Archive for the ‘guerilla marketing ideas’ Category

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The Changing Role of Scarcity

Thursday, November 10th, 2011


I’m fascinated with the choices that are available to us about virtually everything.

When I was growing up there was NBC, CBS, ABC, plus 2 UHF channels, and a really grainy channel that, if the wind was blowing right, we could pick it up from New Hampshire.

I looked at my AT&T U-Verse choices yesterday, and discovered that not only do I have access to over 500 channels, I can now choose among 57 channels that exclusively program in Spanish and 13 in Japanese.

As a kid I loved to visit the Concord Bookshop. They carried a choice of maybe 2000 books. If I wanted an out-of-print book, I was out of luck.

Today, virtually any book ever printed is available through some bookseller via Amazon. And never mind that it used to be that if you wanted a book published you had to get accepted by one of 12 publishers. Now anyone can get published through resources such as Lightning Source. With e-books now having reached the tipping point, and all books accepted on Amazon, the shear volume of books available is almost beyond comprehension.

If I want a time management program for home-based entrepreneurs, I can choose among several.

If I want sales training for nutritional MLM entrepreneurs, there are multiple choices.

If I want to learn how to more effectively interview pharmaceutical reps, there are multiple vendors vying for my business.

In other words…scarcity doesn’t exist anymore.

Except for one thing.

As Seth Godin recently pointed out, the only thing that’s scarce is attention.

When there are numerous choices for virtually any need, how do we get people to choose us?

Two thoughts.

The days of mass marketing are over. Even my former employers in the consumer goods industry (Pepsi & Kraft Foods) largely recognize this, and are increasingly targeting their messages to the young, the old, different ethnic groups, specific types of activities…the segmentation goes on and on.

Micro-niche marketing is everything. Unfortunately this message is often lost of new entrepreneurs and small business owners for the obvious reason. “But, I might miss someone if I niche market.”

The reality is that when your message attempts to appeal to everyone, it appeals to no-one. This is a hard learned lesson for many (myself included).

Second thought. Your message needs to stand out. It needs to fall into the sweet space between boring blather and “sky is falling” hyperbole. This is where mental heavy lifting comes to play.

What’s deceiving is that the end result-the ultimate marketing message-often seems so simple. Perhaps it’s just a few words such as “How to get consistent streams of brand new clients with no cold calling or hard selling.” Yet when you examine this in more detail, you notice that the word “consistent” is crucial, since avoiding feast-or-famine business cycles is a main concern for this particular audience. “Cold calling” also is carefully selected, since that’s the default method by which this niche trolls for new business. Although they may profess otherwise, in reality most everyone hates “smiling & dialing”.

The words “Hard selling” are also carefully selected. This niche views themselves as professionals and experts, and recoils from anything that is overtly salesy.

Thus the simple phrase, “How to get consistent streams of brand new clients with no cold calling or hard selling.”, is actually the result of many hours of thinking about a particular niche; their needs, hopes, wants and desires.

Why is this important?

Because the only thing that’s scarce in this day and age, is getting (and keeping) attention.

Food for thought
Mark
Want some assistance in developing your message? Information is HERE

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A Quick Story

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011


Let me tell you a quick story. Maybe it will help you persuade more people to do business with you.

The story is about a guy named Mort. You probably know someone like him. Mid 50’s. Always has that slightly disheveled look. Slouched over bloke-hasn’t stood up completely straight since Clinton was in office. You know the guy. He happens to be in finance, but that’s not important.

Despite all of his best efforts, Mort just couldn’t tell an interesting story to save his life. Sometimes the stories rambled. Sometimes they made no sense what-so-ever. Sometimes-and this was the key culprit-the stories were as boring as a zealot proselytizing about global warming.

The biggest problem with Mort’s stories was that we just weren’t interested.

*He’d talk about a client who was worried that retirement meant a lower standard of living…So what?

*He’d go on about a couple who were scared to death about outliving their retirement…Big deal.

*He’d blather on about some poor schnook who was afraid he wouldn’t be able to afford medical care…b-o-r-i-in-g.

Now here’s the thing…the problem with Mort’s stories are not the issues these people face. Those are real, and lots of people are worried about them.

The problem is, we don’t care about the people in Mort’s stories.

