Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

As a speaker, consultant, thought-leading executive or entrepreneur, you may have heard about the importance of building an audience for your work... Sounds great. 

Here are 17 vital differences between a market and an audience.

You can spend YEARS attracting and serving an audience that is NOT your market. And that's just sad, painful, and frustrating. 

These are as pernicious as they are deceptive. 

WHICH of these has been holding you back - confusing you - or set you to wondering how come you're not making more money?

Let's go down the list... 

1. An audience listens - A market pays attention
2. An audience wants entertainment - A market wants to solve problems
3. An audience values an experience - A market values expertise
4. An audience wants to watch - A market wants to act
5. An audience wants information - A market wants implementation
6. An audience reacts - A market responds
7. An audience wants their questions answered - A market wants their answers questioned
8. An audience wants you to be popular - A market wants you to be right
9. An audience asks “What can you do?” - A market asks “What’s next?” and “What else?”
10. An audience says, “Great show!” - A market says, “Great job!”
11. An audience tells their friends - A market tells their boss
12. An audience buys your book - A market reads your book
13. An audience likes your ideas - A market implements your ideas
14. An audience wants your autograph - A market wants to give you their signature
15. An audience applauds - A market refers
16. An audience says, “Thank you” - A market says, “Thank goodness!”

and finally - most important of all - read this next one as often as you need to...

17. An audience will HEAR you - A market will PAY you (well, often, and gladly)

Expert marketers not only build an audience - they develop a market for their value, ideas, products, services, and programs.

Want to apply for your Speaker Strategy Call to see how you can IMPLEMENT some of these concepts right away? Apply for your call here.

The ad above first appeared in Business Week in 1958 – 56 years ago!

The moral of the ad’s story was relevant then and it is even more relevant today: establish expertise and build relationships before you try to sell.

The good news is that experts win on value and generalists die on price. 

The bad news is that we live in far more cynical times than the sellers of the 1950’s; but more good news is that YOU have so many more tools available to help you address the problem.

If you're investing in "Expert Marketing" (it goes by several other names like inbound marketing, thought-leadership marketing, and content marketing)... then you've probably asked yourself: 

How (and when) will this generate a sale?

And that is completely the WRONG question.

By the time you're done reading this article/ rant/ manifesto, you'll see exactly why - AND you'll be able to ask (and answer) much better questions for your business right away. 

Asking when expert marketing will lead to a sale is like filling up your car's gas tank and asking, "Why aren't we there yet?" 

Answer: Because filling your car with gas is a NECESSARY but NOT SUFFICIENT step to getting you to your destination (a new customer or client).

Do you have a chance of arriving now that your gas tank is full? You bet.

Did you have a chance of getting there with your tank on empty? No way. 

Let's move on... 

Insight #1 You need to sell the same way that YOU buy.

Look at your email spam or bulk email folder. Yes, you. Yes, right now. I'll wait... 

tap... tap... tap... tap... You're back. Excellent.

Did you see that spam email from the toner cartridge company? Did you catch the pitch from the SEO firm that filled out your website's "contact us" form? Did you respond to that great deal on vacation cruises? NO? 

OK now pop over to your paper mail pile on your desk. Did you check out the latest "triple play" offer from Comcast (or whatever hellacious Cable Satan runs in your neck of the woods)? How about that compelling cell phone offer from Verizon? The Wall Street Journal subscription offer under that postcard? Or how about that postcard - you know, the one from the home heating oil company? NO? 

When's the last time you gave your credit card number over to a cold caller who interrupted your family dinner? NEVER??

I'm shocked...

Because you seem pretty excited about YOUR cold calls - and sending out YOUR spam - YOUR offers - YOUR postcards - YOUR sales messages.

The problem with doing it this way? In four words...

Zero. Value. For. Prospects.

And hello? YOU don't BUY this way. What in the world makes you think your prospects DO?

