Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

Marketing Speaker: What's Your Mission Today?

doitmarketing marketing missionNope, this is NOT a post about that kind of soft, squishy "mission-vision" thing...

This post is about what's on your plate right now - today - right this minute. 

My friend, Jose Palomino, sent me an email this morning about some website tweaking that he's doing. He wrote, "Getting the timing right and the sliders to stop rotating after the final reveal is today's mission."

Bam - that was his ONE thing for today. Was he doing other tasks? You bet. Was he developing business, calling clients, following up on sales leads, and doing paperwork? Sure... but he also had his "mission" for the day. 

When it comes to being a small business owner, independent professional or speaker/consultant, you have a million things to do and a hundred priorities. 

Wouldn't having a SINGLE mission for the day be great? 

Well - you can. Many important tasks can be done in as little as 15 minutes -- and tackling ONE head-on might be exactly what you need to regain that most precious entrepreneurial asset - MOMENTUM.

Some examples to get you started: 

  • Revise your home page copy
  • Write an important email to a client or prospect
  • Send an invoice you've been proscrastinating on
  • Post a blog
  • Submit an article to a trade journal or industry publication
  • Respond to a media request
  • Send out your email newsletter
  • Circle back with a prospect who's on the fence
  • Clean up your LinkedIn profile
  • Post a long-overdue recommendation on LinkedIn
  • Send a thank-you note
  • Mail a book to a prospect, influencer or decision-maker
  • Pick up the phone and apologize to someone important
  • Ask for that referral you've been shy about pursuing
  • Contact that virtual assistant you've been thinking of hiring 
  • Post your internship job description with your local university
  • Begin a research file or a Google Doc for your next book
  • Make a list of 20 companies you'd like to do business with
  • Clear off your desk (you can do this in 5 min. if you create a file folder called "Crap from Desk" and today's date!)
  • Do a competitive sweep and see who's doing what in your industry so you can refresh your offerings
  • Shoot a 2-minute video and post it to YouTube
  • Buy my book and get $747 in bonuses right now (Shhh...)
  • Erase the whiteboard in your office and create a "fresh start"
  • Take yourself out to a coffee shop for a 2-hour strategic meeting with yourself, a legal pad, and a pack of Sharpies
  • Take a nature walk and bring your pocket audio recorder or smart phone to capture ideas
  • Reconnect with an old client, friend, or colleague
  • Write an amazon book review for a book you admire in your field
  • Call your tech wizard to fix a nagging technology problem you've been tolerating for way too long
  • Leave a 45-second voicemail for a client just to say how much you value your relationship with them
  • Visit your favorite bookstore or newsstand and buy a magazine to flip through for new business ideas
What's YOUR mission for today? 
 
Please share YOUR advice, insights and recommendations on this topic in the COMMENTS are below and...
doitmarketing doit marketing speaker marketing coach

Tags: marketing speaker, marketing success, consulting firm marketing, thought leadership marketing, marketing professional services, professional services marketing, trusted advisor marketing, entrepreneurship, marketing coaching, productivity tips, professional speaker marketing, marketing coach, marketing strategist, success tips, small business marketing, doit marketing, do it marketing, marketing tip, doitmarketing, content marketing

How to Be Prolific and Still Have a Life

socialmedia rubicscubeAs a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I'm often asked "How can I pump out content the way you do?" or "How can I be as prolific as David Newman?" [Thank you to Julie Cohen for the question!]

Here are several ideas to get you started:

1. Pay attention. You have great ideas all the time. It's just a matter of capturing them for future reference and writing enough down "in the moment" so you can revisit and flesh the ideas out later. (See Blogging 101: 7 Ways to Capture Ideas Like a Ninja)

2. Repurpose. If you are a speaker, coach, author, or independent professional, your clients are asking you for your best content all the time. Whether it's audience questions, client challenges, questions you answer by email, or advice that you give to folks you coach or mentor, it's all there to be repurposed and redeployed as part of YOUR content empire. 

3. Repackage. Got a book? You have 50-100 blogs. Got a great presentation or training seminar? There are 20 articles hiding in there. Do you write a column? Each column read out loud with some verve and energy could probably make for an awesome podcast. Got smart friends? Boom - there's your video interview series. Content repackaged from one medium into another takes ZERO development time and just some intentional repackaging time. 

