The Simple 30-Day Marketing Plan

Today's guest post is by Dan Janal, from PR Leads.

Every Saturday I go to my Spanish class. It isn’t easy and it isn’t necessarily fun. But I go anyway. Learning a language is difficult. I find that the only way I retain info is by speaking it, writing it and hearing it. Many times. After a while, it sinks in. No one ever said it would be easy.

So why do people think that marketing and sales should be easy? I meet so many people who expect instant results and success but they don’t want to do the work. Do you see a disconnect here?

Marketing doesn’t have to be hard. It just needs to be consistent. That’s what my business coach Mark LeBlanc says.

Decide on the activities you think will help your business and repeat them every 30 days. Track your numbers. Do more of what works. Less of what doesn't.

Here are 5 things you might do every 30 days to market your business:

1) Write one article a week

2) Post the article to your blog and to Ezinearticles.com

3) Send out one press release via a service like Guaranteed Press Releases, to improve your rankings on Google and brag that you were covered in more than 40 media websites

4) Do one free teleseminar or webinar to build rapport with your list. Or do a webinar/teleseminar with another person to grow your list

5) Do one free speech -- a showcase -- in front of the right prospects to get more business and referrals.

Easy? No. Simple? YES!

Meanwhile ... if you want to put an end to "feast-or-famine" syndrome in your business, a free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your copy here. 

Customer Delight on a Plate

Last week, my family and I stayed at the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel, in Schaumburg, IL.

I chose it on Expedia because of its high customer-service ratings -- more important than low prices when my family is involved.

During check-in, Patrick, the manager on duty, was friendly and accommodating. That was expected.

As I signed my name, he offered us a batch of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. That was unexpected.

Bummer: I had to turn him down because we were headed out for dinner at a nearby restaurant -- cookies would spoil my daughter's appetite (not to mention mine).

What did Patrick do? He offered to save us some cookies for later, after we came back.

Sure enough, when we returned from dinner, there was Patrick with a half-plate of cookies -- still warm and covered with a napkin -- just for us. Oh, and did I mention the glass of milk for my daughter?

That was REALLY unexpected. Remarkable, even.

Think of it. In a world of race-to-the bottom prices -- with customer "service" to match -- here was a guy who delivered customer delight on a plate ... of warm cookies.

You can bet we'll stay there again next year on our way to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving.

So: What does all this say about service these days?

It is STILL easy to stand out and be remarkable, that's what. All you need do is one small, unexpected favor.

I travel all the time. I check into and out of hotels all the time. And I can't remember the last time I enjoyed the process.

Patrick didn't delight me at check-in with a whiz-bang computer system or a fake smile. He won my loyalty and widespread praise with a plate of cookies.

Now. What small, unexpected favor could you do for your clients?

How about giving them a non-selling phone call? An article in the mail? A thank-you note? An introduction to a prospective new client?

Don't hire a focus group or kill yourself trying to be creative. Just show real appreciation for your clients by doing them a small, good turn -- one they didn't pay for or expect. The results may delight you.

For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.

Why Mail Thank-You Notes? This is Why

Yesterday, I mailed a thank-you note to a very nice meeting planner who booked me to speak two nights ago. And today I got the following email from her:

RE: Your card made my day
               
Hey Kevin,

I’ve been dealing with some crises for people all day and your cheerful card raised me up. Bless you and thank you! And I’m very excited to have you be at the December meeting.

Susan 

Can an email "thank you," dashed off on your Blackberry, do that?

Your mother was right. Write and mail a thank-you note to every person who does you a good turn.

First and foremost, it's good manners.

But, as a side benefit, good manners often equal good marketing.

UPDATE: Here's another take on thank-you notes from business author, Shep Hyken:

Don’t ever forget to say THANKS! It can be face to face, over the phone or via written thank you notes. Customers like to feel appreciated. Recently I bought some clothes from a local retail store. Just a few days later I opened my mail and found a thank you note from my salesman. Was I impressed? You bet. Will I go back? You bet. And, when I do, I will be looking for my salesman.

Bio: Kevin Donlin can help you grow your business and enjoy the breakthrough results your hard work deserves. If you're interested in boosting your revenues and profits, please click here.

Marketing Test: Would You Do It Again?

One test of any marketing is this: Would you do it again?

Was it profitable enough to merit repeating? If not, you have two options:

1) change it
2) stop doing it

I got that idea walking through the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, where there's almost always someone playing piano or harp, selling their CDs.

I realized two things:

1) I have never seen anyone buy a CD from an airport musician

2) I have never seen the same musician twice

Caveat: This observation is NOT scientific. Maybe I'm somehow blind to a revolution in airport marketing that's rocking the music world.

