Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

I’ve quit.

Yup - done, finished, over.

“Quit what?” you ask?

I’ve quit blogging.

OK, that’s not quite true...

But I’ve quit blogging daily.

It was an experiment.

And it worked.

And it didn’t.

Here’s the deal - for most of last year, this website averaged between 5,000-6,000 visits per month. Not great, but not terrible either.

At the beginning of this year, I committed to an experiment - namely blogging every weekday.

Yup, 5 posts a week. Week in and week out. I stuck to the schedule and didn’t miss a day in 26 weeks. 6 full months.

The result?

It worked great.

Almost immediately (OK, it took 8 weeks, but that’s close enough) my web traffic went from an average of 5,000-6,000 visits up to an average of 10,000-11,000 visits. One month, we even generated 15,000 visits - triple the old number. I'll explain that "we" later in this post...

My opt-in rate doubled (for everything - my free ebook, blog subscriptions, my free teleseminars.)

My SEO went up - I moved from page 2 and page 3 of Google results for certain keywords to page 1.

The second result?

I found out what really worked to drive more traffic, more leads, and more business.

And it wasn’t the blog...

It was three things:

1. My new book. Specifically, the marketing plan for my book, which turned out to also become the marketing plan for the website and the marketing plan for my speaking and mentoring programs. Woo hoo - who'd a thunk it?

Lesson: If you “lean in” and commit to the marketing for ONE flagship product, service, or program like I did with my book - you will start to generate momentum that carries over into everything else that you are doing.

2. Email marketing. Plain and simple, the more marketing emails I sent, the more web visits I got. Accident? No, of course not. Most of my emails contained links back to the website for the latest blog posts, the occasional teleseminar invitation or a new program announcement.

Lesson: The more email you send that contains high-value content, advice, insights, and recommendations (aka email that’s too good to delete), the more stickiness you’ll generate for your fans and followers. 

3. FLOP - Namely, “Featuring and Leveraging Other People.” I wrote about this concept in detail here and it has also been a tremendous driver of new traffic and new friendships, new clients, and new projects. Inbound FLOP is me shining the spotlight on others. And outbound FLOP is me participating in other people’s book launches, surveys, guest blogging, and so on.

Lesson: It’s not all about YOU. It IS all about how YOU can serve and promote other experts in your field who have a complementary skill set, message, or service offering. Welcome to the new collaborative economy. They win when you win. And you win when they win.

Sooooo... I’m still blogging.

But I’ve scaled down to once or twice a week.

And I’ve scaled UP the other activities listed above.

Because that’s what generates results.

What have YOU changed up in the last 3-6 months to STOP doing what doesn't matter and start DOING more of what matters most? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your specific changes and how they've freed up more time or made you more money... 

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!

What's the difference between a professional practice (or company or trade association) that feeds on the bottom vs. YOUR business model which should aim to serve the top of your market? 

Here are 17 things to consider:

1. High fees are paid by clients and customers who are doing well, not those who are struggling

2. Referrals come from those who are proud of the fees they pay you, not ashamed to be low-balling their way through business

3. High-end clients tend to be believers - low-end clients tend to be skeptics

4. Top clients are easier to please because they have a partner mindframe whereas low-end clients are almost impossible to please because they have a peddler mindframe

5. Paying higher fees also means that your top-of-market clients pay you higher respect, pay your advice more attention, and invest more resources in their implementation of your ideas

6. There is always a way to raise your game, boost your value prop, and charge higher fees. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have $500,000 sports cars or $35,000 watches

7. There’s no profit in a business model that challenges other poverty-mindset entrepreneurs in a race to the bottom

8. You can always design a “lower-level entry point” to a high-end offering (Example: the $125 Tiffany bracelet.) However, it is almost impossible to “level up” from commodity status. In other words, Wal-Mart would have a tough time attracting high-end jewelry buyers

9. Are you attracting referrals to goofballs or people who don’t see the value of what you offer? Like attracts like. It’s very possible your current clients and customers simply don’t travel in the right circles  

10. If you’ve heard yourself say, “My clients won’t pay any more than they’re already paying” or “I can’t raise my prices because I’ll price myself out of the market” - then you may need a. Better clients, b. A new market, or c. Both!