4. Ask. Use your social media accounts like Twitter or Facebook (or even better - simple survey tools like SurveyMonkey) to ask members of your target market what they are hungry to learn. What answers are they seeking? What advice are they hungry for? What problems are they wrestling with? 

5. Riff. In all the newsletters you receive, blogs you read or videos you watch - there are seeds of content that you can riff on, respond to, share an opinion about, or take in a whole new direction. What books are on your nightstand? What industry publications are in your mailbox? What conferences do you attend? Take those ideas and wax, wane, agree, disagree, rant, rave, and otherwise opine with YOUR best advice, insights and recommendations. 

What do you think? Use the COMMENTS area below to share your own experiences with becoming prolific and creating and posting top-notch content to share with YOUR followers, fans, prospects and subscribers... 

doit marketing, how to be prolific

Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing for coaches, consultant marketing, thought leadership marketing, professional services marketing, trusted advisor marketing, marketing for trainers, marketing coaching, professional speaker marketing, marketing ideas, marketing coach, marketing consultant, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, content marketing

The New Marketing: Ask and Give

amanda palmerThe new marketing is all about Ask and Give

What does that mean? 

  • Ask for attention
  • Give value
     
  • Ask for engagement
  • Give relevance
     
  • Ask for help
  • Give relationship
     
  • Ask for support
  • Give community
     
  • Ask for insights
  • Give advice

Two great examples you can adapt in your own business:

1. My friend Karyn Greenstreet is Asking for your input. And she is Giving 26 business building bonuses for answering her 6-question survey about how small business owners and entrepreneurs like to learn. It will take you two minutes or less to share your opinions. The GIVE is far greater than the ASK. 

2. Here is an amazing story from the world of music - notice how everything Amanda did (and does) is based on Asking and Giving:


What do YOU think of the approach above? Please share your advice, insights and recommendations about the value of ASKING and GIVING in the COMMENTS area below...

marketing coach, marketing speaker

Tags: marketing for speakers, consulting firm marketing, thought leadership marketing, business coaching, freebies, marketing professional services, professional services marketing, trusted advisor marketing, marketing expert, sales prospecting, marketing coaching, marketing ideas, marketing coach, motivational speaker marketing, marketing consultant, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, sales and marketing, content marketing, lead generation, becoming an expert, internet marketing

Marketing Coach: How to Do a 2-Min. Survey (and Example with 22 Gifts)

marketing coach marketing speaker how to do a 2-minute surveyMy friend, Karyn Greenstreet, is an amazing marketer and small business coach. You can learn from her - and so can I. Here's how...

Imagine sending an email like this to YOUR subscribers (and please do TAKE Karyn's 2-minute survey too!)...

_______

Subj: Your help with 2-minute survey + 22 gifts

I'm asking for your help to find out exactly which ways you like to absorb new content, learn new skills, acquire new knowledge for your business and professional life.

We're asking small business owners to take this quick, 2-minute survey with six easy questions.

But even 2 minutes is a lot when you're busy, so we're making it irresistible by offering you 22 practical, helpful free educational bonuses, just for completing the survey.

Can I ask you the favor of taking just 2 minutes from your schedule today to take our survey?

Here's where you can take it online: http://bit.ly/152avHr

Thank you for your help!

_______

It is short, to-the-point, value-rich and specific to the needs of small and solo business owners.

You also get 22 amazing gifts - not for BUYING anything, mind you, but for sharing your opinions in a 2-minute survey. Wow. Genius.

By the way, please do take the survey - and get the gifts - this is a REAL offer in exchange for your REAL opinions. Karyn is not only very smart - but she's very generous as well.

Let me know what you think of the approach above - and please share your advice, insights and recommendations about surveying YOUR audiences, prospects and subscribers in the COMMENTS area below...

marketing coach, marketing speaker

Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing speaker, marketing strategy, marketing success, marketing for coaches, marketing concept, thought leadership marketing, marketing professional services, trusted advisor marketing, marketing professional services firms, marketing coaching, marketing ideas, marketing coach, marketing strategist, marketing mix, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, marketing tip, doitmarketing

Free Program on Cold Calling + Bonuses

master the cold call once and for allWe had over 200 people register for yesterday's "Master the Cold Call Once and for All" teleseminar with Wendy Weiss. 

