Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

Welcome to the first in a series of powerful marketing concepts... you can call them riffs, sound bites, or guiding principles.

When folks come to us for marketing mentoring, marketing speaking, or our done-with-you marketing services, the first place we begin is to help them operationalize one or more of these marketing concepts.

If YOU try them, you'll be amazed with your results. (And when that happens, please stop by here again to leave a comment and share your success stories!!)

The first one is among the most powerful - and it's the marketing concept of overcoming inertia.

Marketing Concept: Get Started - Now!

Starting.

Moving.

Implementing.

Executing.

DOING!

As my motivational speaker friend Scott Ginsberg likes to say, "You don't need an idea - you need an I DID."

No matter how small the action - stop planning and start DOING. Only action creates results.

Scottish mountain climber W. H. Murray wrote:

"Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way."

Whatever your big idea happens to be - writing your book - launching your product - kicking off your new service - shipping your insanely great software - putting on your amazing conference - reinventing your career - birthing your awesome project - embarking on your new adventure...

Get Started - Now!!

I got a phone call a few days ago from my friend Steve who is a fellow independent professional. He said to me at the beginning of the call, "David, I'm calling you as a reference."

So I'm thinking, "OK, he wants to hire someone I've worked with or someone I know - perhaps even a client of mine whose testimonial he saw on my website."

I say, "Steve, what can I do for you?"

And then he mentions someone's name. Let's call this person Larry. Now I like Larry and he's a good guy - perhaps a little confused about his marketing and messaging... and frankly that's OK because Larry is NOT a client of mine (although I've given him plenty of chances!)

Steve stops me and says, "No, no... I don't want to hire Larry. Larry wants to hire me. I'm calling you to ask you what kind of client do you think he would be?"

Wow. It's not a consultant reference, speaker reference, or service provider reference - Steve was asking me (essentially) "Would this guy be a good client?" FYI Steve saw me connected to Larry through LinkedIn and some other social media sites.

Lessons for YOU:

• We live in a hyper-connected world
• People DO read your social media profiles
• People DO judge you on the "company you keep" both online and off
• If you're a pain in the ass - as a consultant, speaker, vendor, partner, OR client... word will spread faster than you can imagine
• The top people in their field (ahem, YOU) do not have the bandwidth nor the interest to work with folks who are a pain in the butt
• YOU can't afford to be a pain in the butt on EITHER side of the professional services buying equation

Comments? What do you think? Have you had some experiences to share along these lines? Would love to hear from you in the Comments section below...

Guest column by Tom Marin, Orlando Business Journal

Brand marketing is facing a power-shift in today's marketplace. Customers want to be part of a brand's direction and development.

Listening to their expectations can determine your firm's level of success. To take full advantage of today's market share, companies will need to "lose" control of their marketing strategy to ultimately gain it, by embracing this powerful dynamic of customer expectations.

Fifty years ago, there weren't the number of brands or media choices there are today. The market is filled with brands, sub-brands, cross-brands, and strategic-brand partnerships. Add to that list the ever-increasing media choices, including Internet marketing, and it's difficult to make a minor change to a brand that will affect top-line sales significantly.

Investing in cutting-edge, no-cost and low-cost promotional tools for branding ideas will allow you to market your company profitably.

Consider these suggestions for energizing your brand in today's marketplace:

• Create uniqueness. Uniqueness is a brand's No. 1 asset. The greater the brand uniqueness, the higher its score in market share. And those brands that create a unique brand category usually become the leaders. What comes to mind when you consider: theme park, soft drink or overnight delivery? Most likely it is Disney, Coke and FedEx. They are the recognized leaders, though there are other brands in their categories. Your brand's uniqueness can be determined by completing this sentence: Our (brand name) is the only (product category) that (does what).

• Replace repetition with interactive promotions. A common branding strategy is repetition of the brand message to build awareness. This strategy is not as effective as interactive promotions. For example, a 30-day trial use, a sample pack, an on-premise presentation or a portion of the service you offer are all effective interactive strategies. They allow customers to discover the benefits of your brand and move closer to making a purchase decision than the repetitious sales pitch provides.

• Replace outbound marketing with inbound branding. Traditional methods of outbound marketing include telemarketing, voicemail campaigns, e-mails and direct marketing. These standard marketing strategies have become less effective because people use spam-ware, caller ID, firewall devices and the "circular file" to eliminate them. Internet searches have become a primary source for obtaining product information. Popular Web sites such as Google and Yahoo are tapping the exploding volume of today's online buyer.

To increase your potential customer base, consider using these methods:

1. Publish articles on Web sites that are relevant to your target audience.

2. Write book reviews on related topics for Web sites such as Amazon.com.

3. Publicize your brand on Web sites like prnewswire.com and prweb.com.

4. Increase your online identity with listings on LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, Ziggs, Naymz and others.

