 I moved from working in my business to working on my business!
Jim White, Founder Savor Dallas http://www.savordallas.com |
 I found a community of business leaders who make being in business a lot more fun and less lonely.
Jeannine Sandstrom, CEO CoachWorks International, Inc. http://www.coachworks.com |
 I now have a place to be open about my business success and future challenges.
Debbie Mrazek, CEO The Sales Company Author The Field Guide to Sales http://www.the-sales-company.com |
Archive for May, 2008
www.marketingsherpa.com
Hello, please come with me while I take you behind the marketing veil to the ‘marketing secrets’ area. While that may be a little dramatic, it really is how some marketers act when they are ’safeguarding’ their so-called secrets! Not me, my goal is to help you bypass the almost 20-something year marketing learning curve I’ve been on. I want you to learn faster and implement even faster so you can be even more successful than you already are!
Introducing a huge secret weapon of marketing consultants and business strategists everywhere. This is where the hard-core study what works and what doesn’t in the land of marketing.
MarketingSherpa is a research firm specializing in tracking what works in all aspects of marketing (and what does not.) This super-smart team is not an agency, consultancy or other vendor seeking your business. They are not even available for private research — all their research is published for their MarketingSherpa community to benefit from. They have one goal: give marketers of the world the stats, inspiration, and instructions to improve their results.
I just love that the “Sherpa” part of their name refers admiringly to the Sherpas of Nepal who guide climbers up Mount Everest. They can be your friendly native guides who help make your tough climb toward great marketing results easier by handing you research on ‘what works.’
For you creative geniuses out there who love to build on what works, this is a literal hot bed of ideation fuel. I’ve gotten some pretty great ideas myself while spending time with the Sherpas!
This may be new or not depending on how you are doing business. Do you have a dedicated conference call line? How are you using it? Only for conference calls you say? Tsk Tsk… there are SO many ways to use it! Here are some of the ways we use ours and you can use yours too. There are some free conference call services out there that you can do most of these things on completely for not one penny down.
- Record marketing bits for your website or blog – Create your script and then speak it into your phone and then viola! you have an audio upload. Many conference call services (yes, even the free ones) offer files you can download that are easy to manage. While video offers a better boost for getting people to opt-in to your list, audio is still a great way to connect to people who don’t know you.
- Record testimonials – This is a WONDERFUL way to use your line. Most clients who love you want to give you a testimonial but most also think of their 3rd grade English teacher as soon as they sit down to ‘write.’ Make it easy on them by giving them a phone number where they can record the message. You will need to give them dial-in instructions, but most are so easy a 2nd grader can manage. You can also use voice mail to capture your clients raves.
- Record coaching or consulting sessions – While this adds another step onto the process for those who coach or consult, I have to say it is WORTH the effort. Our clients share that they get breakthroughs when they listen back to our conversations. From getting more ideas to determining where they may be limiting their power, these recordings offer lots of added value for clients.
- Write a book – Ever been driving down the road when ideas started flying in from all directions? Grab the phone, hit speed dial and record your thoughts and ideas on your conference call line. While Jott.com automatically transcribes your ideas, these recorded bits can just as easily be transcribed. If you speak better than you write, consider using your line to write your chapters, then have your assistant type it up.
- Create an information product – If you sell your ideas or information, consider getting some of your colleagues together for an informal (or formal, if you prefer) chat about a hot topic your clients want to know more about. Download the call, edit and Shazam! you have a free give away or a new information product.
- Hold a class – In the world of the Internet, there’s no reason why you can’t hold a class with people around the world who want to know more of what you know. There are great webinar companies out there that actually charge you to do this. However, if you combine your conference call line with a PDF delivered via email or online download, you can do this for literally nothing but your time. Record the class calls and then you have another information product available afterward and class participants can listen to you over and over again.
- Market yourself via a teleseminar – For most free services, you can invite up to 50 of your closest friends where you can share more about a new product or offering. For a bigger splash, you can open the lines (for a fee) for up to thousands of listeners.
I emphasize low-cost ways to market because often the ‘reason’ why people don’t dive in is cost. I love to bust those limiting beliefs!
These are just a few of the ways you can use your conference line to increase your presence on and offline. I am not a big fan of www.freeconferencecall.com because people who have invited me to join calls have had so many problems with the service. In the evening, on several occasions, it took me 35 minutes or more just to get through.
We use Basement Ventures and have been very, very happy with it. I know many people who also use this service, which offers auto downloads, recording capability, and a web interface. A good paid option is Black and White Communications. Happy conferencing!
