The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Join me at the AIGA LA Business Think Tank and my new MasterMind Circle

If you are in the Los Angeles/Orange County area here are a couple of good things for you to check out:

AIGA Los Angeles Business Matters - June 11, 2009 - You can learn a lot from other creative business owners' success. Join me as I moderate a live session with Darin Beaman of OIC, Maureen Erbe of Erbe Design and freelance designer Michelle Moore. From running a large agency, starting a new business, to building your freelance network, get a wide perspective view on business issues we all face. Bring your thoughts and questions to participate in this active discussion, the presentation will be followed by roundtable discussions on hot topics like: attracting and maintaining your ideal clients, successful pricing strategies, effective marketing and growing your business no matter what economy we are in.

Check out the Business Matters website for details.

New Creative Business MasterMind Circle forming in LA -  I'm excited to announce a new MasterMind group forming in June in Los Angeles.

I invite you to join the these group and take part in this professional and personal development experience. Applications are being accepted now.

Once the group forms we'll meet in person once a month for an in-depth discussion of profitable insights and solutions that many business owners never get from working alone.

Topics are custom-tailored to the unique business needs of the members, with all discussions conducted in a private, confidential setting.

Only 3 spots available. First meeting is scheduled for  June 9th, 2009.

For more info and to apply please go to: www.BusinessMasterMindCircle.com

An Ideal Client via Google Search

Welcome to Week 21 of my adventure of following the Start Up Version of the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar.  In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a virtual marketing assistant, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and I include a weekly recap at the end.

Possibly related to my new website ranking, 4 new prospects found me via Google this week and got in touch.  
 
I’m pleased to say that one of these prospects became a client and has given me a big job. 
 
And, it’s not just any job, it’s an ideal job—just what I enjoy doing and am trying to focus my efforts on.  I’ll be writing 5 pages of content for his website, creating a flyer/brochure for his business, writing a reach out letter, a reach out email and a social networking profile. 
 
In my post about cheap seekers, I talked about unqualified prospects coming from Google, but this week I can say first-hand, ideal clients can find you too.
 
Have ideal clients found you through Google?
 
Week 20 Recap:  I’m doing some travelling this week and next so unfortunately I did not make my calls.  But I’m holding myself accountable and plan to make up for it.  I’m scheduling a cold calling rampage. Good news on the traveling front is that my new netbook has made things much more convenient.  I still networked on Biznik and I’m pleased to see that my inquiry about cold calling continues to get helpful responses.

Is sending a printed newsletter passe?

For years, I have been receiving (in my mailbox!) a 2-page bi-monthly printed newsletter from Alyssa Lebovic, of NJ-based Keller & Lebovic,CPAs. I recently asked her if it's worth the time and effort and expense to write, print and send it, now that email newsletters have become so inexpensive and easy. Here's what she said:

My thinking is that at first, I looked like a dinosaur with a paper newsletter, but I continued to stand firm and now we've been bombarded with email newsletters to the point that I delete most of them unless I really know the person, like you, so I can only imagine that other people do the same.

I've become such a minority at this point, that I have little other competition for people's attention to read mine. I hope that people put it aside to read when they're on hold on a call or otherwise have a moment, to read it and save it for later or as a reference.

My partner and I have agreed to disagree on the value of this newsletter. We send about 450 to clients and about 250 to contacts and prospects. I am committed to maintaining the databases at 700 names, so each mailing, (bi-monthly) forces me to clean the list to keep it at no more than 700.

My partner says, if you can't follow up 250 names, then what's the point. My argument is that it's cheap advertising (I'd still need to order the main subscription to send to my 450 clients) to a directed target of people who have met me somewhere, sometime in the past 2-3 years. By repetitively getting in front of them, it's still passive marketing.

And every so often, someone will say, "You know, I've been getting your newsletters, and I've been meaning to call you and I finally got around to it." So, I figure, even if that's only once or twice a year, it still paid for itself and you just can't measure how much name recognition subliminally works on people.

I agree with Alyssa, although I haven't sent anything like that in the mail in years. What do you think?

Growing Your Business with Marketing, Week 21: Reasons this week worked

This is Week 21 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. I do a topline analysis here, for people who like things short. See my companion blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for in-depth posts, additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

As I got back in the saddle, I had a great, productive, FUN week of work and marketing. Since I like to know the "why" behind it, I took some time to reflect on the reasons why. They are...

Reason #1: I felt good

Yes, I can work through pain or fatigue just like anyone else. But I am happier, more productive and more delightful to be around (hence, a better ad for me and my services) when I am healthy. Sleeping well, eating right and, yes, taking time off factor hugely in my attitude and my output.

Reason #2: I was doing stuff I loved, work-wise

The further I get away from design, the more certain I am I made the right move. And my current work continues to evolve as I discover what I'm best at and what people actually need and want to hire me for. Deidre talked about this last week, and I think it's truer than most of us want to think about most of the time.

Reason #3: I challenged myself a wee bit

I didn't make my cold calls, exactly, but I spent considerable time calling to put together consulting work for my July trip to Chicago, and making fundraising calls on behalf of PresentationCamp LA.

Those are the main takeaways; for the full story (plus a bonus piece on what I learned about newsletters), please do check out my companion blog, communicatrix | markets.

We'll be at the HOW Design Conference in Austin

We are excited to launch a last-minute mini-track at the HOW Design Conference next month just for freelancers or would-be freelancers.

These brand-new sessions will all take place on Thursday, June 25. In addition to the presentations, we will each conduct a Town Hall session with a Q&A format, so bring any questions you have about pricing and promoting your work.

• Money Talk: How to Talk to Your Clients About Fees
• Freelancer Town Hall: Pricing and Money with Peleg Top
• Do You Have What It Takes to be a Successful Freelancer?
• Freelancer Town Hall: Marketing and Self-Promotion with Ilise Benun

Get all the details here: http://howconference.com/freelancesessions

I'm virtually confused

Welcome to Week 20 of my adventure of following the Start Up Version of the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar.  In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a virtual marketing assistant, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and I include a weekly recap at the end.

Last week, two people said to me, “Deidre, you are a virtual marketing assistant…(one person even spelled out V-I-R-T-U-A-L)…you should be Twittering!”

And they are absolutely right.  I should be Twittering.  But that still doesn’t make me want to be Twittering. 

See the problem?

I do claim to be a virtual assistant which I take to mean that I work with you virtually.  Although, I suppose it might also imply that I am hip to the virtual world (and can help you with your virtual needs).

Have you ever tried to maintain an exercise routine doing something you hate?  If you detest running, it can be very hard to maintain a running exercise routine.  But if you love, for instance, tennis, that can more easily be incorporated into your life.  Because if you like it—you’ll stick with it.

Yes, you can force yourself to run 5miles, but even if you manage to do it regularly, your heart won’t be in it.

Does the same go for marketing efforts? 

A Reader's Question...

Here's a question from one of our readers, Elizabeth Rose.

"I have a new life challenge. I am a solo graphic designer, and recently found out that I'm pregnant.  While I am excited, I am also really struggling with how to approach my clients on this topic!  I need to let them know that I am expecting, and I need to figure out how to structure some sort of maternity leave without losing all my clients to other designers.  I'd love to know if anyone in the Marketing Mentor community has dealt with this, and what you would recommend on notifying clients and taking time off."

Any thoughts or experience to share?

Lessons in price talk

Today's guest post is from Stacey Morris, of Focus Copywriter, who specializes in writing web content. She learned a good lesson about how to answer pricing questions that I thought everyone would be able to benefit from.

For anyone who struggles with cold calling…yet another lesson learned last week. In fact, three lessons.

It started well. A web designer responded to my inquiry email about the copywriting for his clients’ sites by asking for my prices, which is pretty common.

And what does Ilise tell us to do when someone emails a question about price?

She says “CALL THEM.” Cockily drowning out my coach’s voice with my own assuredness (after all, this was going well), I wrote back with an estimate for the job and attached a rate sheet.

Two hours later I got a response from this web designer. I can’t write it down verbatim because I don’t want to use profanity, but this guy was pissed! Apparently, my ridiculously low estimate was way above what he had in mind.

Now, I know it’s never personal with these things. But “Troy” didn’t seem to value my profession (copywriting) nearly as much as he valued his (web design). So I emailed back politely explaining that “copywriters help bring qualified motivated visitors to the beautiful sites a designer builds. Copywriters make sure that the business owner is getting the right message across to the right people. And good content leads to happy clients, which leads to more referrals and more work down the line for the designer.”

Growing Your Business with Marketing, Week 20: Unsticking yourself

This is Week 20 of a 52-week project/experiment in DIY marketing. Armed with nothing but a copy of the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and my bare wits, I'm applying the skills you need to grow a business in real time, day by day, and reporting on them week by week. See my companion blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for additional links and other marketing-related goodness.

My health continues to improve, albeit slowly, and while I wasn't able to make the bigger networking event I'd planned for this past week, I managed to get out twice for productive (and sanity-making) meetups with colleagues.

One of the nice things about sharing openly with people is that you start seeing how we all have our struggles and blind spots. And, of course, one of the other things that's great about sharing is that you can end up with some great help seeing where your own blind spots are, and getting some good advice on how to get out of them. (This presupposes that you're hanging out with bright, with-it people, but hey—if you're reading this, of course you are!)

Additionally, there have been two great discoveries I've made as I've about my business at a reduced capacity.

It wasn't so bad (but I did hang up on someone!)

Welcome to Week 19 of my adventure of following the Start Up Version of the Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar.  In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a virtual marketing assistant, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and I include a weekly recap at the end.

I didn’t make 5 calls this week, I made 10—and I’m still here to tell the tale.
 
Since I’ve been networking on Biznik every day, I first decided to look for some tips and inspiration by posting in their Community forum. People replied with some helpful advice.  I learned:

• It's a numbers game, if you call enough people, you’ll get business
• Not to take it personally
• To narrow your target audience
• To use affiliations or connections to your advantage
• To make “introductions,” not cold calls
• To use persistent, friendly follow up

Excellent.  This all sounded great.  So, armed with my scripts and spreadsheet of prospects, I was ready to go.

Then I got extremely nervous.  So nervous, the knots in my stomach were fluttering.  I had to laugh at myself because I’ve performed on stage in front of thousands of people, and sang in front of full stadiums.  I approach strangers on a regular basis, I’ve been on tons of job interviews, and none of those things has affected me this way. But suddenly this, a simple phone call, has created this kind of physical response?  Ridiculous!  For goodness sake, the person I’m calling can’t even see me!  With my heart still coming out of my chest for reasons I could not understand, I dialed the phone.