE MARKETING SUCCESS 10-week program which starts September 26. Early bird savings are still on - but not for much longer! (U)

If a group program is not a fit for you, I totally understand. Let's start with a no-strings, no-BS  Marketing Assessment. We'll talk for 20 minutes and you'll get 2-3 ideas you can use right away to grow your business whether we decide there's a next step or not. (G)

There - you've just been hugged. See what I mean?

What do YOU think? Share YOUR advice and experiences with writing marketing copy for YOUR business in the COMMENTS area below...

Once or twice a month, I get interviewed, featured or quoted by other experts, the news media, or my mom. (Hi Mom!) 

How can you do the same?

You won't get coverage from my mom but you WILL get major media from PRLeads.com like I do. Try it - it's your best deal for public relations bar none.

But that's not the point of this post.

The point of this post is... Balls.

Nerve.

Moxie.

Stepping up and asking for what you want. 

Just like my new friend Damian Niolet did when he asked me for an interview.

Damian could easily have succumbed to negative self-talk like "Oh, this David Newman character is a big deal and he'll never agree to an interview. I'm just a guy studying marketing who has a meager 50 Twitter followers. He's not going to waste his time talking to me..." and so on. 

Good news for Damian - he did not sabotage himself with any such nonsense. 

He asked. I said yes. We did an interview that totally kicked ass and - frankly - was a hell of a lot better than anything I've given to The New York Times, Philadelphia Business Journal (Hi Craig!) or FastCompany.com.

Here's the interview.

Listen online or grab a copy to download. 

Why is this interview valuable to you?

First, because Damian prepared thoughtful questions I've never been asked before. (Like the ethical code of marketing? Or how marketing affects our society? Wow... nice!) So the content will help you market smarter and generate more leads, better prospects and bigger sales. 

Secondly, this interview shows you how YOU may want to use interviewing as a marketing strategy yourself. Either purely for research OR to build relationships with your prospects and colleagues OR as a content development strategy to enrich your blog and establish yourself as an authority in your field. 

For your reference - and to make it easier to follow along if you listen in - here is the list of 15 questions Damian prepared for our conversation...

See if YOU can develop a list of smart, detailed and occasionally surprising questions like these for YOUR next interview: 

1. Can you provide a brief overview of your experience, to include education?  (Leading up to your marketing experience, unless you knew from the start you wanted to work in marketing, in which case you can speak to your experience working for other marketing firms)
2. What drove you to enter the world of marketing? (Your passion for marketing; Leading up to starting Do It! Marketing)
3. What drove you to start up Do It! Marketing? (Why and when)
4. What was the most difficult part of the start-up process? (How)
5. Did you have a marketing strategy from the start?  How did it evolve?
6. What is your view/opinion of how marketing has changed in the last 15-20 years?
7. Has social networking always been a big part of your strategy? (Dependent on when Do It! Marketing was founded)
8. What is the very first bit of advice you’d give to a client to get them started?
9. What is the very most important bit of advice you’d give to a client for whom you are building a marketing strategy?
10. What would you say to those who suggest that using social networks in a passive mode (as a conversation tool only) is time wasted because it does not necessarily focus on leads?
11. Is there a medium, other than social networks, you believe to be invaluable?
12. What company do you believe exemplifies marketing at its best?
13. Is there an ethical code within marketing?  Is this code debatable? 
14. The manner in which marketing is practice undoubtedly influences society at large.  Do you believe the marketing practices in America over the last 50+ years have had a positive or negative impact on society?
15. What will marketing look like in the future?  Are there near-term changes we can expect?  Is there another revolution on the distant horizon?

Catch up with the rest of Damian's blog and keep your eye on this guy. He's gonna do BIG things. 

p.s. We still have a few open spaces for the Simple Marketing Success 10-Week Virtual Bootcamp experience. The program is open by application only. Let me know you're interested (email or call me 610.716.5984) and I'll forward you the application materials and program guidelines right away. We start the program September 26, 2012.

I love business books.

It's a bit of an addiction really.

Some are good, some are so-so, and once in a while a great one comes along.

This is about a great one - Rules of the Hunt by Michael Dalton Johnson. Michael is the founder, publisher and editor of SalesDog.com which is THE go-to resource online for salespeople, sales management and sales success.

Let's cut to the chase and get you fully up to speed - first a video book review, then an in-depth 35-minute audio interview with Michael. (The audio also contains "The Magic Email" that was a featured story a few weeks ago in the SalesDog.com newsletter. It has a 100% success rate to get you back in touch with prospects who have gone dark on you. You'll love it!)

Here's my video book review:

And then I invited Michael to chat with me about some of the key ideas in the book.

Listen in here.

NOTE: The audio will take a minute or two to load in your browser. If you prefer, you can download the digital audio file: RIGHT-click on this link and choose "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." or "Save File As..." and save the file to your desktop.

Here's to closing out your week with MORE Leads, BETTER Prospects and BIGGER Sales.

WOOF!!!

How to use Direct Mail effectively...

My friend Jose Palomino from ValueProp.com recently did some web research and collected these dozen or so smart tips from the two resources linked below on increasing your results from your direct mail campaigns. 

Consider this a direct mail crash course for small business owners, entrepreneurs and indepent professionals. 

