Pop! Stand Out In Any Crowd

August 1, 2007Book ReviewsnetworkingJay

In her latest book, Sam Horn’s describes some great creative business marketing wordplay techniques for getting your product or service to be noticed and stand out from the crowd. Her book is focused on creating a less than 60 second “opening” that will start a dialogue with prospective customers.

“Pop” stands for purposeful, original, and pithy. The wordplay is based around filling out the following “W9 questionnaire”:

W1. What am I offering?

W2. What problem does my idea or offering solve?

W3. Why is it worth trying and buying?

W4. Who is my target audience?

W5. Who am I and what are my credentials?

W6. Who are my competitors and how am I different from them?

W7. What resistance or objections will people have to this?

W8. What is the purpose of my pitch?

W9. When, where, and how do I want people to take action?

The (core) words that you choose to answer these questions are used to help you create a message that is uniquely yours. She gives over twenty different techniques (including rearranging cliches, inventing new words, rhyming, etc.).

Tune In To Video Marketing

August 1, 2007Creative Business Ideas, Products, Publicity, Servicescomputer, videoJay

Is your product or service visually appealing? Do you offer workshops? If so, consider making videos to highlight your business on your website. It’s not as hard (or expensive) as it once was.

Video marketing can range from a clip of a seminar, a tutorial, a demonstration of your services, to a commercial.

Tips:

Your video should fit with your business image and target market.
Know your niche.
Provide something of value (even humor has value). Just like in all marketing, you want people to pass your information around to others in their network.
Ensure that your website’s name is prominently displayed throughout the video. You want people to be able to find your business easily (if they aren’t watching the video on your website).
Offer your video in both low-fidelity and high fidelity options. Lower fidelity takes up less space on the screen (smaller), grainier, and monaural (and is quicker to download).
If you’ll be offering the video for viewing on your website, offer both QuickTime and Windows Media formats.
Allow your videos to be downloaded to your client’s computer (not just viewed in the browser).
Consider uploading the video to free video sites such as YouTube and Google Video.

I’ve recently been involved in two (online) video projects:

The first project was shot using a (unattended) digital camcorder on a tripod. I transferred the raw footage to a Macintosh computer using MediaFork and edited it with iMovie HD. During the editing process, I titled, compressed and reduced the high-definition video in size. Total out-of-pocket expense: $69.99 (iLife). With no marketing budget, on the first day, there were over 500 viewings of videos on YouTube alone. It has generated significant web traffic, inquiries, and sales.

Video #1

The second project was shot on a makeshift set with green screen backdrop (to insert a digital background). It was shot using a professional video camera, a stereo MP3 recorder, and 3 floor lights. Total out-of-pocket expense: over $2000 (set + rentals + camera man + director + editing). This project is still in production.

Video 2

Getting Everything You Can Out Of All You’ve Got

July 1, 2007Book Reviews, Starting OutstrategyJay

Jay Abraham calls himself “America’s Number One Marketing Wizard”. His client list is impressive and in his 25 years he has amassed a lot of knowledge about what works – why – and when.

In this dense book (published in 2000), Jay focuses on using marketing to increase your business revenue. His book starts with a simple formula:

Number of clients * Average Client Sale * Sale Frequency = Total Income

His book then proceeds to show ways to increase the number of clients, increase the average client sale, and/or increase the sale frequency.

The book contains a very useful 50 question list to help you focus your marketing (“Where do my clients come from specifically (demographics)? When I create a new client for my business or profession, who else have I directly created a new client for? Who are my biggest competitors and what do they offer that I do not?”).

While some of Jay’s suggestions require larger budgets to achieve, some of his ideas are quite provocative:

Calculate the lifetime value of a client and spend appropriately to capture new ones.
Better than risk-free guarantees
Create better add-ons – what does your client need before using your product? After? Make it easier to purchase automatically.
Always test your marketing pieces (split-testing, telephone, email, sample, price, etc.) Measure your ROI. Consider split testing.
Creating host-beneficiary relationships
Creating a (detailed) referral system
Regaining inactive clients
Direct mail piece suggestions
Pre-qualifying leads
Telemarketing scripts
Bartering

Each of the chapters is full of case studies and examples that help to explain his principles. Any one of these ideas could produce a wealth of results for your business.

Marketing 103: Branding

July 1, 2007Branding, Creative Business Ideas, Starting OutBranding, strategyJay

(Prerequisite: Marketing 102: Co-marketing and Cross-marketing)

“Branding” is providing a consistent message to your customers. It’s rooted in the combination of your core values and your strategic plan for your company (think of it as your “business persona”). Every time you have an interaction with your (prospective) customers you want to reinforce your brand (by phone, in person, via email, on website, or print). You’re sending a consistent message of why someone would choose to do business with you.

