The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

We've revamped the Marketing Mentor Web site

As with most web sites, the revamp and update to the Marketing Mentor site has been in process for several months, but it just went live in a soft launch and we want to know what you think. So please post your comments about what works and what doesn't, from any point of view you want to address it.

Here are some highlights of the new site:
1. Check out the "Team" in the "About" section -- Marketing Mentor is growing and now, in addition to me, Peleg and our two incredibly valuable virtual team members (Colleen and Deidre), we've included our two favorite creatures: Charlie and Sabrina, complete with official bios and photos.

2. Expanded Suite of Services  -- for both "solopreneurs" and small business owners, we have expanded our offerings to include not just the one-on-one mentoring, but also the "solopreneur track" and "principal track," plus on-demand coaching, when all you need is a few questions answered.

3. Biz Bits from Peleg -- in addition to the Quick Tips that I send out, Peleg is launching his own regular "bits." You can see a sample and sign up for them here.

4. More testimonials! We believe you can never have too many testimonials, so that page on our site just keeps getting longer and longer. If you want to read what people just like you have learned and accomplished by working with Marketing Mentor, check out their own words.

We have many people to thank, including Marketing Mentor client, Jonathan Cleveland of Cleveland Design ( ), who designed the look and feel of the site and Audra Keefe of Orange Bike Design, who patiently implemented everything, through several rounds of revision.

So what do you think? Please give us your feedback.

How a strong idea can take you up the steepest hill

I don't know about you, but ideas--and work--tend to come to me in batches.

Big, gnarly batches, that I sometimes have trouble handling, but that I'm reluctant to say "no" to, especially when the idea is juicy.

Because really, as a creative person--a creative solopreneur, if you will--that's what moves me: big, fat, juicy ideas. It's what makes me say "yes" to participating in an, um, adult reading series (click here for my solution, "The Dirty Keywords Search Song", and be warned: it's definitely NSFW--not safe for work!). It's what made me have to redesign the entire PowerPoint deck Ilise and I will be using for our presentation at the Creative Freelancer Conference tomorrow (!!). It's what made me say "yes" to developing a second presentation to give to actors on online marketing, with just 10 days to prepare, in the midst of all this.

And it's what made me decide to write, shoot and edit a submission for Southwest Airlines Blog-O-Spondent competition, running right now.

When Peter Shankman announced the idea on the HARO list, it was sort of a blip on my radar: of mild interest. But then I got this big, juicy idea--to get ALL my online friends to submit a piece of video for it--and I knew that crazy schedule or not, I had to do it.

It's up on the contest site now, and I hope you'll go check it out and give it a big YES! vote by clicking the green button. Less because I'm excited about winning fabulous prizes and more because I really do want everyone to see this great, crazy idea come to life.

You can also leave a comment there, or come back and tell me what you think here. Because, yeah, I really do wanna know!

That link again? Right here!

Are you a people person?

Yesterday, as Peleg and I were polishing up "Secrets of Successful Solopreneurs," our Day One presentation for the Creative Freelancer Conference   -- you can still attend, there's no outrageous "pay at the door" fee; so come on down Wednesday afternoon if you're in Chicago).

Anyway, as I was saying, we were making a list of qualities and characteristics of these successful solopreneurs and I suggested, "People People."

Peleg didn't really get it. Maybe because English isn't his first language.

What I was trying to say was that unless you're a people person (or "people people" in the plural) you'll probably have trouble with some of the techniques that work really well when marketing your own creative services. You know, like networking.

What do you think? Are you a people person? How important is it in building your business?

If you're not, what do you have to do to compensate?

Good moves in a not-so-good economy

In case you missed this week's Quick Tip from Marketing Mentor, I offered a copy of an article I wrote recently called, "Marketing in an Economic Downturn."

Here's the beginning...

Things don’t look good on the economic front, that’s true. But our business is thriving. And the clients we work with – designers, copywriters, consultants and other solopreneurs – are all continuing to get new work, new clients, new opportunities.

How? It’s not that we are not affected by the economy. It’s just that we aren’t letting it get in our way.  And, to be specific, we are ramping up the marketing. That is my best advice for an economic downturn: reach out to more people than ever, go to more networking events than ever, be flexible and find the places in the economy -- and in your market especially -- where there is growth.
What are you strategies for marketing in an "economic downturn?"

(P.S. If you'd like a copy of the entire (2 page) text, send an email message to ilise AT marketing-mentor DOT com with "downturn article" in the subject line and I'll send you a copy.)

True or False: No one uses the phone anymore?

This week, I got a message from a colleague asking why I put my phone number in the "From" line of my email messages.

I explained that I do it because I want people to call me -- and it works. In fact, I get comments on it all the time, mostly people thanking me for making it so easy to find my number.

He replied that someone told him "everyone uses e-mail and no one ever calls."

Now, I'm not a big fan of sweeping generalizations, but I also disagree vehemently with this one. Email is not appropriate in all situations (I can think of a few recent incidents when email caused big-time miscommunication). But it seems to me that people are in robot mode when it comes to communication. We respond via email because it's easy, not because it's the best mode of communication for the situation. Email is frivolous, a throw-away. Anyone can send it. It only takes a second and we are overwhelmed by it.

