The Weekly Trio

VIOLATE MARKETING LAWS AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

The word “law” has power. That may be why it often gets overused and also generates so many attacks. Today we talk about the 5 Great Laws of Marketing, which should be immune from criticism, and should be ignored at your own peril.

Too many business owners that practice marketing are poorly equipped for that critical task. Their instruction and/or their background - centers on technique, not results. With that background, they can’t compete with those who recognize the one and only purpose of a sales message: to cause the message recipient to perform a positive act as the direct result of exposure to the message.
 
5 Great Laws of Marketing 

Although they’re simple, easy, and obvious, these laws give you no assurance that you will create a brilliant sales message. Rather, they give you assurance that, by observing them, you cannot create a stinky message.

The first Great Law gets attention:
The First 3 Seconds:  This is your chance to get the interest of your potential customer. If what you say isn’t entertaining, interesting, or intriguing enough in under 3 seconds, you’re out. People don’t have time to pay attention to things that don’t interest them. Even if they would love your product or service, if you can’t communicate something to catch their attention quickly they won’t listen.

For this reason, the first 3 seconds can’t include details. The potential customer doesn’t want details at this point. If you try to front-load as much information as you possibly can in your initial attempt to get attention, your potential customer will reject it. As far as they’re concerned, you haven’t earned the right to put information in their brain at this point.

You really only have time to present one idea, which should be related to the main benefit you can offer a consumer. To be memorable this idea has to be emotionally engaging. To be effective it has to be informative. To be both memorable and effective is your goal.
If you do catch their attention in those critical first few seconds, they will stop and pay attention to see if you continue to interest them. This means you have their permission to draw them farther into your message.

The second Great Law gives direction:
Reach and influence, at the lowest logical cost, the most people who can and will respond. Don’t mistake the meaning of this law. It isn’t an imperative for cheap production. Rather, it’s an imperative against overproduction. Technicians value production. Genuine marketers value response.

Unlike the Madison Avenue mantra “Reach the most people,” you don’t want to reach the most people.  You want to reach the most people who can and will respond to our sales message. Shooting blindly for high circulation, much of which is pure waste, should not be your strategy.

The third Great Law is a caution for sanity:
In this Age of Skepticism, cleverness for the sake of cleverness may well be a marketing liability rather than an asset.  Cleverness for the sake of selling something is great. Cleverness to show off - not so much.

The fourth Great Law is a caution for restraint:
If you emphasize everything in your marketing copy, you emphasize nothing.  So if you have been writing and/or running headlines such as “44 reasons why you should buy now,” stop. You’re not isolating the key selling argument and subordinating the rest. You’re telling the reader, “What interests you is in here somewhere. I’m not sure what it is, so fish for it.” That’s unprofessional.

The fifth Great Law is the payoff:
You tell the reader/viewer/listener what to do.  Curiously, although this law should be the easiest and the most obvious, it’s the most violated.  You can easily find advertisement after advertisement, mailing after mailing, e-mail after e-mail, waxing elegantly about a product or service but never making the compelling point.  The whole point of salesmanship is lost if we don’t tell our targeted audience what to do.

Taken together, these 5 Great Laws of Marketing are deceptive.  They seem so obvious, so common-sense, and yet if you have been nodding your head in agreement as you’ve been reading them, don’t forget the next step - to make sure your own marketing messages are congruent with the 5 Great Laws. You may not always have a winner on your hands, but you’ll know you haven’t created a loser.

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, help us to clearly identify our results and expectations, and then to execute with brilliance.  With a genuine desire to add value to the lives of our customers through our products and services, help us to communicate with clarity, conciseness and to be compelling.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Five Laws - not too much to remember or to heed.

LIVE FOR A PURPOSE BEYOND YOU!

Yesterday we talked about three key differences between those that succeed and those that fail in business, and in many, if not all other aspects of personal life - those distinctives include:
1. Setting clear expectations upon which you can take action.
2. Possessing results-producing personal power to meet or exceed your expectations. 
3. Having honorable intent - your underlying motive/ purpose/intent are all clear.  In addition, your intent is ethical, moral and honorable.

Today we push the envelope, raise the bar, go to a higher place on honorable intent - by adding the words ‘beyond you’. 