Here are key points I focus on when I create (or review) marketing materials. Each of the points has implications in crafting the branding message.

What are your core values? Your core values identify you to the world, and include: collaboration, cost-sensitivity, diversity, education, efficiency, excellence, flexibility, fun, holistic, innovative, preventive, service, social responsibility, sustainability, and teamwork). There are no right or wrong values – but they must “fit” your business.
What makes you different? Knowing your competition is important to make sure you don’t fall into a “me-too” message. Your materials need to make you stand out.
What’s your plan for 2+ years? Are you planning to focus on one aspect of your business? Planning to change direction or grow? Your marketing materials can help you make the transition smoothly.
Who will be getting this document? Different audiences have different informational needs. The benefit to your services would be different for a potential customer than an investor.
How will the document be delivered? If you’re mailing the material, besides optimizing its size / weight (to save mailing costs), you’ll want to design it so it will be read (and not deemed “junk mail”). If you’re emailing it, you’ll want to likewise ensure it’s not labelled “spam” as well as making it easy for people to read it (plain text, a downloadable PDF, a link to a web page, etc.).
What’s the purpose of the document? Besides Marketing 101 information, you need a “call to action” – a reason for someone to contact you NOW. How you convey your benefits depends on the main purpose of the document: educating (about a problem they didn’t know about), convincing (why you’re the best), enumerating (all the different things you can do), or swaying (from a preconceived notion). Often people try to make one marketing piece “do it all” (very tempting, especially when you’re spending a lot of money on a project).
What other materials do you provide? Your materials should have a consistent look (except during a business makeover) and tone (that reflect your core values).
What are the demographics of your customers? Older people have an easier time reading bigger fonts. Younger people might prefer something “hip”. Men and women process text differently. Different cultures have certain color / graphic taboos.
Will you be excerpting any of this material for use in another format? If so, you’ll want to ensure that your graphics and fonts can work across the formats (for example, you want high-quality graphics for print, but lower-quality graphics for quick-loading web pages).
Have you “tested” the material (or previous materials)? Remember you’re trying to create a dialogue with your customers – you need to listen to what people think to make sure what you’re saying is what they are hearing. You want to attract the right customers.
How will you measure the effectiveness? You need to determine your “ROI” (return on investment).
How often will the same people be receiving it? Will you be rotating a message / offer or sending the same message?

Creative Marketing Signs

June 1, 2007Creative Business Ideas, Publicityadvertising, ideas, signsJay

I love seeing creative signs that underscore a business’s message. Here are a few to get your creative juices flowing:

	LinenLadies.com caught my eye with a great moving billboard. The car is an 1973 Fiat 500 R shrink-wrapped with catchy graphics. The ladybug connects with the business name and immediately starts conversations.
	Dr. Rabin’s mailbox does double duty. One glance is all it takes to get a sense of his business. It also is a great landmark.
	What catches my eye with this sandwich board sign is the clean retro look. The blackboard is also quite functional.
	A 1959 Goggomobil Transporter Pickup shrink-wrapped. The graphics reinforce the company’s product.

Innovation: The Five Disciplines For Creating What Customers Want

June 1, 2007Book Reviewsideas, strategyJay

Curtis Carlson (president/CEO of SRI International) and William Wilmot (director of the Collaboration Institute) share their system for innovating in business. While the book is written for larger corporations, their message translates to all types of businesses.

The book details their five disciplines and provides supporting stories. The authors claim that the chance that you’ll succeed is directly proportional to using all five disciplines simultaneously. Failing to address one of them will doom you to failure.

1. Important Needs. Your product or service must target a customer value (as opposed to a company, shareholder, employee, or public value). A customer’s value = benefits – cost. You can optimize either the benefit or the cost to achieve high value. Likewise, you can compare values using the formula: Value Factor = benefits / cost.

2. Value Creation. You need a value proposition. The value proposition is the core of your “elevator speech”. (NABC = needs + approach + benefits + competition) that addresses:

What is the important customer and market need?
What is the unique approach for addressing this need?
What are the specific benefits per costs that result from this approach?
How are these benefits per costs superior to the competition’s and the alternatives?

3. Innovation Champions. You need people who are passionate and committed. In a small business, this responsibility falls to the owner. One of the challenges in growing your company is finding employees (or partners) who share your “champion-attitude”.