Hi all-
Happy Memorial Day! I hope you are feeling immense gratitude if you are a stateside reader of Marketing Mojo, and for those of you around the world, this is the USA’S day to celebrate those who have died in the line of service.
While many of us feel grateful for our freedom and for the many people who do serve in jobs many of us can’t even imagine doing, this is a day to really celebrate those brave souls who protect us day in and day out.
My step dad is a retired National Guard supervisor. He has served over the years in various deployments and I know how it can feel to have a loved one away from home on a mission for our country.
I wish all of you a peaceful day today, and for those of you who have lost a loved one, know that our prayers are with you.
Hugs-
Tina
P.S. Increasing an Attitude for Gratitude – When you feel yourself getting upset or down because of something you don’t like, don’t want to do, etc. Just remember it is temporary, and then look for the good in it.
If you’ve emailed a Microsoft Word (or Corel WordPerfect, for that matter) document to anyone, you may have unwittingly sent confidential information to a friend, colleague, or even competitor. You see, when you create and edit a document in these programs, the software creates bits and pieces of information and hides it within your document.
If one chooses to reveal these bits and pieces, or metadata, they’ll discover who created, opened, read, printed, deleted information, added information, and where the document was stored as well as how long it took to perform the task on any particular date and time.
What is metadata?
Metadata, as defined in Beware the Dangers of Metadata, is “simply described as ‘data about data’. Think of it as a hidden level of extra information that is automatically created and embedded in a computer file.”
Some metadata is easily viewed (steps shown below). Other metadata is hidden and can be revealed by accident or by using a binary file editor. Both of which are quite possible in any office.
Microsoft indicates that the following metadata is stored in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files:
· User name and computer name
· Comments and tracked changes
· Hidden text, worksheets, data columns, and data rows
· Embedded objects such as Excel worksheets, drawing objects, and pictures
· PivotTable® cache
· Speaker notes
Why does it matter to me?
All the information indicated above is great for productivity and is an important part of a technical communicator’s life. In fact, we embrace the ability to collaborate! Document management systems rely extensively on metadata, allowing users to find a relevant document based on who edited it, how it was distributed, keywords, and subject or matter information.
Metadata makes life easy, right? Well, MOSTLY.
As I was researching this article, I found multiple references to blunders made by individuals, governments, and even the United Nations, in which bank account numbers, assassin names, original authors not attributed in a document, smoking guns in memos, and more were revealed. Here is an article in the Washington Post that has some good examples. I was particularly intrigued by the story of Tony Blair providing Colin Powell a document that had large portions plagiarized—grammar mistakes and all!
I’ve spoken with colleagues who had several months worth of documentation seized simply because a team member, who was involved in litigation, had simply opened a file once upon a time. The team lost hours of work and had some tense times making their deadlines.
What can your document’s metadata reveal?
Your document can reveal quite a bit about your work. When I was working on a presentation about metadata, I went fishing in my archives for an older document that would reveal sloppy document management. I opened a file that was used in a collaborative project when working on my Master’s degree eight years ago. I believe the original document was created in Word 2000, but can’t be sure with a cursory review.
Just by a simple selection, I revealed the following information about the document (Figure 1) I created earlier this year.
Figure 1: Metadata information in Word 2007 (top) and Word 2003 (bottom).
So, what’s interesting about this? I created this document on February 27, 2008, but my metadata says it was created on August 1, 2007. While this was a brand new document, I had opened up an older folder that had my styles already set. Instead of reflecting revision one, it showed that this was the third time I had revised the document. Though I had actually worked on the document for about 10 minutes, I apparently had it open for 50 minutes at the time of the screen capture. The title of the document was even wrong!
For me, the scariest thing I found was on the Summary tab. It says that the company that created the document was Company X. I haven’t a clue about that company. To my knowledge/recollection, I’ve never worked for or collaborated with anyone in that company. When I did a Google search, I couldn’t find anything that seemed to fit Company X, nor did any representative with that company have any connection whatsoever to this document. But there it is…. Somehow this document descended from a document (from a document from a document) that was created by a classmate who probably worked for Company X EIGHT years ago!
Not only would this information be embarrassing if a client saw it, I could be opened up to some intellectual property issues if somebody chose to be litigious. Now fortunately, a forensic review of the document’s metadata would reveal the truth. But it could be expensive.