“I use to always say - ’somebody should do something about that!’ 
Then I realized I was somebody.”
~ Lily Tomlin

Move From Success to Significance
Today there seems to be such an extreme vacuum of leadership - in Washington DC, in businesses, in local government, in education, in churches, even in families.  One diagnosis of this malady is the lack of honorable intent among existing leaders.  There seems to be such a focus on the bottom line, the what’s in it for me, the special interests.  How often have we all railed against ’special interests’.  But guess what, if you are honest, we all have belonged to that infamous group of special interests in one respect or another.

Yesterday I mentioned that if you establish crystal clear expectations aligned with the results  you want (your WHAT), and execute brilliantly to achieve those expectations (your HOW), then you will be ahead of 90% of the pack.  However, if you want to make a difference, to change the world, to leave a legacy, then I challenge you to add a third component to your personal and business performance - HAVE HONORABLE INTENT (your WHY).  

However, upon further reflection - I got it wrong!  

You must HAVE HONORABLE INTENT (your WHY) BEYOND YOU (your WHO)!  

Now you add to that, yesterday’s advice to also be willing to invite and be able to withstand scrutiny from others that share similar worldviews.  

You see, lots of things can have honorable intent - to lose weight, to stop swearing, to spend more quality time with family, to spend less and save more, to watch less TV.  However, many of those things are primarily for your benefit.  Sure, others can and will benefit from those actions, but at the core of your motive is probably your own desires.  Nothing wrong with that - often that is the best driver we can have to change habits and accomplish great things.

However, I would like to close this week’s messages, with yet one more challenge.  What if you pushed your honorable intent to go beyond you.  To make it more about others and less about you.  What if your business intent was more than to make more money to improve your lifestyle and even the lifestyle of your employees?  What if it was to be a catalyst to transforming a community by eliminating poverty, or reducing adult illiteracy, or to improve the lifestyle of senior citizens in their last days, or ease the financial burden of the woman’s shelter.

Couldn’t you allocate some profit, or assets, or people to make a difference in some community area that is in need.

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, examine our motives - to reveal selfishness and to shine a light on our own special interest memberships.  Stretch us to have honorable intent beyond ourselves.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Go ahead - be the very best auto repair shop, or consultant, or web designer, or mover, or dance academy that you can possible be.  Maximize your profits, Increase your reach and visibility, whip the competition.  Just make those things means to a greater end - an end beyond you.   Lift up your purpose to have honorable intent beyond you!

WHAT IS YOUR REASON WHY?

Successful people have the POWER to meet or exceed growing EXPECTATIONS.  Put simply, successful people know what they want, why they want it, and have the power to get it.  

Conversely, people ultimately FAIL for three basic reasons: 
1. They fail to set clear expectations upon which they can take action.  (They fail then, because they don’t EXPECT to succeed.)
2. They fail because they lack the results-producing personal power to meet or exceed expectations.  (They fail then, because their EXPECTATIONS are greater than their power to EXECUTE.)
3. They fail because the underlying motive, their purpose, their intent is not clear and/or not right (it is unethical, immoral, or otherwise dishonorable).  They fail then, because they have no compelling reason WHY).

Today we talk about honorable intent in the context of your purpose - your reason why. 

 ”A man/woman should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it.  He should make this purpose the centralizing point of his thoughts.   

It may take the form of a spiritual ideal, or it may be a worldly object, according to his nature at the time being; but whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object which he has set before him. 

He should make this purpose his supreme duty, and should devote himself to its attainment, not allowing his thoughts to wander away into ephemeral fancies, longings, and imaginings. 

This is the royal road to self-control and true concentration of thought. Even if he fails again and again to accomplish his purpose (as he necessarily must until weakness is overcome), the strength of character gained will be the measure of his true success, and this will form a new starting point for future power and triumph.” ~ James Allen

Experience a Breakthrough in Your Personal Performance:
If you really want to analyze your personal performance and take it to the highest level, then I encourage you to truthfully look at three key elements - your expectations, your intent, and your execution.  Clear expectations are the beginning of success or failure.  In my experience working with hundreds of clients over the past 14 years to help grow their business and personal profitability, I have found that 80% of the time, their problem is in not having clear expectations - that are understood by all.  Even if they had clear expectations, they often are not properly aligned to the results that they most wanted.

The other 20% of the time, those businesses and organizations had lousy execution - they knew what to do, they just didn’t do it well.

You may be saying wait a minute - you started off by telling me there were three elements, but then shared that 80% of your clients had expectation issues, and 20% had execution problems - what about intent? — Glad you are paying attention!  

