For your marketing - and in business in general - simple SELLS. As a marketing coach for speakers, authors and independent professionals, I see it time and time again...

You're making it HARDER than it needs to be. Honest.

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction."
-- Albert Einstein

What kind of professional would you be if you specialized in the small, the simple, and the gentle solutions?

Or does your style lean more towards the thicker report, the more complicated answer, the more expensive technology, and the more complex project plan?

Winston Churchill was asked how much time he would need to prepare a talk.

He replied that his preparation time depended on the talk's duration.

When asked about a 2-hour speech, he said he could deliver that immediately.

When asked about a 2-minute speech, he said "I should need a fortnight to prepare."

The short, simple, direct answers are often the most valuable - and take the longest time and the hardest work to prepare!

Question: What could you simplify right now that would make a difference to you and/or the people you want to impact the most with your marketing?

Tip: Whether you're selling your products, your services, or your ideas, the age-old fact is: simple SELLS.

What do you think? Use the COMMENTS area below to leave your advice and experiences on this topic.

p.s. Attention Speakers, Authors, Consultants and Independent Professionals: Enrollment is now open for the next 30-Day SpeakerLiftoff program that blasts off on December 7. Check out the details and info here. Let's work together to create YOUR game plan for simple marketing success in 2013 and beyond.

My friend and mentor, Jay Conrad Levinson asked me to send this special invitation to you below... this program may be exactly what you need to kick off your 2013 with a BANG and generate the results you want in your business.

• November 12th - 14th, 2012

PS: Read what this year's attendees have said about the Guerrilla Marketing Intensive.

I must tell you, this week was one of the most informative and productive weeks I have had in a very long time. Jay and Jeannie were wonderful hosts and teachers. I left there revved up and ready to take my business to new heights through Guerrilla Marketing.
Tom Lemery, President & CEO
Creatacor, Inc.

I just wanted to say thanks again for a great 3 days. You've motivated, inspired and given me the tools to take the action that I have been procrastinating.
Kelli Hoskins, CEO & Master Business Coach
ActionCOACH /The World's #1 Business Coaching Firm

Amy, I should tell you that I am in love with your parents. Jay and Jeannie are so amazing.
Elayna Fernandez, The Positive Mom Foundation
Bestselling Author | Guerrilla Positioning Strategist

I would like to thank you for your wonderful hospitality at the Intensive. Jay was just fantastic.
Ashish Desai, Sujanil Chemo Industries
Maharashtra, India

Click here to learn more.

As a marketing speaker and marketing strategist, clients regularly ask me about the topic of company naming. And, naturally, people would like some free ideas for company naming, so for those folks, you can pop right over to this post. 

I'll wait... 

Oh, good - you're back!

The next question they ask is, "David, you've got a great company name in DO IT Marketing  (alternatively spelled DOIT Marketing or doitmarketing which is not correct but that's OK - you're cool)... how did that name come to be? 

Well... here's a confession. I'm sort of a company name change freak. Or I was very confused as a young child. Or I get bored easily.

Since 2001, when I started my entrepreneurial adventure, I've changed my branding more than is wise. Before DOIT Marketing, the company was known as UNCONSULTING. 

When I changed to that name, I took the opportunity to poke some fun at myself. After announcing the change to my email subscribers and all my current and past clients, I "hacked" my own website and replaced the content with some BIG graphical billboards.

These made it look like some goon squad named UNCONSULTING had replaced all the blah-blah-blah marketing copy that you typically find on most marketing firms' websites with a wild-eyed manifesto for marketing revolutionaries. 

Here is just one of about six that I created before the launch of DOIT Marketing: 

People LOVED it. It was contrarian, startling, and funny.

A current example of this is the good people over at www.shitcreekconsulting.com. Also, very funny - and people share that link and tell their friends and colleagues. 

The problem is - people can't tell if it's a gag or a real consulting firm... 

Bummer. 

So they don't buy...

BIGGER bummer. 

And that was the same problem I had with UNCONSULTING. People chuckled - but they had no idea what the hell it was or why they needed it. And the clue was - they didn't need it. Why? Because I was articulating what I was the OPPOSITE of - like the Uncola - not what I was. 

So we changed it to DOIT Marketing almost 5 years ago and the difference has been profound. 

