August 29, 2006
Insider Tip of the Week - 08/30/06
Small Business Marketing Tips
Bob Serling interviews John Jantsch
====================================
Today's issue features highlights from a 26-page interview
I recently did with marketing expert, John Jantsch. John is
a marketing coach, author and award-winning blogger. His
Duct Tape Marketing blog was chosen as Forbes
Magazine's favorite for small business, and was recently
named the best small business marketing blog by the readers
of Marketing Sherpa for the third consecutive year. So it's
my pleasure to be able to bring you some of the valuable
points that were covered in this important interview with
John.
A Critical Marketing Mistake
Bob: What are some of the biggest mistakes that you
see small businesses and entrepreneurs making when it
comes to their marketing?
John: I would maybe categorize it into one big giant
mistake that I see, and that's not having, or thinking, or
taking any time to figure out a marketing strategy. In
other words, what do you want the market, over time,
to believe about your company? What do you want to
be best known for? What do you want your brand to
stand for?
There is no unique value that they're offering. It's just
this message, then that message, then this message, and
maybe they sell a little bit. In fact, that's probably the
danger, because they actually have a little bit of success
- but long term, marketing is boring. It takes consistency.
It doesn't have to be the flash of the week. Truly the
people that win, in a lot of cases, stick a flag in the sand
and say, "This is what we want to be known as", and
they say it until they're tired of it.
Effective Lead Generation
Bob: What do you find to be some of the more
ffective lead-generation methods for small businesses?
John: Well, I'm going to give you an answer that may
not satisfy some of the listeners, because again I will
go back and say that marketing is not hard, but it takes
work. To me, a couple things are critical - starting with
consistency. No matter what it is that you're doing,
commit to doing it over and over and over again, for
a year, minimum.
If you're going to do a direct-mail program, mail it out
monthly, assuming we've targeted an ideal client list or
prospect list. Don't just do it once and say, "Well, that
didn't work", or, "Well, that was okay, but what can
we do next month?" There is momentum in consistency.
The second thing I would say from a principle
standpoint is to think in terms of lead generation from
multiple approaches - multiple pillars, as if you were
thinking a foundation.
People learn in different ways. They need to be
exposed to your message multiple times, and so when
I talk to people about lead generation, I always say,
"We need to have an advertising strategy, a referral
strategy and a PR strategy. Time willing, we're going
to do all three of those as quickly as we can, at the
same time."
Marketing Effectively with Blogs
Bob: Now I want to move on to a topic that I know a
lot of people are going to want to hear from you about,
because you've won so much recognition for your own
blog and you are a recognized expert in blogging. What
advice do you have on successfully using blogs for
marketing either products or services?
John: The thing I would say is look at it as just another
marketing tool. I know that when blogs really got hot
for business, there was all this hype about how it's going
to change the way you do marketing, and there were even
people claiming you were instantly going to get rich if you
had a blog.
And I would say just look at it with a strategic approach
in mind. It is a great tool to facilitate content creation and
distribution. It's a great tool to help educate. It's actually
a great tool to help you in your search-engine optimization
efforts. It's all just inherent in the way the software works
and the way that the search engines view blogs.
But I would really tell people, don't look at it as being the
silver bullet that's going to instantly transform your business.
Look at it as a way to pretty easily get some of the results
or get some of the strategy of creating content and educating
done.
And having said that, I'm not trying to discourage anybody.
I would say you most definitely should have a blog, in my
opinion, but don't look at it as the magic bullet.
Bob: Let me dig a little deeper into this topic, because I
know it as a topic that I get a lot of questions on from my
clients, plus I have this opportunity to pick the brain of the
leading expert on this, so I want to dig even deeper.
One thing you mentioned is that a blog can help you get
better search engine placement. Obviously we could talk
about that for hours, but can you give a couple of critical
points about that?
John: It really is mostly inherent in the way the software is
designed. Very quickly, blogs are content management
systems that every entry creates a database entry, which
is then pulled into a web page. So when you go to
someone's blog, you see maybe eight or ten listings. Well,
those are all pulled from a database. Nobody needs to
know, really, how that works. I just had to set that up so
that you understand a little bit of the software.
