Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

• Building a coaching culture that promotes candor and dialogue
• Linking strategy, structure, processes, values and human resources
• Balancing strategy and tactics
• Developing road maps for strategic planning and implementation at all levels
• Identifying and developing future high-potential leaders ("HiPos")
• Business literacy and management skills for new managers
• Performance-based coaching and feedback skills for managers and execs
• Persuasion, political savvy, managing without authority, managing upward
• Building "bench strength" in anticipation of the next labor shortage as the economy recovers
• Developing a bottom-line accountable culture
• Motivating workers in uncertain times

What's YOUR take on the list above? Please SHARE and DISCUSS in the comments section below...

• 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.

"Nearly all rich and powerful people are not notably talented, educated, charming, or good-looking. They become rich and powerful by wanting to be rich and powerful."
-- Paul Arden

How’s that for a goal? Imagine this:

“Billy, what do you want to be when you grow up?”

Billy: “Rich and powerful!”

Isn’t that great? What is wrong with that answer?

Nothing, NOTHING, NOTHING! Or as my mother says, “There’s nothing wrong with making a lot of money, you know.” (Thanks, Mom.)

Paul Arden gets it. On the cover of his book It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be, he has the subtitle “The world’s best-selling book by Paul Arden.”

That’s what we’re talking 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.

Almost 10 years ago, I wrote an article for the Philadelphia Business
Journal (and an abbreviated version for WallStreetJournal.com) entitled "Marketing is Everyone's Business."

Upon re-reading it recently, I came to the sad conclusion that the article wasn't that strong although the concept behind it was HUGE then - and it is still HUGE today...

It was inspired by my 10-minute conversation with Susan Bach
of Adolor Corporation in Exton, PA. Susan gave me more
information about her company and their positioning,
products, and future plans for new drugs than most brand
managers at competing companies could have done. The catch?
She's the HR Director.

The bottom line: You gotta KNOW the business and MARKET the
products, services, and value prop no matter what the title on your business card. Great companies KNOW this and TRAIN for it. Does yours?

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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.

Guest post by Karl Bryan

Here is a laundry basket of word of mouth small business marketing initiatives I have used over the years for retail clients that have worked successfully.

I’ve done it in a list form, so you can go through and highlight the ones you want to put into action.

These are offered by George Silverman who wrote the amazing book, The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing.

Put your seat belt on... because here they are...

1. Give them something worth talking about
2. Cater to your initial customers shamelessly
3. Give them incentives to engage in word of mouth
4. Ask them to tell their friends
5. The customer is always right
6. Always tell the truth
7. Surprise the customers by giving them a little more than they expected
8. Give them a reason to buy, make them come back and refuse service from anyone else other than you
9. Make eye contact, and smile, even through the telephone
10. Find ways to make doing business with you a little better: a warmer greeting, a cleaner floor, nicer lighting, a better shopping bag, extra matches, faster service, free delivery, lower prices, more selection.
11. Never be annoyed when a customer asks you to change a large bill even if he doesn't buy anything.
12. The customer is your reason for being. Never take her for granted. If you do, she will never come back, and will go straight to your competition.
13. Always dust off items, but never let the customer see you doing it.
14. Never embarrass a customer, especially by making him feel ignorant.
15. Never answer a question coming from a desire to show how smart you are. Answer with a desire to help the customer make the best decision.
16. Never shout across the store, "How much are these condoms?" or anything about the personal items a customer is buying.
17. When you don't know, say so. Do whatever you can to find out the answer.
18. Every customer is special. Try to remember their names.
19. Don't allow known shoplifters into the store.
20. Don't ever let two sales staff talk when a customer is waiting. The worst thing you can do is count your cash while a customer is waiting.
21. If you can suggest something better, they will be grateful. Always respect their choice.
22. Never pressure anyone into buying anything.
23. Never knowingly give bad advice. Just help people come to the right decision.
24. Personally visit the store of the competition or assign people to visit and report back to you.
25. Hire a shopping service to prepare periodic reports on how your people are treating your customers.
26. If you hear of a store where the management is insulting the customers, buy it, then put up the sign "Under New Management" outside. Then sell it later based on the increased sales.
27. One expert (in the drugstore's case, a nurse or physician) who is convinced you are better brings hundreds of customers and their friends through word of mouth.
28. Always look for ways to make a stranger a customer.
29. People will walk several blocks to save a dollar, or see a smile, or be treated right.
30. Always run a sale promotion or an offbeat event. Make them come back to see what you are cooking up next.
31. Use the best sign-maker you can find and pay him more than anybody else.
32. If someone is mad at you, they will tell everyone who will listen for as long as they are angry, maybe even longer. So correct any dissatisfaction, and ask customers to send their friends.
33. Treat your employees and salespeople who sell to you the same way you treat your customers.
34. Have a zero error system. There may be terrible consequences for example, if a mistake is made filling a prescription. Have people check each other's work for safety.
35. Occasionally make intentional mistakes to see if people are checking.
36. Always measure your performance.
37. Always ask a customer to "come back soon"
38. If customers say they are moving away, offer to send them their favorite items by mail.
39. Tell jokes.