• Replace monolithic marketing with customer-centric branding. Don't be a follower. If you're trying to overtake a brand leader, don't emulate their strategies. Create your own. And let your strategy strike at the heart of what your key customers want. Of course, knowing what they want will be paramount to your success, so ask them.

• Don't plan for overnight success. If someone offered me $10 million to help them launch a successful brand tomorrow, I'd tell them instead to give me $1 million and five years to make their brand successful. Understanding this dynamic of time, I'll bring home the bacon based on what prospective customers want.

Accepting and using this branding power-shift between you and your customer will allow you to involve their needs in your strategy and, in time, will establish your brand successfully. Their involvement offers them new reasons for becoming a loyal customer.

As a speaker marketing expert, and professional speaker myself, I feel it's important not to OVER-emphasize social media... and also not to UNDER-emphasize it either. 

As John Jantsch likes to say, "social media is a tactic, not a religion" and I have to agree. Here are 10 social media tips for professional speakers that will help you balance your mix...

1. YouTube One Of Your Speeches – The best form of advertisement when it comes to professional speaking is showing your abilities online. When people have seen your electrifying speeches, they will be more likely to want to book you. Adding in a small link to your site during your Youtube video also will bring traffic to your website. Adding your Youtube video to your website will also get buyers more confident in your skills. After all, with many decision-makers and meeting planners, even the most eloquent writing will mean nothing to them if they cannot watch you in action. Try and get video in front of a high-octane audience. The more excited the audience is, the more dynamic your video will be.
2. Post Blogs On Related Subjects – If you are a professional speaker who makes a living from leadership speeches, having a blog that offers daily leadership tips will get more targeted leads to your site. Moreover, having extremely good leadership information and articles will also get people spreading the word about your site. There are plenty of authors out there who were able to sell books through their blogs; why should you be any different? As a general rule of thumb, the more content that you generate, the better your marketing results will be.
3. Podcasts Are Your Best Friend – Audio recordings of some of your shorter speeches or "snippets" are a great way to advertise your expertise. Including these in a feed will keep fans and customers updated on your latest work, and also will help spread the word about your speaking abilities. Even better, selling audio programs on your site might just make you a little money. Remember to add a little audio blurb in each audio program telling your audience how to book you for their next event!
4. Link It All Together – On each of your social media profiles, add your website link, your blog link, and upload some videos, photos, and audio recordings if possible. Making yourself as accessible as possible will let people know that you are serious and open for new business. People also will enjoy the convenience of having everything linked together in an easy-to-access way no matter where they may land in your web empire.
5. Get As Much Social Bookmarking As Possible – Got videos online? Get them ‘liked’ on Facebook. Encourage your audience to Tweet links to your website, blog, or show pages. Whenever possible, install as many social bookmarking tools as possible, and try to use all of them (Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon). The more that you can get people to share with ease, the more your expertise will spread.
6. Twitter Is Great – Tweeting your updates is an easy way to keep people informed about your latest thoughts, insights, and audiences. However, the best way that you can use Twitter is to engage your fans and prospective clients. Being able to chat with you via Twitter will show people that you are still a real person, and that your fans/followers matter to you!
7. LinkedIn Is Best For Corporate Speakers – LinkedIn has long been known to attract professionals in just about every field. For business speakers, it’s a smart move to put your biggest social media efforts into LinkedIn. Then take those relationships offline - perhaps even networking with local managers in your area to get you some steady gigs as their favorite professional speaker.
8. Keep It All Short N’ Sweet N’ To The Point – No matter what social media tool you are using, make sure to be direct and impactful in your communications. No one is going to read a page and a half of advertising. No one is going to show up at one of your events if you forget to give the date and time. Expect people to have short attention spans.
9. Use Each Form Of Social Media To Strengthen the Others – For instance, using Twitter to get more Facebook likes will give your Facebook advertising more power. People who have friends on Facebook will see your ad, and then ‘like’ it themselves. Getting people to post your YouTube videos on their walls will make your YouTube marketing efforts more successful.
10. Search Engine Optimize Your Blog – If your blog gets picked up by search engines like Google, using your social media tools to market yourself will be easier. The best part of using SEO to increase your hits is that you can often do it yourself combining titles, tags, and key words into some simple strategies to greatly improve your organic web traffic. 

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, I've seen firsthand that there are three kinds of service business owners and independent professionals - which one are YOU?

1. You may have NO thought-leadership products and wish you did (audios, ebooks, high-value binders,client-pulling premium special reports, etc)...

2. You may have a published book through which you're selling your life's work for $20 a pop and you realize that's not smart professionally or financially...