Look once more at the ad above - and answer one simple question: 

Question #1: What VALUE have I ADDED to my prospect's world in order to EARN the RIGHT to INVITE them to a conversation and OFFER my solutions to their urgent, pervasive, expensive problems?

Insight #2 Referrals are great - but they are neither deaf, dumb, nor blind

Next, you'll say that you don't NEED "expert marketing" because 99% of your business is repeat and referral business and it's always been that way and you don't see how this "newfangled marketing" is going to move the needle in closing more sales.

Do you seriously think that referrals don't check you out online before picking up the phone?

What messages are you sending to your valued referrals with...

a. Your outdated website (articles from 2008 are outdated, friends. And from 2003 even more so. And design aesthetic from 1997 most of all.)

b. Your sporadically updated blog that you leave dormant for 2 (or 4 or 6) months at a clip.

c. Your abandoned Twitter account you set up because someone said "you had to" and that now has 37 followers while your competitors have 3,000 (or a whole lot more.) 

d. Your sketchy, bare bones LinkedIn profile that has 300 connections but only 2 recommendations (From 2005. From people with the same last name as you.)

e. Your "glory days" articles and TV clips and PR placements from 20 (yes I'm serious), 10, or even 5 years ago. Nothing screams "has-been" like old media.  

Make no mistake: Getting repeat and referral business is great. But don't kid yourself that this absolves you from having a top-notch web presence, social media platform, and body of knowledge that is ultra-current, super-relevant, and obviously abundant.

In fact, you are leaving yourself open for EMBARRASSMENT if your advocates hear back from their referrals and find themselves in the awkward position of having to DEFEND you to them because your web presence has fallen behind and now casts your professional expertise into doubt.

Question #2: Does my overall web presence REASSURE and REINFORCE the referrals I earn with the most current, credible and relevant expert marketing messages, positioning, content, resources, and value that will make my advocates LOOK BETTER - not worse - for referring me? 

Insight #3 Expert Marketing is a 4-layer enchilada (aka You don't get to eat the delicious golden-brown cheese without first layering on the meat!!)

The first layer - at the core of the matter - is your Reputation. Your work. Your track record. If you stop there, you'll have a VERY hard time attracting NEW leads and prospects to your doorstep. "My work should speak for itself" is what a lot of very smart people say - smart people who have a hard time making their mortgage payments.  

The second layer is Amplification. Ways to make your "expert signal" stronger. Enter social media marketing, niche PR, article marketing, blogging, keyword research and search engine optimization. This is the key to spreading your ideas and broadcasting your expertise.

The third layer is Leverage. This is where you begin to capitalize on your "expert marketing" assets such as articles, blogs, videos, podcasts, interviews, white papers, special reports, book excerpts, and other value-first marketing tools. You can now reach out to high-probability prospects both individually (on LinkedIn for example) and collectively (on your blog for example). This is where your job becomes putting the right bait on the right hooks in the right lakes to catch the right fish.  

The fourth layer is Gravity. Just like Jim Collins talks about the "flywheel" concept in Good to Great (it takes a long time to get it spinning but then is very hard to stop because of the power of momentum) - this is where you start to see payoffs. More leads, better prospects, bigger opportunities, more conversations, higher profile alliances, more invitations to speak, publish, guest post, contribute, teach, and (drum roll please...) more invitations to do great work at premium fees for great clients who NOW know you, like you, and trust you enough to hand over 5- and 6-figure checks because their level of confidence in your expertise is pretty damn close to 100%.

Question #3: Do you want to make more sales to strangers? (Good luck with that). Or do you really want more people to recognize, respect, and request YOU by name when they have a need, project, or problem that they instantly see has "your name written all over it"? If that's your goal, then expert marketing is for you. 

Re-read the McGraw-Hill ad above and let's do a 21st century spin on it together...

