Category Archives: Marketing

by | June 15, 2011 · 10:39 am

Learning to breathe

By Gail Z. Martin

I’ve heard a lot lately about being mindful so that one doesn’t spend more time working IN the business than ON the business.  Meaning that it’s possible to get so caught up in the daily grind that we stop doing the things that help our businesses grow.  One of these important, but often overlooked, items is, I believe, taking time to breathe.

Sure, you breathe, or you wouldn’t be alive to read this.  But did you know that most Americans take short, shallow breaths that contribute to the feeling of tenseness and panic?  We rarely stop to take deep breaths, breaths that begin in the belly and then expand through the chest.  We seldom take even a few moments to focus on the act of breathing, feeling the air fill us, and then letting go of the breath in a slow, calm way.

In Tai Chi, as with most martial arts and with disciplines like Yoga, breath is everything.  But you don’t have to be a martial arts master to get a sixty-second vacation by taking a moment out of your hectic, stress-filled day to savor a few calm breaths.

The next time you feel your neck growing tight, your temples beginning to throb and your back starting to clench, take a few moments and breathe.  Close your eyes and pay attention to the rhythm of your breath.  Is it fast and shallow?  If so, slow down your breathing by taking breaths that begin in your abdomen and then fill you all the way through your chest.  Hold it for a second and then try to let it go just as slowly, listening to it rush through the nose.  Even five or six deep, slow breaths make an amazing difference in the perceived stress.  After a few deep, slow breaths, it becomes easier to relax your shoulders, unclench your jaw, relax your lower back.  If your heart is pounding after a distressing phone call or office confrontation, deep, slow breaths can help you bring your mind and body back into a calm, rational state where you can make better decisions and think more clearly.

The next time stress gets to you, put the miracle of breath to work and notice how clear your thoughts become, how much faster you recover, and how much better you feel.

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by | June 1, 2011 · 10:11 am

Who are your market makers?

By Gail Z. Martin

I owe a debt to a friend of mine, Chia-li Chen, for coining the phrase “market makers” (you can listen to her this month on my Shared Dreams podcast at (www.SharedDreamsPodcast.com).  It’s a brilliant phrase, and a brilliant idea.

“Market makers” are the partners who help you reach a wider audience than you would have otherwise been able to meet.  They are the event promoters who invite you to speak at a national conference, the large corporation that  buy a quantity of your book as an incentive prize, or maybe the corporate website that hosts you on a teleseminar for all of their clients.

Who are your market makers?

Sometimes, people stumble into market makers, but most of the time, it’s intentional.  It comes from having a clear idea of who your ideal client is, and where you can find them in clusters.  Market makers also help you accelerate your growth by connecting with you to lots of your ideal prospects, instead of you having to find those prospects one at a time.

How do you know a market maker when you see it?  Think about the companies that serve your ideal clients, who provide complementary—not competing—services, and that are organized enough so that affiliation with them creates scalable growth for you.  What companies would be a great fit for you as a speaker or for your books?   What organizations could hire you over and over again to consult or speak, or provide large orders of product?

Then it’s up to you to network your way in front of decision makers with a great win-win proposal.  When there’s a good match, both sides will clearly see the benefit.

Who are your market makers?

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by | May 25, 2011 · 10:09 am

Carousel of Customer Service

By Gail Z. Martin

We’re big Disney fans in my household, and usually, Disney is synonymous with exceptional customer service.  That’s one of the expectations with a Disney vacation—all of the usual hang-ups and headaches that come with traveling, hotels, etc. just don’t happen when you’re with the Mouse.

We forget that even Disney employees are human, and one of them provided a real case study in customer service on a recent trip.

We were on the Carousel of Progress, a moving theater where the audience’s seats move around a stationary core with an audioanimatronic show.  We had barely gotten started, when a voice came over the loud speaker telling everyone to stay in their seats, that it was not OK to leave the theater.  Now on this ride, there are four audience sections that are divided so they can’t see each other.  No one in our section had moved.  We’d been yelled at, but no one knew why.

The ride stared up again, but a few minutes later, the same voice came one again.  It was uncomfortably loud, and he was telling everyone to get back in their seats and sit down in a voice that was more first-grade teacher than entertainment employee. No one in our section had moved, so we were looking at each other wondering what was going on.  This time, we had to sit through one part of the show twice because apparently, someone somewhere was misbehaving.