It pays to be aware of what your document says about you and to make sure it reveals what you want it to reveal.
How do I reveal my document’s metadata?
It’s easy, with one click you can reveal your properties.
· Word 2003 or earlier: select File > Properties
· Word 2007: select Office Button > Prepare > Properties
How can you protect your document’s metadata?
Many ways are available for ensuring that your personal or company data stays with you:
· Turn off Fast Save. This feature speeds up saving a document by saving only changes made to a document. However, text that you delete from a document may still remain.
· Remove personal information from a document when you save it.
In Word 2002 and 2003
In Word 2007
1. Click Tools > Options.
2. On the Security tab, under Privacy options, select Remove personal information from file properties on save.
3. Click OK.
1. Click Office Button > Prepare > Inspect Document.
2. Select Options for inspection.
3. Click Inspect.
4. Select Remove All.
· Turn off the Track Changes tool.
· Use a third-party software to remove the information.
· Use a clean template/document each time.
· Save the document as an .rtf, .txt, or .pdf file.
This article by Louellen S. Coker of Content Solutions appeared in the May 2008 issue of Technically Write, the STC Lone Star Community’s newsletter. Louellen’s brand new blog offers great tips and tools for making content (and technology) work for you.
When someone says, “there goes another Pink Lady” what comes to mind? Want a great burger? Go to the “Home of the Whopper.” Need some fries with that delicious flame-broiled burger — drive on down to Mickey D’s, or as some know it, “Those Golden Arches.”
Mary Kay. Burger King. McDonald’s. Everyone knows these merchants by name recognition. Another term associated with the concept of name recognition is “branding.“ Marketing consultants long ago devised this methodology, which is highly effective and evolves with your business, making it a must-have for any profit-making business. From the smallest neighborhood dry cleaner to the Burger Kings and McDonald’s all over the globe — all working businesses intuitively know that branding and name recognition are key to keeping a business name and its product in the forefront of the customer’s mind when that customer thinks of a consumable product, therefore continuing that profitable retailer-has-what-consumer-wants-so-consumer-shops-with-retailer-and-keeps-coming-back-too idea moving ahead at full locomotive speed. Everybody gets what they want — a win-win deal to be sure.
How does a business develop and maintain name recognition with its ever-changing and increasingly discerning buying public?
Work with your marketing gurus or hire a top-notch consultant, then start with the basics:
- Establish and develop a viable and consumable product — something the customer will want again and again
- Determine your business’s market place — locally, nationally, internationally
- “Personalize” the branding and name recognition of your company’s name with its own distinctive, eye-catching logo, a unique color scheme, perhaps some trendy typeface, and a killer slogan
- Initiate your branding/marketing/name recognition campaign — and keep it going — in whatever advertising venue best suits your niche, and is cost effective to your growing business (remember, as your business grows so too can your level of marketing)
- Then, go out there to your buying public, reaching as wide an audience as possible within your chosen niche and geographic location — your name recognition campaign could be via radio, television, billboard, door-to-door flyers, the Internet, and/or business-to-business reciprocal referrals, etc., etc.
Companies like UPS and Target have mastered this name recognition methodology. It takes vision and belief in your product, the willingness to spend some money to advertise and market your business and its product so you will have a return on your branding and name recognition efforts, and it takes perseverance to continue to check the consumer barometer from time to time to confirm your product is still a viable consumable, that your business is still branded in its unique name recognition with your buying public, and to make tweaks and improvements when necessary. UPS and Target, among a multitude of other small to large corporations “get it” in knowing the value of effective branding and name recognition…your business can achieve these same results.
Think of UPS and the color brown immediately pops into your mind, right? Try thinking of the color brown without thinking of UPS…can’t do it can you? Brown is everywhere: their UPS trucks, their uniforms, their logo, and even their slogan: “What can brown do for you?” With this kind of visually effective color association to product and company name, UPS guarantees itself a large customer base by branding and name recognition: think brown; think package delivery — call UPS. Conjure in your mind a bulls-eye — that distinctive, huge red and white round circle — and you instantly associate this with Target, the store for Everyman. How can you avoid it — along any major highway strip mall is that larger-than-life bold red and white bulls-eye and the name Target right there in huge block letters. Target shoots the arrow dead-center bulls-eye for its consumers with its on-target slogan: “Expect more. Pay less.” What could any cost-conscious consumer think is a better deal than this? Grabs you. Keeps you coming back…to Target…to get super value for not a lot of your bucks. Name recognition mission on-target!
