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Don’t know CSS from PHP? You say your site’s fallen on it’s .ASP and you don’t know what to do? Does it seem like Google’s plotting against you? If you answered yes, then this presentation is for you. If you don’t have a clue what SEO stands for, you might want to register for this presentation, too.
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Hi! Welcome back. If there are topics you'd like me to cover, please submit them via the form on the Contact page. Don't forget to write a comment about the post. I'd enjoy hearing from you! July, 2010 News & Views is fresh off the presses … er … publish button. This month’s newsletter is all about developing effective offline marketing literature such as postcards and brochures. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic. What’s worked for you and what’s been not to great? In my June, 2010 e-newsletter, I wrote about methods to generate tantalizing testimonials. For professional services, testimonials are an important tool. So is their first cousin – referrals. As a matter of fact, RainToday’s 2009 study, How Clients Buy, showed referrals from colleagues and other service providers topped the list at 79% and 75%, respectively, outshining personal recognition/awareness (73%) and in-person seminars (66%). Referrals are often ready-made business, endorsed by a third party. They significantly reduce the sales cycle, if there is a sales cycle at all. Why? Buyers often find themselves with a fire that needs to be put out … right now. So, they scramble and call a few trusted associates for professional fire extinguishing recommendations. Many service providers rely heavily on referrals. For some, it’s their only source of business. And here’s how it usually works. Mr. or Ms. Service Pro hangs out their shingle and tells a few associates that they’re open for business. The associates, being the benevolent souls they are, want to help and tell some of their colleagues in their network or provide some contacts for the service pro. They make a few calls and land a gig or two. The phone starts to ring with a few more requests. Off they go into the merry world of self-employment. The problem is that they’ve set up a behavior … a habit. They wait for the phone to ring. They think, “If I do good work, people will refer me to others.” Sorry folks, in reality, it seldom works that way. Sure, your clients might think you’re the bee’s knees while you’re working on a project and shortly thereafter. But, soon they forget about you until they need your services again. This non-marketing marketing method may be just peachy for a while, but, eventually the phone stops ringing and Mr. or Ms. Service Pro starts to freak. The truth be told, even in good times, waiting for the phone to ring is a bad idea. It’s simply letting your business happen to you, rather than taking responsibility and making things happen. A better idea is to have a system in place to ensure those referrals keep rolling in and that they’re quality referrals. Not All Referrals Are Created EqualMany times, a referral is just a name and a phone number. The person who owns that phone number may or may not actually need your services, can’t afford them or is a complete lousy fit for your business. It might also be that the referrer isn’t known very well by the prospect, so there may be a lack of trust and/or credibility. There’s something of a hierarchy when it comes to referrals. Our existing clients, those who’ve experienced working with us first hand, are at the top of the list. Next come colleagues we’ve worked with on various projects. They’ve also experienced working with us, but from a different point-of-view. Then, there’s everybody else. Couple this idea with the thought that the more referrals you get, the more business you’ll close. So, it’s probably a good idea to focus your efforts on clients and project colleagues and then fill out your efforts with others in your business and personal networks. Getting the Right Type of ReferralsA large part of your referral system should be educating your clients and colleagues as to what you’re looking for when it comes to referrals. How do you qualify prospects? That’s the info you need to communicate to potential referrers. Your list might include the type of project, industry, size of the prospect, whether they can pay your lofty fees, location and similar information. Some folks fear that by getting too specific, they run the risk of closing the door on referrals. Not so. In fact, the better you can define what you’re seeking, the easier it is for folks to refer you to the right contacts. If you’re too vague or broad in describing what you’re seeking, your contacts will struggle to match you with their contacts. Also, it will erode your positioning. You say, “Any small to mid-size company is a prospect for us!” Your contact hears, “We’re really benign and vanilla. There’s really no good reason to hire us over the other guy.” This is especially important to consider for associates who haven’t worked with you directly. In as much as referrals are something of a numbers game, do what you can to define those numbers as high quality and likely to yield results. It makes little sense to spin your wheels chasing a lead you’ll never close or is a bad fit. Going Beyond the Phone CallDon’t forget to tap into the social scene for possible referrals. If there are some prospects you’d like to work with, check your LinkedIn network to see if any of them have a contact in their network. A carefully crafted message may just do the trick. It might go something like this:
Also check your clients’ and colleagues’ Facebook profiles and pages, along with Twitter followers. Your efforts might just glean some great contacts. In addition to social media, consider asking a colleague to bring a potential prospect to one of your presentations or seminars. Or, it could be as simple as the getting the three of you together to break some bread (on you, of course). For a lower key method, consider using some case studies in an email campaign. It should be a problem / solution / result format. At the end, add in something along the lines of, “Perhaps you or a colleague would benefit from a similar project. If so, give us a ring or email and let’s talk.” Setting Referrers At EaseGetting potent referrals requires a couple of other things. First, you need pleased-as-punch clients. So, do great work and always strive to under-promise and over-deliver. It’s important to note that giving a referral can often involve a lot of risk on the part of the referrer. They need to be assured that you’ll do as good a job, or better, for their contact as you did for or with them. Your request puts their reputation on the line. Yet, for some clients even though you’ve done a stellar job, they may feel more than a bit awkward in talking you up to their contacts. Even worse, they may feel like you’re putting them in the position of being a non-paid salesperson for you. To ease their mind, consider, as mentioned earlier, having your client bring their contact to an event you’re hosting or featured at, such as being the speaker. Now there’s some value attached to the introduction. If you find yourself event-less, a report you wrote or some other special information can also work. It’s a matter of finding a method to authentically add value so the referrer isn’t feeling like you’re putting them on the spot. Plus, it can also be awkward, let alone ineffective, to spring a referral request on people. When a person is unprepared for the request, it’s tough for them to come up with quality contacts right there and then. Give them a chance to mull it over by preparing them first. During the course of the gig, providing it’s going well, ask them how they feel the project is progressing. Is it what they expected? Can anything be done to improve things? Finally, ask them if it would be okay to, at a later date, talk with them about others they know who might also benefit from your services. This gives them a chance to think things over and come up, usually, with several contacts that fit your ideals. Timing Your RequestsIt’s said that timing is everything and it’s no different when it comes to referrals. Obviously, the best time to approach a client or colleague for referrals is at the end of a successful project. You’re fresh on their minds. You’re a star for pulling off some amazing feat. Consider making a follow up meeting part of your project process. Although you may have discussed it during the project, ask what they felt went well and what could use improvement. Ask if their expectations were met. Also ask for any specific results they can share about the project. This is handy info for developing case studies. Solid, quantified results give a much sharper edge to case studies. Then ask them who they may know that would also benefit from your services. After they just told you all the high points of working with you and the incredible results your skills brought to them, singing your praises to others is the next logical step. Manipulative? Sure. But often it’s important to guide your clients and colleagues along a path to get the right type of referral. Finally, make the quest for referrals a part of your marketing mix. Add these tasks to your calendar and set up reminders. Develop materials your potential referrers can use to provide value in making referrals. Do what you can to ease referral anxiety on the part of your contact. Scour LindedIn and other social media site for connections. Whenever possible and appropriate, educate your clients, colleagues and contacts as to what you’re looking for in prospects and referrals. It may take some time to get your referral system up and running like a well-oiled machine. But, it sure beats sitting at your desk playing Solitaire while waiting for the phone to ring. What about you? What tools, tactics and strategies have been working for you when it comes to generating referrals? Okay, this post is more of a proud poppa moment and has little to do with marketing and self promotion. No, wait. It does. My son’s band, Resurrected, played their first “official” gig on May 22, 2010 at the Lake Fine Arts Festival in Hartville / Uniontown, Ohio. Simply put, they rocked the house down. My son, the lead guitarist, was appropriately decked out in black with chain accents. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The guys covered Rock You Like A Hurricane and Sweet Child of Mine. Both were great, but, in my humble opinion, they really shined on Sweet Child. Band promotion has come a long way since the glory days of the Fillmore East and West and posters by Wes Wilson. Today it’s Websites, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, mp3s, bandspace and such. That said, for all intent and purpose, a band is a small business and the same rules apply for branding, marketing and promotion. Also like most small businesses, the music world is competitive, albeit competitive on steroids. A peruse on YouTube quickly shows that there’s no shortage of talent out there. Like graphic design, writing or any other service businesses, talent is pretty much a given. So, getting gigs is often largely dependent on how well a band can separate themselves from the pack with something unique, become visible and build a following. It starts with a name. Coming up with one, that all band members agree upon can be a tough act. Like any other brand, To be successful, a band needs a few things – Talent, great management and effective promotion. Where would Elvis had been without Col. Tom Parker or the Beatles without Brian Epstein? KISS comes to mind with regard to branding and promoting a band. They created something utterly unique for the time. As the band members will admit, they aren’t the best musicians on the planet. They don’t need to be. Their stage act and branding set them apart. They used smart, careful planning and strategy to create an phenomenon. Their efforts paid off by selling over 75 million albums and loads of merchandise. Not too shabby. Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust is another example of rising above the clutter. But, he didn’t stop with Ziggy and the Spiders From Mars. He reinvented his persona time and time again, resulting in superstar status. When all’s said and done, whether you’re a garage band looking for a gig or a recording deal or an independent professional looking for clients, finding your unique position is critical to success. It takes some time and careful thought to find what you can authentically bring to the table that your competition either won’t or can’t. So, you’ve followed some of my suggestions in this series and have begun to position yourself as the go-to guy or gal within a niche. Great! Now what? Your work, dear reader, is hardly done. You’ll want to continue your promotional efforts to further cement your expert status … and profit from it. Continuing your efforts is important. People are fickle. If you stop or lag too long in your marketing and promotional efforts, I can almost guarantee you’ll fall off your prospects’ radar screens in favor of a competitor or three who are making a splash. What’s the point?Beyond building a marketing machine, cranking out juicy articles, white papers and such, the point of all these efforts is getting work – Work that pays you what you’re worth. And, you’re probably worth more than you think. Here’s why. During the process of building your niche knowledge and brilliantly solving some gnawing problems for a few clients, you’ve likely gained some unique experience. You’ve also done the detailed industry research and know it like the back of your hand. That knowledge and experience provides value. Think of it this way. You wake up one fine morning, feeling like an elephant is dancing a jig on your chest. Sure, you’re going to call your doc, right quick. But, odds are, you’re going to want to see a cardiologist – a specialist – who is likely charging [much] more than a general practitioner. When the problems are big and painful, most folks aren’t going to risk hiring a generalist. They need the reassurance that comes with seeking out a well-respected expert. Also, they’re much more likely to dig deep into their pockets to have that expert make the painful problem go away. One of the key words in the previous paragraph is “seeking.” A wonderful thing happens when you’re perceived as the authority. Prospects start contacting you, instead of the other way around. How nifty is that? Marketing has just become a whole lot easier. Your competition might be sitting around hoping the phone is going to ring. You know yours is going ring. Don’t rest on your laurelsBut this is not a time to bask in the sunshine of your niche notoriety. Sure, having prospects contact you is great, but you can do more. It’s time to use your position to get referrals. Your clients are much more apt to refer you to their associates if you’ve gained a bit of a name in their industry. They might even think they’ll impress them by knowing that they work with you. Back in the Darren Stevens’ days of advertising, it wasn’t too uncommon for top brass to hire a superstar ad agency for the golf course bragging rights. Either way, don’t wait for your client to blurt out their best bud’s name and contact info. Ask for referrals. This is especially good to do right after you finished a project where you made them shine. When they give you a referral, don’t