The program was excellent. And you have to remember, I'm a guy who HATES cold calling. 

The free recording of this 60-minute training call is available for you to download here:

http://www.doitmarketing.com/free-resources-cold-call

NOTE: The special offer on "The Sales Winner's Handbook" (which includes a soup-to-nuts telephone marketing strategy plus 53 context-specific scripts, templates and tools + over $200 in bonuses) expires at midnight tonight 4/18. All the details on that are online for you here

Invest in this cold calling mastery package and your spouse, significant other, dog, bookkeeper and accountant will all thank you.  

Keep an eye out for more sales-focused marketing programs in my "Do It! Marketing Summer Sales Seminars" series of FREE virtual events.

More details on that coming soon!

Tags: thought leadership marketing, cold calling, telephone prospecting, trusted advisor marketing, sales rejection, sales prospecting, marketing coaching, marketing coach, thought leadership, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, sales and marketing, lead generation

Marketing Coach: How Experts Gracefully Say No

marketing coach how experts gracefully say noAs a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I work with clients who are themselves gurus in their own fields - executives, entrepreneurs, speakers, authors, and consultants. 

If you're like these folks, you are maxed out - very busy with your own projects, books, speaking schedule, and consulting clients. 

And - at the same time - if you're doing things right, you are being asked to do more. Guest posts on other people's blogs, endorsements for other people's books and programs, contributing to online groups, etc.

You can't do it all - and you shouldn't.

You simply have to say no.

After asking hundreds of people for hundreds of favors in my professional career - because you can't do anything great alone - I've come to realize that there is a RIGHT way to say no - and many WRONG ways to say no.

The right way(s) always include the following:

  • Brief
  • Not about your ego
  • Fact-based
  • Honors the person asking for the favor

The wrong way(s) tend to share the following characteristics:

  • Long-winded
  • Centered around your ego
  • Filled with hype about your own "big" projects
  • Diminishes the person asking for the favor

Here's a template you can start to use that meets all the criteria of the right way: 

=====
From: You
To: Recipient asking you for favor

Thank you for your email and kind words - much appreciated.

Unfortunately, my schedule is jammed and I'm unable to add any new projects or commitments. Sorry!

I wish you tremendous success with your [book, blog, conference, project]! 

-- [Your name]
=====

* A version of this note originally came from the awesome Guy Kawasaki when I asked him for a book endorsement for the new Do It! Marketing book. He said no - many other gurus whom I respect generously said yes. 

Side note #1: Along the way to asking many smart, busy people for some pretty big favors, I picked up several key patterns about success and successful people. First among those - and this surprised me - some of the biggest names answer their own email. No gatekeeper, no screener. You send an email. They get it. They respond. (Rumor has it they also put on their pants one leg at a time.) It was the mid-level gurus (still NY Times bestselling authors and 5-figure speakers, mind you) who had the team of minions and assistants.

Side note #2: The true professionals respond to requests FAST. It almost seems that the more email they get, the faster they've learned to filter, sort, process and respond. Again, it was more the has-beens and the wannabes who took a long time to respond. Or didn't respond at all. 

Side note #3: Gurus need favors, too. On several occasions, the gurus I asked for help, in turn, asked me to help them. One multi-million copy selling author asked me to post a review on amazon of the book that I genuinely praised in my initial note. Another guru asked me to blurb his newest book. A third asked me to spread the word on his newest Kindle ebook during it's free promotion. Important: These return favors were NEVER presented as pre-conditions or requirements for me to get what I wanted. In all these cases, the guru provided what I asked for. And THEN they asked for my help. It was the true law of reciprocity in action. Never assume that you have nothing of value to offer the rock stars in your world.

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on this topic and join the conversation... 

Marketing Coach: How Experts Gracefully Say No, doitmarketing, david newman, marketing speaker

Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing speaker, thought leadership marketing, marketing book, trusted advisor marketing, marketing coaching, marketing coach, marketing strategist, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, business book review, becoming an expert

1x100 is a Hundred Times Better than 100x1

1x100 better than 100x1Don't take this personally but... you're making a BIG mistake. 

Yeah... it's bad.

And you don't even know it. 

But it's costing you money, time, relationships, and ultimately it's impacting your bottom line in ways that you cannot even imagine. 