And that’s an important point if you want to tell good stories. Your audience needs to be a bit emotionally invested in what happens to the characters.

So how do we create good characters? One of the easiest ways is by fleshing them out before starting to talk about the problems they face.

Here’s how.

When I told you the story about Mort, wasn’t it easy for you to picture him in your mind? Why was that?

First, I gave him an interesting name. Sometimes a name-like Mort-conjures up an image of a certain type of person. (Which is why you don’t run across too many suave debonair super-spies named Tristen.)

Second, I gave you some quick physical characteristics about Mort. I only used 20 words to describe him, but those were 20 important words.

If you’re going to care about my story, you first have to care about my characters. That’s why before you tell your story, think about how you’re going to describe the characters to your audience. Unfortunately we often don’t pay attention to that, and as a result, tell stories like Mort.

Good food for thought
Mark
Learn more about how to engage your audience by telling great stories in my latest book, Unique Sales Stories. Now available on Kindle and in traditional old-school paperback. Get it at Amazon HERE

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How To Get Your Messages Heard

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011


Let’s face it, the world is noisy. Lots of people trying to get the attention of the prospects that you want. Lots of noise.

So why does one message get heard and others ignored? Here’s a thought that I think will be helpful.

There’s an old saying in marketing that you want to enter the conversation that’s already going on in your prospect’s head.

The trick to doing this is that we really have to know our prospect-what their hopes, fears, dreams and ambitions are. Even though we may be sending our message out to hundreds or even thousands, we want the tone and content to be the same as if we were intimately writing to a single individual.

Thus, the more we can put ourselves in the proverbial shoes of our prospect, the more effective we’ll be at writing these types of messages. Here’s an exercise that I found helpful and I thought I’d pass along to you.

Take the time to give the following question some good thinking…from the perspective of your ideal client.

• John (or Jane) is my ideal prospect. He/She is __years old. His/Her three biggest frustrations are ___, ___ and ___. He/She is afraid of ___. Sometimes he/she even wakes up in the middle of the night worrying about___.

• If he/she could snap his fingers and make three specific outcomes happen immediately, he/she would want the following three things to happen:

• His/Her biggest concern about hiring an advisor to solve this problem is ___.

• When he goes to the Internet to find a solution to this problem, he’ll usually enter keywords into Google such as ___, ___, and ___.

• If he is going to do business with me, he needs to believe 1___, 2___, and 3___.

• The myth he believes (which I will shatter) is ___.

• The biggest reasons he would not buy from me would probably be 1___, 2___, and 3___.

• Right now he gets most of information about my topic from centers of influence such as 1___, 2___, and 3___.

• In trying to solve his problem, he’s not able to___.

• The perfect way to help him overcome his biggest frustration would be to ______.

Taking the time to answer these questions will enable you to write your messages with an intimate voice that will greatly increase the likelihood that they’ll be read.

Good food for thought

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The Illusion of Expertise

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011


Many successful consultants, advisors and small business owners are in enamored with the concept that they will achieve success merely by being good at what they do.

However, outside of academia, and for a few elite others who fate has shined a kind eye on, expecting the world to beat a path to your door is a losing proposition.

I recognize that in an ideal world, you’d just like clients to magically appear so that you could focus on the work you most enjoy. Which is why the marketing siren’s call of “we’ll do it all for you” is so alluring.

But here’s the reality.

As the CEO you also bought (perhaps unwittingly) the role of CMO (Chief Marketing Officer).

And the sad but true reality is that you can only delegate those responsibilities after you’ve mastered them.

So the question becomes…how are you going to get up to speed?

Here’s one option

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How To Be Unique

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011


Let’s face it, there are a lot of “you” out there.

Lots of advisors, consultants, HR experts, small business owners, butchers, bakers, candlestick makers…

Obviously, what we need to do is stand out amid the sea of competition-all of whom look pretty much like us. So here’s an idea.

*What if you became known as the financial advisor who specializes in ranchers? Or…

*The time management expert who specializes in helping insurance agents get more done during the day? Or…

*The HR consultant who works with software companies on helping them identify and develop high-potential employees.

And…suppose you wrote a relatively short (700-3000) word article that expressed your opinion about what ranchers or insurance agents or software companies were doing right & wrong when it comes to your area of expertise?

And suppose you created a simple one page website that promoted the availability of that article?