forget to also ask, “Is there another associate who might benefit from my services?” You may just find yourself leaving the meeting with a bunch of new business possibilities. Also, be a nice person. If a client gives you a referral, send them a thank you note, by snail mail, even though you thanked them in person. Receiving a thank you note in the mail is a rare occurrence these days. It will make an impression. Want to make an even bigger impression? Stuff the note with a Starbucks or similar gift card. Like everything else, don’t stop there. If you land a gig from the referral, send another thank you. This time, though, up the ante. Think gift basket or an American Express gift card loaded with enough dough to cover a nice dinner for two. Do theses simple things and you’ll soon build up a stellar rep for providing not only great service and solutions, but also being a peach of a person. You’ve Got Money!Leveraging your expert status means more than prospect’s contacting you and generating referrals. It can also mean developing new revenue streams. With all your niche smarts, consider writing some special reports or whitepapers to sell on your site. It’s easy as pie to set up a Paypal account and “Buy Now,” button. There’s something to be said for waking up in the morning to “You’ve Got Money!” in your inbox. Perhaps you’ve developed a special process, research or other information for a client’s project. You may be able to repackage it, without any client-centric and/or proprietary information, and sell it. If you’ve tapped into your knowledgebase to write articles for marketing purposes, you may consider pitching some editors paid article ideas. You might even land a regular column in a trade publication. A good place to start is Writers Market. They list loads of places to sell your words. The first cousin to this is paid speaking gigs. As I mentioned in my previous post, consider joining a speakers bureau and talk for dollars. You may not make near as much as a major guru demands, but hey, several hundred or even thousand, plus travel expenses, a room and dinner or lunch at the gig isn’t a bad deal. The Big Kahuna, though, is landing a book deal. Writing a book about an important topic within your niche can not only skyrocket you to niche stardom, you may also be able to negotiate a nice advance with several zeros. E-books are nice and the best ones generate a hefty stream of revenue. But, they’re on the bottom of the credibility list. In the middle are self-published books. They’re not too tough to do on-demand these days with online publishing services such as Lulu.com, iUniverse and Author House. Here’s a link to reviews of several on TopTenReviews.com. Although industry trade books may not generate a lot of revenue for you, there’s nothing quite like your book being published by a major house for a huge credibility shot in the arm. If you can get your book published, the tactics mentioned below can easily fall into place. You’ll do speaking gigs, interviews and such as part of the book’s marketing. Some may be fee-based. But, you may be able to adapt parts of your tome as reports and other information products to sell on and offline. Chapters may be adapted into paid articles. The idea is that once you have a body of content, think of ways to adapt parts into other information products that provide additional income. In wrapping up this series, developing a name in a niche will goes miles toward building your business and making marketing significantly easier. Sure, there’s a fair amount of work involved, but the rewards are worth your efforts. By now, you’ve identified a potentially profitable niche or two. It appears ripe. There’s some competition, so you know it’s viable. The niche is small enough for you to become visible, yet large enough to provide a good amount of work. You’ve done your homework, learned the niche’s ins and outs, identified a few good suspects and maybe a handful of prospects. Now it’s time to get known, get on the radar screens and build a reputation as the ipso facto go-to person. To follow are a few ideas to get things going. If you do these tasks on a regular basis, you will build a following and a reputation as a valuable resource. Plus, you can edge out the other guys and gals who either are too lazy to do them, don’t know how or where to even start. Social MediaHaving a presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is pretty much a must-do these days. The problem comes in when folks get into social media, blogging and email marketing with great guns and loads of enthusiasm but putter out after a month or two. Stuff happens. You get busy and put your social media off to the side or you run out of ideas for content. I’m as guilty as the next guy. The trick is to write as much content as possible in advance. Take some time in the evening or over the weekend to prepare tweets, Facebook posts, blog entries, etc. Use online tools such as SocialOomph.com, HootSuite.com and Feedburner to schedule and manage tweets and feeds. For example, I use SocialOomph to schedule my tweets and also have them fed into Facebook and LinkedIn via Feedburner. I had to