In a word, it is... 

LAZINESS. 

Yup. Sorry. Truth-telling time. 

You're a lazy bum.

What do I mean?

You're marketing mindset is set to "bulk mode."

Over the last two weeks alone, I've had several of my smart, professional, experienced and (otherwise) emotionally intelligent clients either ask me about (or worse - tell me that they already did) the following: 

  1. Send out a mass email prospecting for a six-figure consulting program
  2. Use a LinkedIn status update to request LinkedIn Recommendations from their 900 connections
  3. Use a bcc email to about 20 high-profile authors, speakers and experts soliciting blurbs for their upcoming book

In each of these cases, my reaction was swift and simple -- and as painful for them to hear as it was for me to convey:

This is jaw-droppingly stupid.

Even if you needed to communicate with 100 high-level decision makers at one time (and you don't) - do you think you'd get better results if you sent a private note OR if they see that you put in ZERO effort to reach out to them INDIVIDUALLY because at the bottom of your note it says "Click here to unsubscribe or change your email preferences - Sent by Constant Contact."

Come ON, folks... 

Similarly, would you be more likely to help someone who sent you this LinkedIn Recommendation request via 1-on-1 email...

===

Lisa,

Thank you again for inviting me to keynote for your GPPCC Mini-Summit last week. So glad to hear that Bob is recovering from his accident and that the direct mail project we discussed is off to a roaring start!

Would you be wonderful enough to write a few sentences by way of a LinkedIn recommendation for me based on your great feedback you shared with me right after our program last Friday?

Thank you in advance for considering it and let me know how I can be helpful to YOU. 

-- David

===

...OR someone who posted this as their LinkedIn status: 

===

I'm collecting testimonials or recommendations from my past work. If interested in contributing, please email a testimonial that I can use on my website and other marketing materials... I am positioning for a new book... more to come soon! Many thanks in advance!

===

Not even close, right? 

Here's the math you need:

1x100 is 100X Better than 100x1

Send the same core email - personalized and tailored to each person - to 100 people. 

Do NOT send 100 generic emails to a list and hope for anywhere near the results you want. 

I don't care if you're asking for sales, asking for leads, asking for referrals, asking for book blurbs, asking for help, asking to sell Girl Scout Cookies, or asking for a date.

If you don't make THEM feel special and worthy of your precious time, you can be sure they will reciprocate with the exact same level of effort - aka ZERO - in helping you get what YOU want. 

Not the outcome you're after.

Final note: I've had salespeople and internet marketing types tell me, "Yes but you can personalize those emails."

Come on... your clients, customers, advocates, allies, referral partners and friends aren't stupid. They can tell the difference between a true PERSONAL email (the good kind) and a PERSONALIZED email (the bulk kind). Doesn't matter how cleverly you disguise it.

They. Can. Tell.

Want one more cautionary tale? See this post for a great way to NEVER get a referral

Anytime you need a reminder - just print this out and post it in your office where you can see it nice and big (right-click the graphic and select "Save Image As" to save it to your desktop):

1x100 is 100x better than 100x1

Tags: sales mistakes, 1x100 is 100x better than 100x1, doit marketing, marketing speaker, marketing coach

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Use the COMMENTS area below to leave your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas and join the conversation...

doitmarketing, 1x100 is 100x better than 100x1

Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing concept, thought leadership marketing, professional services marketing, trusted advisor marketing, marketing expert, email marketing, marketing professional services firms, marketing coaching, small business email, email marketing campaign, professional speaker marketing, marketing coach, marketing consultant, small business marketing, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, email blasts, internet marketing

Your Biggest, Nastiest, Stupidest, Most Expensive Sales Mistake

doit marketing, biggest dumbest most expensive sales mistakeOne of my favorite sales gurus is Scott Messer of Sales Evolution. Not only is Scott a good friend, he is a sales expert and master sales coach.

This post will help you solve Your Biggest, Nastiest, Stupidest, Most Expensive Sales Mistake... and give you several of Scott's brilliant sound bites to help you improve your sales success.

We're talking about a BIG sales mistake you probably made last week, will make again this week, and -- unless you heed Scott's wisdom -- will make next week again. 

All of which will cost you THOUSANDS if not TENS of thousands of dollars in lost sales. 

