SWITCH ON YOUR MARKETING INNOVATION MACHINE

SWITCH ON YOUR MARKETING INNOVATION MACHINE

© 2008 Linda Feinholz

Marketing Innovation The question I posed to the room full of financial advisors was “What new ways have you used in your marketing in the past twelve months?” I was really eager to hear the answers, and for other people in the room to hear and learn from the suggestions as well.

As I took answers from the people around the room I saw that one of the participants, Michael, had a self-satisfied grin on his face. I thought to myself “Great! He must have a good example to share.”

You can imagine my surprise when he said, “I’ve been at this thirty years. Frankly I’ve tried everything without predictable results and there is nothing else worth trying.” He really meant it. When I asked for details, he listed approaches he’d used years ago and never tried again since.

Sitting across the table was a new financial planner, Dave, who proceeded to list four things he’s doing to market his business… and each is getting him results right now, building his business.

I could list those four approaches for you but that’s actually not the point. The point is the difference in attitude and the steps Dave is actively using are producing his results.

As I probed further, I unmasked the fact that Michael took a scatter shot approach to his marketing and didn’t stick with any approach long enough to get real results. Dave on the other hand was persistent in moving his new ideas systematically through the four steps of innovation that I teach my clients to use.
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April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Marketing | Leave a Comment 

Change 1 Action And You Can Change It All!

Have you been making it easy for your ideal clients to find you?

Are you creating your own identity in your marketplace?

Ask yourself:

“What is one available channel to build my identity I’m not using today?”

You’ll easily come up with a list of 10-15 ideas you’ve read or seen others using. Pick one, just one and add it to your calendar for the next 3 months.

Perhaps writing 3 articles and getting them published and distributed. That’s a 10-hour commitment over 12 weeks and can kick-start your momentum with ease.

March 20, 2008 | Filed Under Marketing | Leave a Comment 

BE A BEACON, NOT A CHAMELEON IN YOUR BUSINESS

© 2008 Linda Feinholz

In meetings with friends and clients this past month I asked a few people to be part of my R&D team to find out what stopped them from getting out there in a BIG way to get clients.

I also asked them to tell me the goals they set themselves being self-employed. Honestly, I was startled by the answers that rolled in, and their answers were right in line with what I hear from many other people I’ve talked to about this.

You see, most people have very LOW expectations and their actions match it. They decided that it was a fair exchange to liberate themselves from the constrictions of employment to gain full control over their work and their income. And they even capped their earnings expectations.

Using SYSTEMS and LEVERAGE techniques in marketing and managing your business, you can totally change that to create an income that is FAR beyond what you’ve assumed. I know it for a fact as I’ve helped my clients achieve it.

However, leverage and systems aren’t enough. Why do I say that? Because if you do the math, you need to target $300,000 a year in revenue to pay yourself and the people and services you’ll use to do marketing or service delivery, or administrative tasks, and so on.

The biggest stumbling block to reaching that next level is ‘habit’. The habit of thinking and acting like a generalist, serving anyone and everyone. I did it myself for years. It’s a commonly held belief that the wider we spread our net, the larger our likely result. I myself held that belief for years, even in the face of all evidence to the contrary.

Being a generalist means you’re constantly working on multiple ways of introducing who you are and what you do in the hope that it resonates with the person you’re talking to. All your attention is on adapting like a chameleon rather than shining like a beacon that calls people to you.

Get out of the way of your OWN High Payoff using these three Key Activities and you’ll see your results soar:

Key 1 – Select a Target Market and Stick To It

Your services may be equally productive to a wide range of clients and customers. However, when you pick a niche, a class of clients who share particular characteristics, you make yourself more memorable. The truth is, you increase your identity as an expert.

Elsa Lucan, a landscaping specialist in Los Angeles, recently made the shift from taking a wide range of projects, large and small, to working with homeowners who want to create completely new outdoor spaces. She focuses on using little known planting techniques that result in astounding growth and exquisite spaces.

A second shift she’s made? No longer doing the hardscape herself. Elsa now designs and supervises its installation by specialists in their own right. Her time is planned farther out, her crew knows they’re booked, and she’s seeing a doubling in her revenues in the space of a year.

That’s what people want – specialists solving their challenges.

Key 2 – Differentiate From Others Providing Similar Services

We often think of differentiation as being about our technical resume, dress and manners. Ironically, the personal story behind our choices attracts our market to us like a magnet.

One of my clients recently realized that when she spoke of her emotional reason for providing services to parents of young children – facing the same challenges she’s come through herself – her rate of closing doubled… and in half the time.

Her clients feel she ‘knows’ them and their challenges.

Key 3 – Take 5 Paths to Connect With Your Market

It’s easy to settle into habits unconsciously. Marketing by networking is one example. It may not actually get you in front of your ideal clients. When you expand your marketing activities that let your potential client know you’re the specialist to solve their issues you create momentum and business growth. Four additional activities that deliberately sharpen your identity include sending a newsletter to your contacts, writing articles, forming joint ventures with others who provide complimentary services to the same market, and asking clients for referrals.