If you do nothing but ruthlessly establish crystal clear expectations aligned with the results that you want (your WHAT), and then execute brilliantly to achieve those expectations (your HOW), then you will be ahead of 90% of the pack.  However, if you want to make a difference, to change the world, to leave a legacy, then I challenge you to add a third component to your personal and business performance - HAVE HONORABLE INTENT (your WHY).  You see, you can do many things, you can achieve much, you can reach high standards that our world applauds, but it is in your reason WHY, in your purpose, and in your intent - that you become a difference-maker, a world-changer, and a legacy-leaver!

Want a real challenge?  Don’t just establish an honorable intent in your mind - but be willing to invite and be able to withstand scrutiny from others that share similar worldviews.  For me that includes, holding my intent (my reason why) up to my wife, to godly counselors, and to the Word of God.  If it passes those collective scrutinizing eyes then I feel confident in my purpose. 

How about a challenge - part II?  Look at a relationship where you and the other party are in conflict - now dig deep and assess your motive, your intent, your purpose in that conflict and in reconciling that relationship - is it honorable?  Ouch!  Maybe the best field to apply today’s message is right here - see today’s prayer for some more guidance.

DAILY PRAYER  
Pause to call to mind the MOST strained, cool, or distant relationship in your life today–even if it’s only a minor spat. Then work to develop a list of at least three characteristics about the other person in the conflict that are noble, right, or lovely. Now, as the Apostle Paul counsels in Philippians 4:8, take a break from your regular routine to “think on these things.” How might your approach to the present relationship conflict change by putting the apostle’s advice into action?  What if you shared, with genuine gratitude, those identified three noble/right/lovely characteristics with the other person.   

Lord, convict our hearts to have honorable intent, to be the peacemaker in conflicted relationships, to stretch for more worthy pursuits.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Look at how you are spending your time, your treasure, and your talent - do all expenditures reflect honorable intent?  Do they reflect any intent?

CREATE A POWERFUL HEADLINE

If your sales copy has a lousy headline, it just doesn’t matter much what the rest of the message is.  A headline that doesn’t grab attention and interest makes your sales message dead on arrival - thus the title of today’s message ‘Dead Ducks Can’t Quack”.

Every part of your sales message is important. Your opening is crucial; Your presentation of product benefits; Your proof and credibility elements; The offer and premiums; Your guarantee; and of course Your closing - Asking for the sale are all critical.
But of all the things you do to produce a sale, nothing equals YOUR HEADLINE when it comes to pushing response through the roof.  

 ”Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time. The best management of our time thus becomes linked inseparably with the best utilization of our efforts.”
~ Ted W. Engstrom

Two Reasons Headlines Are So Important:
Why are headlines so important? Two reasons:  First, your headline is the raising of the eyebrow — the whisper in the ear — the tap on the shoulder — or the blowing horn that you can’t ignore - that makes it impossible for your prospect to look at anyone’s ad but yours.  Second, your headline opens the gate to the rest of your sales copy - it is what persuades your prospect to read your sales message.  

When you study the most effective headlines ever written, you can’t help but notice that they accomplish these twin tasks by offering the reader a strong benefit in exchange for reading the sales message.  Whether explicit or implicit, shouted or whispered, the best headlines you’ll ever read - or write - will be a proposed transaction: “Read this — and this very specific, very wonderful thing will happen for you.”  

Three extremely powerful headline techniques that produce big returns are described below - perhaps your marketing efforts could benefit from some headline doctoring by better using one of these three approaches! 

1. Pure benefit headlines present only the primary practical benefit offered by the product.
While pure benefit headlines have worked very well in the past, today’s prospects are being offered identical benefits by dozens, scores, or hundreds of competing advertisers.  Unless the benefit you’re offering is truly unique - or presented in a very unique and intriguing way - you’ll need to do more than just present or imply a benefit.

Here’s how one marketer turned a benefit headline into something absolutely unique, and made his ad a must-read:
“Amazing Secret Discovered by One-Legged Golfer
Adds 50 Yards to Your Drives, Eliminates Hooks and Slices
   . and Can Slash Up to 10 Strokes From Your Game Almost Overnight” 

2. Pure emotion headlines directly address the emotional need, frustration, or fear that the product’s primary benefit addresses - only hinting at the practical benefit.

Pure emotion headlines can work very well but only when they are followed immediately with a strong presentation of the benefits that are being promised.

3. Combined benefit/emotion heads present the product’s chief benefit and either imply or state the emotional payoff for the reader.

