Marketing may be a four-letter word for you . . .
You're great at what you do, but you just haven't had much
training in marketing.
Or you're stretched to the limit doing your work and
managing the details of your business. It's really hard juggling
everything else and finding time for marketing.
Or you believe you aren't a "salesperson." You're
"not a Rotary or Chamber of Commerce type."
Imagine A Marketing Continuum.
On one end is "Marketing is a Four-Letter word"
and on the other end is "Marketing is Fun." No matter
where you now see yourself on this Marketing Continuum, we wrote
this article to edge you closer to "Fun."
So How Do Marketing Breakthroughs Happen?
And that one question leads to two more...
Are we seeing just one piece in the entire system?
Or
Are we focusing on the critical issues
that can really make a difference?
As we see it, that's where you can really be strategic...use
the limited time you have to do the vital marketing tasks that
can make an immense difference.
"That's the problem," you may protest. Out of the
chaos of choices out there, how can I zero in on the best ideas?
I don't know where to start.
Three Vital Pieces To The Marketing Puzzle
This article reveals our thoughts. So far, we've come up with
three critical pieces to help you gain your desired results.
I. YOU (the marketer)
II. YOUR MARKET
III. Your MARKETING
Notice, we don't dive right in with a glitzy marketing tool
billed as the absolute best solution to all your concerns.
First, there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all marketing
tool.
Second, it's impossible to extract the marketer from his or
her market and marketing.
It's a whole lot easier to catch a marketing idea already
packaged for you and run with it. Seven nicely arranged steps
and all you have to do is to connect the dots from points 1 through
7.
No way around it, though. Even with seven steps handed to
you on a silver platter it's unlikely anything will change unless...
YOU are key, you are the rock-bottom, essential, can't-do-without
ingredient. You're IT -- the energy for any and every marketing
breakthrough.
It comes down to this:
If you are not happy with your marketing, or if you would
like to do better, look within yourself for change.
"The mind is the most powerful device for change
that
exists. We can change our ‘luck' or our financial
situation by altering our thoughts and our feelings."
That doesn't come from a way-out-there, self-help guru, but
successful businessman and television producer Robert Roskind
in his illuminating book "The Spirit of Business."
How You Can Be
The Power Marketer You Want To Be
Arresting ideas can strike when you least expect them.
That happened to us in the hotel elevator during a high-powered
web marketing workshop we attended in September. We were given
a promising, productive path to the YOU part of the marketing
system.
There we made a point to talk with Darryl Rutherford, author
of the book "Being Is the Solution."
Skeptical, we challenged him, "What about our limiting
beliefs? What about all the stuff that's holding us back?"
He smiled and pointed to the words on his business card, "Being
Is the Solution." We remained dubious. But as we prepared
a talk about the "4 C's of Marketing," we remembered
his words.
The 4 C's are:
1. Change
2. Commitment
3. Consistency
4. Connection
We thought about the barriers we place in front of ourselves
and how to deal with them, especially the "negatives"
many
consultants hold around marketing. We began to play with
the notion of "being." Suppose I already am each of
the 4
C's . . .
1. I am willing to CHANGE.
Suppose we stop feeling frustrated, anxious, or reluctant
about marketing? Let's transform ourselves and assume, "I
am a successful marketer."
What qualities would I see and feel?
For starters,
>>> I am open to new ideas.
When I catch myself saying something like, "I've tried
direct mail, and it doesn't work." Or "Trade shows
are a waste of time for consultants. People are just looking
for freebies."
I ask instead:
Take trade shows, as an example. You are wasting most
of your time and money if all you do is design an eye-catching
booth and show up.
Trade shows can work for you, though,
if you . . .
- Carefully initiate and execute a pre-show strategy
to attract the right people to your booth,
- Implement an effective in-show sales strategy tailored
for the various types of prospects who talk with you, and
- Act on a considered follow-up strategy that leads
your contacts through your sales process.
Another stumbling block is to dismiss an idea from outside
my field by saying, "That's OK for them, but it would not
work for me,"
Thomas Edison adds this thought:
"Make it a point to keep on the lookout for novel
and
interesting ideas that others have used successfully. Your
idea has to be original only in its adaptation to the
problem you are currently working on."
How You Can Adapt New Ideas
To Your Unique Business
OK, I am a successful marketer, open to fresh ideas. How
would I act?
Let's take an example from far, far, far afield -- real estate.
At the web marketing workshop we met real estate entrepreneur
Jackie Lange, who can handle up to 8 opportunities a month --
each worth $20,000 to $25,000 to her.
Of course, this wasn't her level of business when she first
started, but she attended workshops to gain fresh marketing
ideas. From each training, she took one idea or two and shrewdly
adapted them for her special business.
A Striking, Profitable Marketing Shift
Jackie formerly saw herself as someone who buys houses to
resell. At one workshop she learned about crafting a dramatic
statement to capture her prospects' attention (her unique selling
proposition).
Doing that one thing transformed her business.
Her business card now reads in part:
"www.SellYourHousein9Days.com
Will Guarantee!
No Commission or Fees - No closing Costs - No Equity OK - No
Repairs - No Hassles
Don't wait 3 months, 6 months... Or LONGER To Sell Your House"
As an open-minded marketer, you could adapt her idea. You
could generate your own dramatic, differentiating statement to
bring your business to life in the eyes of your prospects.
See how she loads her message with the right benefits,
the ones her prospects really care about.
Notice what a difference being specific makes in her
promise of a sale in "9 days guaranteed."
Jackie Lange spoke about one more powerful technique she uses
to convert prospects to clients. She is already a success. Before
she buys the house, she vividly pictures herself already selling
that house.
What else?
>>> As a successful marketer I practice direct
marketing.
You'll get our in-a-nutshell version of direct marketing here.
Direct marketing is more than branding; it goes the extra mile
beyond "getting my name out there."
There's nothing wrong with actively promoting your business
to gain visibility. The problem with branding, in our opinion,
is that it stops too soon. It doesn't ask for a response.
In contrast, as a direct marketer I take care of five things:
1. Start with the right people,
2. Craft the right message,
3. Call on the right medium,
4. Act at the right time, to
5. Gain the right (your desired) response.
Its focus is to ask for and attract a measurable response.
Make sure you don't sell your marketing short. Always, make your
strongest case to prompt your desired response.
Next? Of course there's more . . .
We'll talk about the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th C's of marketing in
a future article.
2. I am COMMITTED to marketing and invest my resources
strategically.
3. I am CONSISTENT in my marketing so that it's
ongoing, unending, and unrelenting.
4. I am CONNECTED to my prospects and clients with
an emotional link.
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