• I don't know who you are.
• I don't read your blog. 
• I don't subscribe to your newsletter.
• I don't see your name in my industry's publications.
• I don't hear my peers spreading your ideas.
• I don't come across your content in Google searches.
• I don't connect your solutions to my problems. 
• I don't feel the gravity of your credibility or credentials.
• I don't have any tangible way to gauge your expertise or experience.
• Now -- what was it you wanted to sell me? 

So here's the ultimate (and most important) question for YOU: 

How can you realistically expect to SELL anything by NOT setting the necessary pre-conditions for ANY sale with Expert Marketing?

The answer is as simple as it is obvious: you can't. Just like you can't drive your car from Denver to Sheboygan just by filling up your gas tank. You need to get behind the wheel, plan your route, use your GPS, add more fuel along the way (and probably some beef jerky and Sno-Balls and root beer) AND put in the hours and the miles to get you to your destination.  

Nobody -- and I mean N-O-B-O-D-Y -- hires speakers, consultants or professional services firms sight unseen. You wouldn't. I wouldn't either.

And the facts prove out that today's buyers are just like YOU and ME. 

Expert marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. And as any marathoner will tell you - the best (and only) way to run a marathon is one mile at a time. 

What do you think? Please post YOUR COMMENTS below and... 

There are four things that you need to focus on in your professional service marketing, four levels if you will.

1. We can't do them all.
2. We can't even prioritize or figure out how to start to think about them.
3. We can't even distinguish which is what and why and how it might work for us.

So let's unpack this for your business...

Let's talk about level one, strategy.

A strategy is a big picture area of your business.

It could be a marketing-focused strategy. It could be a sales-focused strategy. It could be a financial strategy.

Let’s say you come across someone who tells you Twitter is an amazing marketing platform and you’re really missing out if your business is not on Twitter.

He's using it and it fits his business beautifully, of course and you respect this person and you admire their successful business. And now you’re thinking, "Oh man, it's all about Twitter Twitter, Twitter. This guy built his business on Twitter, so I can probably build my business on Twitter."

Well, all right, let's back that up and analyze that as far as the four levels of marketing.

Internet marketing is the strategy. Internet marketing is the big umbrella over Twitter. So you ask yourself, to what extent am I going to use an Internet marketing strategy in the sales and marketing and business development aspect of my business?

Internet marketing is the strategy.

The set of tactics under that would be social media. There's a lot going on via the internet, folks, that's not social media.

For example, search engine optimization, your website, the structure of your web presence, blogging, email marketing, dozens of internet marketing strategies. Social media happens to be one bucket under that, so social media is the tactic.

An initiative would be "I'm going to start using Twitter." This is level three now.

I'm going to start using Twitter. I'm going to start understanding it. I might read a book. I might go to some websites, I’m going to grab a copy of Twitter 101 or Using Twitter for business, all those fabulous resources that are out there for free. I'm going to become educated on that -- on that initiative.

Now, the action step - here's level four, the action step always takes the form of verb, noun, date.

• Set up my Twitter account by Wednesday.
• Load my first 30 tweets in Hootsuite by Friday.
• Find 100 influential people to follow in my industry by Monday.

Those are action steps. And the action step can also go on your calendar.

So this approach really takes it down to "What am I doing today?"

What's on my priority to-do list today? Not what's on my to-do list because your to-do list could be 50 things, but what are my top three most important things that I need to do based on the strategies I've selected, based on the tactics that I’ve chosen, based on the initiatives that I've designed, what are the action steps to put on my calendar and get it done?

So let’s follow this through with a complete example -- let's say I'm in the insurance business. (I'm not but let's say YOU are!)

You're selling into the insurance marketplace, insurance companies and insurance agents, general agents, insurance associations, insurance publications, and you’re looking to become a dominant resource in that world.

Your action step would be "I want to follow 300 insurance industry folks on Twitter by April 13th." That's your action step.

Does that fit into an initiative? Yes. The initiative is aggressively grow my Twitter following targeted to the insurance industry.

Does that fall in to a tactic? Yes, it does. It falls in to the social media tactic or set of tactics.