“Laugh All The Way To The Gas Pump!
     - - - How rising gas prices can make you up to 258% richer in 2008″

How to Give Your Headline Greater Selling Power:
Regardless of whether your headline is pure benefit, pure emotion, or a combination of the two, there are several ways to give it greater selling power.  Here are a few:

Present a proposition: Great propositions make a statement that the reader already believes and tantalize him with the implications of that statement.
 ”For every illness, there is a country where it simply doesn’t exist.”

Propose a transaction: Transaction headlines add credibility to your promised benefit by disclosing that you’re asking something from the reader in return.
 ”Read This Now — Or Kiss Your Money GOODBYE!”

Use specificity to create credibility: Include specific facts or connect your headline to a current news event.
“7 ‘Bear Stearns’ Are Now Racing Toward BANKRUPTCY”

Get the prospect’s natural curiosity working for you:  Intrigue and curiosity heads tease the benefit or begin the conversation by telling a fascinating story.
 ”How I Made a Fortune With a Foolish Idea”
 
Six Key Questions to Help You Craft a Powerful Headline:
1. Does your headline offer the reader a reward for reading your sales copy?
2. What specifics could you add to make your headline more intriguing and believable?
3. Does your headline trigger a strong, actionable emotion the reader already has about the subject at hand?
4. Does your headline present a proposition that will instantly get your prospect nodding their  head?
5. Could your headline benefit from the inclusion of a proposed transaction?
6. Could you add an element of intrigue to drive the prospect into your opening copy?

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, help us get clear on the key benefits of our products and services and to be committed to learning the craft of powerfully communicating attention getting headlines to the market that we serve.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Spend some time improving your skills at crafting powerful headlines - it will payoff big time.  Need some help  - consider buying Headline Creator Pro - downloadable software that helps you craft dozens of headlines in just a few minutes  - check it out at http://www.headlinecreatorpro.net/.

WHAT YOUR PROSPECTS WANT-PART 3

Today we complete our look at how to find out what your prospects want - so you can deliver it to them better than the competition.

Today I talk go in more depth on LinkedIn - a free business social networking site that allows users who register to create a professional profile visible to others. Through the site, individuals can then maintain a list of known business contacts, known as Connections. LinkedIn users can also invite anyone to join their list of connections. 
 
 “Big Opportunities usually go to the people that have outgrown smaller ones!” 

Most people use LinkedIn to “get to someone” in order to make a sale, form a partnership, or get a job. It works well for this because it is an online network of more than 25 million experienced professionals from around the world representing 130 industries.   A few comments from current users of LinkedIn: 
                   - Like many great tools, LinkedIn is so utilized that I have compiled a list of 12 - ways to increase the value of LinkedIn. “I find this social networking tool invaluable. Keeping in touch with people is a vital part of my life. LinkedIn helps me keep track of my professional contacts, and extend them.” 
                   - “One of “the most useful social networking tools I’ve used to date”  
                   - “The Rolodex of the 2000’s and beyond.”
Unfortunately, great tools like LinkedIn are often under-utilized because the users don’t understand the full capabilities, or get lazy and pick the lowest hanging fruit.  Here are 10 ways to increase the value of LinkedIn to you and your business:

1. Increase your visibility.  By adding connections, you increase the likelihood that people will see your profile first when they’re searching for someone to hire or do business with. In addition to appearing at the top of search results (which is a major plus if you’re one of the 52,000 product managers on LinkedIn), people would much rather work with people who their friends know and trust.

2. Improve your connectability.  Most new users put only their current company in their profile. By doing so, they severely limit their ability to connect with people. You should fill out your profile like it’s an executive bio, so include past companies, education, affiliations, and activities.  You can also include a link to your profile as part of an email signature. The added benefit is that the link enables people to see all your credentials, which would be awkward if not downright strange, as an attachment.

3. Improve your search engine results.  Since LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high PageRank in Google, this is a good way to influence what people see when they search for you.  To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name. To strengthen the visibility of this page in search engines, use this link in various places on the web> For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.   You can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few  pre-selected categories like “My Website,” “My Company,” etc.  If you select “Other” you can modify the name of the link. If you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link. To  make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”

4. Perform blind, “reverse,” and company reference checks.  LinkedIn’s reference check tool to input a company name and the years the person worked at the company to search for references. Your search will find the people who worked at the company during the same time period. Since references provided by a candidate will generally be glowing, this is a good way to get more balanced data.  You can also check up on the company itself by finding the person who used to have the job that you’re interviewing for.  Do this by searching for job title and company, but be sure to uncheck “Current titles only.”