But what happens is every time you post an entry, if it's
five words or its 500 words, a new web page is created,
and that web page is optimized for search engines. Again,
you can do this yourself, but the beauty is the software does
it. So all of a sudden you have the ability to create, over
time, a hundred, a hundred and fifty pages, all perfectly
optimized, generally with an educational content, because
people typically don't blog posts on "Buy our new product
today." They typically talk about some aspect of the
industry or some aspect of their product or service.
So all of those factors combine to make the search engines
say, "Hey, this is something that we ought to pay attention
to", and when a company has on their domain or on their
website a blog, then the whole website benefits from that
search engine paying attention to it.
Now, the other aspect that we could spend a lot of time on
is that inherent in most blog software is this idea of an RSS
feed, and all that really is a tool that lets the search engines
know automatically when new content is posted, and then
it distributes it automatically out to them, too.
So there are a lot of things in the software itself that just by
having a blog and posting about once a week, you would
actually be better off than most websites are today.
Now, there's a lot more you can get out of it and should get
out of it by maximizing it, but from the search-engine
standpoint, that's a real big piece of the value.
Bob: Right. And just a point I want to clarify, if I
understood what you said, you don't really need to
understand the technical intricacies of an RSS feed if you
use a blog, because it's built into the blog to automatically
notify the search engines for you? Is that correct?
John: Absolutely. There are hundreds of blog
softwares out there, but certainly in the leading ten, 20,
30 of them, it's automated. You really don't need to
know how it works or why it works. Just know that it
will work.
Bob: That actually leads to my next question. There's
kind of a raging debate going on in the marketing community,
at least I've heard a lot, that there are kind of two camps in
terms of blogging software. One prefers software called
"Movable Type". Another prefers "Word Press".
A lot of marketing experts are claiming that Word Press
works more effectively with the search engines than
Movable Type. Can you contribute your advice on that
particular issue?
John: I don't blog with either one of them, so take that
with a grain of salt. What I have heard as well is that
they're both capable of doing anything that you want them
to do, or need them to do, or can do. I have heard that
Word Press inherently, particularly for the person that
doesn't know necessarily how to amplify the RSS feed or
do some of the little under-the-hood tweaks, Word Press
is I think a little more user friendly in that regard.
I do think that actually Movable Type is more powerful in
some of the things it can do, but again, that's can do by
the hands of somebody who really understands the
programming aspect.
Bob: So is there a specific software that you
recommend?
John: Well, I think, as you mentioned, Word Press
that can be downloaded for free at wordpress.org
is a great option.
I personally like, and this is one of those things in
the great software debate - you typically like the one
you know how to use and you've gone through the
learning curve. I personally like Type Pad. And part of
my reason for that is it is very easy to use, so when I
have people that I'm trying to get started that I know
maybe aren't very technically savvy, I'll lead them to
Type Pad. That's actually a hosted service that without
downloading, customizing, doing anything, you can
actually have a blog in five minutes.
***************************************
That's great advice and insight from John Jantsch. I
hope you enjoyed and benefitted from this short
excerpt from my interview with John.
Special offer on John Jantsch's complete
marketing course, "The Ultimate Small Business
Marketing System"
If you like what you've seen just in this small portion
of the interview I did with John, you're going to love
his complete marketing course. It covers everything
you need to know to effectively market online and
offline. You can get all the details and place your order
at:
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/serling.php
And as a special bonus, when you purchase John's
course, I'll give you a fr*ee copy of the complete
26-page interview I did with John called, "Small
Business Marketing Success".
This interview is not available anywhere else. To
get your copy, simply email the receipt from your
purchase to:
interviewbonus@directmarketinginsider.com
I'll send the bonus report in pdf format to you
right away. Don't wait to start making all your
marketing more profitable. Click this link to
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Posted by Bob Serling at 10:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 25, 2006
Insider Tip of the Week - 08/22/06
Are You Misreading Your Prospects?
by Bob Serling
Zogby International has just released the results of a
poll they conducted and it is both disheartening and
shocking. And it holds a powerful lesson for marketers.
Here's a sampling of the results they discovered:
1. 75% of Americans can correctly identify two of
Snow White's seven dwarfs. Only 25% can name
two Supreme Court justices (and there are nine
of them, not just seven).