And then…you ran some inexpensive ads, did some publicity, used social media, created a YouTube video, spoke at the relevant association events, held some webinars or teleconferences…to promote your expertise.

Would you still be viewed as just another advisor, consultant, HR expert, butcher, baker, candlestick maker…?

I don’t think so.

In fact, I think you’d be perceived as an expert by your target market. (In fact you could then do the exact same exercise for a different niche market: ie the financial advisor who specializes in stamp collectors, the HR advisor who works with insurance companies, the time management expert who works with realtors…)

Certainly some good food for thought.
Mark
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What Do You Read?

Monday, October 31st, 2011


OK…you’ve promoted your free offer and now have a list of subscribers. The question now becomes, “How do I come up with topics to write about?”

That’s an important question since “staying in touch with your subscribers” is arguably the most important part of the whole marketing strategy. Somewhat ironically, it’s also the part that people tend to give the least amount of attention to.

If the swing-thought is to simply send people “stuff”, it’s not terribly surprising if no-one actually reads it. And if no one reads your stuff, it’s sort of difficult to develop a relationship with your subscribers.

So back to the original question, “What to write about?”

My personal belief is that the more your reading tastes are eclectic in nature, the easier you’ll find topics to write about.

So let’s start with the newspapers you read. I’m sure there’s the local daily. But what about the Wall Street Journal? You don’t have to be a financial type to get a lot of value from it. In fact, I’d argue that if you’re serious about business, the WSJ ought to be on your reading list every morning.

But let’s not stop there. How about USA Today? For my money, it’s hands-down the best daily newspaper if you want to get up to speed quickly on what’s going on. In fact I only get the Atlanta Constitution on the weekends, since USA Today does a much better job of giving me the overview I need about the worlds of Sports, Culture, Current Events and Business. Plus, it’s got the coolest weather map!

But wait…there’s more. Since I do most of my writing in the mornings, this next daily read has probably given me more great ideas to write about than any other newspaper I get. I’m talking about the Financial Times. I don’t know how much time you’ve spent outside of the USA, but the rest of the world does think differently than we do. Sometimes the differences are subtle, sometimes they’re rather substantial. What’s great about FT is that it makes you think about things differently–and that’s what causes the neurons in the brain to start to fire–which in turn gets your creative juices flowing.

Having an eclectic reading list makes us interesting people. And if we’re interesting people, it’s likely that we’ll write interesting stuff.

Moving on to magazines. Let’s take a look at what’s on the night stand. Egads, the pile is huge! We’ve got Monocle, Financial Advisor, B2B, The Hollywood Reporter, Fortune, Business Week, Steve Harrison’s Reporter Connection, Fast Times, Rolling Stone, INC, The New Yorker…

Now do I actually read all these? Candidly, the answer is, not really. But I do thumb through all of them, and I’d guess I read at least a couple of articles from each.

For those of you who like formulas here’s a great one to jump start your thinking when you find you’ve run out of ideas for what to write about.

I was reading an article in (Name of publication) which got me thinking about how (the topic) relates to (your area of expertise).

I was reading an article in Monocle which got me thinking about how an eclectic reading list can help us come up with ideas for what to write about to stay in touch with our readers.

What’s interesting about this exercise is that it will stretch you creatively, which will make your writing more interesting. Since there’s certainly no shortage of boring-same-old stuff being dumped into our in-boxes, it’s bound to help you break out of the pack.

Try subscribing to one new publication and see what effect it has.

It certainly can’t hurt.

Food for thought
Mark
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Making Boring Stuff Interesting

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011


Nothing glazes over the eyeballs quite like reading an article about Emergency Preparedness, but the folks at the CDC (Center for Disease Control) have figured out a way to turn oh-so-boring into I-want-to-read-that with over 1 million (and counting) page views already.

The secret? Link the boring “Here’s what you need to pack into a preparedness kit”, into a story about how to brace for disaster when the zombies attack. (And you know that’s going to happen any day now-so I’m packing my kit as soon as I’m done here.)

You hear me talk a lot about “mental heavy lifting” and how it’s the most important part of any marketing campaign. Well the CDC’s, Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic is a great example of some mental heaving lifting that results in a cool story around a dull topic.

Want to know what to pack to avoid zombies (as well as prepare for other natural disasters)? The article’s HERE.