3. You may have a mix of professionally published and self-published work both electronic and hardcopy but you want a NEW high-value information product that better reflects your current niche, expertise, or opens up an entirely NEW market for your services...and you want it FAST!

Good news...The NEW Product Development Toolkit 8-week group coaching program kicks off on May 10 and you're among the first to hear the details...

http://www.ProductDevelopmentToolkit.com

Somehow, some way, you want to grow your business so you get:

• MORE Leads
• MORE Clients
• MORE Consulting Work
• MORE Professional Services Engagements
• MORE Profits
• MORE Passive Income
• and 100-300% MORE Revenue...

Which will in turn, help you generate:

• MORE Cashflow
• MORE Control
• MORE Products and Services
• MORE Subscribers
• MORE Time Off
• MORE Leverage
• and dramatically MORE Freedom...

Just like YOU, I know what that feels like!

And as a marketing speaker, marketing coach,and former VP of Product Development for a $5 million revenue infopublishing company, I want to show YOU how to enhance your cashflow, grow your client base, and increase your leverage by helping YOU create your NEXT information product FAST.

http://www.ProductDevelopmentToolkit.com

The Product Development Toolkit is perfect for:

1. Experts who have finally realized that givingaway all their information in $20 books iskeeping them broke;

2. Executives fed up with the rat race, who want to start a business built on their personal orprofessional experience and expertise;

3. Professional speakers who are stuck in thebroken business model of chasing after a different audience for speeches every week;

4. Consultants who are stuck in the trading-hours-for-money trap;

5. Independent professionals who want to build their practice, establish their brand, and break away from the pack of "Same-o, Lame-o" competitors.

You'll get a customized product CREATION *and* product MARKETING toolkit that FITS, WORKS and LASTS... and you're also getting the help and support you need over time to IMPLEMENT it to create RESULTS.

Details and application information is onlinefor you here...

http://www.ProductDevelopmentToolkit.com

I look forward to hearing from you if you're one ofthe FEW smart, brave, and committed entrepreneurs who want more leverage, more momentum, more clients, and more fun in your professional services business...Not someday - but right now.

SPECIAL DEAL: As a reader of this blog, you're also getting a $100 discount on Dan Janal's Guaranteed Press Release Service where he will make sure your press release appears on at least 40 media sites with links pointing back to your site -- or its free! Normal price: $795. Your special price: Only $695.  For info, go to www.PressReleaseSender.com and put "David Newman" in the "referrer" box and you'll be mailed a check for $100 for your discount.

Not sure about sending a press release? Get Dan's free report on "How to Get Guaranteed Publicity with Press Releases" at http://www.pressreleasesender.com

What better way to position yourself as a thought leader than to have 40 or more high-traffic media sites SHOWCASE your expertise?

Hope you'll take advantage of BOTH of these opportunities to significantly boost your thought leadership platform!

Recently, two additional Do It! Marketing team members earned their Inbound Marketing Certified Professional designation - Catherine Bernard and Dusty Meehan.

In order to receive the Inbound Marketing Certification, the recipient must attend a variety of courses and pass a comprehensive certification exam, demonstrating subject matter expertise in the following areas:

• Advanced Search Engine Optimization and Ranking Improvement Strategies
• How to Blog Effectively for Businesses
• Social Media and Building Community
• Business Applications for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other Social Networks
• Viral Marketing and World-Wide Raves
• Creating Strong Calls to Action and Effective Landing Pages
• Inbound Lead Nurturing (Turning Leads into Sales)
• Successful Email Marketing
• Analyzing Results and Demonstrating ROI

This certification demonstrates our expanding commitment to serving our community of professional speakers, consultants, coaches, trainers, experts, authors, and thought-leading service business owners as their "instant infrastructure" team combining:

• Inbound marketing services to make the phone ring and fill your calendar in the best possible way (when you get THEM to call YOU!)
• Offline thought-leadership marketing through article placement in leading trade, professional, and industry publications of your target market, webinars, teleseminars, guest interviews, and other hand-selected opportunities
• Admin/backoffice service and support for upselling, cross-selling, and stimulating repeat and referral business from buyers, audiences, and past clients

If you'd like to learn more about how we can help YOU generate more leads, better prospects, and bigger sales - visit Done-for-You Marketing for Speakers, Consultants, and Experts.

p.s. It's also a great way to fill your calendar with LESS time, effort, energy, and drudgery.

Guest post by Rick Burnes

Inbound Marketing is marketing focused on getting found by customers.

In traditional marketing (outbound marketing) companies focus on finding customers. They use techniques that are poorly targeted and that interrupt people. They use cold-calling, print advertising, T.V. advertising, junk mail, spam and trade shows.

Technology is making these techniques less effective and more expensive. Caller ID blocks cold calls, TiVo makes T.V. advertising less effective, spam filters block mass emails and tools like RSS are making print and display advertising less effective. It's still possible to get a message out via these channels, but it costs more.