2. 57% could name the boy wizard of British author
J.K. Rowling's books - Harry Potter. Only 50%
could name the British Prime Minister - Tony
Blair.
3. 60% could name the fictional planet Superman
is from - Krypton. Just 37% knew that Mercury
is the closest planet to the son.
Wow! Are you as shocked as I am?
We could ponder why the average American (and
people all over the world, by the way) seem to have
little grasp - and even less interest - in the world
around them for hours. But regardless of why this
is occurring, if you don't take it into consideration
in your marketing, your sales and profits will suffer.
Suggestions for coping with this disturbing trend
If you think this trend is short-lived, or occurs just
among the younger generation, think again. I live
in the 8th largest city in America - San Diego. In the
10 years I've been here, the philharmonic orchestra
has shut down twice due to lack of funds. Only a
$50 million endowment from a local philanthropist
keeps it open.
Regardless of age, education level, sex or race,
people seem to be less interested in serious topics
these days. If you try to fight that, you can seriously
compromise the effectiveness of your marketing.
Here are a few things you can do to live with, and
even capitalize on this trend:
1. Keep your copy simple. Assume that your
prospect has a sixth-grade education. Many
do, and those that have a higher level of education
generally use language skills at about that
level (dude).
2. Avoid too much technical jargon. As wired as
people are these days, the majority of their
"wired" efforts are dedicated to various forms of
entertainment. Don't assume this technically savvy
time we live in equates to a higher degree of
intelligence. Simple sentences, simple paragraphs,
simple words work best.
3. Become a student of popular culture. Read the
comics. Read the sports page. Read the
entertainment section of your paper. These are
the areas where most people connect with each
other. You'll gain tremendous insight about society
in general, and the people who make up your
market in particular, by reading these sections that
reflect the true interests of so much of the
population.
4. Don't make the mistake of skimping on copy.
Online or offline, in almost all cases, longer copy
still does a more effective selling job. Just because
people aren't interested in more serious topics
doesn't mean they're any less devoted to the topics
they do pay attention to. The more you write about
a person's self-interest, the better chance you have
of making the sale.
Now, if only I could remember the names of those
other five dwarfs!
====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html
Posted by Bob Serling at 09:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 17, 2006
Insider Tip of the Week - 08/16/06
More Preaching to the Choir
by Bob Serling
I hate to say "I told you so", but...
In May, CNET's business network and MarketingSherpa
conducted a survey to determine which types of marketing
are most productive for businesses. So what do you think
business executives listed as their Top 3 methods for
successfully bringing in more sales?
Pay-per-click? Nope.
Natural search? Negative.
Ezine marketing. Wrong again, bucko.
Cheez, kinda makes an online marketer feel trivial and
meaningless, doesn't it? But wait - it gets even worse
for the online gurus. Because here are the results of this
survey of sophisticated, technically inclined business
executives. Drumroll please...
The three big winners
Here are the winners, in order of preference:
1. Word of mouth
2. Conferences and trade shows
3. Editorial in print magazines
Wow! This completely aligns with what I've been telling
every marketer, business owner, or entrepreneur who
will listen for the past 4 or 5 years. Just because
technology is cool, just because all the so-called gurus
are selling you a bill of goods about the next hot
technological "magic bullet", doesn't mean it's true.
Look, I have nothing against technology and Internet
marketing. I have a strong Internet presence and plan
to maintain it. But I'd give my eye-teeth for a juicy
article in Inc Magazine, while I warily evaluate almost
every form of online marketing.
However, I still use many online marketing techniques
that work for my business. But the operative phrase
here is "that work". You see, I don't care whether an
effective marketing technique is online, offline, or
painted on the side of a barn. My only concern is
that it's effective.
So I strongly caution you to get past looking at the
economy of marketing online and focus instead on
what's most profitable for your business - both
online and offline.
One last important point
If you examine the Big 3 winners above, there's a
common, but hidden, thread running through them. The
hidden message is that most business executives don't
trust any type of marketing very much.
They strongly prefer the recommendations of trusted
friends and business associates, objective industry
experts' opinions, and materials they can check out in
a face-to-face situation.