It says what it is - Marketing. 

It gives you a feeling - action, movement, and getting things DONE.

And it's a handy acronym for a small business marketing philosophy that is systematic, approachable and repeatable:

DOIT Marketing means Define - Organize - Implement - Track. 

There's even a handy dandy visual with a clear explanation of these four phases right on the DOIT Marketing professional services page here. 

So the next time YOU are faced with (re-)naming your company, your products, your services or your brands, don't be clever - be smart!

What do YOU think? 

Use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and experiences on this topic...

Marketing Coach: Grow Your Business with Selective Access

There's an old marketing saying - create services around your products and productize your services. 

This is good advice because it works for big businesses like IBM and it works for smaller businesses - like yours. 

IBM used to be in the computer hardware business... They were struggling and almost went under in the early 1990's when IT hardware was becoming commoditized. Under new CEO Louis Gerstner, they decided they were in the business of solving business problems, not selling boxes. Within a few short years, their services and consulting revenue dwarfed their hardware sales.

For most small and solo professional service providers, our commodity is our time. Yet our value lies in our expertise.

So how YOU package, market and distribute your expertise become central to your lead-generating and revenue-generating success.

And the best way to do that is to implement a model I call "Selective Access."

Imagine you are running a 5-star restaurant. Your flagship offering is a 7-course gourmet dinner. You also offer lunch which is less fancy (and less expensive). And perhaps you have an up-scale catering or to-go division too.

Prices vary depending on the following four factors:

1. Quality and quantity of ingredients

2. Complexity of preparation

3. Level of service

4. Level of access to the dining environment

Put simply - dinner costs more than lunch which costs more than a snack to-go. 

In my own business, I offer 1-on-1 marketing mentoring (dinner), I run group marketing programs several times each year (lunch) and I work with a few people each month via 1-hour pinpoint sessions (just-enough, just-in-time power snacks!)

Plus I occasionally throw in a "happy meal" which is a free high-value session that's open to everyone. 

Now let's turn the spotlight on YOUR business. Think about - or grab a piece of paper and jot down - what the following looks like in your world: 

1. YOUR Flagship investable opportunity: 

2. YOUR Secondary investable opportunity: 

3. YOUR "To-go" offering (high-value, low-risk, fast, affordable)

4. YOUR FREE happy meal (think of this as a high-value "gift" you can offer to folks who might be good prospects.) 

YOU'RE INVITED: The next "happy meal" coming your way is Tuesday 10/30 at 2pm Eastern. It's a zero-cost high-impact Marketing Blueprint Session and you can read about it here. 

Hope you'll join us on 10/30. 

1. Tweet more regularly about resources, tools and ideas that link back to your website. Use tools like Hootsuite, TweetAdder and Buffer.

2. Create short 2-3 minute videos on YouTube and make sure to add titles near the beginning and end of the video inviting viewers to get more resources from your website.

3. Also make sure to optimize your videos' titles, descriptions, tags and use your full url (meaning include the http:// part!) as the first line of your video description so people see it right away without needing to scroll down. Example: Business Card Kung Fu

4. Get to know Pinterest. It is the fastest growing social media site in history and it's also a lot of fun. Visit my free marketing resources page and grab a fresh hot copy of "How to Use Pinterest for Business." Example: http://pinterest.com/marketingexpert/  

5. Slideshare: You know you've got 'em - PowerPoints. PDF's. All kinds of goodies probably littering your hard drive and you're not take advantage of ANY of 'em as marketing assets. But sure enough, you can start a free Slideshare account, upload your favorite 5-6 PPT or PDF documents, optimize the tags, titles and descriptions, and BAM - more web traffic for you. Example: http://www.slideshare.net/doitmarketing

6. Build an about.me page that collects all your important web links and can serve as an online "business card" or switchboard to connect folks to all your social media accounts in one handy place. Example: http://about.me/doitmarketing

7. Build a brand reputation profile on BrandYourself.com. It's a great way to monitor your online reputation AND build Google juice so you are more visible, more findable and more credible to folks searching for your type of product, service or expertise. Example: http://bobgarlick.brandyourself.com/

8. Boost the impact and SEO value of your LinkedIn profile. My pal, LinkedIn guru Viveka Von Rosen has 12 kickass tips for you on 12 Ways to Spice Up Your LinkedIn Profile. Hint: You also totally need to pick up Viveka's book LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day.