chuckle a while back when a friend mentioned that they thought I was sitting here, in front of this box, tweeting my hind quarter off all day. Er … no. I’ve got this billable stuff I have to get out, too. WritingWriting is probably the single most important task to aid in your positioning efforts. If you don’t feel comfortable writing, learn how. Writer’s Digest is a good place to start. Here’s a link their 101 Best Writing Sites. I never considered myself a writer. Then Creative Latitude came along. While we were building the site, I said to my cohorts, Catherine (Cat) Morley and Nigel Gordijk, “Hey, we’re three designers. Who’s gonna write this thing?” Cat answered, “You write good forum posts and email stuff. You write it.” To which I replied, “But I’m not a writer.” At which time I was instructed, “Well, you are now.” And so it goes. I tell people to simply write like they talk. Even though you might have thousands of Twitter followers, loads of Facebook fans and tons of subscribers, those posts and messages are one-to-one. So, enter into a dialogue or at least a monologue. If you write like you talk, it tends to be much more authentic and real. Don’t try to come off as an intellectual, talking down to your audience. Famed adman, David Ogilvy summed it up pretty well in his book, The Unpublished Ogilvy, “Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally. They are the hallmarks of a pretentious ass.” Writing opens up a world of promotional possibilities. Here are a few:
Other opportunities that writing can bring are interviews, book review requests and speaking gigs, which is next up on the list. SpeakingSpeaking gigs are great. Great, that is, if you don’t mind standing up in front of a bunch of people you don’t know who, if it’s a lunch or dinner meeting, are likely armed with tomatoes or other produce. In my Low & No Cost Marketing presentation, one thing I often mention is, “Speaking is ahead of death on the stressful things to do list. Think about that for a minute. Most people would rather die than do what I’m doing now.” Sure, the first few times can be a wee bit unnerving, but, like most things, the more you do it, the easier it gets. If you’re new to speaking and need some help getting started honing your spiel, consider joining Toastmasters. They provide a safe environment to learn speaking skills, try things out and master the art without the worry of being booed off the stage. Once you’ve arrived at a comfort level, it’s time to find some folks to talk to. It’s a good idea to start small. Most business clubs are hungry for speakers to present during their meetings. Rotary comes to mind. Most SCORE offices put on small business workshops and seminars. Colleges and Universities are also good ones to check out. Also, check to see if there’s a state or local speakers bureau in your area and consider joining the National Speakers Association. Google up “speakers bureau” and you’ll find lots more. You might consider putting on your own seminars. These can be free or paid. But, putting on your own and be tricky and expensive, unless you have adequate space at your office. And there you have it. Here’s how all this comes together. Joe Prospect comes into work one fine morning. He sifts through the mail and sees a postcard promoting a special offer from you. He sits down at his desk and begins to thumb through the newspaper. He notices a press release about your business or perhaps a volunteer activity in which you’re involved. He picks up the new edition of his favorite trade publication and there’s an article by you. For lunch, he’s off to his weekly Rotary meeting and guess what? You’re the speaker. In the afternoon, he checks his Twitter and sees a bunch tweeples retweeting your very useful tips, links and info. Sure, it probably won’t all happen in the same day, but you get the idea. You’re reaching out at several touchpoints that position you as the go-to expert. To Mr. Prospect, you’re all over the place. When the time comes for him to need what you’re selling, guess who’s going to be first on his mind? What are your thoughts? Have you used any of these techniques? If so, how have they worked for you? Or, do you have others to share? Next up … Leveraging your expert status. Now that you’ve found a nifty niche, it’s time to get up to speed developing your expertise. Let’s start out with an industry niche. Ideally, you’ve selected a niche area where you have some previous knowledge. If not, don’t sweat it. You can still learn the ins and outs and position yourself as an expert. It’ll just take a bit more time. Here’s a little secret – not everybody knows the stuff you do. That will become a cornerstone in establishing your niche authority. The thing is, you do whatever it is you do every day. Whether it’s graphic design, writing, accounting, law, financial planning, etc., there are those knowledge bits and bytes that you assume everybody knows. You know it because it’s a regular part of your business life, so you figure, “That’s awfully basic. Everybody knows that.” In reality, they don’t. Others don’t think about it until they happen to need a certain little tidbit. The idea here is to