Scary, right? 

What is this big, nasty, pervasive, expensive sales mistake? 

Here it is: Not being a fanatic about collecting decisions from prospects.

Scott says selling is 100% about collecting decisions.

It's not about getting yeses, it's not about closing gimmicks. It's simply about being tenacious about taking prospects down a path (aka your sales process) to help them make a clear and definitive DECISION. As in "Yes" or "No."

Not "Let me think about it" - not "I'll get back to you" - not "circle back with me next week" - not anything other than a firm date and time on the prospect's calendar for you to hear "YES" or "NO." 

How do you do this? Simple - Scott recommends that at every step of the sales process, put a date and time on the calendar for a "decision call." Here's how to ask: 

  • Let's put a date and time on the calendar for us to discuss your decision
  • Let's put a pushpin in the calendar for us to reconnect about your decision
  • Because you and I are both so busy, let's put a date and time on the calendar so you can tell me "Yes" or "No" or to answer any final questions you may have for me

Scott recommends that you forget about your sales pipeline - forget about your number of first appointments, forget about your number of "hot leads" - there is ONE and ONLY ONE measure of how healthy your sales pipeline truly is. 

That measure is - how many decision calls are on your calendar? A decision call, by the way, needs to be not only on YOUR calendar - it needs to be on your PROSPECT'S calendar because it is their responsibility to make one AND communicate it to you on that call. 

Example: I had a prospect call me two weeks ago. Let's call him Paul (which is cool because his name is really... Paul.) 

All was going well. Then I got a little derailed when he asked for references. Ordinarily, I would set a decision call by asking him, "When will you make time to call my reference folks? Let's make a time to discuss your decision after that." 

But I goofed. I was in a hurry. I let Paul wander off with no decision date on the calendar. When I called him this morning to circle back, he told me that he had gotten "distracted" and had not called the references at all. He then said, "I'll get back to you within three weeks." 

I laughed. 

Instinctively, I said, "You'll get back to me in three weeks because you're the kind of guy who likes to take lots and lots of time to make a decision and have people like me chasing you endlessly and leaving message after message and email after email when the real answer is no." 

Yup, I said that.

Out loud.

Right to Paul's face. 

Why? Because to quote another Scott Messer sound bite - "You can't blow up a good prospect." 

Paul laughed and admitted that he did NOT, in fact, enjoy being chased endlessly. 

So I put Paul out of his misery and fired him as a prospect. Here's how that sounded: 

"Paul, I'll put you down as a "No" for now. If you'd like to revisit working together, you know where to find me." 

He was perfectly cool with that. So I knew the deal was dead.

I've used that "No for now" line in the past and GOOD prospects will jump in with "No, no, no I definitely want to work with you. I just need more time to..." and they put themselves back into the active prospect column.

What do I do then? You guessed it - we set a decision call on the calendar. 

Anyway, back to Paul... I wanted to put a nail in the coffin so I sent the following email after we hung up the phone: 

===

Paul,

Because you are no longer an active prospect, please do NOT call the folks I sent as references.  

As I'm sure you can appreciate, references are precious and I do not want to burn out my reference folks by speaking with less than 100% committed prospects. (I probably should not have given you references this early in the process anyway. My mistake.)  

Best of luck on your adventures and thank you in advance for respecting my wishes.  

-- David

===

So the lesson is - be relentless with setting your decision calls. There is no other single determining factor that's more important to your sales success.

Trust me - I make more money when I relentlessly implement Scott's "decision call" philosophy. And I make less money when I don't!

Tags: sales prospecting mistakes, big nasty dumb stupid expensive sales mistake, doit marketing, marketing speaker, marketing coach

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Use the COMMENTS area below to leave your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas to boost your sales success...

doitmarketing, 17 tips audio that rocks

Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing for coaches, thought leadership marketing, marketing professional services, trusted advisor marketing, marketing professional services firms, sales rejection, sales prospecting, marketing coaching, marketing coach, success tips, marketing consultant, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, sales and marketing, frustration

17 Tips to Create Audio that Rocks

doitmarketing 17 tips for audio that rocksAs you may know, I just finished recording the audio book version of the Do It! Marketing book.

