Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

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:

Marketing Concept: Your home page is your calling card. 

Question: Are you communicating everything that you need to on that all-important home page to get people engaged with you and your products and services? 

Let's back up one step. Before you can answer that question, a better marketing concept to explore is the key question: 

What IS the main purpose of your home page? 

Multiple choice answers for you to choose from: 

a. To create a cosmetically appealing "cover page" for the rest of your site

b. To concisely summarize all your product and service offerings

c. To showcase your primary offering that you want to highlight (your flagship product, current promotion, etc.)

d. To create an easy-to-navigate roadmap with multiple ways to access the key pages of your site

e. None of the above

And the answer is... 

Wait for it...

Hang on... 

Alright, you win - it's e. None of the above.

Why? Because the main purpose of your home page is to convey two (and only two) key marketing concepts:

1. We know what you (the prospect, reader, website visitor) are going through.

2. We can help.

Here are 12 home page must-haves according to our partners over at Hubspot: 

What do you think? Please share your insights in the COMMENTS section below and..

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The ad above first appeared in Business Week in 1958 – yes that’s right over 50 years ago! The moral of the ad’s story was relevant then and it is even more relevant today: build relationships before you sell.

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

If you're investing in "Trusted Advisor 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 the completely WRONG question to ask.

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. 

We interrupt with a brief metaphor... Asking when trusted advisor 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

The next thing you're going to tell me is that you don't NEED "trusted advisor 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 17 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 marketing messages, positioning, content, resources, and value that will make my advocates LOOK BETTER - not worse - for referring me? 

Insight #3 Trusted Advisor 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 "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 "trusted advisor" 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 trusted advisor 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 Trusted Advisor 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. 

Trusted Advisor 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... 

Marketing used to be about “getting in front of” prospects, delivering your pitch, and making the sale.

Today, buyers increasingly distrust marketing “claims” and expect businesses to show, not tell, when demonstrating their products and services. They shun self-serving salespeople and seek businesses that focus on making a difference, not getting a sale. 

Thought leadership centers on earning trust and credibility. Thought leaders get noticed by offering something different—information, insights, and ideas, for instance.

Thought leadership positions you and your company as an industry authority, resource and trusted advisor—by establishing your reputation as a major contributor to your industry.  The exposure you and your organization will receive by focusing on thought leadership in the industry will earn your prospects' trust and credibility AND strengthen your relationships with your current customers.

(For another take on Thought Leadership Marketing, check out Jose Palomino's blog post here)

5 reasons thought leadership marketing really matters for B2B. 

1. Because Prospects Want Your Perspective, Not Your Product

As Jeff Ernst of Forrester Research puts it, “Business buyers don’t “buy” your product or service, they “buy into” your perspective and approach to solving their problems.” 

In other words, your myopic obsession with your individual product or service is a turnoff.

Thought leaders take part in conversations that are bigger than the little niche of the market they represent. You want to show you understand their whole world, not just what your product can do for them. 

2. Because the Sales Process Starts Early and Ends Late

Buyers are out to solve a problem, not a buy a solution. That process starts long before the active buying process does, Ernst notes. And the actual time to investigating the problem to searching out solutions can take months to years. 

Thought leadership helps you get in early, developing a conversation and building relationship with the buyer. This keeps you front-of-mind when you enter that mid-stage and late-stage period of the sales cycle. 

3. Because Your Buyers Use Google

These days people don’t expect to scour your website. They turn to peers on LinkedIn and Twitter, Q&A sites like Focus and Quora, and, more often than not, Google. 

You need to go where your ideal audience is. Once you’re there, your thought leadership content is one of the best ways to get their attention. Google is putting greater focus on identifying content that delivers real value.

Thought leadership is your key to getting found and spread around. 

4. Because Thought Leadership Needs Content, and Content Feeds Social Strategy and Demand Generation

B2B marketing today usually involves a mix of social marketing and demand generation. Both of these require content – compelling content.