The next time a consumer needs something — be it moisturizer, foundation, a great burger and fries, some dishwasher soap, or a great new pair of trendy jeans or hiking boots, this customer could call up the Pink Lady she knows in her neighborhood for her Mary Kay products, then hop in the car and drive down to Burger King or McDonald’s for that tasty meal, and then buzz over to Target and finish up with the household staples and that hot pair of jeans…maybe buy her husband those affordable and high-quality hiking boots too. It’s all in a name — name recognition in direct relation to branding one’s product in the desired market niche for best return on your output of cost to produce and sell your product, the manpower needed to do business, and the marketing and advertising methods put in place to gain customer acquisition and continued retention. There’s everything in a name, so get out there and get your name in front of those potential customers — brand your name into the customer’s mind — he and she will come…and keep coming…and your business will grow…and keep growing.
Okay, so this isn’t new. BUT, the stationery company, Bob’s Your Uncle, does have something new going on. The wholesaler (that means they create wonderful things and sell them to retail stores) just announced its new home and gift store, FRONT, which features a selection of local, national and international designs. The store opens May 2008 in historic Fort Point, MA.
Now to the good stuff… if you have never heard of Bob’s Your Uncle then you are in for a treat (especially if you love paper products and anything having to do with being cool).
The company is owned by Michele and Martin Yeeles who are originally from England. Martin is a graphic designer and Michele a former shoe designer. The expression, Bob’s Your Uncle, is a British expression used to mean “everything’s fine.” And this laid back style can be seen throughout all of their designs. Some are downright humorous. You can browse online then purchase at a retailer near you.
I received a gift from a client called the EIGHT DAYS A WEEK PLANNER. The “eighth” day is “someday” so you can capture dreams and imaginings. How perfect! These out-of-the-box products make great gifts for the hard-to-gift in your life.
Jump Out of the Price Box
How much is too much for a mattress? $500? $5,000? What about $50,000? And, the bigger question is… are you buying a mattress or the good night’s sleep the mattress provides?
If you market your service or product by talking all about your end product – the tax return, the CD, the program, the great model, then you are what is called a features-driven marketer. This means that your prospects have to take what you are talking about and tie it to what they will get from what you are selling (unless you directly tie features to benefits).
Some of your prospects will do this. Most won’t.
If you are like Hästens, the makers of the Vividus bed that costs $49,500 US (if it hasn’t increased since I first saw this story last year about this time), then you don’t even start talking about your mattress. You begin focusing on the benefit of your product – the thing that people who want it will crawl over pea gravel to get. In this case, it is a good night’s sleep. If you are one of the millions of people who do not sleep well, then $49,500 might be a drop in the bucket compared to how much creativity and productivity you lose from lack of sleep (at least that’s what Hästens is marketing).
So what does all of this have to do with you? Well, first, let me ask you. Would you have ever thought anyone could sell a mattress for 50 grand? I think in most cases your answer would be, uh… NO! But, Hästens has a few lessons for you.
- Competitor price does not matter if there are other people out there that believe YOU have something they need. Case in point… Hästens has sold many of these mattresses and late last year began increasing production. There are many, many more competitors that sell for much less than the Hästens asking price.
- Focus on YOUR prospects needs, wants and desires. Hästens is not selling to the group of people who go from mattress store to mattress store looking for a ‘deal.’ They are looking for the affluent insomniac (or spouse) that has tried EVERYTHING to get a good night’s rest. They KNOW what these people care about, and they know how to speak their language. See below to hear ‘hot buttons’ that appeal to their best client.
- Benefits rule. The Vividus (made by Hastens), Latin for “full of life”, is the most expensive bed in the world. From the focus on what happens when you sleep and why you need a good night’s sleep to the name that promises you will be “full of life” when you wake, benefits are king.
Go to the Hästens website for a great marketing lesson that shows a woman (research shows most of these buying decisions are made by women) who is smart (message: if you are smart then you buy this mattress), and who is doing all kinds of work in her sleep (message: if you get this mattress, you can increase your productivity and get a good night’s sleep). Not once do they talk about the mattress. Or how it is made, or what it is made of. Sure, that information is available, but remember this… People make buying decisions for emotional reasons and then look for facts to back up the decision they’ve already made.
This mattress is a great example of how having the courage to price yourself high can attract in a whole new level of consumer. I have no doubt that the gingham (checkered) fabric will become a ’status’ symbol for the wealthiest people on the planet much like YSL did for luggage and handbags, Mont Blanc did for fountain pens, and Rolex did for watches.