Inbound Marketers flip outbound marketing on its head.

Instead of interrupting people with television ads, they create videos that potential customers want to see. Instead of buying display ads in print publications, they create their own blog that people subscribe to and look forward to reading. Instead of cold calling, they create useful content and tools so that people call them looking for more information.

Instead of driving their message into a crowd over and over again like a sledgehammer, they attract highly qualified customers to their business like a magnet:

The most successful Inbound Marketing campaigns have three key components:

(1) Content - Content is the substance of any Inbound Marketing campaign. It is the information or tool that attracts potential customers to your site or your business.

(2) Search Engine Optimization - SEO makes it easier for potential customers to find your content. It is the practice of building your site and inbound links to your site to maximize your ranking in search engines, where most of your customers begin their buying process.

(3) Social Media - Social media amplifies the impact of your content. When your content is distributed across and discussed on networks of personal relationships, it becomes more authentic and nuanced, and is more likely to draw qualified customers to your site.

Why Inbound Marketing Makes Sense in a Recession

As the economy slows down, companies are turning to Inbound Marketing because it is a more efficient way of allocating marketing resources than traditional, outbound marketing. As our CEO, Brian Halligan, puts it, when you're inbound marketing, the thickness of your brain matters a lot more than the thickness of your wallet.

There are three specific ways Inbound Marketing improves on the efficiency of traditional marketing:

(1) It Costs Less - Outbound marketing means spending money - either by buying ads, buying email lists or renting huge booths at trade shows. Inbound Marketing means creating content and talking about it. A blog costs nothing to start. A Twitter account is free, too. Both can draw thousands of customers to your site.  The marketing ROI from inbound campaigns is higher.

(2) Better Targeting - Techniques like cold-calling, mass mail and email campaigns are notoriously poorly targeted. You're reaching out to individuals because of one or two attributes in a database. When you do Inbound Marketing, you only approach people who self-qualify themselves. They demonstrate an interest in your content, so they are likely to be interested in your product.

(3) It's an Investment, Not an Ongoing Expense - When you buy pay-per-click advertising on search engines, its value is gone as soon as you pay for it. In order to maintain a position at the top of Google's paid results, you have to keep paying. However, if you invest that money in quality content that ranks in Google's organic results, you'll be there until somebody displaces you.

p.s. If you'd like some personalized help - and your very own customized marketing and sales toolkit PLUS an easy-to-implement inbound marketing game plan with 1-on-1 guidance for 90 days, get all the details here.

• Leadership Skills
• Teambuilding
• Motivation
• Supervisory Skills
• Customer Service
• Meeting Facilitation
• Process Improvement

• Healthcare
• Corporate
• Financial Services
• Small Business Owners
• Entrepreneurs
• Non-Profit
• Faith-Based Organizations
• Anyone who wants to maximize potential, overcome obstacles & achieve goals

• Architectural drawings
• Building plans
• Hammering
• Screwdriving
• Framing
• Drywalling
• Plumbing/HVAC
• Roofing

• Tall people
• Short people
• Families
• People who want a new house
• People who'd like to move
• Caucasians
• African Americans
• Asian Americans
• Latinos
• Anyone who wants a house they can call a home, a roof over their heads, and to obtain housing

MARKETING TIP: Nobody CARES about YOU and what YOU do! They want to hear about the outcomes. Outcomes go way beyond features, benefits, processes, and methodologies.

Sell me on the HOUSE and what my life will be like when I've moved in, or have guests over, or have a picnic, or retire.

Talk about ME, MY life, and what MY experience of your product/service will be. That's all I really care about!

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David Newman is a marketing speaker and marketing coach who works with professionals who want to do a better job of marketing so they get more leads, better prospects, and bigger sales.

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.

In my marketing seminars, we spend about 10 minutes talking about what I call "canvas size." And my point is that most people's canvas is too small. Sometimes WAY too small.

To indulge the analogy for a minute, most folks can fingerpaint just as well as others... they just limit themselves to those small little 3x3 canvasses you can get at the art store.

Now, let's say you have big-canvas talents. For example, let's say you're a Chuck Close or a Jackson Pollock.

You could certainly paint on a little 3x3 canvas, but you wouldn't have the space or capacity to express YOUR message in YOUR way.

You'd be constricted, small, and tight. You certainly would not be considered a master of modern art. You're working on the wrong canvas size - it's too small for you.

Or worse, you'll make a mess on the rug and the table as your paint spills over the edges. You need more space.

Are YOU working on a big enough canvas?

Are you SURE?

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David Newman is a marketing speaker and marketing coach who works with professionals who want to do a better job of marketing so they get more leads, better prospects, and bigger sales.