This is a lot of information to digest, so we’re going to wrap up this list and leave you with the homework of going through and taking a look at the tips and tricks you like best.

Also, look for tips that fit your company, products, services and target customers to maximize their effectiveness.

Guest column by Nick Usborne

The Rule of One falls into two areas...what you write about, and who you write to.

Here’s the first part of the rule...

Confine each communication to a single topic

This is a battle that has been raging between copywriters and their clients for a very long time.

Twenty years ago I remember trying to discourage clients from wanting to say too much in a single ad or direct mail letter.

I think they felt that if they were going to pay the media costs, they would get “more for their money” if they used every opportunity to say as much as possible about their products, services and company.

My counter-argument was that they would communicate much more clearly, and with better results, if they stuck to a single topic and a single message. The same problem persists today on the web.

Too many web pages try to cover too much ground.

Think of it this way. Very few people arrive at your site wanting to hear about all of your different products or services. Most will have used a search engine to find information on a single, clearly defined topic.

Whether you bring them to a specific landing page or some other interior page, build your pages so that they focus on just one topic at a time.

Do that and you will stay focused and please your visitors.

As a side benefit, you will also please the major search engines, which consistently reward pages that are confined to a single topic. The more clearly defined the page topic, the higher the listing.

And now for the second part of the Rule of One.

Write to one person at a time

You have probably heard this advice before. But as I read web pages across a variety of industries, I see little evidence of writers following this simple rule.

Basically, you will write more clearly, more personally and with better results if you picture an individual prospect or reader as you write.

Don’t write to some amorphous demographic group. Write to one person within that group.

Don’t create a mental picture of “that kind of person”. Picture a real person with a real life. Think about that person’s life. Think about what they want out of life.

Now think about how your product or service fits that person.

If you do this well, if you can truly see an individual prospect in your mind, it will have a profound impact on what and how you write.

Your text will read and feel as if it is being written to a real person. The corporate-speak jargon and biz-speak nonsense will disappear, and you will suddenly begin writing more clearly, with a true empathy for the person who will be reading your text.

Keep one thing in mind. This is not a “copywriting trick”. This is writing pages in a way that corresponds to how they will be read. It may sound obvious, but so many people lose touch with the fact that every page you write WILL be read by individuals with unique lives and needs.

No “group” will ever read your page. No “industry” will ever read your page.

The web pages you write will always be read by individuals, one at a time.

Concluding thoughts

Stick to one topic and write to one person.

It sounds easy, but very few people do it. Sometimes copywriters fail to write in this way because they haven’t thought about it. Sometimes it happens due to unrelenting pressure from above.

Either way, sticking to the Rule of One will always help you. Discipline yourself and fight your clients and managers if you need to.

In the end, the results will speak for themselves.

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Note: Nick Usborne is the leading advocate of good writing on the Web. He is an 
author, copywriter, consultant, speaker, and the publisher of the Excess Voice 
newsletter for online writers. Read his articles at http://www.excessvoice.com  

I was browsing through my ebook edition of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich and this particular passage jumped out at me.

Thought you should see it. YOUR comments welcome below in the COMMENTS section... just scroll down and let me know what you think.