The market has a short attention span, which means it’s on you to develop thought leadership that differentiates you from the crowd and gets you heard through the noise. 

5. Because Trust Still Matters

Cynics will tell you that trust doesn’t mean anything in today’s ad-saturated business climate.

They’re wrong, particularly when it comes to B2B marketing. 

It’s imperative that you build conversations that build trust over time, Ernst says. In B2B, where the purchase decisions get more involved and expensive, buyers want to work with brands they know they can trust.

Demonstrating thought leadership implicitly demonstrates you’re a company that can be trusted. 

Adapted in part from Jesse Noyes at Eloqua and Jeff Ernst, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

What does thought leadership mean for you? What strategies have you picked up to become a leader in your industry? Leave a comment and... 

As a marketing speaker and marketing coach, my clients often ask me to critique their Professional Bio.

Whether YOU are a professional speaker, consultant, coach, author, or professional services firm owner - your Bio is one of your most powerful marketing tools that will make or break your future clients' perception of your expertise.

Writing an effective, attractive and client-magnet bio is hard.

Here's what you must NOT do:

• Be boring
• List achievements and awards out of context
• Brag
• Come across as a corporate stuffed shirt or pompous twit
• Trot out a bunch of acronyms, jargon and consultant-speak
• Preach
• Tell us about your awesome vacations, Harley collection, adorable kids, and scuba diving prowess

Without further ado, let me present a Professional Bio I recently came across from a consultant with the Tom Peters Company in the UK that I found quite impressive and that you might consider modeling into your own. My comments are numbered and explained below:

Like you,(1) leadership expert and business author(2) Robert Thompson has seen the word leadership defined numerous ways over the years. Is it charisma and positive thinking? Pinstripes and red power ties? Decisiveness? Is it all about the situation? Is it meant only for the chosen few who rise to the top? Or, is there a different story?(3)

With over three decades of executive coaching, speaking, and most importantly, real-life, in-the-trenches business experience, his view is radically different.(4) Robert appreciates, and shares with listeners, that leadership is a moment-to-moment choice and not about title, tenure or position. Leadership is for everyone, everyday. It's how we should live our life.(5)

Robert, sometimes referred to as the “Provocateur” for his ability to stir up a group(6) or as the “People Whisperer” for his coaching skill that brings out the best in people, is known for his practical, street-savvy style; Robert's fusion of real-life stories and his conversational techniques connect with his audience at an intimate, intense and individual level.(7)

Robert has served as a senior consultant with the U.S. based Tom Peters Company for several years. He is a Certified Master Facilitator of the The Leadership Challenge Workshop™, and continues to work with the best and brightest in the leadership development field. (8)

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1. The most powerful word in marketing is YOU. Starting the bio with "Like you..." is flat-out brilliant.

2. Label yourself immediately. Prospects need to know your expertise upfront and you get 2 seconds to position yourself. Put "_______ expert" in the first 10 words of your bio.

3. Using engaging questions in your bio is something you've probably never considered - and it WORKS. People judge you MORE on the questions that you ask rather than the statements you make. Add questions to your bio - it's a kickass idea!

4. Buyers are lazy, busy and befuddled. One way to make yourself come across as "different" is simply to claim it! "His view is radically different" works. I also recommend the phrase "Unlike many consultants/ speakers/ fill-in-the blank..." (Ex: "Unlike many marketing coaches, David Newman shows you exactly what to say and how to say it, what to do and how to do it")

5. Philosophy sound bites that serve as a preview of your thinking. Consider these "bullets without the bullets." They share snippets of what you'll share and implement with your future client in a conversational way.

6. Always promote your benefits, not yourself. I'm not crazy about these unattributed third-party references ("known as the Provacateur") but the saving grace is that they are framed in terms of benefit to the audience/client. This could be stronger if it said "The Financial Times called him 'the CEO's secret weapon'"

7. Love the fusion concept. It says subconsciously to your buyer - "hire this guy and you'll get the best of both worlds." It's also an implied differentiator. What are you a fusion of? And the masterstroke is that the fusion is also framed as a benefit to the audience.