5. Scope out the competition, customers, partners, etc.  You can use LinkedIn to scope out the competition’s team as well as the team of customers and partners.

6. Increase the relevancy of your job search.  Use LinkedIn’s advanced search to find people with educational and work experience like yours to see where they work. For example, a programmer would use search keywords such as “C++,” “Python,” “Java,” and “evangelist” to find out where other programmers with these skills work.

7. Gauge the health of a company or industry.  Perform an advanced search for company name and uncheck the “Current Companies Only” box. This will enable you to scrutinize the rate of turnover and whether key people are abandoning ship.  Also, if you’re thinking of investing or working in a sector, use LinkedIn to find people who worked for competitors-or even better, companies who failed.

8. Track startups.  You can see people in your network who are initiating new startups by doing an advanced search for a range of keywords such as “stealth” or “new startup.” Apply the “Sort By” filter to “Degrees away from you” in order to see the people closest to you first.

9. Make an initial meeting or integration into a new job go smoother.  You can use LinkedIn to find the people that you’re meeting, learn about their background, and look for areas of commonality upon which to build quick rapport - before you meet.  In addition when you start a new job you can study fellow employees’ profiles to help to get to know them and the company faster.

10. Ask for advice.  LinkedIn Answers allows you to broadcast your business-related questions to both your network and the greater LinkedIn network. The premise is that you will get more high-value responses from the people in your network than more open forums.   Here are some questions an entrepreneur might ask:
          - Who’s a good, fast, and cheap patent lawyer?
          - What should we pay a VP of business development?
          - What results have you had with using elance or other outsourcing consultings?

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, hold us accountabile to utilize internet tools to a higher level of proficiency, excellence and integrity.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Check out www.linkedin.com to see if you should be a member.  I would be happy to invite you to join through my group.  If you are interested please e-mail me at mstay@coreimpact.com and let me know you want to join.   If you already are a member, then push yourself to use more of LinkedIn’s capabilities!

WHAT YOUR PROSPECTS WANT-PART 2

This week we are exploring how to find out what your prospects want - so you can deliver it to them better than the competition.

Today I talk about the power of billboard advertising.  How about a Free Billboard at a location where 250,000 new prospects drive by every day?

Interested? — Read on! 

“Remind yourself regularly that you are better than you think you are. Successful people are not superhuman. Success does not require a super-intellect. Nor is there anything mystical about success. And success isn’t based on luck. Successful people are just ordinary folks who have developed belief in themselves and what they do. Never — yes, never — sell yourself short.”~ David J. Schwartz
The best billboard advertising in the world is no longer on the highway, downtown, or on the way to Wal-Mart.  It is now online in the wacky world of social marketing.  Do you realize that on Facebook alone, their membership is increasing by 250,000 new people per day.  If you are actively and properly using just Facebook, you have the potential to be seen by all those people every day. 

Do you really understand social marketing?  

Have you ever heard of LinkedIn?  Are you a member?  The cost — its’ FREE!

LinedIn is a business-specific networking site with 20 million registered users.  They are the largest and busiest such site online.  They draw five million visitors per month and doubled in size last year. 

There are millions of prospects, peers, resources all meeting at common sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace — the list grows daily.  Those that figure out how to tap into the most powerful network in history will dominate markets.  

Beyond the networking power of social marketing - it is the best, fastest and most complete way to understand what many of your prospects are doing, thinking, in need of, want, and are currently buying.  If you really want to get inside the brain of your prospects and figure out what they want - you cannot ignore social marketing.  

Again today I am marketing the upcoming FREE five week webinar (web seminar) series titled “UNCOMMON Social Marketing (Web 2.0)” beginning tomorrow evening - October 2, 2008.  

I am not producing this training, I am not profiting personally from you attending — in fact, I am taking this training myself.  I suggest you join me as a participant and sign up right now.

Empower 2000 and JIREH Marketing, in partnership with Germanna Community College’s Center for Workforce Development, are offering this FREE series to help YOU understand how to unleash the POWER of the web in YOUR business or organization.   To participate, you must pre-register at http://empower2000.com/7mountains.  

OK - no more about this - you either got the message or you didn’t.  If you ignore it, or procrastinate and figure you will get training another time you proceed at your own peril!  Your competition may already be signed up to learn how to unleash the power of social marketing!