Picking up the phone requires more (relative) effort. More and more, I am advising my clients to call -- and practicing what I preach as well because, not only does it provide the possibility of a dialogue; by calling you also send the "message" that what you have to say is serious, especially if you call twice!

What do you think? Are you in robot mode? Do you use the phone? Do people call you?

When does "opt-in" mean "free to shill"?

Ilise and I have been hammering away at the presentation she's giving (and I'm ably assisting with giving, I hope!) at the Creative Freelancer Conference in Chicago on August 28.

It's really, really fun working on it, and at the risk of bringing doom down upon myself, I think it's really going to rock, the combination of our different but complementary skill sets and presentation styles, even without the excessive cursing I'm usually given to, but have sworn off for the duration.

It's also been eye-opening in a lot of ways: combing through examples from my files, both physical and electronic, to see what sticks and what doesn't, what shines and what feels kind of lame upon closer examination. For sure, I'll be making some major adjustments to my own sites once I get back and things calm down a little.

But I came across one example of egregious fouling-up from a usually astute self-promoter (and someone very, very good at his chosen profession, which is marketing-related), so I thought I'd throw it out there in advance of the presentation, to get some real-time feedback: when someone opts-in to your list, what's the first thing you send? I don't know, but had better not be an ad for yourself!

I know what happened, because I know how some email marketing programs are set up: to send out the very next missive in the pipeline. I'll make a humble suggestion, though: when you set up your program, make the first thing a "goodie", not a "me! me!" I was so disgusted that the first communication I got from this incredibly talented person was a pitch for an upcoming workshop, I almost unsubbed on the spot.

Am I nuts, here? Is it out of line to think someone should earn my trust a bit before trying to sell me something?

What do you do with your list? And what would you do if you'd gotten a Big Fat Ad as your first email from a signup?

What does it take to make INC.?

Saul Colt, whose company, Freshbooks.com, is a favorite recommended resource here at Marketing Mentor, made the Inc.com Start-Up blog the other day.

Howard Greenstein attended his session on "How to Make Love to Your Customers" at Social Media Camp NY, and was intrigued both by his stance (how many companies list their telephone number front & center) and his delivery of the presentation--Saul spent the entire time talking about the "how" and not about his business.

It's an interesting thing, branding: yeah, we've got the ability to do up the bells and whistles of it more easily than ever; it's still the basics that are most compelling. What you stand for. How you back it up.

And when your brand stands for outstanding customer service? Well, it's a helluva lot more powerful than having a ritzy logo, sexy tagline or splashy promotion.

Or did I miss something?

Cold calling refresher course

Although most of my days are spent advising people who are actively prospecting for clients (i.e. cold calling), I don't often get a chance to do it myself, and I think I should, if only because things are constantly changing and I need to make sure my advice is up to date.

So when it was time to find sponsors for our new Creative Freelancer Conference, I jumped at the chance. (BTW: there's still time to sign up for this event in Chicago, August 27-29. It's the only business conference designed -- and priced -- with creative solopreneurs in mind.)

I wasn't the only one recruiting sponsors and the timeframe was very short so I made my target market small: four qualified prospects with whom I already had some connection, so it wasn't exactly cold calling to start with. Two of them were very interested and two were mildly interested so I had to moderate my persistence according to each specific situation. (That means, there's no rule about how often to follow up -- a question I get constantly.)

Despite their interest, most prospects didn't call back, some didn't even respond to email. But when I called on the phone, more often than not, I reached them. They were happy to hear from me, sometimes even apologetic about how long it was taking to get approval but ready with an update. So it was a good thing I called, instead of assuming that their silence meant "no."

It's a lesson that bears repeating, even for an old horse like me.

Should You Use Your Web Site to Weed Out Tire-Kickers?

One of my articles posted on FreelanceSwitch last week recommended, essentially, that freelancers use their web sites to filter out bad prospects. Here's what I wrote:

Post a form on your web site that prospects fill out if they want an estimate or proposal. The serious prospects will take the time to fill out your form. Tire-kickers and those shopping for price will not. The form, once filled out, also will give structure to the request, help to focus your potential client and put in one place all (or most) of the information you need to get started preparing a proposal. Beyond that, this structure also gives your prospect a sense of how you work and some of the requirements of working with you. It’s part of your positioning as a professional.

There were lots of comments on this, a few questioning the idea of creating a barrier to entry.
What do you think? (Post your comment here or on FreelanceSwitch.)

August is for marketing

As soon as it hit August last Friday, things quieted down. Vacation is in the air (maybe it's just the quiet I notice).

This is my favorite time of year for marketing. This is me-marketing time. I get to do all those things I never have time for.

You want to know what I'm doing?

Here's what's on my big To Do list:

• Writing articles for MarketingProfs, Rain Today and a few other places my prospects visit when they're looking for marketing help.
  (Where can you submit articles that will be seen by your prospects?)

• Developing new ideas for topics I can speak on, which I'm doing in collaboration with a couple other experts, which makes it much more interesting and enjoyable.
  (Who can you collaborate with and where can you give a workshop or presentation?)

• Planning my post-Labor Day marketing push: identifying my best prospects, thinking about how to approach them, what to offer
  (How will you take advantage of the shot-in-the-arm productivity that follows a lazy summer?)

What are you going to commit to for the remainder of August?