Still, it makes you wonder: Could these musicians be spending their marketing dollars better elsewhere?

Bottom line: Be on the lookout for marketing that repeats. Because, if you see something more than once, it's probably profitable.

Examples of marketing to watch for and learn from:

* any sales letter you get more than once
* any infomercial you see on TV for more than 30 days
* any direct-response ad that runs in Parade Magazine or other major periodical for more than 30 days (by direct-response, I mean the ad asks for the order and gives you a phone number to call or web site to visit)

If you see marketing that repeats, study it. Then emulate it in your business.

Meanwhile ... if you want to put an end to "feast-or-famine" syndrome in your business, my free Client Cloning Kit can help you. Grab your copy here, while they last. 

Productivity Tip: Hanging, Nekkid Body Scanners, TSA Crotch Patdowns

Samuel Johnson said, "...when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."

Today, with the new TSA Nekkid X-Rays and Crotch Patdowns in place, you could easily replace hanging with flying.

Because, as much as we hate the hassle of business travel, it does concentrate the mind wonderfully.

Case in point: In a few hours, I'm flying to Philadelphia to give a speech tomorrow morning on careers. Then, I fly to Minneapolis to give another speech tomorrow night, on copywriting.

And you know what?

I've done more work in two hours this morning than I typically do in 4 or 5. Because I didn't have time to read the newspaper for 30 minutes over breakfast, or check out my favorite blogs, or otherwise goof off.

With a hard deadline looming -- leaving for the airport at 1:30 -- I have to work all the time I'm working this morning. What a rare experience. And how sad.

But you've had the same experience. Think of your last business trip -- didn't you get more done in the hours before you had to leave? Sure you did. You had no choice.

Now. Wouldn't it be nice if every day were as productive as a travel day?

Well, there's nothing stopping you (or me) from setting deadlines -- even little ones, like meeting the spouse for lunch or calling a client -- to concentrate the mind and get more done.

Best part: No TSA body searches or X-rays required ... and you can keep your shoes on.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Small Questions, Small Steps, Big Profits

"The next time you're worried about something, ask yourself, 'What small thing can I do right now?' Then do it. Remember not to ask, 'What could I possibly do to make this whole thing go away?' That question does not get you into action at all."

So says Steve Chandler, author of "100 Ways to Motivate Yourself."

This has two important implications:

1. One small action is more productive than any amount of worry, and
2. Trying to solve a big problem at once can paralyze you with confusion.

Whatever you're doing to build your business today, you can't do it all. But you can do something.

Here's a simple way to do something small today that adds up to big revenue tomorrow. Ask yourself this question:  

What small, trivial thing could I do to grow my business? 

The results may shock you.

Want an example?

About 12 years ago, I ran a business called Guaranteed Resumes. It was successful -- I was usually booked with resume-writing clients 5-10 days in advance.

Problem: I lost out on prospects in a hurry. Whenever somebody called asking if I could write their resume the same day, I had to politely decline. I was booked, you see.

After a few months of turning down business (and losing money), I asked myself a simple question: What could I do to stop losing these prospects?

The answer didn't come right away. I quickly got -- and rejected -- the idea of hiring employees. Later, I set up a joint venture with a local writer that failed.

But I kept asking myself the question: What could I do to stop losing these prospects?

Then, I got an answer.

I created a simple Web site and "staffed it" by arranging to send prospects to other resume writers across America. These writers were fast and could write resumes the same day. I processed the credit card orders, in exchange for a commission.

I named the site 1 Day Resumes (now offline) and linked to it from the main page of my Guaranteed Resumes site. Now, people in a hurry were directed to that new web site. I didn't even have to answer the phone.

The results?

An extra $21,000 in sales in one year, from almost no effort on my part -- about two hours a week managing the site and customer service.

The extra profits didn't come overnight, but they did come -- after I persisted in asking a simple question to build my business.

There's big power in small questions.

And it's worth repeating: What small, trivial thing could you do to grow your business?

You can't receive if you don't ask.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Never Shower Alone

Want more good ideas for your business?

Here's how to get an endless supply, by "reading" an extra 10-30 books every year --

-- just listen to audiobooks in the shower. That's my trusty (waterproof) Sony CD Player above.

This morning, I "studied" 3 tracks from the audiobook, "One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way to Success," by Dr. Robert Maurer.

Brian Tracy says that, if you listen to audiobooks while driving, you can create a "university on wheels" by learning new information during the hundreds of hours you spend in the car each year.

And if you believe, as I do, that we often make poor use of the 168 hours in every week, your shower is another place to turn down time into learning time.

Yes, of course, you do need some down time that's really down time -- no deep thinking about business or marketing. But that's what sleep, family meals, and weekends are for.

Now. If you think listening to audiobooks in the shower is a tad bit eccentric, you are wrong. Eccentric is writing notes to yourself in the shower.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Pareto's 80/20 Principle in Marketing

I'm a huge fan of the Pareto principle, aka the 80/20 Rule.

Briefly defined, it's this: a minority of causes usually leads to a majority of results.

There are exceptions, of course, which is why I inserted "usually" into the definition.

Still, the 80/20 Rule works often enough that you can achieve huge breakthroughs by applying it to your business.

Example: I used the 80/20 Rule to build an entire business on one Google Adwords ad and one keyword. Let me explain ...

A few years back, I was running a range of pay-per-click ads on Google, driving traffic to merchant's web sites and earning a commission on each lead that I provided them.

Each week, I analyzed my profits. One Saturday morning, I found that one ad and one keyword, part of hundreds I was running Google, was especially profitable.

So, I focused my efforts on testing and improving that ad and keyword. Profits went up.

Then, I replicated that winning ad, using other keywords. Profits went up again.

Then, I restructured my working days, dropping almost everything to focus on that one money-making activity -- improving my Google Adwords in that one area. Profits skyrocketed.

Within 6 months, I was bringing in more than $450,000 a year in net profits. And this went on for nearly three years.

Success came for me, as it can come for you, when I took three steps in my marketing:

1) identify the small number of activities producing a large percentage of profits;
2) spend more time on those high-profit activities;
3) spend less time on other low-value activities.

That's it.

The book to read on this subject is The 80/20 Principle, by Richard Koch.

It's so good, I've read it three times.

And, yes, there's a lesson in that, too: Probably 80% of the books in your library are so-so. It's far better to read a few excellent books several times, than to read many crappy books once, IMHO.

To finish this rant, here are excerpts I wrote out by hand after my second reading of The 80/20 Principle ...

• To engage in 80/20 Thinking, continually ask: What is the 20% that is leading to the 80%?
  
• Whatever you're doing 80% of the time is probably a waste of time. If you make most of your money from a small part of your activity, you should turn your business upside down and concentrate your efforts on multiplying that small part.
  
• If an activity succeeds beyond expectations, it's likely a 20% activity.
  
• The vital few give success to you. A few things are always much more important than most things.
  
• The biggest wins all start small. Something big always comes from something that was small to start with. Look for the "invisible" 20% of small, key causes. They are there -- find them. Unexpected successes are one clue.
  
• Exploit 80/20 arbitrage. Ruthlessly prune 80% activities, such as checking email, to free up time and money for 20% activities. The profit is enormous because it is highly leveraged arbitrage.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Seth Godin and Tom Peters Want You to Blog

Should you start a blog? Or blog more often?

Watch Seth Godin and Tom Peters, then decide for yourself ...



People over-think blogging to the point that they never start. That's sad.

If your goal is to create the world's #1 blog, like Seth Godin's, you won't. So don't try.

But if your goal is to clarify your thinking about your business, while attracting new clients and helping existing ones, a blog can do that for you.

I've been a published writer/copywriter since 1994. And here's the best advice on overcoming writer's block I ever got: The best way to write, is to start.

By that I mean, don't sit down and try to write the perfect blog post. Just sit down and start writing. Write anything.

Set a small goal that's not scary, like writing for 10 minutes. If you find that 10 minutes is enough for a killer blog post, yay. More likely, you will have to come back later for another 10 minutes. Or you will find yourself so energized that you power through for 30 minutes and write something worthy of posting.

Either way, by starting to write, you are write. By agonizing over topics in your head, you write nothing.

Here are 3 more ways to overcome writer's block, and either start blogging or do it more often ...

1) Do you send emails to clients or prospects? Collect 2-3 of them and you have a blog post.

2) Do you write comments on other blogs? Collect 2-3 of them and you have another blog post.

3) Have you ever written a white paper, how-to article, or letter to the editor? That's enough material for still another blog post.

Tip: Don't blog to earn $1 million when you're acquired by VCs or because it might get you on page one of Google's search results. Those outcomes are beyond your control.

Instead, blog because every time you think for 10-30 minutes while writing, it changes you for the better.

Blogging is a form of mental kaizen. The posts you write are often small, trivial. You won't see results today, next week, or even 3 months from now.

But you will see positive results. Always.