Does that fall under a strategy that I decided to use? Yes, it falls in to my internet marketing strategy.

So right there, just unpacking those four levels, you've got some "A-ha" moments, some insights you can use to start to filter and sort all of your old ideas, old notes, all of those conference sessions that you may have gone to, all of those tactics and tools and light bulb moments, all those nuggets and sound bites that you may have swirling around in your head or on your “someday, maybe list.”

If you start to sort them in to these four levels; strategy, tactic, initiative and action step – you’ll get a much clearer blueprint for ALL your marketing going forward this month, next month and next year!

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!

The Challenge

Too often, professional services firms:

• Do marketing “by accident” or don’t do outbound marketing effectively
• Hope that “prospects will call us when they need us”
• Never know where their next lead is coming from
• Don’t market using their best asset – thought leadership
• Throw too many dollars into a “marketing black hole”

The Opportunity

Independent research with over 700 professional services firms proves that the #1 source of new business is “Making warm calls to existing clients” – and #2 and #3 are “Speaking at conferences and trade shows” and “Running our own seminars and events” yet if yours is like the majority of firms, you haven’t yet cracked the code on how to make this work for YOUR people to attract YOUR clients.

More research shows that 52-72% of B2B professional services BUYERS are willing to switch to new service providers across a spectrum of specialties. (Wellesley Hills Group, What’s Working in Lead Generation professional services market study)

Meaning: You’re always ONE good presentation away from closing new business.

The Payoff

Speakers, consultants and authors can often do a MUCH better job in the following areas:

• Design and deliver a client-magnet presentation

• Generate leads without being salesy

• Use Before-During-After marketing to stay top of mind

• Maximize profits on a shoestring marketing budget

• Generate more leads, better prospects and bigger sales using irresistible offers and high-integrity techniques

...and in my experience working with clients like this, it does NOT take a huge amount of work; small, targeted shifts in your packaging, promotion, messaging, and followup makes all the difference (which we nail down for you in this program) and then the floodgates open for your speaking success!

Last Word: Marketing Skills vs. Presentation Skills

A decent presentation built for marketing and sales results will outperform a brilliant presentation built for a “standing ovation” or praise from your local Toastmaster’s club or high marks from a presentation skills coach.

Bottom line: I don’t care if you become a great speaker. I do very much care that you become a good speaker who consistently generates more leads, better prospects, and bigger sales each time you present in front of a roomful of potential buyers.

What do you think? Fire off some thoughts, comments, or questions in the COMMENTS section below. Let's talk about this one...

Wow. 

Speechless.

As a marketing coach, I see a lot of misguided people in the marketplace but this one has to be in my Top 3 of all time...

Yup, it's been a while but here's the latest winner in the now infamous Marketing Jackass Awards...

Somebody was crazy enough to post this egomaniacal rant on Facebook.

She was complaining that (yet AGAIN) she was not hired by a prospect after slathering her self-centered egotistical slime all over them.

Shocking, right? 

1. Take a look - and for a fun exercise, COUNT the number of times she uses the words, "I, me, and my." 
2. Bonus question: If you were an executive on the receiving end of her pitch as she describes it, would YOU hire her? Why or why not? 
3. Leave a comment below and let's discuss.

Here it is, straight from the source:

=====

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!! I had a meeting with an organization leader. After going through what I have accomplished, what I am great at fulfilling to help others excel, and the list of services and products I have created WITH MY TEAM OF EXPERTS, I was indirectly asked to *downplay* my genius because many people will feel uncomfortable and jealous. Really? I am being asked to be small, to suppress my God given gifts to help others because I have to protect the ego of people who are less capable? How is that being of service to people in need? How is that being authentic, and being true to who we are, our convictions and our mission in life?

I am deeply grateful to God for blessing me with many talents and abilities. I have learned many valuable lessons in life through my own experiences, and through the wisdom of mentors who I chose to help me become the best I can be to fulfill my big mission in life. I make no excuses for the magnificent person I have become because of my experiences and choices. Not everyone will support my big mission in life, and it is ok. I stand true to my values, and my higher mission to be the voice of Hope, Courage, Inspiration, Transformation and Resilience. People need me to lead them from their places of darkness into light, and help them stand confidently in their own magnificence. People need me to find the joy, peace, healing and positive changes in their lives. It will be a disservice for me to not share all the fantastic things I can help them with, because others will feel insecure.

Not everyone will get me. And no one can stop me. I WILL BE OF SERVICE TO HUMANITY FOR THE HIGHER GOOD, IN MY OWN AUTHENTIC AND SPECTACULAR WAY. IF OTHERS ARE BLINDED BY MY LIGHT, THEY NEED TO WEAR SUNGLASSES, or stay in the shade, and not block the sun from shining on others in need of light. 

=====

Here's a bonus graphic reminder for you. If you agree, please grab this image and share it with your social media networks: 

Download this FREE Do It! Marketing Manifesto, where you'll discover the four levels of marketing and how to use each.

GET IT HERE

You're about to meet one of my favorite people and a super-smart sales guru... My sales speaker pal, Mark Hunter.

Pull up a chair, grab a coffee and join us as we talk about High Profit Selling and the secrets of how YOU can sell smarter. 

Good selling is all about GETTING clients and great selling is all about GETTING profits, so it makes perfect sense that Mark is an expert in both!

Get ready to take some notes on how Mark's brilliant ideas apply to YOUR business...

Get "real deal" insights on sales that will blow the competition away. See how many valuable nuggets YOU can implement in your business - right NOW!

What do you think? Please leave a comment below and let's discuss...

Welcome to our carefully chosen list of thought leadership marketing tools. We use these tools here at Do It! Marketing World HQ and highly recommend them to our clients and partners.

Good news: Many of these tools are free. A few are not. Almost all come with a risk-free "try before you buy" option to make sure you love them as much as we do. Please note that if you decide to make a purchase, I may (and probably will) receive a small commission. This commission is at no extra cost to you, and in fact, MOST of these links contain special discounts, free trials, or bonuses only available through these links.

With that said, please dig in and take full advantage of these hand-selected resources. They will help your business thrive, scale and grow -- just as they have helped ours!

Email Marketing: ConstantContact | Aweber | PopupDomination

Shopping Cart: KickstartCart | Infusionsoft

Social Media: Tweetadder

Online Audio/E-learning: AudioAcrobat | JigsawBox | Ruzuku

Graphics: Pixabay | ReciteThis | PicMonkey | MyECoverMaker

Webinar/Screen Sharing: Screenr | StealthSeminar | AnyMeeting

Ecommerce: PayPal | Clickbank | Infusionsoft

Landing Pages: LeadPages | Unbounce | LaunchRock

Website Builder: Strikingly

You're about to meet one of my favorite people and a super-smart marketer... My marketing speaker pal from the UK, Geoff Ramm. 

Pull up a chair, grab a coffee and join us as we talk about Observational Marketing Greats and the power of Celebrity Service. 

Great marketing is all about GETTING clients and great service is all about KEEPING clients, so it makes perfect sense that Geoff is an expert in both!

Get ready to take some notes on how Geoff's brilliant ideas apply to YOUR business...

Get "real deal" insights on marketing smarter and service that will blow the competition away. See how many valuable nuggets YOU can implement in your business - right NOW!

What do you think? Please leave a comment below and let's discuss...

Thought Leader’s Bookshelf 2014

Here are 7 books filled with great ideas that every thought-leading entrepreneur and executive needs to read, absorb, and implement.

If you want to be considered a genuine expert by your prospects, clients, customers, followers, subscribers and fans, these 7 books are your go-to resource library. Enjoy!