pair your business knowledge with your target niche’s needs. For example, let’s say you’re a writer who has done a lot of successful direct mail writing over the years. You know that a strong call to action is critical to the success of a campaign. You write them all the time. But, in researching your target niche, you learn that many of your prospects don’t even include a call to action in their mailings, much less know how to write a good one. This is a shocking revelation, since it’s Direct Mail Writing 101, but, now you’ve got something to spin and promote. Your specific knowledge is only half the story. You’ll need to learn all you can about your niche, their needs, common challenges, current events, etc. Where can you get that knowledge? The Web is a good place to start. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, get chummy with industry and trade association sites. Read the trade press. When possible, attend trade shows, talk to people, gather and read their literature, ask a lot of questions. Exhibitors are delighted to talk about their businesses. That’s what they’re there to do. Don’t forget hospitality suites. They tend to be informal and you might pick up some very useful nuggets of information, as well as make some valuable contacts. A few trips to the library can also be rewarding. Swing over to the research area and talk to the Research Librarian. He or she can point you in the right direction to discover a wealth of information. My friend, Ilise Benun, is a great example of finding and maximizing a niche. Many moons ago, Ilise found herself out of a job. In giving some serious thought as to what to do next, she realized that she was (and likely still is) the most organized person she knew. Many of her friends were creative folk and, let’s just say, not quite as organized. Ilise came up with the idea of becoming a professional organizer. She started to spread the word and soon had a few [paying] clients. A trend became readily apparent to her. Many of these creatives had a pile of papers. It might be on a desk, a table or the floor. As for myself, I’m a six pile person and they’re parked on the floor to the right of my desk. A large part of Ilise’s service was digging through these piles and sorting out this and that. Inevitably, she would come across a note about sending samples to a prospect that never happened, a phone inquiry that was never followed up, or similar unexploited point-of-contact. Ilise’s response was, “Hey, let’s get in touch with them.” One thing lead to another and soon Ilise had a successful practice in self-promotion consulting for creatives. Beyond this. Ilise is pretty darn good at stringing together nouns, verbs, adjectives and other conversational condiments. She began writing her newsletter, The Art of Self Promotion, along with magazine articles. Next up was a book based on, and titled the same as, her very successful newsletter. The book lead to interviews, speaking engagements and more books. The cycle repeats itself to the present day and she has cemented her position as the go-to marketing mentor for creatives and also other independent professionals. If an industry niche isn’t your cup of Earl Grey, you might consider specializing in a practice area. For example, you become the financial advisor to the obscenely rich and develop a special knowledge to meet their needs. If you’re an attorney, practice specialties are pretty typical, but perhaps you can spin yours in a new way by matching your area with a particular group of prospects. To exploit another friend for the purpose of this post and your niche edification, consider the noted Mr. Fisher of Jeff Fisher Logomotives. It’s not too tough to pick up on Jeff’s specialty – logos. He started out as a regular ‘ole graphic designer back in the day. Like many, Jeff was a generalist and would take on pretty much whatever came through the door, be it brochures, publications, ads and the likes. But, his favorite gigs were always logos. In the early 90s, he started to second guess his career choice and wasn’t sure he wanted to continue. Jeff’s sister owned an ad agency and suggested he focus on logo design since he seemed to really enjoy that type of project. Since that brilliant revelation, Jeff has gone on to receive over 600 design awards, written loads of articles and has been quoted in many more, as well as in numerous books. Plus, he’s working on his third book, at the time of this writing. Here’s some info about the previous two. Along the way he’s learned well more than most about logo design. Like Ilise, Jeff leveraged the opportunities within a niche and cemented his status as an ipso facto expert. All this knowledge and expertise isn’t worth too much if nobody knows about it. So, to fix that the next installment will be all about how to promote yourself within your niche and get on your prospects’ radar screens. What are your thoughts? When it comes to finding the niche that’s just right for you, it’s a good idea to start with what you know. It simply makes sense to focus on the niches that revolve around your knowledge. You don’t want to start from scratch if you don’t need to do so. For