This kept happening until it got to the point where the guy on the PA system was totally strung out, shouting at adults to get back in their seats, threatening all kinds of things if everyone didn’t listen.  Now, people in our section (who hadn’t gotten to see any of the show uninterrupted) were getting up to leave.  Kids were crying because the announcements were painfully loud.

What went wrong?  For one thing, the guy on the PA didn’t make it clear up front that this attraction was different from all the other Disney theaters, where the live host actually invites people who have to leave to just quietly find an exit.  Because the audience section moved, having people leave caused a safety problem, but first-time guests wouldn’t know that.

Secondly, the host forgot that we were his guests, not his subjects, or its kids.  Instead of just stopping and offering to let everyone out who wanted out, he tried to force a largely adult group to stay in their seats like children.  He forgot that it was our vacation, and he was there to make it enjoyable.

And third, he lost his cool—big time.  By the end of it, he was shrieking at us over the PA system like a stressed out parent about to go postal.  He’d gone from ordering us to threatening us, to shouting us into submission.  He forgot that he worked for us.  Our admission tickets paid his salary. But he also tried to control something he couldn’t—the actions of other adults—by force.  Had he explained the safety issue, and given people a chance to leave if they wanted to, odds are that the rest of the show would have gone smoothly.  Instead, it became a show no one will ever forget (and from the line of people who gathered afterwards and demanded to see his supervisor, I don’t think he’ll forget it either).

The moral of the story—lead, don’t force, and always remember to serve your customer

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by | May 18, 2011 · 10:07 am

Too busy to notice

By Gail Z. Martin

I do a lot of signings in bookstores.  My table is always right up at the door, and I try to greet everyone who comes in with a smile, a free bookmark and a 10 second question to connect with people who like to read my kind of book.

It works well for about 75% of the people who come in.  And the rest?  They’re too busy to notice.  Many of them are talking on their cell phones.  They’re so busy talking to people who aren’t there, they have no time to meet someone who’s standing right in front of them.

Others are in a hurry.  They brush past you without making eye contact like they’re afraid you’re going to spray perfume on them or ask for a buck.  Sometimes, they cut me off before I can finish my “Did you get a bookmark?” question with a curt “Don’t want one.”  How would they know?  They have no idea what I’m offering them  or who I am, or why I’m there.

So what did they miss?  Well, they missed meeting an honest-to-goodness author, which for some people counts as sorta cool.  They missed finding out about a book they or someone they know might have liked.  But they could have missed out on a million dollars, the love of their life, or their next job for all they know, because they were in too much of a hurry to find out what was being offered because they were too busy.

What are you missing out on because you’re too busy to notice?  Flowers in the garden?  Kids who won’t stay the age they are forever?  A spouse who is trying to talk to you?  Neighbors who might turn into friends?  Acquaintances who might become clients?  You’ll never know until you slow down enough to listen.

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by | May 4, 2011 · 10:44 am

In Murder and Marketing, Intent Counts for Everything

By Gail Z. Martin

If you’ve ever watched a detective story on TV, you know that (at least on television), when it comes to murder, it’s not just a matter of figuring out who did the deed, but also determining the intent behind the deed.

That’s one thing that murder and marketing have in common. Intent means everything.

For your marketing to be effective, it’s not just what you do, but why you do it and what effect you mean for your actions to achieve. Too many business owners flail around, wasting time and effort, with a “throw something against the wall and see if it sticks” approach to marketing. They have no clear intent, so the marketing achieves no clear outcome.

You can do better than that.

Sit in a quiet place for 30 minutes with a piece of paper and no distractions. Write down your intentions for your business this year. Begin each sentence with “I intend”. Your intentions can be to hit a revenue goal, enter a new market, hire staff, re-work your strategy, move to a new building, gain a specific number of new clients, attract a specific type of new client—it’s up to you, just be specific. Don’t say “I intend to get more clients.” Instead, say “I intend to attract five more ideal clients at the $1000/month level.” See the difference?

On the next day, take another uninterrupted 30 minutes. Review your list of intentions. Now think about how you’ll need to make some changes in your marketing to align your marketing efforts with what’s necessary to achieve your intentions.