9. Blog, baby, blog... Research from our partners at Hubspot proves that businesses that blog twice a week generate 60% more traffic and leads than businesses that blog once a week or less. Not every blog needs to be a novel. Short is good. Medium is good. Long is good. Not blogging regularly is bad. Ya dig?

10. Infographics. Love 'em or hate 'em - they're hotter than a Vegas sidewalk in August. How can you present a simple, visual, and valuable piece of content that your readers, prospects and customers would really appreciate? Example: 12 Home Page Must-Haves. 

11. Post to relevant LinkedIn groups. LinkedIn is THE social network for business. But all I see in your message stream is who you connected with yesterday, who you endorsed as a great accountant, and that you changed your photo (which is great because that brown tie wasn't helping you). Post LINKS to your great content. Post provocative, interesting questions. Post answers in relevant Q&A Discussions. 

12. Don't ignore PR: Do everything you can to put yourself in a position to be quoted, interviewed, linked to, and featured in relevant blogs, articles, publications and newsletters aimed at your target market. If you're not sure where to begin, start with PRLeads.com and PressReleaseSender.com

13. According to my pal Jay Baer of Convince and Convert, text is going away. Everything online is moving to pictures and video. If that's true (and trust Jay - it is), then your two new best friends will be... 

14. Flickr.com: Post pictures of you, your clients, your projects, your meetings, your team, your best work. Don't be shy - Flickr is a great place to strut your stuff in an immediately impactful way. A picture is worth a thousand words, yadda yadda. Here's a great example from my pal Scott Ginsberg.

15. Animoto.com: Video, baby, video. Turn your photos, video clips, and music into stunning video masterpieces to share with everyone. Fast, free, and shockingly easy! You can use these for yourself, your products, your services, your programs and your ideas. You can also export your creations to YouTube and optimize them further there (See point #3 above.) Example: Top 10 Differences Between Girls and Bodacious Women.

16. Don't ignore email marketing. One of the most common reasons you may be losing web traffic is simply because people who know you and like you have forgotten about how awesome you are. Email marketing reminds them. Not sure where to begin? Start with a Constant Contact free trial. 

17. Never Stop Marketing. That's both a mantra and the website of my pal Jeremy Epstein. But my point is... Never stop experimenting. Never stop testing. And only KEEP what works for you and generates results. You can safely toss the rest.

Go about your marketing with a sense of positive skepticism. Just because someone else says a strategy or tactic is great, doesn't mean it's great for YOU. There is no cookie cutter. You are no cookie.  

If you enjoyed this post, you may also want to read two closely related ones: 

Marketing Coach: "You Never Know" Will Kill You

Business Coach: 7 Keys to Help You Focus on Strategy Not Tactics

What do you think? 

Use the COMMENTS section below to share your insights, advice and recommendations...

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!

Bad news: You are 9 days into the month and your website traffic is down 43%. 

Worse news: You don't even know about it. 

Why not? 

Because if you're like most small business owners, (non-web) entrepreneurs and independent professionals, you look at your web stats once a month - and almost always when it's too late. 

So the question for you and your organization is - are you looking at your web marketing game plan as a forward-looking fitness program -- or as a backward-looking autopsy?

The autopsy approach sounds like this: "What went wrong? Where did our site visits go? How come opt-ins dropped? Our bounce rate climbed again..." Sigh, worry, fret, fret, fret...

The fitness approach sounds like this: "It's been 10 days since our last blog post, we have to post more regularly - let's put something up this Tuesday and again on Thursday. Where's our SEO score card? I think we dropped back a few places on two of our keywords and it looks like we're back at #1 again for 'Poughkeepsie laundromat' - woo hoo! We need to load some fresh tweets to drive more traffic to our free report because it looks like opt-ins are dropping..."

DANGER: The fit get fitter. And the autopsy people are dead on the table. 

Where do your website stats stand today?

Please leave your insights, advice and recommendations in the COMMENTS section below...

Keywords: Marketing coach, small business marketing coach

I am leading an ExecSense webinar on “How to Get Published as CEO of a VC-Funded Company and How to Make it Work Towards Your Company's Success” on Friday September 28th.