example, I know a bit about the creative process, so consulting with those folks is one of my primary niches. Perhaps you’re an attorney breaking out on your own and have been doing intellectual property work at a firm. That’s your natural market. You have the knowledge, experience and probably contacts to get things moving. After looking into what you know, hone in on those things you enjoy doing. If you’re a designer it might be high end brochures, custom publications or trade show displays (Which I personally loathe doing, although I’ve made a load of dough doing them). Maybe you’re a writer bitten by the travel bug or a serious foodie. Writing about those topics makes sense. Next, ask yourself, “Who buys high end brochures or custom publications?” “What kind of business or publication buys travel or food articles?” “What about writing restaurant reviews?” You get the idea. Once you’ve settled on a niche or two, start doing some research. Here are some questions to investigate: What’s the current state of affairs within the niche? Is it growing, stalled or declining? Do members of the niche buy what you’re selling? It might be that they do, in fact, need your services but they’re not aware they do. That means you’ll be spending a lot of time educating them. Is the payoff worth that time and resource investment? Is there competition within the niche? Is the niche sustainable? It would be better to broaden the niche a bit and seek out those firms that are a little larger and need various types of marketing and public relations materials, such as a brochure system for various practice areas, but also an e-newsletter, print ads and regular site updates. Here are some ideas for researching potential niches: Fire up Google or your search engine du jour and search for industry associations Visit potential prospect sites Visit trade journal sites Also be sure to read through several publications and/or articles on their sites. Make some phone calls You might consider offering some type of downloadable report or tip sheet as a thank-you for their time. This is also a nifty way to get them to visit your site. It takes some time to research potential niches, but the payoff is well worth it. You’ll avoid sinking time and resources into a niche that isn’t a good fit for you. Or, you’ll uncover a niche that fit’s like a glove. Next up: Developing expertise in an industry, technique or project type. When I give a presentation, one of the first things I ask the audience is, “Who buys what you’re selling?” Inevitably, several folks will answer, “Everybody needs what I’m selling.” Sorry gang. Wrong answer. The thought of specializing within a target group, or “niche,” is a scary idea for many service professionals. “I don’t want to limit myself,” “I’m afraid I won’t get enough work,” are common concerns. The truth is, trying to be all things to all people usually results in one becoming nothing to everybody. It quickly erodes into a form of “me too” marketing, where everybody is saying the same things. From the prospect’s point of view, nothing stands out. There’s no differentiation. There’s nothing compelling. Beyond this, and perhaps more important, by finding a good niche, marketing becomes a whole lot easier … and less costly. Trying to market and sell to everybody means spending a hefty sum to reach all those ears and eyes. Most of them will never buy from you. For example, typical response rates for direct mail average between .5% – 2%, depending on the product or service offering and call to action. Logic dictates that if you want to land more sales, it means increasing the number of mailings. That means more printing, mailing set up and postage costs. Into cold calling? The same applies, albeit time rather than money. The research says that for the average service professional, you’ll need to make 100 calls to land five invitations to present. Those will result in one to two sales. Want more sales? Spend more time on the phone and making presentations. It’s just plain ‘ole inefficient. That’s why creating a niche for your business is so important. The main idea here is to find a market segment where you can become the expert … the big fish in a small, but profitable pond. You learn the common challenges, know the solutions and become intimate with the audience and the industry. Over time, and with some effort, you might even get to know the industry better than your prospects. When that happens, you become pretty valuable. So, what is a niche? The dictionary defines it as :