4. Innovation Teams. To innovate, you need collective intelligence. In a corporation, you would have the team all in-house. As a smaller business owner, you’ll need to create your own ad-hoc innovation team in networking, mastermind, or friendship groups.

5. Organizational Alignment. Upper management needs to remove barriers and provide organizational support. This is the advantage of smaller businesses; the organization has a flat hierarchy and people are aware of their fellow team members.

Marketing: Practice What You Preach

June 1, 2007Branding, Creative Business Ideas, Starting OutBrandingJay

Preacher Boy When I meet a professional for the first time, I want to know if they practice what they preach. It’s too easy to tell others to do something. I’m looking for a disconnect between someone’s image and actions.

If there is a discrepancy, I question them to find out more. People will either respond sheepishly “Yeah, I know” or be stunned to think that their image matters. Perhaps I’m more sensitive to this than others, but I want to work with people who are self-aware. I’m not expecting people to be perfect – I just want to ensure they personally know of what they speak.

Marketing is all about a consistent message. How do you answer the phone? How do you respond to emails? What does your website look like? Your brochures? How do you introduce yourself?

When you meet a website designer for the first time… check out their website.

When you meet a search engine optimizer… see how easily you can find their website.

When you meet a graphics designer… inspect their business card.

When you meet a business coach… see how well they listen.

When you meet a marketing person… see how they explain what they do.

When you meet a body worker… see how relaxed they are in their body.

When you meet a realtor… see if they own their own home.

When you meet a teacher… see if they regularly take classes.

When you meet a investor… see if they are personally successful.

When you meet a photographer… see what their picture looks like.

When you meet a customer service professional… see if they use their own products.

When you meet a publisher… see if they wrote a book.

When you meet a gardener… see what their garden looks like.

Next month, I’ll discuss how consistency is important to build your company’s “branding”.

Brag!

May 1, 2007Book Reviews, Starting OutnetworkingJay

While last month’s read (“Networking Magic”) detailed how to approach networking, this month’s book by Peggy Klaus focuses on how to talk about you (and your business). I have followed her advice with great results (including increased confidence).

Bragging is different from boasting. Bragging is highlighting your business (in interesting ways) to build a relationship. Boasting is exaggerating your achievements to elevate your status.

Bragging’s goal is to get you noticed and to open the door for a professional relationship. Every time you talk to a stranger is an opportunity for you to build a connection.

Peggy has a great “Take 12” self-evaluation questionnaire (both in her book and her website). Answering the questions will give you great raw material to build your bragologue (a bragging dialogue).

What would you and others say are five of your personality pluses?
What are the ten most interesting things you have done or that have happened to you?
What do you do for a living and how did you end up doing it?
What do you like/love about your current job/career?
How does your job/career use your skills and talents, and what projects are you working on right now that best showcase them?
What career successes are you most proud of having accomplished (from current position and past jobs)?
What new skills have you learned in the last year?
What obstacles have you overcome to get where you are today, both professionally and personally, and what essential lessons have you learned from some of your mistakes?
What training/education have you completed and what did you gain from those experiences?
What professional organizations are you associated with and in what ways: member, board, treasurer, or the like?
How do you spend your time outside of work, including hobbies, interests, sports, family, and volunteer activities?
In what ways are you making a difference in people’s lives?

The book gives lots of “before” and “after” examples which can help you customize your raw material into an authentic (and interesting) brag.

She ends the book with “Twelve Tooting Tips For Bragging” that are gems:

Be your best, authentic self.
Think about to whom you are tooting.
Say it with meaningful and entertaining stories.
Keep it short and simple.
Talk with me, not at me.
Be able to back up what you say.
Know when to toot.
Turn small talk into big talk.
Keep bragologues and brag bites current and fresh.
Be ready at a moment’s notice.
Have a sense of humor.
Use it all: your eyes, ears, head, and heart.

Marketing 202: Networking Skills

May 1, 2007Creative Business Ideas, Starting OutnetworkingJay

(Prerequisite: Marketing 201: Networking Goals)

You now know your goal for attending an event. If you’re naturally outgoing, then you’re well on your way. But what if you’re shy? Nervous? Insecure? Not a “people-person”?

I never considered myself good at social events until I realized that socializing is a skill that can be authentically learned. You don’t have to fake a personality to succeed, and in fact the only way you can get good at socializing is to develop your strengths. There are some people who are naturally magnetic. If you don’t know your social strengths, ask your friends for their honest evaluation.

Here are some of my networking skill tips:

1. Count Quality, Not Quantity. Some people I know go to events to collect other people’s business cards. They judge their success by how thick their card stack is. How often have you had someone come up to you, hand you their card and say, “Use my services!”, then they repeat this with everyone they see? Rather than playing the “numbers game”, spend time getting to know people in-depth.

2. Be More Interested In Them. People love talking about themselves. Ask people what they do. Why do they do this job? What’s in it for them? Where’s their passion for their job? I personally love hearing about people’s passion – whatever it is.

3. Avoid The Common Questions. “What do you do?” is the common first question people www. People need to get their elevator speech off their chest. Let them. Pay attention. Then ask a question that you ARE interested in. Why? How long? What did you do before?

4. Talk in Specifics. Don’t talk about the weather.

5. Reveal Something About Yourself. You build trust by sharing something about yourself.

6. Find Commonality. If nothing else, you’re both at the same event. Why? Anything you both witnessed?

7. Thank You. A single interaction doesn’t build relationship. Send a “nice meeting you” email. Even better, a hand-written note.

8. Reconnect. When you see someone you met before (even if you don’t remember their name), say, “Hi”. People like to be recognized.

9. Remember Why Are People At The Event. People go to networking events to network. That means that you can potentially go up to anyone at an event and say, “Hi”. Introduce yourself.

10. Look For Other People Not Talking To Anyone. Inserting yourself in someone else’s conversation can be awkward. People are often relieved to have someone talk to them.

11. It’s Networking, Not Dating. Don’t take it personally.

12. It’s Networking, Not Dating. Keep your goals professional. If you’re at an event to get a date, it’ll confuse the person you’re talking with. Are you interested in them or their business?

13. Dress Nicer Than You Normally Do. You’ll feel better about yourself. When you feel better, it’s easier to be friendly.

14. Play The Host. Even if it’s the first time at this sort of event, welcome people. Look them in the eye. Ask them how you can they help. Pass along some tip (the bathrooms are around the corner). Introduce people to each other.

15. Help The Host. Introduce yourself to the host. Tell them why you’re at the event, tell them that who you’d like to meet and why. By being open to introductions, you make the host’s job easier.

15. Pay Attention To Your Energy. You don’t have to be networking all the time. Allow yourself some quiet time. Look around the room. Grab something (small) to eat.

16. Be Careful About Alcohol. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Alcohol may cloud your professional judgment or cause your tongue to slip.

17. Make Eye Contact. Make sure to give the person you’re talking with your complete attention. Besides being polite, it’ll relax the both of you – since they know you’re “there”.

18. Smile. Happy looking people are more approachable.

19. Don’t Take It Personally. Social events can be stressful. Some events are better for you than others.

20. Practice. Think of networking like dating. When you first started dating, you might have been quite awkward. Instead of trying to make the event be a huge success for you, simply try to improve your technique.

The key thing is to be authentic. People can spot fakes easily. Find (or develop) some social skills and get really good at them. You might even find yourself looking forward to attending more networking events.

How do you keep track of your network? One free software solution is Highrise.

Networking Magic

April 1, 2007Book Reviews, Starting OutnetworkingJay

When I started networking, I did it the way most people do: I showed up and hoped to meet people and convince them that they should use my services. It became quickly evident that this doesn’t work (at least not for me).

Networking Magic (by Rick Frishman and Jill Lublin) helped me reframe what networking is, and how to succeed at it. They define networking as the “building and maintaining of relationships”. Therefore to be good at networking, you need to generously give to receive. People who have benefited from your assistance are more likely to reciprocate when you www.

The book describes how to build your own network: both to get information from others as well as to sell your product or services. It describes how to ask for referrals, present yourself, and “work your network”. It’s based around the simple premise that the more you give the more you get (without expectation of getting).

When I now go to networking events and meet someone, I get to know them and find out what business problems they have. My primary goal is to help connect them with someone who might be a great resource for solving their problem. Ideally, the connection would be a person in the same room, so I can make a personal introduction. I’ll often take notes on the back of their business card (or use a spare one of mine if they don’t have a card handy) and follow up with them within a day (with names and contact information). Again, my sincere goal is to help them with their problem.

My secondary goal is to get people to think of me as someone who can help them (building trust). I’ll often follow up with people to ensure that a referral I provided was useful to both sides. If not, I’ll offer other resources. Trust is something that is earned over time. This sort of networking is a long-term process, unlike the vision I initially had of a short-term, “Hi, nice to meet you, here’s my card, want to buy from me?” sales speech.

I personally enjoy connecting people who need something with a person who can provide it (a business “matchmaker”). I love hearing a “thank you” for an introduction that did work.