Shhhh... it's NOT just for venture-backed CEOs. It's for YOU!

What we'll talk about:

One of my marketing coaching clients asked me last week, "David, are there rules for writing copy? I've written a ton of material about what we do and I never know what's going to work..."

This is like asking, "Are there rules for romance?" YES, as a matter of fact there are. Check out http://1001waystoberomantic.com/

Are there rules for writing marketing copy? Hell yes. My go-to guy on this is the incredible Bob Bly. Check out http://bly.com/

And the best book on the subject is The Copywriter's Handbook.

But I'll do you one better - you don't even need to buy a book.

Here are 17 rough and ready rules that will make you a better copywriter in 10 minutes or less.

Zero guarantee of completeness. Your mileage may vary. Proceed at your own risk...

1. Write like you speak.

2. Speak like a person, not a marketing moron or a sales robot.

3. As you write, ask yourself - if this next sentence is the last thing they read, is it worth writing or do I have something more important they need to know? (You can write a 3-page sales letter this way that will sell like crazy!!)

4. Use short paragraphs.

5. Use action words, not learning words (nobody wants to learn, find out, or get information... they want to BUILD, BOOST, CREATE, INCREASE, SLASH, REDUCE, ELIMINATE)

6. If you start to sound like a late-night infomercial, stop. Ease it back just about 10% - that's where you need to be. 70% substance with 30% sizzle. Articulate your value, your outcomes and your benefits assertively - not aggressively.

7. Take them on a journey - your copy should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

8. The four most powerful words in marketing are:
  a. YOU
  b. YOUR
  c. BECAUSE
  d. SO THAT

9. It is TOTALLY impossible to overuse testimonials and third-party social proof. Do you have 100 written testimonials? Great - find a way to use them. Do you have 50+ video testimonials? Ditto. Do you have two fistfulls of scanned in endorsement letters on letterhead? Post them. (Examples of each are here for you.)

10. Engage, engage, engage... appeal to the senses. Make the experience of working with you as 3-dimensional as you can. What does it smell like? Taste like? What's the overall experience when people walk in to your store? Hire your accounting firm? Bring you in as their architect?

11. What frustrates the hell out of your prospects and clients? Talk about that - show that you understand their heartaches, headaches, pains and frustrations at the deepest levels.

12. Your copy needs to convey TWO and only two ideas:
  a. You know what they are up against
  b. You can fix it

13. Stop selling YOUR crap and start solving THEIR problems. Yes, even before they buy.

14. Call to action is key. What's the very NEXT step you want them to take? Is there a free offer? A bonus gift to download? A free assessment? A no-strings phone consultation?

15. Make sure your call to action is a GIVE and not a GET. An example of a GET is "Click here and a member of our sales team will contact you within 24 hours." Stupidest damn thing I've ever seen. Useless.

16. Show them how to go from ZERO to HERO. Paint the picture of the current gap - the missing piece - the shortfall - the misfires - the problems - the glitches. THEN show them success stories, solutions, fixes, wins PLUS the specific ways that people who bought from you are better off, richer, smarter, happier, sexier - or all five.

17. Your copy should deliver three things at the end - the acronym is giving your prospects a big HUG:
  a. (H)ope - to improve their condition
  b. (U)rgency - to solve their problem
  c. (G)ameplan - to start exploring your solution

You can do this - it's a lot easier than you think. (H)

In fact, if writing copy is a challenge, you may want to join our next SIMPLE MARKETING SUCCESS 10-week program which starts September 26. Early bird savings are still on - but not for much longer! (U)

If a group program is not a fit for you, I totally understand. Let's start with a no-strings, no-BS  Marketing Assessment. We'll talk for 20 minutes and you'll get 2-3 ideas you can use right away to grow your business whether we decide there's a next step or not. (G)

There - you've just been hugged. See what I mean?

What do YOU think? Share YOUR advice and experiences with writing marketing copy for YOUR business in the COMMENTS area below...

Once or twice a month, I get interviewed, featured or quoted by other experts, the news media, or my mom. (Hi Mom!) 

How can you do the same?

You won't get coverage from my mom but you WILL get major media from PRLeads.com like I do. Try it - it's your best deal for public relations bar none.