A. Write a letter? Cheap and inexpensive, but how?

• Your letters should sound as if they were written by a human being.
• One-to-one and conversational is usually best. Forget corporatese, it’s snooze-inducing.
• Try a live stamp, even better, try two live stamps.
• Try to find common ground. One of my favorite first lines is “I don’t know how you feel about (whatever), but I …”
• Test a lot of different approaches and lengths.
• Offer something they can get only by responding to your letter.
• Ask for the order and make it easy to reply.

B.  Direct Mail Tips

• Use only direct response direct mail campaigns – Direct response refers to what the name implies; all mailings should have a ‘call to action’ or request a direct response.  There is nothing that sabotages a direct mail campaign more than to not give the recipient a ‘call to action’.  Tell them what to do next . . . . call, write, pick up the phone, etc.
• Make Your Mail Peer-To-Peer Personal - Consider sending a personalized direct mail letter "written" by your CEO, CFO, CIO, etc. on his or her corporate stationery to his or her counterpart. Play up the commonalities both people share, the business and professional challenges they face that only someone in their position truly understands. I call it "honcho-to-honcho" marketing and it can be very effective. For example, one organization had success with a simple peer-to-peer letter bearing its CEO's name, personal telephone number and a brief description of what the company offers.
• Follow a formula when writing copy - there are a number of formulas that you can use to produce effective copy, but the easiest one out there and probably the simplest to use is the tried and true AIDA formula.  AIDA is an acronym for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. If you follow this formula when writing your copy, you will produce better copy.
• Test your copy – always test your mailings with a small number of mailings before sending out “the” campaign.  A simple method to accomplishing a test is the A/B split test.  This is where you have a small sample size of say 200.  You mail 100 hundred of your target market a mailing with one headline; and the other 100 a mailing with a different headline to see which mailing will get a better response.  An important note for you to remember.  If you use the A/B split testing method, you can only change one element of your direct mail piece at a time so that you can determine what factor made one piece more effective than the other.  The three parts of your mailing you may want to test include the headline, the call to action or the P.S.

There you have it - all you need to know to kick some serious ass with direct mail.

Is creating a series of sales letters or direct mail postcards one of your to-do items that you've been putting off for WAY too long?

p.s. Crafting some solid direct mail pieces may be one of several things you might want to get DONE during our next DO IT DAY.

Check it out - it may be exactly the boost of accountability you've been looking for to help you make significant progress in ANY part of your business - all in one super-focused day! 

"Direct marketing is to social marketing what a one-night stand is to marriage." -- @dnewman

The above statement is a tweet that gets a lot of reaction - some positive, some negative, and some asking for more detail. So - you asked for it, you got it. Let's dig in...

Quick sidenote before we start: I find it telling that people read the analogy wrong - they sometimes misunderstand and think I'm saying that social marketing is the one-night stand. NOT AT ALL - direct marketing is the one-night stand. Social marketing is a marriage (unless you do it like an idiot - More on that later.) 

The purpose of direct marketing (short for direct response marketing) is just that - to get a response. A hit. A lead. A sale. A little badda-bing in your pants, ya dig?

The purpose of social marketing (short for social media marketing) is to establish trust, build a strong relationship and deliver value over time. Can you hear the wedding bells?   

A big mistake that a lot of business owners, entrepreneurs and indepent professionals make is to think of social marketing in the same way that you might think of direct marketing or outbound sales activity. (As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I see this mistake all the time and it's the source of MANY bad marketing decisions and idiotic online sales antics.)

Think about it: Cold calls. Email blasts. Direct mail like postcards and sales letters. Do those things and the natural question to ask is - OK, how much did you SELL TODAY?

You made 100 dials, you connected with 20 humans, you had 14 conversations, you qualified 5 serious prospects and then how much did you SELL TODAY?

You sent 10,000 postcards. Requests came back for 300 quotes. So how many widgets did you SELL TODAY?

All that scorekeeping, bad pick-up lines, hitting on people (not to mention the need to do it over and over again the next day, the next week, and the next month) is starting to sound a lot like Leisure Suit Larry's dating life, doesn't it?

Social marketing doesn't work that way. Social marketing is... well, social. It's about relationships and trust. Relationships and trust don't have an ON/OFF switch - they develop over time.

Transactions happen today from relationships you built last week, last month, and last year. The benefit of that - and the reason it's worth the "wait" is that social media gives you a permanent asset - TRUST.

Oh and by the way, married people DO have crazy good sex. But those transactions happen BECAUSE of the relationship, not instead of it!! It's the permanence of the relationship that gives you both the long-term love (trust) AND the short-term lust (profitable transactions) you want and need.  

Think about the long-term impact of your social media marketing assets and the fleeting nature of your direct marketing investments:

Blog entries are forever. They continue to sell your expertise, your company, and your value day after day, week after week, year after year.

LinkedIn recommendations are forever. People that wrote glowingly of you in 2002 are still "selling" for you and your reputation TODAY.

A voice mail? BEEP - gone.

An email? ZAP - deleted.

A sales letter or postcard? THUNK - into the recycling.

Those happen today and they're gone today. 

Sure, you have to sell today. You have to make your quota today. You have to feed your family today. But social media marketing helps you ensure that what you create ONCE today works and lasts and brings customers and clients to you for many years to come...

Not because you SOLD them like an idiot -- but because you built the trust and relationships that HELPED THEM BUY today, tomorrow and beyond!

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!