11. High-end clients expect great work. It is energizing, engaging and fun for you and your team to rise to that challenge

12. Low-end clients expect perfect work. Even though they have no idea what they want, change what they want based on whims, and are a moving target of conflicted priorities. It is demoralizing, exhausting, and depressing for you and your team to put up with these micro-managing, neurotic control freaks

13. High-end clients value relationships and once they’re in with you, they’ll come back for more. Why? Because if they switch, they would essentially be admitting to themselves that they overpaid or made a wrong decision, which is more expensive to their ego than to their pocketbook. Bottom line: High-end clients always look for reasons to stay

14. Low-end clients only care about transactions. The next coupon or email or offer will lure them away for the next bargain. They’re forever playing “Let’s Make a Deal” and the fact that they bought from you once REDUCES the chance they’ll buy from you again. Bottom line: Low-end clients always look for reasons to leave

15. High-end clients will approach you with new ideas, ask for more innovative services, help you develop new products and programs that they WANT to buy and that people at their same level would value. They generate their own product- and idea-generating R&D department to help your business grow.

16. Low-end clients will pressure you to give less, offer “lite” versions, and generally dumb-down and dilute your core offerings to match their small thinking and tiny budgets. Don’t fall for it.

17. Companies that serve low-end clients are dependent on massive numbers of small transactions from one-time buyers and price shoppers. Companies that serve high-end clients thrive on small numbers of much larger, deeper, richer, and longer-lasting relationships with clients, customers, and friends who stay longer, buy more, come back more often, and refer like crazy.

So it’s your call - serve the top or serve the bottom.

Just be careful what you wish for and understand what you’re targeting -- and what you’re in for when you hit it!

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

I go to a fair number of conferences, both as a speaker and as a plain old participant. 

Some conferences are great - and some... well, not so much. 

In my experience, a great conference combines three secret ingredients for success. 

What are they? 

Glad you asked. 

Here they are... 

1. Speaker management - Give me high-energy, high-content speakers who deliver the goods. Strong content delivered with authenticity, enthusiasm, and with a clear point-of-view. I don't want to hear speakers who deliver same-o, lame-o information (i.e. crap that I could just as easily read in a book or find in a Google search). I want to be shaken, stirred, riled up, smacked down, and taken for a ride. No vanilla speakers. I want you to bring the mango gelato, the sriracha sorbet, the oddballs, the freaks, the wild ones. 

2. Engagement management - Don't (please don't) make me sit in a theater, an auditorium, or a meeting room and watch from my seat. I want to interact. I want to engage. I want to collaborate, communicate, and cross-pollinate with the speakers, the audience, the organizers. I want you to put the CONFER back into the word CONFERENCE. I want to strategize, conspire, and confab with all the amazing people in the room. Not just the gal to my left and the guy on my right. Not just during deeply misguided Q&A sessions that ruin even the best talks. All. The. Time. Mix it up - mini-seminars, peer-to-peer jam sessions, strategic mastermind roundtables. Put the intellectual talent of the room on stage and let's REALLY dig in.

3. Time and experience management - Never start late. Let me repeat that - never, EVER start late. No session or panel longer than 20 minutes. Less and faster is the name of the game. Take the sage off the stage and put the guide on the side. Move me around the theater - into the lobby, up on the platform, out in the hall. Mix, mingle, shake up the stale conference format. No more 1-to-many. Make it many-to-many. Or 1-to-1. Manage my time. Manage my experience. Connect me. Inspire me. Fire me up. Let me feel important. Let me plug in to the event and the people you've brought together. Stir my pot. Season my soup. I want to leave your event feeling like I'm a rock star who just played a set with the best musicians on the planet. I want to feel LUCKY to have been part of your event. I don't want to leave with information. I want to leave with insights specifically designed to help me kick some serious ass. I want to leave with my action plan for global domination AND a whole army of new friends whom I can call on to make it happen. 

Can your event do that for me? 