9 Reasons People Fail

1. Lack of well‐defined purpose in life. There is no hope of success for the  person who does not have a central purpose, or definite goal at which to aim.   Ninety‐eight out of every hundred of those whom I have analyzed had no such  aim.  Perhaps this was the major cause of their failure. 

2. Lack of ambition to aim above mediocrity.  We offer no hope for the person  who is so indifferent as not to want to get ahead in life, and who is not willing to  pay the price. 

3. Lack of self‐discipline.  Discipline comes through self‐control.  This means  that one must control all negative qualities.  Before you can control conditions,  you must first control yourself.  Self‐mastery is the hardest job you will ever  tackle.  If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.  You may see at one and the same time both your best friend and your greatest enemy, by  stepping in front of a mirror. 

4. Procrastination.  This is one of the most common causes of failure.  “Old  Man Procrastination” stands within the shadow of every human being, waiting  his opportunity to spoil one’s chances of success.  Most of us go through life as  failures, because we are waiting for the “time to be right” to start doing  something worthwhile.  Do not wait.  The time will never be “just right.”  Start  where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your  command, and better tools will be found as you go along. 

5. Lack of persistence.  Most of us are good “starters” but poor “finishers” of  everything we begin, moreover, people are prone to give up at the first signs of  defeat.  There is no substitute of persistence.  The person, who makes persistence  his watchword, discovers that “Old Man Failure” finally becomes tired, and  makes his departure.  Failure cannot cope with persistence. 

6. Negative personality.  There is no hope of success for the person who repels  people through a negative personality.  Success comes through the application of  power, and power is attained through the cooperative efforts of other people.  A  negative personality will not induce cooperation. 

7. Lack of a well‐defined power of decision.  Men who succeed reach decision  promptly, and change them, if at all, very slowly.  Men who fail reach decisions,  if at all, very slowly, and change them frequently, and quickly.  Indecision and  procrastination are twin brothers.  Where one is found, the other may usually be  found also.  Kill off this pair before they completely “hog‐tie” you to the  treadmill of failure. 

8. Over‐caution. The person who takes no chances generally has to take  whatever is left when others are through choosing.  Over‐caution is as bad as  under‐caution.  Both are extremes to be guarded against.  Life itself is filled with  the element of chance.

9. Wrong selection of associates in business.  This is one of the most common  causes of failure in business.  In marketing personal services, one should use  great care to select an employer who will be an inspiration, and who is, himself,  intelligent and successful.  We emulate those with whom we associate most  closely.  Pick an employer who is worth emulating. 

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Need a great marketing speaker for your next association conference, company meeting, or franchisee/dealer event? Marketing speaker David Newman delivers the goods - over 600 presentations since 1992.
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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!

A famous trapeze artist was instructing his students how to perform on the high trapeze bar. Finally, having given full explanations and instruction in this skill, he told them to demonstrate their ability.

One student, looking up at the insecure perch upon which he must perform, was suddenly, filled with fear. He froze completely. He had a terrifying vision of himself falling to the ground. He couldn’t move a muscle, so deep was his fright. “I can’t do it! I can’t do it!” he gasped.

The instructor put his arm around the boy’s shoulder and said, “Son, you can do it, and I will tell you how.” Then he made a statement, which is of inestimable importance. It is one of the wisest remarks I have ever heard. He said, “Throw your heart over the bar and your body will follow.”

Heart is the symbol of creative activity. Fire the heart with where you want to go and what you want to be. Get it so deeply fixed in your unconscious that you will not take no for an answer, then your entire personality will follow where your heart leads.

“Throw your heart over the bar” means to throw your faith over your difficulty, throw your affirmation over every barrier, throw your visualization over your obstacles. In other words, throw the spiritual essence of you over the bar and your material self will follow in the victory groove thus pioneered by your faith‐inspired mind.

Expect the best, not the worst, and you will attain your heart’s desire. It is what is in the heart of you, either good or bad, strong or weak, that finally comes to you. Emerson said, “Beware of what you want, for you will get it.”

Excerpted from BLAINE LEE, THE POWER PRINCIPLE, SIMON & SCHUSTER

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Need a great marketing speaker for your next association conference, company meeting, or franchisee/dealer event? Marketing speaker David Newman delivers the goods - over 600 presentations since 1992.
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