8. He works with the "best and brightest" so YOU, Ms. Prospect, must be pretty sharp if you hire him. This implied compliment gets buyers to WANT to qualify to work with you. Nothing like a little ego boost for your reader as they cruise through your bio. This signals - again subconsciously - "I'm making a good decision."

9. Claim authorship. Calling his talks "conversations" is also a brilliant differentiator.

10. Name names. Client names are powerful. I do NOT like "His successes include" simply because it sounds like he's taking credit for the success of giant global corporations. A better turn of phrase might have been "Companies such as X, Y, and Z have partnered with Robert when they want outcome 1, 2 and 3." This might also be a great place to put in some testimonial snippets from execs inside these specific companies. Their words carry a lot more weight than his.

11. List your accomplishments in the REAL world. Speakers and experts are not hired for what they know so much as they are hired for what they've DONE. Connect who you are to what you do and your credibility skyrockets.

12. Creme de la creme. Board service and being seen as a leader among your peers implies that you are respected within your field and thus, you must be among the best at what you do.

Use these guidelines to turbo-charge YOUR professional bio right now and you'll thank me later -- DO IT!

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!

This just came across my email inbox from the Soul Purpose Institute and these 14 questions struck me as a powerful marketing concept to help you close out your 2011 and prepare you to launch into your next level of success in the new year.

I'll post some equally powerful questions about your 2012 - tomorrow!

1. What was your biggest triumph?
2. What was the smartest decision you made?
3. What one word best summarizes your 2011 experience?
4. What was the greatest lesson you learned?
5. What was the most loving service you performed?
6. What is your biggest piece of unfinished business?
7. What are you most happy about completing?
8. Who were the three people that had the greatest impact on your life in 2011?
9. What was the biggest risk you took?
10. What was your biggest surprise?
11. What important relationship improved the most?
12. What compliment would you liked to have received?
13. What compliment would you liked to have given?
14. What else do you need to do or say to be complete this year?

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Ready to launch your speaking, consulting, or solo professional practice into its next level of success? You'll get 30 days of specific tools, tactics, templates AND the structured day-by-day guided implementation to remove the overwhelm and make it "paint-by-numbers easy" -- Details are waiting for you here: http://www.SpeakerLiftoff.com

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Got 2011 thoughts and reflections to share? Use the COMMENTS area below and...

Marketing Concept: Viral is for morons. In general, this is true - and with professional services marketing in particular, it is VERY true. 

How many times have you heard professional services marketing ideas like:

• We'll make a funny YouTube video ...and it'll go viral!
• We'll post a really controversial/ snarky/ edgy blog ...and it'll go viral!
• We'll create a really cool ebook ...and it'll go viral!

The Ugly Truth About Viral Marketing

So... What do you think? Use the COMMENTS area below and...

Marketing Mix: Book Review of "PAID TO SPEAK" published by the National Speakers Association

PAID TO SPEAK is a virtual MBA in the business of speaking. From marketing to positioning to product development to platform skills, it's ALL in here. Well-organized, tightly edited, and with a logical flow from one part of the business to another, PAID TO SPEAK is also unique in that it tells it like it is. No sugar-coating. And no trying to fleece opportunity-seekers into believing the speaking business is a fast, easy, and glamorous way to make money. [It is NONE of the three!] 

Speaking professionally today is about thought-leadership, adding value to corporate, association, and entrepreneurial sectors, and understanding all the different ways that audiences and buyers want to access, use, and deploy your expertise. The book spans a wide range of business models, distribution methods, and revenue models. As it should - to reflect the current reality of many successful speakers (very few of whom have business models that look anything alike!) 