'Cuz if it can't... I won't be there. I'll just stay home. And read a book. Or jump on Google. Or watch videos on TED.com.

I don't need to travel and use up my time, money, effort, and energy going to your old school conference with a string of speakers who talk at me while I sit with a random bunch of strangers who'll never even get to know my name.

The bar has been raised. Those events are so past their expiration date that they're starting to stink like an old bucket of yogurt.   

Want to experience something new and better? 

Join me for the America Talks Business conference in Philadelphia on July 25, 2013. 

The future is here. Now. 

Join us?

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

As you may know, my loyal Labrador Retriever, Woofie, works part-time as marketing dog here at Do It! Marketing HQ. 

Her website attracts a LOT of traffic and she gets some very nice inbound traction via email (at least for a dog!) 

Here are nine secrets to Woofie's online success - and perhaps some good ideas for YOU, too:

1. Post regularly. She posts updates annually on her birthday (4/29) but the point is that her audience has come to EXPECT that. You should post more often - but with the same dogged consistency.
2. Don't ask for much. Woofie shares her updates with enthusiasm and authenticity. She never sells. She never begs. She never whines. How about you?
3. Be cute and relax. Woofie's main job with her web marketing is to be herself. Share what's interesting and important to her and her like-minded followers. Bacon. Cheese. Wagging. Tennis balls. 
4. Let people come up to you first. Woofie has lots of ways to interact with her on her website. You can email her. You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. She makes herself approachable and then lets her fans be in charge of getting in touch. 
5. Photos - visuals sell. Her website is 80% photos and 20% text. As my pal Jay Baer, author of the great new book Youtility, likes to say, "Text is going away. Everything online is moving to photos and video."
6. Let other people help you. Since Woofie has no opposable thumbs, she needs people to answer her email for her. That's where I come in. Folks email her. I respond, pointing out the fact that I'm responding on her behalf because of the whole thumbs problem. Generally, you'll do much better in business if you FLOP (Feature and Leverage Other People.)
7. Make people feel better about themselves after engaging with you. 'Nuf said. 
8. It's OK to be silly. Especially if you're a Labrador Retriever! And it's OK to be funny, human, and kind if you happen to be funny, human, or kind. 
9. 10 kisses, one bark - keep it positive. Nobody like growling, barking and whining. Not from a dog. And not from a blog. And certainly not from an online expert, thought-leading professional, or entrepreneur like YOU.

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

DECIDE is the most powerful word in marketing.

Decide who you are. 

Decide who your prospects are. 

Decide to do your best work.

Decide not to work with jerks.

Decide on your menu of investable opportunities.

Decide what business model you're running.

Decide what revenue model your pricing comes from.

Decide what tasks can be delegated, eliminated, or outsourced.

Decide to pursue a niche market. 

Decide to publish content regularly. 

Decide to become a valued asset to your prospects.

Decide to become indispensable to your clients. 

Decide to make a bigger splash in a smaller (or bigger) pond.

Decide what kinds of projects are NOT for you. 

Decide on your marketing strategy. 

Decide on a small, focused set of tactics. 

Decide to market more consistently. 

Decide to sell more bravely. 

Decide to dream bigger. 

Decide to act faster. 

Decide to crush it. 

AND.

YOU.

WILL.

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

Good!

Quit!!

Please, for heaven's sakes - quit already. 

Over the past few weeks, I've come across way too many complainers, whiners, goofballs and goobers telling me how broke they are, how hard it is to be an entrepreneur, and how much they are struggling. 

Are you kidding me? QUIT NOW because...

• If you want to make an EVEN trade of hours for dollars - get a JOB. 
• If you want to be ASSURED of a paycheck - get a JOB. 
• If you want OTHERS to define your work and your value - get a JOB. 

However...

• If you want to MULTIPLY your own paycheck - be an entrepreneur.
• If you can PROVE your work has worth - be an entrepreneur.
• If YOU want to define your work and your value - be an entrepreneur.

So you should QUIT right now...