The audio book will be published by Gildan Media - the same folks who publish audio books from Brian Tracy, Simon Sinek, and Mark Goulston... and distributed through Hachette Audio - the same folks that distribute audio books for authors like Malcolm Gladwell, David Sedaris, and Scott Turow. Not bad company... and who knows, maybe they need someone like me to carry their luggage!

It was a great experience - and you can see some photos from the studio recording here on Facebook... 

My audio engineer on this project was the fabulous Joel Metzler at Milkboy the Studio in downtown Philadelphia. Great facility and Joel was the consummate pro - a total pleasure to work with! If you need a killer studio facility and you're anywhere near Philly, Milkboy is the place to go. Just sayin'.

17 Tips to Create Audio that Rocks

I've done a lot of homebrew audio - on my laptop - with a Zoom H1 digital recorder - and with my trusty Blue Snowball microphone and Audacity on my Mac. And I've also done a fair amount of studio recording in studios ranging from the scary to the awesome (aka Milkboy).

Here are 17 tips for speakers, authors, consultants, and independent professionals who want to create better sounding, more professional audios for their podcast, radio show, audio products or voiceovers. 

1. Stand up when you record - it makes a HUGE difference to the way your voice sounds. For example, I recorded the entire 12 hours of the Do It! Marketing audio book standing up. (Wear comfortable shoes!)

2. Speak close to the microphone - you want to get right up in that bad boy's face. Somewhere between 4 to 8 inches from the microphone. If you're doing this at home, test different distances and use the one that sounds the richest, warmest and most clear. 

3. Use a pop filter. You will totally thank me later. It's going to be the best money you spend if you're serious about creating great audio.

4. Don't overinvest in equipment. You don't need a lot of fancy gear to sound great. A good USB microphone, a mic stand, a pop filter, and some basic recording and editing software like Audacity (free at this link) will go a long way. 

5. Don't skimp on studio time, either. If it's an important project where production quality counts, find a great local recording studio near where you live. Top notch studio time is surprisingly affordable these days. Expect to pay between $75 and $125 an hour for a top-notch facility and technical staff who can help you produce top-notch work.

6. Don't overprepare. If it's a big project especially - it doesn't make sense to overprepare. You should be familiar with the material (if you wrote it, you will be!) and that's about it.  

7. Don't underprepare. If you've never done an audio recording before, paid studio time is not the place to learn the ropes. Invest a few hours with "practice recording" at home. Your studio time will go that much more smoothly and quickly. 

8. Read - but don't "read." In other words, don't make it SOUND like you're reading. Speak naturally. Pretend you're talking to a friend so it's not boring.  

9. Mix it up. Use vocal variety - just as professional speakers and seasoned storytellers know how to vary their pace, tone, pitch, and volume to keep an audience engaged in what they're saying... YOU should use the full range of your vocal variety to emphasize key words, transition between points, and underscore important ideas. 

10. Use your body. Since you're standing, you'll have the ability to do more physical movement. Use it! It's amazing how the voice and the body are connected. Have you ever seen actors like Robin Williams or Whoopi Goldberg or Tom Hanks in those "Making of" special features on the Disney movies that they do voice acting for? They are gesturing wildly with their hands, bouncing on the balls of their feet, making silly faces, leaning into the microphone, sometimes even jumping up and down. And it's for a VOICEOVER. That's because your vocal energy is tied to your physical energy. Use it - and your voiceover range and variety will improve dramatically.

11. Remember the art of the pause. Listeners need a pause to comprehend the last thing you said. Think of pauses - some short, and some not so short (for dramatic effect) - as the punctuation in your audio. If you never pause, you exhaust your listeners who lose the thread of your long sentences or complex ideas. If you use pauses to insert "natural phrasing" into your script, it makes it much easier for your listeners to understand, absorb, and they WANT to keep listening!

12. Take it one page at a time. For the Do It! Marketing audio book, I had to get through 60,000 words and 280 pages. If I had thought about it that way during the recording sessions, I might never have made it! I took on the task one page at a time. Do longer recordings with this mindset, and you'll sail right through faster than you ever imagined. I cruised through 150 pages on Day 1 (6.5 hours) and 130 pages on Day 2 (5.5 hours). And it was fun!

