The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Mixmasters Elsewhere: Colleen on getting your 15 minutes of fame

Unlike designer and Marketing Mentor friend Jeff Fisher, I am not a big self-promoter. Or, to be precise, I am not very comfortable tooting my own horn. (I blame it on my Midwestern roots as well as a few other, less salubrious aspects of my upbringing which familiars of my blog are acquainted with.)

Still, you gotta be out there—even a non-horn-tooting, Chicago-raised Calvinist like me recognizes that. So I've managed to (quietly) proliferate across the web, which has made my profile more visible and my name better known.

One of the places I do this proliferating is Notes on Design, the Design Sessions blog, where I wrote up my experiences with Getting It Out There. The main theory:

Be everywhere, usefully. Help people find things and learn things at the same time they’re learning about you.

Not a bad quote, if I do say so myself. (Blushes, ducks, runs.)

Of course, Ilise read it and insisted that I post about it here. And no, I didn't tell her about the original post.

You see? I told you this web proliferation thing works. Even if you're not a shameless self-promoter.

New Before and After Branding Book from Self Promoting Designer

One of my favorite self-promoting graphic designers, Jeff Fisher of Logomotives, (whose mantra is, If I don't "toot!" my own horn, no one else will.) has a new book out, Identity Crisis! 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands from HOW Design Books.

I haven't read it yet but it promises to be useful not only for designers but for anyone who faces the challenge of branding themselves in a cluttered market. Of course, there's the requisite blog to go along with the book where Jeff has posted links to all the contributors of case studies in the book and much more.

And here's a sneak peek at "what's inside"

Jeff is also the author of The Savvy Designer's Guide to Success: Ideas and tactics for a killer career (HOW Design Books, 2004), for which I wrote the foreword. Jeff will also be speaking at the HOW Design Conference in May 2008 (so will Peleg and I). Check it all out.

What's up with those leads groups?

One of the attendees of my latest Bi-Weekly Marketing Plan Group asked me this question as we were getting started last week:

Q: Do you think groups like Business Networking International are good venues for networking?

A: I think it's worth checking out because BNI (and many networking organizations like them) have multiple groups around the country and around the world. And every group is different. So the value of BNI depends in large part on who's in each group. (It also depends largely on how actively you contribute to the group.)

In general, the way to think about the question is, "Will I meet my prospects there?" or, in the case of a leads group like BNI, "Will the people in the group be good referral sources for me? Do they come into contact with my prospects?"

For this you have to have a chosen a market, which is the topic of the first in our webinar series, Grow Your Business From Your Desktop, this Thursday, Sept. 27. More info and sign up for Get Rich in a Niche here.

Does a client list on your website encourage client theft by your competitors?

Ilise sent out an edition of the newsletter this week about the importance of having a client list on your business website. (You can read it here and subscribe here.)

A reader emailed her with a question we thought was a good followup, so we decided to post the Q&A here on the blog.

THE QUESTION:

I have been told over and over to never have a client list. It allows your competitors to target your clients. Is this something to worry about? Is there a way around it?

ILISE'S ANSWER:

I think it's more important for your prospects to see who you've worked with than for your competitors not to see.

Plus, if your relationships are so flimsy that anyone finding a list of company names (we're not including actual contact names, mind you) can steal your clients, you've got bigger problems.

Make sense?

I agree with Ilise: far better to make things easy for prospective clients than to worry about whether someone might troll your site for client leads. Besides, if you have a portfolio site up (I'm talkin' to you, designers/illustrators/developers), they're going to see your clients anyway!

But I wonder if we're missing anything. Are there particular circumstances where it's a bad idea to share your client list? Industries where discretion need be exercised?

Or are there other valid reasons not to divulge your list? I'm really curious to hear what you wizards think.

Let people know when you'll respond

I've been working with clients a lot lately on time management issues -- specifically, how to make sure they don't waste the day answering email and not get to the priorities: work and marketing activities (IMHO).

One solution we have come up with is to schedule specific times of the day to "do email," but that only works if you stick to the schedule, which is often challenging for people who have "trouble" with structure and discipline (two essentials for running a successful business, BTW).

One way to help you stick to it is to tell other people what you're doing, so you have witnesses and accountability.

That's what Garlin Gilchrist II has done.

Here's the autoresponder message sent to everyone who sends him an email message:

Subject line: Garlin will respond at 11 AM PDT.
Hello, and thanks for contacting me.

I check and respond to email daily at 1100 AM Pacific. If your message is an FYI or does not ask a question, please do not expect a response. If it contains a specific question or request, I will respond at 1100 AM Pacific the next day.

If you truly have an urgent need or request that can't wait until 11 AM the following day, call me at (###) 555-1212.

Thanks!
Garlin Gilchrist II
The SuperSpade: Black Thought at the Highest Level.
http://www.TheSuperSpade.com

Activist Nerd: http://activistnerd.com

Here's a link to his blog post on where this idea came from and how it's working for him.

What would happen if you tried this technique?

How to get a prospect's email address

Not long ago, I wrote a Quick Tip about how to get a prospect's email address when all you have is their phone number. (You can read it here.) The simple answer is: Ask for it. But it takes a bit of technique.