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, help us to be grow in knowledge, wisdom and understanding.  Social networking has much potential for good - help us learn about it, use it and leverage it for good.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Check out www.linkedin.com to see if you should be a member.  I would be happy to invite you to join through my group.  If you are interested please e-mail me at mstay@coreimpact.com and let me know you want to join.

WHAT DO YOUR PROSPECTS WANT?

Selling is just a whole lot easier when you know what people really want.   OK - you might say, but how exactly do I get into the brains of my prospects and find out what they want.  Great question!  That is a key question that a lot of people  spend much of our waking work hours trying to figure out.  

But here’s what I know.  Having the right product is certainly important, but it’s not nearly enough. What people really want are the benefits.  People will look at the same identical product in a variety of ways. Is each one searching for something different?  This week we spend time exploring this. 

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality.   The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”
 ~ Napoleon Hill

There are usually four or five common things that the majority of people in your market are looking for, and statistically speaking, those things are more or less important to them. On the surface, these things seem infinitely varied. But there’s always a common theme lurking under the surface. People at the very core of their being, are driven by human nature, instinct, and emotion. Show me a marketing campaign that doesn’t stir up these things at some level, and I’ll show you one that probably doesn’t work.  It’s easy to sell people what they want. The tough part is finding out what that really is. 

Brilliant Tip #1 for how to find out what people want - Just Ask
Have you heard of Socrates, and the Socratic Method? Here’s a guy who figured out how to answer a question with a question with a question, until the cows came home.   Of all the conversations going on inside people’s heads right now, I can tell you with certainty that ‘How To’ is a predominant front and center thought in most peoples mind, most of the time.

Brilliant Tip #2 - You need to test!
Here’s a story from Elmer Wheeler who, years ago, was asked by the Barbasol Company to come up with some effective sales talk to be used in selling shaving cream at retail counters. What exactly were men at the local retail store’s toiletry counter looking for - a clean shave, a quick shave, a cheap shave, a safe shave, a shave that didn’t bother their skin, a precise shave to detail there designer mustachios?

Out of 146 sentences tested, it turned out that sales increased an astounding 102% when the clerks approached the customer with ‘How would you like to save 6 minutes shaving?’ Sales increased still further, with ‘How Would You Like to Cut Your Shaving Time in Half?’ 

Testing is one way to find out what your customers are after, and how best to dangle it like a carrot in front of their noses. What you’re really looking to determine is a hierarchy of wants. The top want should go in the headline.  The second want goes in the opening lines. The third in the next paragraph, and so on. Powerful stuff!

Brilliant Tip #3 - You need to learn about, use and fully leverage social marketing! Of course testing is a process of elimination, so it’s a painstaking process.  However, to take a powerful shortcut let me recommend you learn and fully leverage social marketing.  Social Marketing areas include Blogging, Social Networking sites (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn), Video Sharing, Podcasts, Photo Sharing, Content Sharing sites, Bookmarking sites, and much more. For Facebook alone, it’s estimated there will be 200 million Facebook users by the end of 2008 and that number is increasing by 250,000 people per day. 
 
How effectively do you understand, use and leverage social marketing now?  If at all!  I must admit, I am giving you advice that I am just now embracing fully myself.  If you are like me, and in need of some serious training about social marketing, but don’t have much time and/or money to invest right now, have I got a deal for you!

Empower 2000 and JIREH Marketing, in partnership with Germanna Community College’s Center for Workforce, are offering a FREE five week webinar (web seminar) series titled “UNCOMMON Social Marketing (Web 2.0)” beginning October 2, 2008. The purpose is to help YOU understand how to unleash the POWER of the web in YOUR business or organization.  Think about it - social marketing could also be called “attraction marketing” because you are going where the fish are instead of expecting them to come to you.

The lineup of trainers that will be teaching you on this FREE five week webinar is incredible.  They should be charging $500 for this training - but lucky you (and me - I’m signing up today) they graciously are making this inaugural training FREE.  They are even giving you some FREE Bonuses for crying out loud.  I’m certain they won’t be so generous next time.

I am personally knowledgable about all three organizations involved in this training and can vouch for their quality, integrity and results.  So don’t delay, the first one hour webinar starts this Thursday evening at 7:30PM, so RIGHT NOW go to this link and register http://empower2000.com/7mountains - you will gain much you can use immediately!