When it comes to your offering here are the most important questions to ask:
- Do you know who your BEST client is?
- Do you know if your marketing is attracting that type of client? Hint: Look at who is coming to you and are they a fit? If not, do you know what part of your marketing is not working?
- Are you priced in alignment with your BEST client? It may be hard to believe, but for some people if your fees are not high enough, people will be suspicious of your fees.
There are more wealthy people than you may think in the world. If you are hampered by thinking that people don’t have the money, they don’t want to spend it on your service, they just can’t afford it, think again.
Hästens announced they would be raising the cost of the world’s most expensive mattress to $59,750 in April 2008. I don’t know if they did… you must order a catalog to find out. With a typical mattress cost running somewhere around $750 bucks, and this company charging nearly 80 times that for a mattress (although I’m sure it must have some better qualities), then you might just ask yourself if there’s room for you to charge more for your services too – provided that your ideal client would still buy.
Hi all-
Thanks to everyone who shared great ‘mom’ as the best teacher and coach stories. I’ll post these on our blog from time to time for inspiration!
I’ve been talking to some truly awesome and amazing people in the last few weeks. People who have intense visions for helping others – some with their relationships, some with their business operations, and others with helping people get clarity. It is really INSPIRING to be with such inspirational people. And, of course, it is always inspiring to work with clients who LOVE WHAT THEY DO! I feel so blessed – thank you.
Are you feeling inspired day-to-day? What could help boost your inspiration? Time to shift networking groups? Take your favorite client out for lunch? Mentor a budding entrepreneur? What is calling you? Heed the call today!
Hugs-
Tina
P.S. Life is too short not to be inspired – take a different route to an appointment or to the office and consider… What would be inspiring right now?
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you could have gotten exactly what you wanted, if only you had known how to go about it? Do you know people who always seem to get exactly what they want? Would you like to be a master at the art of negotiation as well? It is not as difficult as you might think. No matter whether you are negotiating with the local dealer for a new car or you are negotiating the specifics of a contract with a client, the same strategies apply and one simple communication technique prevails.
Negotiation is simply the process of reaching an agreement between two or more parties — preferably one that yields a “win-win” outcome. It is different from the bartering process in which one party is in a position of power and the other party must accept something less valuable. Negotiation typically involves a series of ongoing discussions and compromises.
Successful negotiation techniques or strategies originate from a basic premise of human nature which suggests that people act, or fail to act, for the purpose of enhancing their own egos. Successful negotiators who understand this principle know that the best way to determine the other person’s position, is simply to listen. Dr. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, stated this principle in these terms, “If you can get the other fellow to talk enough, he simply cannot disguise his real feelings or his real motives.” By listening intently, the successful negotiator can gain useful insight that he or she may use to persuade another person to act in a certain way.
Knowledge is power when it comes to the process of negotiating. This makes it important to gather all the facts you can on the front end and plan accordingly. Answering some or all of the following questions can be very helpful as you prepare to negotiate:
- What are your goals and which ones are most important?
- What are the goals of the other parties involved and which ones do they perceive to be the most important?
- What will be the major issues be in this negotiation?
- What are the strongest and weakest points in your overall position?
- What are the strongest and weakest points in the other parties overall position?
- What is the minimum you are willing to accept?
- In your opinion, what is the minimum the other parties are willing to accept?
So, now you have planned your negotiation, but what are the specific techniques you should use to be successful. Here are three very simple ones:
- Pay attention to verbal and non verbal indicators. Listen to the parties you are negotiating with. In addition to learning more about their motives, you might discover a better deal than you ever thought possible. Don’t ignore those non-verbal signals, however. A lack of eye contact or a nervous twitch may give you insight as well.
- Focus on solutions that allow all parties to win. Remember that regardless of what you want, the other parties must feel satisfied.
- Keep your emotions in check. Many times personal conflicts or emotional issues can interfere with an otherwise successful negotiation.
No matter what you are negotiating for, the same rules apply. Successful negotiation strategies, however, must be adapted to the specific aspects of each situation and to each individual involved. Many have wondered how some powerful businessmen have successfully negotiated one incredible business deal after another. Actually, their secret may not be so mysterious. Chances are, they simply encourage the other person to talk while they listen. They know by instinct and experience the truth of Dr. Freud’s statement. “If you can get the other fellow to talk enough, he simply cannot disguise his real feelings or his real motives.”