Unfortunately most of us are in rather dry businesses. But as Zombie Pandemic illustrates, that doesn’t mean we have to be boring when it comes time to promote our message.

Food for thought
Mark
PS: Unique Sales Stories is now available on Kindle. (Currently at #1!) Get your copy HERE

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Marketing With Information

Friday, October 14th, 2011


Suppose with just a one hour-long effort you could…

*Create a kick-ass free offer that would get prospective clients interested in what you do. And…

*Provide the content for the squeeze page that promotes it. And…

*Create a great video that you could sell for $595? And…

*Create a MP3 audio you could add to the video package and raise the price to $695? And…

*Create a content-rich booklet, you could add to the video and audio package and now price your information product at $795.

Or…you could just give everything away for free and have a monstrously effective lead generation machine.

All with about an hour’s worth of work.

Here’s how.

Rent a room somewhere. Might be at a hotel, or even better, at one of those office suites that are in virtually every city.

Invite some clients or prospective clients to come to hear you speak about your topic. (Maybe you charge/Maybe you don’t.) Try to get at least a dozen people.

Video tape the presentation. (Personally, I’d spend a few bucks to get it done professionally. It doesn’t cost a lot of money.)

Edit down the raw footage. If you use a Mac you can do it yourself using iMovie. I’m sure there’s a comparable program for those still using PCs. This becomes the video component of your information product.

When you do your presentation start off with an overview of what you’re going to be covering. This is the segment that you use on your squeeze page to promote the program.

Pay some kid a few bucks to strip out the audio portion of the video which you can then offer as a separate bonus. A lot of people like to listen to content rather than watch video, so it’s nice option to offer.

Pay a few more bucks to get the audio transcribed and now you’ve got a nice content-rich booklet to offer along with the video and audio.

If you don’t want to create an information product to sell, then just use the video of you doing the introduction as a hook to a free mini-course that offers segments from the rest of the video you shot.

If you line your ducks up in a row, this can basically be done over a weekend. I did a version of this when I created my Gentle Rain Blueprint program. You can see the final result here.

Food for thought
Mark
This free mini-course teaches you how to write a great sales letter.

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Why Do I Recommend You?

Thursday, October 13th, 2011


I recommend you because…

1) You helped me solve a problem.
2) You were easy to work with.
3) You care about my needs.
4) I feel smart when I use your services.
5) Others I respect recommend you.
6) Because you asked me to.
7) Because I like you.

There are undoubtably more.

But, if these are the reasons for why people recommend you, shouldn’t these be what you focus on in your business?

1) Are you the absolute master at what you do, or are you over-relying on yesterday’s solutions to today’s problems?

2) Is it easy to work with you? Have procedures crept into your way of doing business that are frustrating to your clients?

3) How do you demonstrate that you really care about your clients?

4) What experience do your clients have when working with you? Are you a Wegmans or Dick Dirts Discount House of Horrors? (This often overlooked point is especially crucial if you’re focusing on the affluent market or other hard to reach prospective clients.)

5) Are you taking proactive steps to become well known and respected in the niche community your serve?

6) Are you proactive in seeking recommendations and referrals?

7) Is your ongoing communication focused on building relationships and making friends or impressing others with how smart you are? Do you tell great stories about all the aspects of your business?

Good food for thought.
Mark
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Bright Shiny Objects

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011


Ultimately, what most of us sell is…hope.

Hope that my finances will outlive my retirement. Hope that the next person I interview will be able to do the job I need to have done. Hope that the new distribution system will get my products to the customer on time.

Which is why the bright & shiny object syndrome is so insidious.

Maybe…just maybe…this will work.

We see a lot of the bright & shiny object syndrome in marketing.

*You’ve got to be doing Twitter!
*SEO optimization is a necessity!
*Data scraping puts you in front of a gazillion new eyeballs a day!

It’s not hard to understand why so many people just throw up their hands in surrender.

If you want to keep marketing simple and understandable, just remember that a very effective marketing system has two components to it.

1) Get people’s attention. Motivate them to tell you that they’re a prospective client by offering them something of interest for free.

2) Stay in touch. Send them stuff. Focus on making friends and building a relationship-rather than trying to impress them with how smart you are.

That’s all you need to do.

Seriously.

Food for thought
Mark
More about how to do just that.

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