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, help us to be bold and innovative in our thinking on how to find out what our prospects want.  Provide us with the wisdom and ambition to be pro-active in learning about, using and leveraging Social Marketing to meet the needs of others and grow our business.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Embrace Social Marketing or you will be left behind.  The 2008 presidential election has already been shaped by it.  Your business can be reshaped and experience breakthroughs for major growth.

VIOLATE MARKETING LAWS AT YOUR OWN PERIL!

The word “law” has power. That may be why it often gets overused and also generates so many attacks. Today we talk about the 5 Great Laws of Marketing, which should be immune from criticism, and should be ignored at your own peril.

Too many business owners that practice marketing are poorly equipped for that critical task. Their instruction and/or their background - centers on technique, not results. With that background, they can’t compete with those who recognize the one and only purpose of a sales message: to cause the message recipient to perform a positive act as the direct result of exposure to the message.
 
5 Great Laws of Marketing 

Although they’re simple, easy, and obvious, these laws give you no assurance that you will create a brilliant sales message. Rather, they give you assurance that, by observing them, you cannot create a stinky message. 

The first Great Law gets attention:
The First 3 Seconds:  This is your chance to get the interest of your potential customer. If what you say isn’t entertaining, interesting, or intriguing enough in under 3 seconds, you’re out. People don’t have time to pay attention to things that don’t interest them. Even if they would love your product or service, if you can’t communicate something to catch their attention quickly they won’t listen.  

For this reason, the first 3 seconds can’t include details. The potential customer doesn’t want details at this point. If you try to front-load as much information as you possibly can in your initial attempt to get attention, your potential customer will reject it. As far as they’re concerned, you haven’t earned the right to put information in their brain at this point.

You really only have time to present one idea, which should be related to the main benefit you can offer a consumer. To be memorable this idea has to be emotionally engaging. To be effective it has to be informative. To be both memorable and effective is your goal.
If you do catch their attention in those critical first few seconds, they will stop and pay attention to see if you continue to interest them. This means you have their permission to draw them farther into your message.

The second Great Law gives direction:
Reach and influence, at the lowest logical cost, the most people who can and will respond. Don’t mistake the meaning of this law. It isn’t an imperative for cheap production. Rather, it’s an imperative against overproduction. Technicians value production. Genuine marketers value response.

Unlike the Madison Avenue mantra “Reach the most people,” you don’t want to reach the most people.  You want to reach the most people who can and will respond to our sales message. Shooting blindly for high circulation, much of which is pure waste, should not be your strategy.

The third Great Law is a caution for sanity:
In this Age of Skepticism, cleverness for the sake of cleverness may well be a marketing liability rather than an asset.  Cleverness for the sake of selling something is great. Cleverness to show off - not so much.

The fourth Great Law is a caution for restraint:
If you emphasize everything in your marketing copy, you emphasize nothing.  So if you have been writing and/or running headlines such as “44 reasons why you should buy now,” stop. You’re not isolating the key selling argument and subordinating the rest. You’re telling the reader, “What interests you is in here somewhere. I’m not sure what it is, so fish for it.” That’s unprofessional.

The fifth Great Law is the payoff:
You tell the reader/viewer/listener what to do.  Curiously, although this law should be the easiest and the most obvious, it’s the most violated.  You can easily find advertisement after advertisement, mailing after mailing, e-mail after e-mail, waxing elegantly about a product or service but never making the compelling point.  The whole point of salesmanship is lost if we don’t tell our targeted audience what to do.

Taken together, these 5 Great Laws of Marketing are deceptive.  They seem so obvious, so common-sense, and yet if you have been nodding your head in agreement as you’ve been reading them, don’t forget the next step - to make sure your own marketing messages are congruent with the 5 Great Laws. You may not always have a winner on your hands, but you’ll know you haven’t created a loser.

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, help us to clearly identify our results and expectations, and then to execute with brilliance.  With a genuine desire to add value to the lives of our customers through our products and services, help us to communicate with clarity, conciseness and to be compelling.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Five Laws - not too much to remember or to heed.

AMBITION - WORK - COMMITMENT!

According to the Dictionary, Ambition is defined as a) An eager or strong desire to accomplish something; b) Object, objective or GOAL desired; c) The wish, power, and ability to begin and follow through with a PLAN or task.
 
So ambition is critical to your business and life.  It creates clear expectations and drive or motivation.  But without execution (work and commitment) you don’t produce results.  Today is an opportunity for you to take the pulse of your ambition, your work habits and your commitment level.
 