Ironically, I’ve been implementing Keys 2 and 3 systematically for months. Yet I was neglecting Key 1. For 15 years I’ve worked with financial advisors, more than half my clients every year … yet I never said so. It’s time for me to declare my niche and use the three Keys together for myself.

How about you? What is one shift you could make to be a beacon to your ideal client and grow your business further, faster and easier?

March 19, 2008 | Filed Under Marketing, Vision | Leave a Comment 

A Quick Note!

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.It covers:

  • The best blogging techniques.
  • How to get traffic to your blog.
  • How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.

December 20, 2007 | Filed Under Marketing | Leave a Comment 

Change 1 “Marketing Moment” And You Can Change It All!

Not all of the holiday cards I receive go in the bin.

Every once in a while the card is an exquisite photograph that is so beautiful I put in on my window ledge, call the sender and tell them how much I appreciate it, and keep it for months. It enlivens my life and reminds me of them every time I see it. Other people see it and we end up having wonderful conversations about the card, the image, the person who sent it.

That’s moment of marketing that builds a relationship.

So before you invest your resources to send out mass holiday mailings, ask yourself:

“What is this adding to the receiver’s life?”

And send something worth putting on a window ledge for a month or two.

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under Marketing | Leave a Comment 

HIGH PAYOFF MARKETING IN 1 MINUTE A DAY

By Linda Feinholz, “Your High Payoff Catalyst”

Is this you, too? I’m standing by my recycling bin doing the ‘rip, glance and toss’ with a flood of holiday cards from companies whose names I don’t recognize.

Now not all of them are just churned through from Mail Box to Blue Bin. Some of them have an ink scrawl on them that looks like a name I might recognize. I’m not sure whose hand actually wrote it though. I do take a look at the ones with family photos. They make me smile to watch everyone grow up over the years. But the rest have my attention for approximately 1.7632 seconds.

In this age of technology I’m sure the senders think this is being ‘personal’ in their marketing.

It’s making the US Postal Service happy to have the business I’m certain. I’m equally sure that as a marketing exercise it’s a complete waste of natural resources. Those cards are heading right for the recycling bin and the landfill.

For 13 years I’ve networked in the Los Angeles business community and I’m convinced there are staff in companies whose time is spent taking stacks of business cards and entering them into some contact management system. That information sits in a computer, with no connection created between me and that company, until someone at the firm decides “Let’s send a Holiday card to The List” and suddenly a flood of cheery cards go out.

As I stand there ripping, glancing and tossing I’m certain that many of the senders wouldn’t be able to pick my face out of a crowd and put a name to it.

And that’s not marketing. It’s not being in touch. And it’s certainly not building a relationship with me that will keep the sender in my mind in any productive way.

So those “marketing communication” Holiday greetings cards go from my “In” basket straight into the recycling bin, and the corporate identity goes from my eyes to my… well nowhere.

If you still had to pay a secretary to hand write addresses on all those cards would you be doing it? I sure wouldn’t. Businesses are sending them out because ‘technology is making it easy.’ Put some category in the system, input cards, and forget about the people those card represent. Then someone hits ‘send’ and has a mail house mass produce and address them and checks “Done” on a Marketing To Dos list.

If you want to make a marketing impact, make a memory. If you want to make a memory, take the time to match the message to your market. Then use technology to make it easier and appreciated by your market.

That means you need to be clear about whether each person is a referral relationship, a customer, or a prospective client. Then make your message relevant for each of them. Make each message important to THEM, and worth their time to pay attention to it.

And instead of sending anonymous cards to your entire database, build a relationship with your current clients and referral sources. Here are three ways to use technology in marketing that will take less than 5 minutes a week:

1 – Send a relevant piece of information monthly

Whether you send an entire newsletter or a quick tip is up to you. The key is to watch for information that is useful to the person you are sending it to. What is an unusual challenge that you solved? Will the person who receives your marketing piece find that information relevant? If so, include it in an email with a quick “you might be interested in this” note. Otherwise, leave them off the distribution list.

2 – Send a timely Thank You when you receive a referral

If someone has kept you in mind and taken the time and effort to try to match someone in need with the solutions you provide, let them know it’s appreciated. Take the 90-seconds to pick up the phone, or write an email, and say “Thanks!” If the referral is not a fit, say “Thanks!” and tell them the reason why it was not a match so they’ll be more expert at making the next referral.

3 – Send a holiday marketing moment that makes people smile

Create an electronic holiday card that is personal, and email it to your contacts. Don’t put any links in it, just a fabulous image and a wish for their continued success. How to make it personal? Upload an image that makes you smile or laugh and share it with them so they have the same moment and associate it with you!

Let’s make this year the one in which we say “I’m Glad To Know You!” and leave wood still growing as a tree and the recycling bins and landfills empty!

© 2007 Linda Feinholz

November 16, 2007 | Filed Under Marketing | Leave a Comment