And blogging can lead to unexpected breakthroughs, like ...

• ranking on page one of Google's search results;
• landing a new client; or
• getting a call from a reporter at U.S. News & World Report

... each of which has happened to me this year.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Irresistible Sales Letters from David Ogilvy and Perry Marshall

David Ogilvy, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, was a pioneer in direct-response advertising. And direct mail was his secret weapon.

He was so good, he even sold jets by mail.

Jets? Yes.

Here's how, from his book, Ogilvy on Advertising ...

Prospects for a new Cessna Citation business jet were sent carrier pigeons with an invitation to take a free ride in the jet. The recipients were asked to release the birds with their address tied to its leg. Some of the recipients ate the pigeons, but several returned alive, and at least one Citation was sold -- for $600,000.

Ogilvy's "homing pigeon sales letter" succeeded for several reasons.

Here are two: The recipients were qualified prospects (wealthy industrialists) and the letters (small boxes, actually, with birds inside) were too intriguing to ignore.

You can use these same two principles to improve any sales letter you send for your business.

Like Perry Marshall did ...

I just got the letter above -- with a clock included -- in the mail from Perry. 

In addition to an excellent set of headlines, Perry did exactly what David Ogilvy did: he targeted his prospects carefully (I'm a former client) and his letter is too intriguing to ignore.

What? You can't afford to mail clocks?

Sure you can. If your offer and audience are a match, as Perry's are.

This letter sells a coaching program for $3,888. I'd wager the clock and sales letter costs about $4 to mail, including postage. (You can buy clocks and other attention grabbers in bulk for pennies.)

List rental? $0 -- he's mailing to his house list of current/past clients and, probably, qualified prospects.

At $4 per letter, Perry needs only 1 sale per 972 letters to break even -- a conversions rate of less than .1%. Judging from the strength of his sales copy, however, he will likely convert at least 2% -- about 20 times his break-even amount, for a very nice return on investment.

How can you emulate Ogilvy and Marshall in your business?

Start by carefully selecting who gets your sales message -- current and past clients are best. Then mail a letter too intriguing to ignore.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

Marketing for Busy People

Yesterday, I wrote about marketing as a systematic process.

If I had had more time, I would have included this quote:

"If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process then you don’t know what you’re doing." – W. Edwards Deming

To recap, I suggested that your marketing system is everything you do with a person who comes into contact with your business, from their first email or phone call until the day exit the marketplace forever.

The essential elements of any marketing system include the following:

1) Lead capture. You record the name, email address, and other needed information from prospects in a database -- with your prospects' permission, of course.

2) Follow-up. You contact prospects who do not buy the first time, answering their questions and offering them information to move them along in the buying process.

3) Sales scripts. You deliver the same sales pitch to every prospect, tailored to their unique questions and objections, but as uniform as possible, to eliminate variation from tested "selling words" that have worked before.

4) Customer care. You have policies and procedures in place to maximize client satisfaction while minimizing frustration.

5) Referrals. You take the same steps with every customer to encourage and reward referrals.

Now. Here's the problem you probably face, in the words of one of my readers who owns a computer repair service:

I want VERY much to try and do something with these other resources of yours ... but I have to try and find the time.

I've had your earlier email flagged and on my "to-do" list for what seems months now (I'm sure it's only been a month, but it's been too long all the same) and there are just too many other things that are taking priority.

And there it is. We know that we need to work on our marketing. But we don't have the time. Other things "take priority."

What's the marketing solution for busy people? Here's one possibility: "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one." - Mark Twain

And here's another way to attack a big problem like your marketing:

When I face the desolate impossibility of writing five hundred pages, a sick sense of failure falls on me, and I know I can never do it. Then gradually, I write one page and then another. One day's work is all I can permit myself to contemplate. - John Steinbeck

That's the business solution to being too busy to market: Just get started.

Don't worry about overhauling your entire marketing system or trying to make 21 improvements this week.

Just ask yourself small, non-threatening questions, like: What one thing could I do to improve my marketing in the next 30 minutes?

You'd be surprised at how much good you can do today, in only 30 minutes. You can:

• add a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or a special "coupon code" to your voicemail greeting
• write and mail one thank-you note to a recent client
• add one email to your follow-up autoresponder series (I use and recommend Aweber)
• pick up the phone and call one potential joint-venture partner
• email one happy client and ask if you can use their comments as a testimonial on your web site

Do these steps seem trivial? Too small to make a difference?

Heh. Keep reading ...

Let's pick just one item from the list above. Let's say that, by mailing one thank-you note per day to 30 clients this month, it produces just $1 per day in new profit -- $365 more profit per year.