Focus more of your marketing efforts on those areas
and you'll easily command a greater share of your
market.
====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html
Posted by Bob Serling at 08:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 11, 2006
Insider Tip of the Week - 08/09/06
The Question of a Lifetime
by Bob Serling
Usually in this ezine, I give you answers about
marketing topics that are critical to your business. But
But today's issue is not about answers, it's about a
question. And hopefully, by asking yourself this question,
you'll come up with a powerful answer that will literally
alter the course of your entire life. I know it did for me.
So let's get right to it.
The question of a lifetime
Most of us question whether the career we're in is the
right choice. There have been dozens of books written
on the topic, most of which help you assess the skills
you have and then shoehorn them into a career change.
The problem with this approach is that it lacks gusto!
If you follow this logic, you'll simply end up with another
career that you're sick of five years from now.
The way to avoid this and really create the career you
want is to pull out all the stops by asking a truly life
changing question. Ready for it? Here it comes...
Ask yourself:
"If I was to win the mega-lottery tomorrow, what
would I do even if I didn't get paid for it?"
The answer you come up with is what you should
really be focusing on if you're looking to change
careers or add a second stream of income to your
life.
The question in action
I asked myself The Question of a Lifetime just last week.
Going into it, I thought I'd identify a powerful new
product idea I could market to my customers. Was I
ever in for a surprise!
Because I didn't censor my answer, even though I was
predisposed to coming up with the product idea I just
mentioned, my answer was altogether different than
what I thought. By letting my mind simply answer the
question without any censors or filters, the answer that
immediately popped up was, "Invent more toys".
Look, I really love helping people market more effectively,
and I don't plan to stop. But when I'm inventing toys,
it doesn't seem like work. Hours can go by, yet it seems
like minutes.
So I've committed to developing at least two new toys
each year. And simply by answering this question, I've
already kicked myself into gear. I have two appointments
to present new toy ideas in the next 45 days.
Hey, what could be better than getting paid to do
something you'd happily do for nothing?
Posted by Bob Serling at 09:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2006
Insider Tip of the Week - 08/02/06
Leveraging the "deeper benefit"
by Bob Serling
A rose is a rose and a benefit is a benefit, right?
Not quite. You see, not all benefits are created equal.
For almost any market, there is a deeper seated benefit
that means more to your customer than all other benefits.
If you can identify precisely what that deeper benefit is,
you'll be treated to the tune of your cash register
(whether a real or virtual cash register) ringing
continuously.
The "deeper benefit" in action
Here's a real life example of the deeper benefit in action.
One of my target markets is consultants and trainers.
Just about every consultant and trainer would like to
add information products to their business as a way of
bringing in passive income.
When I recently sent an email offering my "Information
Products Master Course" to the consultants and trainers
on my list, I could have used a subject line featuring a
key benefit like:
"How to make thousands with information products"
That's a pretty decent benefit. "How to make thousands".
What consultant or trainer wouldn't want to do that?
But if you dig a bit deeper and discover what really
motivates your prospect, you can find the "deeper
benefit" that few prospects can resist responding to. In
this case, by doing my research, I discovered what
truly motivates consultants and trainers to want to add
information products to their product/service mix. Then
I used it to create a far more compelleing subject line:
"The secret to working less & paying yourself more"
You see, the vast majority of consultants and trainers
aren't making nearly as much money as they'd like to.
There are tremendous peaks and valleys in service
businesses. Sometimes they're turning away clients.
Other times, they can barely keep their doors open
for business.
So this subject line outperformed every other subject
line I tested because it combines the pain they feel
- working too much and not getting paid enough - with
a promise of overcoming that pain and achieving an
important goal, "paying yourself more". That's a tough
combination to beat!
How to uncover your "deeper benefit"
There are many ways to uncover the "deeper benefit"
that truly drives your prospects to action. One of the
best is to ask yourself:
"What keeps my prospect up at night? What is
so important to them, or so problematic, that
they lose sleep over it?"
Answer that question, use that answer to drive your
copy, and you're practically guaranteed greater sales.
====================================
How did one of my students sell 9,500 copies of his
information product with almost no prior experience?
http://www.directmarketinginsider.com/9500copies.html
Posted by Bob Serling at 09:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack