The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

The news isn’t all gloomy

Don’t let depressing economic news get you down. Help is here, in the form of a hands-on workshop (with a special discount) I’m giving this Thursday for the Freelancers Union (sign up here) and in the form of tips from the trenches, where things aren’t all bad! I got this message from Jonathan Cleveland of Cleveland Design last week:

We are being bombarded with work. Why? Because the economy is tanking and large companies are laying off in-house design teams (they are always the first to go). A couple of our clients have greatly reduced the size of their internal design groups in the past month. They are also cutting budgets and getting rid of large external agencies. I think the work is ripe for the picking at this point for the small business or freelancer. Spread the word.

Jonathan’s experience just proves what I’ve always noticed about the economy: when one aspect is up, another is down. The savvy business owner is observant and nimble, watching closely to see how to adapt.

So I had a little chat with Jonathan to see if he had specific tips. Here’s an excerpt of our conversation:

Q: Why are internal creative departments the first to go?
A: Because they can outsource it in a second. There are plenty of freelancers out there ready to do the work.

Q: Who specifically can benefit from this?
A: If you have already established relationships with your prospects, you’re in a much better position. But even if you haven’t already done the up front relationship-building, focus on the large companies (the ones you’re most intimidated to call). They’re the ones who had people on staff but may not anymore, so they need the most help.

Q: Do you really think they are spending money on communications?
A: The thing to remember is a majority of the work still needs to be done, especially in financial services. They still need to have active business communications to develop new business. But they’re definitely looking for easier and lower-cost ways to do it. The fact that you’re not on their payroll makes you more attractive to start.

Q: So what exactly should we say?
A: There are two things you want to convey. The first is a question: If you know they have indeed laid people off, ask, “Are you hiring freelancers to help out on marcom (or marketing communications)?”
Secondly, you want to let them know you offer a better value compared to a larger firm. You can say, “I understand your team has been reduced; I can help you out. I can offer you great work at a great value.” Then, emphasize that your creative skills are at the same level as those in a large firm but you have less overhead and can therefore offer a better value.

Anyone else experiencing this too?

Guest Post: How I got a speaking gig in a market I've been targeting

NY-based feng shui and organizing expert Ann Bingley Gallops saw a lot of similarities between her field and that of the professional real estate stager. Here's her story on how she got her foot in the door of a local stagers' association meeting.

I am a Feng Shui and professional organizing expert. I recently taught a workshop on “Feng Shui in the Bedroom” which had several attendees from my association, the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). One of the workshop attendees is an organizer as well as a professional “stager”. Let’s call her Linda.

Staging and real estate in general are markets I am targeting. I provide Feng Shui and organizing insights that help these professionals create an environment that looks great and has good “chi energy flow” so they’re more appealing to potential home buyers.

The next time I saw Linda, a few weeks later at a NAPO chapter meeting, she told me she’d implemented some of the tips she had learned at my workshop and that her clients had been thrilled.

We got into a conversation and I offered to put her on my newsletter mailing list. It just so happened that the newsletter I’d sent out a few days prior had been about the similarities between staging and Feng Shui, so I sent her that one to start off with.

The very next day she wrote to ask me if I’d like to speak to the local association of Real Estate Stagers! So I am on the calendar for one of their upcoming chapter meetings!

P.S. I also asked her for a testimonial for my website, which she was happy to provide :)

Biznik best practices

I have a lot to learn about social networking, especially the online kind.

But when I was in Seattle last week, I learned a little bit more at the Networking the Biznik Way workshop, led by Dan McComb and Lara Eve Feltin, founders of Biznik.

I had no idea what's possible and how much Biznik offers, mostly because I haven't taken the time to explore very deep. (Makes me wonder how much of everything else I'm not taking advantage of due to simple ignorance).

After the event, I went directly back to my hotel and made the following changes to my profile:

1. I changed "my job." Dan said that one of the most important fields to the search-engines is the "my job" field in the basic profile, which is the text/phrase that appears right under each member's name. So I changed mine to what I consider to be my most strategically keyword-friendly phrase: Self Promotion Expert.

2. I added the link to the RSS feed to my blog so that each posting from my blog also appears on my profile page. (I don't think you can do that with LinkedIn, although you can on Amazon.com, if you have books for sale up there. Check out mine here.)

3. I added my "current promotion" -- the free half hour phone consultation I offer to anyone who has burning marketing questions and/or wants a taste of what we offer through Marketing Mentor. This also gets posted on their "promotions" section.

These 3 features are just the beginning. This site is quite amazing, but not enough people are aware of it yet.

And if you haven't created your own free profile on the site, drop everything and do it right now.

Women in Business Survey

A few years ago, I met Diane Danielson, a fellow speaker at a women-in-business event. She was the founder of the Downtown Women's Club and had recently written a book on networking, Table Talk: The Savvy Girl's Alternative to Networking.

Diane and I have stayed in touch since then, supporting each other in whatever way we can (she sends me lots of speaking leads). So I'm spreading the word about the DWC survey of women in business.

One of the objectives of this survey is to see whether businesswomen have (1) increased their online networking, and (2) are starting to use social media tools like blogs, social networks, and message boards. They've also added two questions near the end about Sarah Palin.  They want working women to have their say!

Here's the survey link.

Is any publicity good publicity?

That's what they say -- no matter how negative, the visibility is what counts.

I'm not sure I agree with that statement in general, but I was thrilled when I got a call from Time Out New York recently, a widely-read magazine that lists local happenings.

They wanted to publish a blurb about my Sept 23 free workshop at the New York Public Library of Science, Industry and Business. No question that's great exposure.

A few days later, I got a call from the Assistant Editor, who wanted to see how well the self promotion specialist promotes herself. So I gave him my 10-word blurb, talked for 5 minutes about what I do. And here's what they printed.

Positive or negative? Good publicity? Will that drive people to the event? (BTW, if you're free on Tuesday evening, I hope you'll come to the workshop.)

Drive Time Networking

I had the evening open when I arrived in Seattle on Monday night (for my "Pricing Secrets for Designers" talk for the local chapter of AIGA on Tuesday) and because I must practice what I preach, I decided to find some networking to do.

So I went to Biznik.com to see what events were happening. There was one in Tacoma that was being hosted by Dan McComb and Lara Eve Feltin, the co-founders of Biznik. One of the incredible features of Biznik is that not only can you see what's happening, you can also see who's attending and, in my case, try to hitch a ride with someone, especially since I wasn't exactly sure where Tacoma was.

As it turned out, it was Dan and Lara themselves who graciously swung by my hotel and picked me up. We had about an hour drive each way -- invaluable networking time -- to talk about all sorts of issues faced by the market we are all trying to support: they call that market "indie professionals" -- we have been calling them "creative solopreneurs" -- but it's all the same.

Independent is good, most of the time, but it can also be isolating. If I had tried to be "independent" or "self sufficient" in getting myself to Tacoma, I wouldn't have had that 'drive time' to network with Lara and Dan.

What other in-between, non-traditional networking opportunities have you taken advantage of lately?

Maximizing LinkedIn

One of our Marketing Mentor clients (and an enthusiastic and frequent contributor to this blog), Dani Nordin of Zen Kitchen (here's her web site and her blog), has posted a great article over on Biznik about how to make the most of LinkedIn -- and any online networking site.

Here is my favorite of her 10 tips:

Have a great summary. The summary is the first thing that appears below your basic profile information on your LinkedIn  profile, and it's often going to be the first (and perhaps only) thing that your potential contact will look at. Make sure it's complete, and focuses on the types of people you work with (your ideal client) and the great things you can do for them (what you do). This is also a good place to list awards, publications, and other "Go Me!" type of stuff.

Here's Dani's LinkedIn profile here. You can read the rest of her tips here and be sure to post your own comment.

What Makes a Good Workshop?

From the presenter's point of view, some workshops are better than others, and I often wonder what makes the difference.

I'm thinking about this because this weekend may have been my best yet. I did our half-day "Pricing and Marketing Secrets" presentation in Portland, Oregon for the Self Employed Creative Professionals, an 8-year old group that brings together what is clearly a growing population of creatives in this part of the country.

Thirty people got out of bed early on a Saturday morning, and they didn't even know in advance about the delicious Continental breakfast that was provided by our gracious and generous host, Linda Meyer, COO and Editor in Chief of a young publishing company, Ink & Paper Group.

The environment is important. This event was held in an old Victorian house where Ink and Paper does business, with a Zen garden in the back, sun streaming through the windows, in the "butler's kitchen" (I'd never heard it called that before) there were plates of strawberries, watermelon, tiny muffins and delicious coffee. I have never given a talk in a more intimate and beautiful setting. I think that contributed a lot.

But more than anything it's the group that makes the event. And this group was interested and open and generous. It was like having a conversation with 30 people with everyone engaged -- in this case, the conversation was about the basics of running a business, with questions being asked and everyone contributing to the answers. A lot like what happens online, but better because it's live! (Call me old fashioned.) One woman even told me afterward that she had anticipated her mind wandering as it often does at "this type of seminar," but that I "had her all the way through." That's a compliment, in this day and age.

Hopefully, some of Saturday's participants will chime in online with their thoughts. But what do you think makes a good workshop? And what makes a bad one?

Twitter firestorm

Wow, I had no idea what a firestorm my Twitter mini-article in the Debate Room at Businessweek.com would provoke. There are over 40 comments -- mostly disagreeing with me. Those who agreed didn't do so electronically. They picked up the phone and called me, just to prove my point.

But here's one that came directly to me from Joan Damico, a client and integrated marketing consultant who's doing a lot of social networking lately. Her message was less vehement and more generous than most, with lots of ideas for me. I daresay, she may be winning me over...never say never. (And if I write my next book on Twitter, don't say, "I told you so."

Hi Ilise,

I love your post and have to admit, I felt the same way about Twitter--not because someone rudely buried his head in his cell phone tweeting while I was trying to hold a conversation.

I just thought that Twitter was a big waste of time... who cares about what I just did or am about to do.  However, I thought I should get to know Twitter. So I started tweeting and now I'm seeing it differently. 

It's still being used a lot like early blogs, which were a selfish account of one's daily life.  But look at how blogs have evolved.  I see the same thing happening with microblogging.  Consumer companies are using it to develop communities around their brands (Marriott Corp.) and B2B marketers are using it to stay connected to colleagues (me and a number of other biz folks).

I can see you using it to help you keep your clients on target with their marketing.  It would be similar to your phone conferences with a group of clients.  Only instead of using the phone for a weekly call, you would use Twitter for up-to-the minute progress updates.  When you think about it, keeping your clients on track is more about what goes on in their daily routine between calls where they fall off course.  So a quick Tweet asking a client if they've made a cold call or two, or questioning as to whether their recent Twitter post is furthering their marketing program, could go further in keeping them on track than a weekly call.

You could also use Twitter to tell folks where you're speaking and they and their followers could sign up for your workshop.  It could build attendance and possibly business.

Now if you had asked me how Twitter could improve your business a month or two ago, I wouldn't have been able to come up with the above answers. Agreed... a lot of what's on Twitter is useless chatter (same with Facebook, MySpace and other social sites), but when done correctly, can be a powerful marketing and networking tool.

Best,
Joan Damico
(aka @copywriter4u)

Cold calling works again!

Whenever someone tells me a "I used to hate cold calling, until I tried it" story, I implore them to write it up for all to see, as part of my campaign to debunk the big myth that cold calling sucks, is painful and doesn't even work. Here's the latest one, from copywriter, Pat McCord.

I had been hired to write an eBook on copywriting for Fortune 500 clients, and one section in particular was giving me fits—cold calling. The reason was that my first experience with cold calling had also been my last. No way would I ever do it again—interrupt a busy manager to hawk my wares only to be dismissed with a damaged ego. Then I read the chapter on cold calling in Ilise Benun and Peleg Top’s latest book, The Designer's Guide to Marketing and Pricing—okay, not too intimidating—and decided to test it out for my eBook. Well. . . imagine my surprise when, using their advice, I not only connected with a communications manager at Campbell Soup Company, I also had a very pleasant half-hour conversation with him and got all the information I needed. If I had known it was this easy, I would have been cold calling from the beginning.