But that's not the point of this post.

The point of this post is... Balls.

Nerve.

Moxie.

Stepping up and asking for what you want. 

Just like my new friend Damian Niolet did when he asked me for an interview.

Damian could easily have succumbed to negative self-talk like "Oh, this David Newman character is a big deal and he'll never agree to an interview. I'm just a guy studying marketing who has a meager 50 Twitter followers. He's not going to waste his time talking to me..." and so on. 

Good news for Damian - he did not sabotage himself with any such nonsense. 

He asked. I said yes. We did an interview that totally kicked ass and - frankly - was a hell of a lot better than anything I've given to The New York Times, Philadelphia Business Journal (Hi Craig!) or FastCompany.com.

Here's the interview.

Listen online or grab a copy to download. 

Why is this interview valuable to you?

First, because Damian prepared thoughtful questions I've never been asked before. (Like the ethical code of marketing? Or how marketing affects our society? Wow... nice!) So the content will help you market smarter and generate more leads, better prospects and bigger sales. 

Secondly, this interview shows you how YOU may want to use interviewing as a marketing strategy yourself. Either purely for research OR to build relationships with your prospects and colleagues OR as a content development strategy to enrich your blog and establish yourself as an authority in your field. 

For your reference - and to make it easier to follow along if you listen in - here is the list of 15 questions Damian prepared for our conversation...

See if YOU can develop a list of smart, detailed and occasionally surprising questions like these for YOUR next interview: 

1. Can you provide a brief overview of your experience, to include education?  (Leading up to your marketing experience, unless you knew from the start you wanted to work in marketing, in which case you can speak to your experience working for other marketing firms)
2. What drove you to enter the world of marketing? (Your passion for marketing; Leading up to starting Do It! Marketing)
3. What drove you to start up Do It! Marketing? (Why and when)
4. What was the most difficult part of the start-up process? (How)
5. Did you have a marketing strategy from the start?  How did it evolve?
6. What is your view/opinion of how marketing has changed in the last 15-20 years?
7. Has social networking always been a big part of your strategy? (Dependent on when Do It! Marketing was founded)
8. What is the very first bit of advice you’d give to a client to get them started?
9. What is the very most important bit of advice you’d give to a client for whom you are building a marketing strategy?
10. What would you say to those who suggest that using social networks in a passive mode (as a conversation tool only) is time wasted because it does not necessarily focus on leads?
11. Is there a medium, other than social networks, you believe to be invaluable?
12. What company do you believe exemplifies marketing at its best?
13. Is there an ethical code within marketing?  Is this code debatable? 
14. The manner in which marketing is practice undoubtedly influences society at large.  Do you believe the marketing practices in America over the last 50+ years have had a positive or negative impact on society?
15. What will marketing look like in the future?  Are there near-term changes we can expect?  Is there another revolution on the distant horizon?

Catch up with the rest of Damian's blog and keep your eye on this guy. He's gonna do BIG things. 

p.s. We still have a few open spaces for the Simple Marketing Success 10-Week Virtual Bootcamp experience. The program is open by application only. Let me know you're interested (email or call me 610.716.5984) and I'll forward you the application materials and program guidelines right away. We start the program September 26, 2012.

I love business books.

It's a bit of an addiction really.

Some are good, some are so-so, and once in a while a great one comes along.

This is about a great one - Rules of the Hunt by Michael Dalton Johnson. Michael is the founder, publisher and editor of SalesDog.com which is THE go-to resource online for salespeople, sales management and sales success.

Let's cut to the chase and get you fully up to speed - first a video book review, then an in-depth 35-minute audio interview with Michael. (The audio also contains "The Magic Email" that was a featured story a few weeks ago in the SalesDog.com newsletter. It has a 100% success rate to get you back in touch with prospects who have gone dark on you. You'll love it!)

Here's my video book review:

And then I invited Michael to chat with me about some of the key ideas in the book.

Listen in here.

NOTE: The audio will take a minute or two to load in your browser. If you prefer, you can download the digital audio file: RIGHT-click on this link and choose "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." or "Save File As..." and save the file to your desktop.

Here's to closing out your week with MORE Leads, BETTER Prospects and BIGGER Sales.

WOOF!!!