Ralph Waldo Emerson had many profound things to say about ambition, work and the process of success:
“Without AMBITION one starts nothing. Without WORK one finishes nothing.
The prize will NOT be sent to you. You have to WIN it.
The man who knows HOW will always have a job.
The man who also knows WHY will always be his boss.
As to METHODS there may be a million and then some, but principles are few.
The man who grasps PRINCIPLES can successfully select his own methods.
The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have TROUBLE.”

“All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man/woman had taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.”

Robert Moorehead wrote perhaps the greatest essay on commitment ever written:
 “My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate… at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in a maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, let up, or slow up.”

This week, take some time to renew your God-given right to dream and formulate huge ambitions.  You have the opportunity to make your dreams and ambitions real - to actually live the life you desire. The key is to turn your dreams into goals, goals into plans, plans into specific actions - then work your plan, and commit to completing your actions such that your desired goals, dreams and ambitions are fully realized.

Right now is the perfect time to reconnect and recommit to your goals and plans. This may be the most important 5 minutes you will spend today.

DAILY PRAYER  
Ask the Lord to enlarge your territory, to spread your tent pegs, to take you higher.  Commit your works to the Lord.  Help us Father, to stay steady at the task, to be protected from distraction, to be resourced with provision and help, and to be about purposeful and significant work.  In Jesus name, Amen.

It is ok to be selfish to take time each day to review and reconnect to your dreams and goals, your plans and actions - EVERYDAY.  Ambition, work and commitment all start with a deliberate habit of focus and awareness.  Give yourself 5 minutes to mediatate on such things - you, your family, your business are worth it - aren’t they?

QUESTIONS ARE THE ANSWER!

If ever there is a time to ask questions, this week seems to be it.  The news is filled with phrases like “US Financial Train Wreck”, “Wall Street Meltdown”, and “Unprecedented Bailout”.

The question most of us have is what does all this mean to Main Street - our businesses and our personal lives.  While much is to be revealed in the coming days and weeks, one thing is for sure, the need to optimize your business, and increase your sales and profitability has never been more critical.  

With questions abounding all around us, let’s use those magical communication tools ourself to help further protect your business during times of high financial uncertainty and shakeout. 

When a prospect asks “Does your product come in blue”? 
Your answer should be, “Would you like it in blue?”.
 - J. Douglas Edwards

The Power of the “?”
When you are asked a question, or see a question mark in the copy of an ad or sales letter, it automatically triggers a deep seated, auto response. It’s like an irresistible command to ‘pause and consider’, isn’t it? And after pausing and considering, and coming up with an answer to the question, we own that answer, don’t we?

As human beings, it’s in our very nature, to resist external ideas. But oh how easily we seem to accept those which we consider to be our own. Funny isn’t it?  Questions also appeal to our sense of self worth, because they solicit our opinion. Don’t we all like to give advice? Questions engage us in the discussion. They stimulate our thought process, as we actively reflect on the content of the copy. It’s an emotionally pleasurable experience. 

When you pose an open-ended question that’s relevant to your prospect, you automatically draw them down the page of your ad/website/flyer, and into your copy. They’ll hang on your every word, looking for satisfaction. 

The effective use of questions in your sales, marketing, and advertising efforts is so important - and quite critical to your business. When you think about it, words are really all you have. If you use them wisely, you can not only sell more, you can actually sell with higher profit.

Here’s a little secret. Your profit margins will be in direct proportion to the level of emotional satisfaction your customer expects to obtain from your product or service. And these expectations are entirely dependant on the words you use. Sound crazy? Words alone, make all the different in creating the impression of value.

Learn to question masterfully. Ignite the emotional fire that burns within us. Evoke our dreams and desires, and appeal to our deepest drives. 

According to a recent survey, it was determined that a person asking 5 or more questions closed 72% more business than a person asking only 2 questions. 

People believe little of what you say, more of what others say and
100% of what they say themselves!

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, Your Word has hundreds of examples of the powerful use of questions, help us grow in that skill as a means of communicating, as a means of finding out people’s needs and desires, and to guide us in serving those needs.  In Jesus name, Amen.
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What are key questions that you can use to best serve the needs of your clients.  A furniture store found that one key question asked when prospects walked in the store resulted in more sales than anything else they did - curious to know that question?  Here you go “Hi folks, which of our sales ads brought you into our store today?”  - this simple, powerful question got 35% better results than any other greeting!  

The power of the right question, asked at the right time in the right way could cause your business to soar!