1. Quit whining
2. Quit complaining when your ideas and projects "fall apart"
   (HINT: It's YOUR job to pull them together!)
3. Quit saying lack of money is your problem
   (HINT: Lack of tenacity and creativity is your problem)
4. Quit going it alone
5. Quit hanging out with losers
6. Quit freeloading
7. Quit expecting "zero" investments (time, money, effort) to pay off
8. Quit following the herd
9. Quit relying on social media (it's the sauce, not the meat)
10. Quit believing your own negative self-talk
11. Quit playing the victim
12. Quit jumping from one hare-brained scheme to the next
13. Quit putting tactics before strategy 
14. Quit under-spending and over-hoping
15. Quit blaming others
16. Quit blaming yourself
17. Quit congratulating yourself on "the struggle"
18. Quit bragging about how hard you work and how little you sleep
19. Quit bragging (yes bragging!) about how little money you earn
20. Quit telling yourself you're doing your best, when you're not willing to do what needs to be done
21. Quit quitting when things seem impossible

Take a step back - breathe - think - regroup. 

This is no time to wimp out. 

Quit doing this destructive, dumb, demoralizing nonsense. 

And start turning things around. 

Today. Right now...  

Don't make me come down there and slap you upside your head! 

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!

My 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...

Don'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):

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...

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.

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 you'd like to do better in your business... this post is for you.

If you're down in the dumps - no money, no clients, no prospects, no hope... this post is for you.

If you're doing great - and not sure exactly why or how long this "lucky streak" will last - this post is DEFINITELY for you...

There's a dirty word in business, especially among authors, speakers, and experts who, above all, feel that they should serve as shining examples of personal success and professional prosperity.

That word is shame. 

It's easy to feel shame when your business is doing poorly. I'm not saying that it's RIGHT - but it sure is easy. 

And yes, it's painful, negative, and unpleasant to feel shame. But perhaps there's an upside to that because it makes you feel uncomfortable to feel unsuccessful. 

At least THAT part makes sense. 

There's another kind of shame that is more pernicious, dangerous and much more common than you might think. 

It's the shame of success.

It's when you juuuuust start to break through... when your business juuuuust starts to take off... when the money juuuuust starts to flow abundantly. 

You're not only paying your bills, you're paying off debt (credit cards, home equity line, etc.), you're building up your savings, your rainy day fund is healthy, you're paying yourself regularly, you are even... GASP... putting away some nice money for retirement and/or your kids' college fund.

The it hits you... The Shame of Success. It's a little voice in your head.

You know what I'm talking about. I'll bet you even know what it's saying to you. Things like: 

• This won't last - it's just a lucky streak...
• You're one step away from being broke again...
• Don't count your eggs before they hatch...
• You're not that good...
• You're not that smart...
• You can't even handle this much client work
• You're going to blow through all this cash and be back at Square 1...
• Your clients will find you out...
• Your friends won't like your new level of success...
• Better not tell anyone about this success, they'll be jealous...
• They'll think you're lying...
• They'll think you're bragging...
• They'll feel bad that they're not doing as well as you... 

And on, and on, and on. 

Please... stop the madness. Kill that voice. Catch yourself every time you hear it and tell it to go take a hike. Refocus. Recenter. 

Remember once and for all - there is no shame in your success. 

If you have REAL friends, they'll celebrate with you. 

If you have friends who don't... guess what? They're not your real friends. 

If misery loves company, it has company enough. 

And it's time you quit that company.

You know who REALLY loves company? 

• Passion loves company
• Achievers love company
• Winners love company
• Success loves company

There are already way too many people and circumstances that make you feel weak, unworthy, and unsuccessful... they do NOT need your help!

FACT: You TOTALLY deserve to be successful.

FACT: This is ABSOLUTELY your time to crush it. 

FACT: YOU ROCK so hard, you don't even know it. 

FACT: You are insanely GREAT.

FACT: You ARE fabulously successful - so KEEP GOING!!!

In the immortal words of the great Zig Ziglar, "I'll see you at the top!" 

What do you think? Please leave a COMMENT below and let's hear YOUR advice, insights and recommendations on how not to get bushwhacked by the "shame of success."