That works. But, for our purposes, let’s define a niche as a market segment that’s an inch wide and a mile deep. It’s that part of the market that’s either under-served, has an unmet need, or is an area (type of service, specific expertise, etc.) that solves a particular and common problem for your prospects and clients. A niche, or area of specialization, can be by industry, type of service or even geography. For instance, some service professionals might target healthcare, while others may target the legal industry. Some might whittle it down even further by targeting dentists or cardiologists. Maybe going for attorneys practicing in the area of environmental law is a just right fit. In the case of designers, some focus on developing identities, while others specialize in Web design or trade show displays. Targeting by geography is a bit more wonky in these days of the Internet, Skype and overnight delivery. But, in smaller markets, an indie pro may be able to make their mark by positioning themselves as their town or county’s service provider of choice by knowing the ins and outs of a geographic arena. Where to begin? If you’re just hanging out your shingle, odds are you don’t have a lot of client history to drawn on. If that’s the case, start reading newspapers and various business publications. Look at what trends are emerging. For example, people are always getting sick and the Boomers are aging. So, carving out a niche within the healthcare industry might make sense for you. After looking over your history and current trends, give some thought to what you’re good at doing and what you enjoy doing. That latter item is pretty important. You might be great at doing a certain thing, but hate doing it. Sure, you can promote yourself and land a bunch of work … and abhor going to work everyday. We spend an awful lot of time working. Try to find something you enjoy. Over the course of this series, here’s what I’ll address:
I look forward to your thoughts and comments about the topic, what you’ve done, what worked and what didn’t work. It’s another day and you pull up behind your desk, fire up the computer and down a jolt of your favorite caffeinated beverage. Out of the blue, the phone rings or the inbox jingles. You’ve been asked for an interview. Holy smokes! What now? After your hat size deflates once again to normal, take a few steps back and relax. Interviews are simply another way for you to reach your audience, albeit through the third party known as the interviewer. Interviews are something of a symbiotic relationship between an interviewer and the interviewee. The interviewer needs quotes and quips for their story or show. The interviewee needs the visibility (hopefully positive visibility). An interview can do absolutely nothing for you from a promotional point-of-view, or jump start your visibility in a significant way. Like most things, it’s important to have a goal. A secondary goal or two isn’t a bad idea, either. The most important thing is to not screw it up. And that’s what this post is all about. This installment is pretty general with regard to the media, but the core principles work across several channels. By “the media,” I mean newspaper reporters, freelance or staff writers for magazines, trade publications and similar print publications. The media also includes radio and television, as well as podcasts, YouTube videos, blogs, book authors and website content writers. Before The Interview
During the Interview
After the Interview
Press releases are often the foundation of a business’s publicity efforts. When writing releases, be sure they conform to accepted format standards. To follow is the dissection of a release I wrote a while back.
Let’s take this apart and look at each element.
This is the contact info and should appear at the top of the release. Pretty straightforward stuff.
The date of the release and whether or not it can be published immediately. If not, include the desired publishing date, such as “For release on or after …”
Here’s your headline. It should immediately tell the editor what the release is all about.
This is called the “dateline” and it’s inserted at the beginning of the first paragraph. Ironically, the “dateline” isn’t a date at all. It’s the location of your office or where the news originated.
Lead off with the most important information. Think of the body of your release as an inverted pyramid with less important information lower in the release. Editors tend to cut from the bottom. Wind up your release with some background info about key people and/or companies mentioned in the release. When you’re drafting your release, put on your reporter hat. They want to know who, what where, when and why.
If your release is two or more pages, let the editor know by including [more] at the end of each page. Close your release with either “-30-” or “###,” the customary symbols to say “That’s all folks.” It’s a good idea to contact the editors of the publication where you plan to send your news to find out their preference for receiving releases. Some prefer email, other like plain ‘ole snail mail, while other like faxed releases. Contacting them also helps to begin a relationship. Don’t freak out if your first few releases never make it into print. That’s not too unusual. Over time, as editors come to see you as consistent source of quality news, they’ll start publishing your stuff. For more information about press release style and formatting, consult the Associated Press AP Stylebook – The Journalist’s Bible. There’s even an iPhone version available. The AP Stylebook provides fundamental guidelines on spelling, grammar, punctuation and usage, with special sections on reporting business and sports. Included is an updated guide to media law. |
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