1. Ready to Be a Thought Leader: How to Increase Your Influence, Impact, and Success

2. Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World

3. Do It! Marketing: 77 Instant-Action Ideas to Boost Sales, Maximize Profits, and Crush Your Competition

4. Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business

5. The Expert's Edge: Become the Go-To Authority People Turn to Every Time

6. How to Position Yourself As the Obvious Expert: Turbocharge Your Consulting or Coaching Business Now!

7. POP!: Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything

BONUS: Here's a great slide deck on thought leadership from Art Kleiner of Strategy & Business magazine, put out by Booz & Company:

Got some other great book recommendations along these lines? Please use the COMMENTS area below and join the conversation...

Maybe 2014 will be the year that you…

1. Start thinking bigger

2. Ask for help (partners, affiliates, advocates, allies, clients)

3. Stop playing small

4. Give up your victim mindset

5. Learn to sell smarter

6. Invest in yourself

7. Stop whining

8. Be of service to more people, whether they buy or not

9. Listen more deeply

10. Stop competing and start collaborating

11. Let go and move on

12. Get smart about your money (earning, saving, spending, investing)

13. Embrace the unknown

14. Scale your business

15. Don't sweat the small stuff

16. Give more of your time to your best clients

17. Amplify your voice

18. Sharpen your vision

19. Multiply your impact

20. Get off the hamster wheel

21. Leverage more 

22. Labor less (simplify, eliminate, delegate, outsource)

23. Serve a wider audience

24. Dig deeper

25. Write more

26. Stress less

27. Spend more time with family

28. Get off the email crack

29. Manage your day smarter

30. Take 100% ownership of marketing, sales, and business development

31. Stop pitching and start solving

32. Make more videos

33. Build a community around your expertise

34. Trash your self-limiting beliefs

35. Buy this book

36. Get serious, get help, or get out

37. Upgrade your marketing materials

38. Stop tolerating bullshit in all areas of your life

39. Embrace healthy habits (food, exercise, sleep)

40. Aspire to be bigger, better, smarter, kinder

41. Show up

42. Step up

43. Stop doing work you’ve outgrown

44. Stop serving clients who no longer fit

45. Raise your sights

46. Raise your fees

47. Seek out better, smarter, more successful friends

48. Seek out better, smarter, more successful clients

49. Quit doing stupid shit (yes, you!)

50. Free your imagination

51. Sing your song

52. Make your mark

53. Write your book

54. Launch that thing you’ve been dreaming of

55. Rediscover your passion

56. Unleash your enthusiasm

57. Get the hell off Facebook

58. Mentor someone who needs your wisdom

59. Reframe your losses

60. Remember your wins

61. Write down your goals

62. Live out of your calendar, not your inbox

63. Set your GPS for greatness

64. Go for bigger fish

65. Use better bait

66. Bag the elephant

67. Be more tenacious

68. Focus like a laser

69. Stop distracting yourself

70. Get more results by doing less marketing

71. Develop a “marketing magnet” speech

72. Identify target-rich audiences

73. Deploy irresistible offers

74. Master your “enrollment conversation”

75. Start doing social media right

76. Become more comfortable being uncomfortable

77. If you’re not scared, you're probably not up to anything interesting

78. Go to more conferences

79. Cross-pollinate your best ideas

80. Join a mastermind group

81. Read more for pleasure

82. Read more for business

83. Collect smart friends

84. Feature and leverage other people

85. Keep a notebook to capture your best ideas

86. Start your podcast

87. Interview other experts

88. Interview your prospects and clients

89. Serve on a non-profit board

90. Do something artsy (music, painting, dance, theater)

91. Upgrade your wardrobe

92. Buy that new car (PDF)

93. Give more generously

94. Stop judgment and embrace openness (mind, heart, spirit)

95. Apologize even (especially?) when you don’t need to

96. Be more humble

97. Punch people in the face with value

98. Become genuinely interested in others

99. Ask more and better questions

100. Make more lists

101. Send more cookies

102. Be more grateful

103. Always over-deliver

104. Yes, this is item #104 out of 101

105. Always say please and thank you

106. Please share this post

107. Thank you for being awesome