Yes, that's trivial.

But what if, tomorrow, you add just one email to the follow-up emails that go out to prospects who opt into your autoresponder series. That one email produces another "trivial" $1/day in profit -- $365 more per year.

What if you keep finding one more way to add $1 a day in profit to your business. And you do it for just 30 working days. What is the cumulative result?

It's $10,950 over 12 months.

Again, that figure may seem trivial. But $10,950 is enough to:

• fully fund your IRA;
• take your family to the ocean for 5 days; and
• buy a Stratocaster on Ebay

You can make big leaps in small steps, in only 30 minutes a day for 30 days.

Try it and see.

Note: Here's a resource I created on the power of systematic follow-up marketing.

What's Your Marketing System?

Being from the Detroit area, I'm a big fan of statistician and management guru W. Edwards Deming, who basically shamed the Big 3 automakers into improving the quality of their products by first helping the Japanese to do so after World War II.

His philosophy has been summarized as follows, by Wikipedia:

Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty). The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces.

So ... what's your system for marketing?

Your marketing system can be defined as everything you do with a person who comes into contact with your business, from their first email or phone call until the day exit the marketplace forever.

Here are essential elements of marketing system:

1) Lead capture. You record the name, email address, and other needed information from prospects in a database -- with your prospects' permission, of course.

2) Follow-up. You contact prospects who do not buy the first time, answering their questions and offering them information to move them along in the buying process.

3) Sales scripts. You deliver the same sales pitch to every prospect, tailored to their unique questions and objections, but as uniform as possible, to eliminate variation from tested "selling words" that have worked before.

4) Customer care. You have policies and procedures in place to maximize client satisfaction while minimizing frustration.

5) Referrals. You take the same steps with every customer to encourage and reward referrals.

Get the idea?

Unless you have a marketing system, you don't have a business. You have a hobby.

If you're unhappy with the results your marketing is producing so far this year, it may be tempting to blame the economy. Or Washington. Or penny-pinching customers who don't appreciate your brilliance.

But blaming outside forces leaves you powerless to make improvements where it counts, on the inside of your business.

Instead, the cause of low sales and miniscule profits more likely lies in your marketing system.

So blame the system. But only for about 10 seconds, because beating yourself up won't bring your sales up.

Instead, get busy improving your system, one small step at a time. That's how systematic, continual improvement in your profits happens.

(For more ideas like these, download Guaranteed Marketing for Service Business Owners.)

New Way to Solve Problems: Get Physical

Got a problem? Want new insights on how to solve it?

Then keep reading ...

In April of this year, I spoke at a career seminar in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Among the presenters was Dr. Norman E. Amundson, a professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of British Columbia, who gave an outstanding talk on problem solving.

I took a lot of notes while he spoke; one page is pictured below.

We've all been stuck on a problem before. You rack your brains for a solution. You turn it over in your mind. You sit and stew. And all you get is a headache.

Why not try a physical approach instead? Dr. Amundson referred to it as "walking the problem."

He asked the audience to picture a problem we were trying to solve as located on the other side of the room. Then, he said ...

"Instead of walking toward the solution from the problem as a starting point, we should walk toward the problem from the solution.

"How did we get there? Thinking this way creates new patterns and gets you unstuck.

"Looking back at your problem while standing 'in the solution,' you might 1) not see a problem at all; and 2) take a different route to the problem or move at a different rate -- there are many ways to solve a problem.

"By starting from the position of 'problem solved,' you start from a position of strength, with a broader perspective. As a result, you will work with more energy and excitement."

Try this physical method for solving problems today. I've used it before with remarkable results.

Example: I don't get writer's block. Ever. Why? Because, any time I get stuck for more than 5 minutes on what to write, I get up from the keyboard and walk away. I imagine the ideal sentence will be sitting on my chair, waiting for me, when I get back. It may take 30 seconds of walking before I find the sentence sitting there ... or 20 minutes. But I always get a solution of some sort after I finish walking.

Kooky? Quirky? Who cares. It works.

Now. Would you like even more expert ideas to solve problems and grow your business?

If so, I'd like to give you my speaker notes from a three-day, $5,000 marketing seminar, put on by Jay Abraham in Los Angeles.

The speakers were phenomenal: Seth Godin, Stephen R. Covey, Stephen M.R. Covey, Marshall Thurber, John Assaraf, Donald Moine, Andy Miller, and others. If you can't find at least a dozen money-making ideas from these 25 pages of notes, you ought to move to Cuba ...

You can download my $5,000 seminar notes here.