The key value in buying a copy of PAID TO SPEAK, dog-earing it, highlighting it, and taking notes in the margins... is that you will emerge from the experience with a wealth of information, some clear decisions to make, and a game plan to put it all together in a style and manner that suits your personality, your strengths, and your preferences. This is no "one size fits all" template for "THE" way to become successful. There are MANY paths up the mountain - and PAID TO SPEAK should be your personal handbook, guide, and reference to get you there miles ahead of the competition! 

Every consultant, expert, and professional services firm leader needs to establish their thought-leadership in order to stand out from the crowd and be heard above the noise. 

There's no room for the "Same-O Lame-O" dry boring MBA PhD guru guy or gal. Their days are over and their influence and impact are declining... daily... and dramatically. 

So that means that every day you wait to claim your place among the thought-leaders in your industry and in front of your target buyers, you're losing time AND money. 

Don't let that happen to you.

The good news is that independent research with over 200 buyers of professional services shows that at any given moment, between 52%-72% of them are willing to change professional services providers.

Across all service areas, more than 50% of purchasers could be considered Switchers, open to changing providers, ranging from 52% Switchers for Legal Services to 72% Switchers for Management Consulting. ("How Clients Buy" 2009-10 survey)

Additional research from the Wellesley Hills Group entitled "What's Working in Professional Services Lead Generation" surveyed over 700 firms and showed that the #1 source of leads is "Warm Calls to Existing Clients" - No surprise there. If you're great at what you do, the old adage applies - "your business comes from your business." 

The #1 source of NEW leads for NEW business for professional services firms, however, may surprise you: it is "Speaking at conferences, trade shows and seminars."

Put these two pieces of research together and the dramatic discovery you'll make is... 

You're never more than one good presentation away from generating new clients and new revenue.

So the question is... How successful are you at the #1 strategy of lead-generating speaking to drive credibility, visibility and revenue in your professional services practice? 

And do you do it "once in a while" with mixed results or has your professional services firm nailed down a process, a speaking "system" and a targeting methodology that consistently puts you in front of the right groups in the right rooms with the right people to say the right things in the right ways to reliably generate new revenue for your firm?

If yes, great - welcome to the 1% club. If not, we should talk. Call me at (610) 716-5984 or drop me an email (david@doitmarketing.com) and let's have a conversation about how you can do a better job of generating more leads, better clients and bigger revenues every time you stand up to speak. 

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!

Marketing Concept: Headlines eh? Doncha love ’em.
Guest post by Andy Maslen

Most copywriters, while happy to plough on through dense thickets of body copy, will do almost anything to avoid sweating over the really hard work: the headline. 

Over the years, many copywriters, myself included, have offered up rules, regulations, mnemonics and other helpful guides on the ‘best’ way to write headlines. 

Here’s a summary of some of the more useful ones. 

Michael Masterson 

The ‘4 U’s. 

Your headline should be:    

1. Useful   

2. Unique   

3. Ultra-specific   

4. Urgent 

“How to…” solves the first U. 

If you can’t substitute another business name or product for yours in the headline, you have the second U down 

“Save £34.97’ is more powerful than “Save money” for the third U. 

Using “Now’, “Right away” or a deadline covers the fourth U. 

Sean D’Souza 

Ask a question in your headline. People love being asked questions and can’t help starting to think of the answer. 

Get their curiosity buzzing. We’re hard-wired to solve problems. Ever see a chimp fishing for termites with a leaf mid-rib? 

Focus on the problem, not the solution. “Why should you be the only one in your street with tired, sad-looking windows?” is more powerful than “Acme double glazing makes your windows sparkle”. 

Brian Clark

Brian borrows from the late great Maxwell Sackheim for the classic: Do you make these [number] mistakes in your [activity]. 

You could say… 

Do you make these 7 mistakes in your blog posts? 

Do you make this fatal mistake when pricing your work? 

Do you make these three wealth-destroying mistakes when picking stocks? 

Headline writing IS hard. But it’s also fun. If you’re stuck for ideas, read a book, like the three guys above have done; or read a blog; or Google it; or go back to your product and dig deeper.

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!