Maybe you’ll need to do more personal networking. Perhaps you’ll need to re-work your schedule to permit for more travel, more time spent finally writing that book you’ve meant to write, etc. Maybe you need to hire a coach to help you gain new skills or revise your strategy. Make sure you state each action as an intention, beginning every sentence with “I intend.” Make it specific, and add a time-frame for each intention.

Creating a killer marketing strategy isn’t hard—if you’re clear about your intention.

If your marketing strategy were against the law, would there be enough evidence of your intentions to convict you? However, there are some marketing strategies that you may consider, like 3D billboard advertising. They offer a unique way to grab the attention of passersby with their eye-catching and immersive designs.

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by | April 27, 2011 · 10:39 am

Clear Vision makes the Difference for Online Marketing

By Gail Z. Martin

What, specifically, is your vision for your online marketing? If you don’t have clear intentions for your online marketing, it probably isn’t working as hard for you as it could.

Online marketing includes your web site, any paid ads you run online such as banner ads or Facebook ads, your presence on blogs and podcasts, online press releases, web videos and audios you’ve created, teleseminars and online events—everything about you on the web.

Does your online presence tell a consistent story? Do all the pieces reinforce your position as an expert? Are you showing yourself in your best light?

In order to have a clear intention for your online marketing, you need to focus on your top business goal and your #1 target audience.

Everything you do should support achieving your top business goal by successfully connecting with your #1 target audience in a way that moves your audience to take strategic action.

What is the action you want your audience to take? Do you want them to move down your sales funnel from free download to expensive consulting product? Do you want them to sign up for an upcoming event? Are you hoping they’ll invite you to speak? It’s OK to want all of those things, but you’ll need a carefully structured online effort to reach multiple audiences with multiple goals.
Start simple. If your #1 target audience did just one thing to make the biggest impact on your bottom line to help you achieve your top goal, what would it be? Once you know, align all of your online marketing efforts toward encouraging your audience to take that single action.

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by | April 20, 2011 · 10:37 am

Does Your Web Site Have 20/20 Vision?

By Gail Z. Martin

Does your web site have a clear focus on communicating with your ideal client, or is your focus a little fuzzy?

Can you see your statement of intention in your web site—its design, content, and wording? If not, your focus is probably fuzzy, and your target audience is probably not getting a clear message.

Start with a clear statement of intention. Who do you want to attract to your web site? What do you want them to do when they reach your site? What impression of you do you want them to carry away? How often do you want them to return?

When your intentions for your web site are clear in your own mind, you can view your site with fresh focus and new eyes. Imagine that you are one of your ideal prospects. Look at your home page. What does it say to you? Does it offer value or promise to help you solve your most pressing concern? Are there no-risk ways to get to know the expert (you) better—such as a free downloadable article or ebook? What is on the site that will improve your (the prospect’s) life?

Now that you’ve had a chance to take a 20/20 look at your web site with fresh eyes and clear intentions, what changes will you make?

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by | April 4, 2011 · 10:00 am

Your Calling Card

by Jacqueline Wales

If you’re an author, why build a website? Well simply put, it’s your calling card. The place you want people to come to read your excerpts, to interact with you, and to build your credibility. But not just any website. You want it to reflect you. Your voice, your spirit, your message.

You’ve just spent months, maybe even years, to write and develop your book. Bookstores unfortunately, are turning into Dodos, and Amazon rules the waves! That means it’s up to you to drive traffic to your book. But it’s not enough just to have a website, you have to do what you can to make sure people visit. You need to start connecting to other blogs and websites to raise your visibility. Write articles, discuss your book, share the content, comment on other people’s books, blogs and build your network of other writers and readers.

Selling books is a business. Your business is to make sure you reach out to as many people as possible so they know you exist. When people come to your site, get them to opt-in and subscribe to your list, and in return give them an excerpt from your book, or some other content that is perceived as value.

There are millions of online resources and websites dedicated to writers. Seek them out and emulate the author websites you admire. Successful authors carefully and strategically build their campaign for exposure. That’s why having a website is essential to success.

Jacqueline Wales is the author of The Fearless Factor and When The Crow Sings. Both available on Amazon, and from the author at https://www.thefearlessfactor.com She invites you to visit and download an excerpt from The Fearless Factor.