13. Have a "keep going" mindset. Voiceover professionals know that their main task is to "get the job done" - and that momentum is their friend. Don't think about stopping. Don't take too many breaks. You're in the studio (yes, even your home studio) to crank out the work, not to obsess over minor details or do endless retakes. Keep going!

14. Flaws are good. Good professional audio editors will take out every inhale, smooth over every rough patch, edit out every vocal aberration. GREAT editors will leave in just enough of those same aberrations to make the voiceover pro sound human. When we chat in coffee shops, over breakfast or lunch with friends, or in front of prospects or clients in meetings, our vocal and verbal delivery is never 100% perfect. There's a difference between sounding professional and sounding sterile and robotic. So leave a few "personality flaws" in your audio. Maybe 5-10%. It makes all the difference and you'll sound like a REAL human.

15. Pause whenever you need to. Ah, the magic of editing. Whenever you screw up a line, swallow a word, stop to fix a typo in your script or for any other reason (sneeze, cough, get a drink of water) - keep the audio rolling and pause. Then pick up where you left off. Most professional audio engineers will mark the script at that point to help the editor, but you just pause as long as you need and jump right back in when you're ready. You don't need to ask permission, you don't need to apologize, you don't need to get flustered. Pause so you can GO!

16. Eat! And drink tea, bring lozenges, avoid dairy and coffee and bring water. Don't forget to eat breakfast on the day you're recording. Why? Because stomach grumbling is audible on good audio equipment. Yes, really. Avoid coffee - it dehydrates you. Drink tea - especially lemon tea or ginger tea that has a little bit of acid to clear and soothe your throat. Bring lozenges with you in case you need a midday vocal recharge - I like the Ricola classic Swiss herb cough drops. Avoid dairy products like milk or yogurt which tend to generate phlegm and block up your throat. Also, bring a water bottle so you have plenty of water available in the booth as you record. Water is your friend! 

17. Personality not included. No matter how great your script, it doesn't have any personality until you pick up the script and put YOUR personality into the words you've written. Don't be shy - in fact, if you don't bring your full personality to the recording, you'll miss out on the biggest opportunity that audio programs and products present - the opportunity to connect and build rapport with your listeners and have them experience what it's like to have a warm and personal conversation with you! If you're loud, be loud. If you're a little edgy, sound edgy. Don't hide your personality for the sake of a "professional sounding" recording. There's no such animal - the whole point of recording audio is so that you CAN marry your content with your personality.  

 

Grab your FREE copy of the Do It! Marketing Manifesto

And then leave a comment below with your questions, thoughts, and advice on the ideas to create audio programs that rock!

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!

Tags: marketing for speakers, marketing for coaches, consultant marketing, thought leadership marketing, business coaching, marketing book, marketing professional services, professional services marketing, trusted advisor marketing, marketing expert, marketing coaching, product development, professional speaker marketing, marketing ideas, marketing coach, motivational speaker marketing, marketing consultant, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, content marketing, audio products

Marketing Coach: Master the Cold Call Once and for All

doitmarketing, marketing speaker, marketing coach

You hate cold calling, yeah, yeah, I know BUT...

Truth is, nothing beats having a voice-to-voice conversation with a real prospect. And when you reach prospects, you have less than 30 seconds to interest and engage them. Make a mistake and there are no second chances.

You need to have a solid, proven plan to engage your prospects by phone and consistently win them over so that more sales happen.

Join me as I interview Wendy Weiss, the "Queen of Cold Calling," for this empowering call where you will get specific answers to:

  • Why cold call at all? Is it old-fashioned? Does it even work?
  • Haven’t e-mail and social media replaced cold calling?
  • How do I know whom to call?
  • What should I say? 
  • What is a good generic script?
  • How can I convince prospects to speak with me without giving them the feeling I’m trying to ‘sell’ them something? 
  • How do I deal with voicemail? Should I leave a message?
  • Why doesn’t anyone ever call me back?
  • And a whole lot more...

We'll have room on the teleseminar line for 100 people so take 10 seconds to register now so you don't miss out.

Tags: marketing for speakers, consultant marketing, thought leadership marketing, keynote speaker, business coaching, trusted advisor marketing, marketing expert, sales rejection, sales prospecting, marketing coaching, marketing coach, marketing for authors, marketing for consultants, doit marketing, do it marketing, doitmarketing, sales and marketing, lead generation