Here's a technique that was discovered by Patrice Robertie of Acorn Advertising, one of the solopreneurs in my Bi-Weekly Marketing Plan Group (BTW, there's one space open for the next group, if you need a marketing plan. More details here.

Here's what Patrice wrote:

As you know, I'm reaching out to new prospects -- calling and then following up with an email note. Sometimes I already have the email address, but many times I don't.

I had been re-dialing and asking for the person's email. Sometimes the person who answered the phone would give it to me -- a lot of times, tho' (about 30%), they would refuse.

Since I already had the companies' web addresses and since lots of people's emails are just their first initial and last name in front of the company address, I realized I could simply ask what came before the companyname.com part in that individual's email address.

Which worked very well. 100% success!

EVEN BETTER ... today when I made my calls, I put it all together, took it one step further and said I was calling to confirm that (for example) Jane Doe's email address was jdoe@company.com.

"Just calling to confirm," I actually said. Which is nice as that was the absolute truth.

Again, 100% success ... and even easier than above.

Where do small business owners get answers?

For the past several years, I've been a regular guest on the Small Business Advocate radio show hosted by Jim Blasingame. In fact, I developed a lot of the material for my recent book, Stop Pushing Me Around, by hashing out the ideas with Jim, who plays a great devil's advocate. (You can listen to some of our conversations here.)

Well, Jim has recently launched a brand new resource for small business owners. It's called Askjim.biz and the idea is that you can get all your small business questions answered there. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Mixmasters Elsewhere: Ilise on Your Regular Marketing Regimen

As one who practices what she preaches, Ilise has been hard at it on the interview circuit with the release of her latest book.

The Q&A at the Notes on Design blog is particularly good, chock-full of the kind of gems Ilise is known for.

Tips galore...my favorite thing!

How to say "no, thanks"

Last week's Quick Tip from Marketing Mentor generated lots of comments and questions. In the tip, I revealed three reasons to say "no" to certain work that will cause you more misery than anything else (read that here.)

Here's a comment I got from David Bresler, Vice President of Breakfast Network:

I would add this: An offer of a lucrative project that is different from anything you have done in the past or a mismatch for your skill set.  Even if you believe that you can do it, you are bound to make mistakes this first time around and thus both damage your reputation and not make the kind of return you are used to (or even lose money). It is tempting to go to school on somebody else’s nickel, but, in the end it is usually a bad policy.

Andrea Robinson, of AT Design and Illustration (and a Marketing Mentor client) agreed that it's important to say no and has struggled with the issue of how to say no. In fact, she wonders about the best way to graciously and tactfully decline a request from a non-profit agency who also happens to be a client. They want her to serve on their board of directors.

My answer is this: Let them know you have too many existing commitments to do them justice right now, but ask if there's a way you can participate more peripherally. I don't know all the details but it sounds like too good an opportunity to pass up, especially if you're interested in nurturing this relationship.

Andrea is also involved in CreateAthon, a 24-hour, work-around the clock creative blitz during which local advertising agencies generate advertising services for local nonprofits that have little or no marketing budget. So now, when someone asks her to do pro bono work, her first response is to ask these non profit prospects to submit an application for CreateAthon, which, she says, "helps tremendously take care of the requests, efficiency of the process of doing "pro bono" and giving back to the community."

Andrea also passed along these ideas from marketing coach, Susan DePue:

7 Ways to say NO!

1. Just “NO” - “Thanks, but Ill have to pass on that”. – then say no more.
2. The Gracious “NO” - “I really appreciate you asking me, but my time is already committed.”
3. The “I’m Sorry” NO - “I wish I could, but it’s just not convenient.”
4. The “It’s Someone Else’s Decision” NO - “I promised my coach, I wouldn’t take on any more projects without discussing them with her first.” – or the board, or your partner, etc..
5. The “My Family is the Reason “ NO - “Thank you very much for the invitation. That’s the day of my son’s soccer game, and I never miss those.” Other great reasons: birthdays, anniversaries, high school graduations – just make sure it’s the TRUTH!
6. The “I Know Someone Else” NO - “I just don’t have the time to help you, but let me recommend someone else I know.”
7. The “I am Already Booked” NO - “I appreciate you thinking of me, but I’m afraid  I’m already booked that day.” – Use this one even if this is the time you booked for yourself. Remember that you will have nothing to offer unless you take the time to replenish your spirit.

Any others you can think of?

Email vs. IM vs. telephone

Web designer and blogger extraordinaire Dawud Miracle has an interesting guest post up at eMoms at Home about picking up the phone vs. relying overly on email as a way to communicate.

I'm wholly guilty of using email as a way to hide—er...communicate, and generally go to the phone as a last resort.

But today, dealing with a complex job request from a friend, I moved from email to telephone and even instant messaging to do the trick: email was good for forwarding a lot of text and links; IM did the trick to check in with the designer I wanted to refer my friend to; and telephone was great for...well, for when my fingers got tired.

Plus, it was really nice to hear my friend's voice!

How do you handle your communications? Do you find yourself relying on one or two methods? Or are you good at mixing it up, situation-dependent?

And if so, pleeeeeease share your secrets for staying aware in the comments!