You can listen to the audio from when Jacqueline was a guest of Blog Host, Gail Z. Martin’s Shared Dreams podcast here: https://www.audioacrobat.com/play/W6Yqm3yX

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by | March 28, 2011 · 10:00 am

Use Article Writing to Be Recognized as An Expert and Attract Clients

By Caterina Rando, M.A., MCC

In today’s marketplace, any potential client can go online, type in two or three keywords, into a search engine and immediately review a lifetime supply of vendors anxious to fill their requests. So how do you standout in a crowded marketplace? By using writing, speaking, video and other ways of getting your message out there. Let’s focus her on how to get content for writing articles to grow your business.

Write Your Way to More Success

Writing about your area of expertise is a highly effectively draw new clients and opportunities to you. All you have to do is sit down and write. Writing is a valuable marketing tool because people keep information. You may be called by potential clients weeks, months or even years after an article sees print because they kept the article you wrote. Write about the topics and issues that answer the challenges your potential clients have and watch your phone begin to ring. Next are a few tips for using writing effectively to build your business.

  • Pay attention to your clients. Listen to questions your clients ask and identify the issues they want addressed. What challenges are your clients having? What challenges are plaguing the industry? What innovations are you hearing about? These are all great things to write about. Keep a list, and when you are ready to write, review it for ideas.
  • Start with quick tips. Start by writing a helpful list of something that you know about but your clients might not. I call these “quick tip sheets.” A couple examples are “Twenty Quick Tips to Organize Your Office” or “10 Ways to Feel Better in Five Days.”
  • Turn It into an article. To turn a quick tip sheet into an article, write an explanation or an example beneath each quick tip. Add an opening paragraph that states what problem your article solves, then add a paragraph at the bottom that tells the reader to apply what they have read–and you have a completed article.
  • Add a benefit-focused title. Do not try to be too clever with your titles. Just tell the reader what to expect from reading your article. “Secrets,” “strategies,” “solutions” are all good words to include in a title For example, “Seven Secrets to Look Ten Years Younger” or “Ten Often Overlooked Solutions for Saving Money.”
  • Remember the resource box. The most important part of the article is the resource box at the bottom where you say who you are, what you do and how people can contact you. Include a compelling reason for them to connect with you. For example, have them go to your website to download your free copy of an e-book or listen to your podcast with more tips.
  • Edit it. Have a professional editor review your articles once they are written. You want to be confident everything you send out is accurate.
  • Use articles over and over. Once you write an article or a quick tip sheet, use it again. Send it to other publications that might be interested in it, members of the media, email it to current clients and potential clients with a cover letter that says, “In case you missed my article in XYZ publication, here is a copy for you.” Of course post your articles on your website, post a link to those articles on your social networking sites and post all or part of your articles on your blog depending on length.

Marketing your business and establishing your expertise go hand-in-hand. People want to do business with the best, and you can use tele-classes, podcasts, speaking and writing to tell the world you are the best. Choose one of these four tools that you not currently using to start with and make it part of your marketing plan and watch your success soar.

This blog post is adapted from Incredible Business, from Thrive Publishing™ 2010, https://www.incrediblebusinessbook.com

Caterina Rando shows entrepreneurs how to build thriving businesses. She is a sought after speaker, expert building strategist and publisher and co-author of Incredible Business. To get your free e-book on Twenty Ways to Grow Your Business with Ease visit www.caterinarando.com. To find out about getting published visit www.thrivebooks.com.

You can listen to the audio from when Caterina was a guest of Blog Host, Gail Z. Martin’s Shared Dreams podcast here: https://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WsjCHL8X

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by | March 24, 2011 · 4:06 pm

Building trust through C’s

By Sheryl Eldene, MA, MBA

As we all prepare our plans for second quarter, I thought this might be a good time to think about the essence of personal marketing.  Since marketing is about relationship, here are eight key areas to think about as you build trust into those relationships:
What are the top three character traits you look for to build trust in business relationships?

  • Clarity (People trust the clear and mistrust the ambiguous)
  • Compassion (People put faith in those who care beyond themselves)
  • Character (People notice those who do what is right over what is easy)
  • Competency (People have confidence in those who stay fresh, relevant and capable)
  • Commitment (People believe in those who stand through adversity)
  • Connection (People want to follow, buy from, and be around friends)
  • Contribution (People immediately respond to results)
  • Consistency (People love to see the little things done consistently)

Happy Spring to you all as you set those intentions for Spring.  Let us know what characteristics are important to you….

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