The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

HOW we met...

Ilise and I just returned from a 4 day visit to Boston where we spoke at the HOW Design Conference. This year, 4000 designers and creative types gathered to learn and get inspired and yours truly helped make that happen. 

On Sunday, Ilise and I delivered a 4 hour marketing and pricing workshop to a sold out room of 130.  It has been a while since the both of us shared the stage. The day marked a very important day for the both of us. 15 years ago that Sunday Ilise and I met at the 1993 HOW Conference in Chicago. It was Ilise’s first speaking engagement ever and my first time attending a conference.

I was only 2 years into running my own business and had no clue as for what I was doing. Marketing? What’s that? Ilise opened my eyes to the wonderful world of self-promotion and that was the turning point of my career.  The next 15 years blossomed into a wonderful friendship which turned into our Marketing Mentor business partnership.

So why am I telling you this story? Well, besides the fact that I was so proud to see how the work we are doing with Marketing Mentor is inspiring change in our industry I wanted to share the idea of how powerful networking can be. If I hadn’t come up to talk to Ilise 15 years ago at that first conference, and had I not followed up with her and kept in touch we may have never been where we are today, right here writing this blog!

We always talk about the 5 essential tools of marketing and networking is number one on our list. Where are you meeting your clients, prospects and collaborators? How much do you nurture your relationships? You just never know where people can lead you to. So next time you’re sitting at a conference and you’re totally amazed by the speaker and feel intimidated and insignificant, remember yours truly sitting at that same spot 15 years ago and having the guts to go up to Ilise and talk to her after her talk. And then of course, follow up.  It took a little moxie and effort but it sure paid off.

HARO: Help a reporter, help yourself

Speaking of P.R. opportunities, Peter Shankman, one of your cooler P.R. people on the planet (he sky-dives! he runs marathons! he's not a tool!), runs one of your cooler mailing lists around.

It's called "Help a Reporter Out"--or, "HARO", for short--and quite simply, it exists to match journalists with the people they need to help tell their stories. Originally developed as a more efficient way to help out his many reporter friends who were always emailing him for sources, HARO moved from its original home on Facebook when the group (quickly) reached the service's 500-person limit.

Now he's approaching a membership of 10,000 with his free, thrice-daily mailings. They're brief, well-organized and the intros are almost always amusing.

You can sign up for the list here (or, if you're a journalist, you can sign up here). The only rules are that you ONLY reply to stories you are absolutely qualified for. Failure to do so will get you banned, no questions asked.

I've already submitted one item that may run in SELF magazine; even when there's nothing there for me (which is most of the time), I sometimes see something that a friend or colleague may be able to answer, and forward it (along with the warning, of course!)

Do you go Global?

My good friend Maria Piscopo is a regular contributor to Communication Arts magazine. She is writing an article titled “Going Global – how to market yourself to clients on other continents” and is looking for anyone who would be willing to be interviewed on the topic.

If you’d like some good PR in the creative industry’s premium publication and have something to say, please contact Maria at: maria AT mpiscopo DOT com.

New episode of the podcast (Chapter 4)

It's Tuesday! Which means it's time for a new episode of the podcast. This week,  the fifth of 13 podcasts covers Chapter 4 from Peleg's and Ilise's new book, The Designers Guide to Marketing and Pricing: Which Marketing Tools Should I Use?

Take a listen, and please let us know what you think in the comments!

 

It's Tuesday! Which means it's time for a new episode of the podcast. This week,  the fifth of 13 podcasts covers Chapter 4 from Peleg's and Ilise's new book, The Designers Guide to Marketing and Pricing: Which Marketing Tools Should I Use?

Take a listen, and please let us know what you think in the comments!

 

Freelancers, unite!

Freelancers Union is a unique organization that started in New York, but is slowly extending its reach across the U.S. Which is fantastic, because we're sorely in need of the services it provides, especially to NY-NJ-CT solopreneurs.

Fierce advocates for the independent contractor, Freelancers Union has been really proactive about things like benefits; they offer a Blue Cross plan to members in the tri-state area, and recently opened up benefits to 30 other states, with very reasonable eligibility qualifications.

As part of their advocacy for the ever-growing pool of independent workers, they're having a drive right now with a goal of registering 75,000 members in 11 states by July 4th:

• California
• Georgia
• New York
• Illinois
• Texas
• Massachusetts
• Florida
• Pennsylvania
• Connecticut
• New Jersey
• Ohio

Best of all: membership is free, baby! The only thing you pay for is insurance, should you elect to get coverage through them. If you live in the tri-state area, they have great community events, and there are still plenty of discounts for those of us not lucky enough to live there. (There's also a job board, but right now the gigs are in the NY/NJ/CT area.)

Of course, the more of us who join, the better the chance that they can bring health care coverage to all states. So why not head over and sign up now: the doctor bill you save may be your own.

Guest Post: Crazy stats

With Peleg & Ilise in Boston for the HOW conference this week, previous guest mixer Jennifer Neal of K9 Design is stepping up to kick butt and name names here on the blog. Today's entry is another great lesson in cold calling. Jen, can I get you to handle mine for me? :-)

Here's a short and sweet lesson I learned this week.

Thursday rolled around and I realized that I hadn't made any calls yet so I panicked - not so much because my life, as I know it, is over...but more so because Ilise was going to kill me if I hadn't made my calls.

So in a hurry I made 6 quick calls to my existing data base that I hadn't spoken to since 2005 - I know...don't ask.

But (get this) out of 6 calls - 2 called me back and out of those 2 I booked an appointment with 1. That appointment, which I had yesterday, turned into a proposal for a new publication which looks very promising.

So what lessons did I learn:

1. It's NEVER to late to call them back - even if it has been 3 years!!!! I'm sorry to say this but...Most of them don't remember when you called them last anyway.

And...

2. 6:1 call ratios are crazy stats.

So get out there and call. Don't be scared, don't be shy, just get out there. Calling can be a key to the next open door.

Guest Post: Cold calls you can be proud of

With Peleg & Ilise in Boston for the HOW conference this week, previous guest mixer Jennifer Neal of K9 Design is doing some much-needed heavy lifting here on the Marketing Mix blog. In this post, she tackles every small biz owner's favorite task (not): cold calling!

This week has been a ridiculous one for me. My partner threw his back out, so for almost 2 weeks now he's been out of commission for everything but sitting. Even though he continues to pump out the design, we are behind about a week and I'm doing everything else, including bringing him his lunch!! Back to Dinosaur Days. Needless to say, my desk has been piled high with my work and I'm behind about 3 weeks. I'm stressed out, overwhelmed and not quite sure how we're going to get through it all.

Then the phone rings, INCOMING....COLD CALL. Someone is trying to sell me a postage machine. When I answered I was rushed, panicked and as I stated, overwhelmed. So lesson number one - maybe I should dial my panic back a bit for the outside world. But this guy didn't even hear it - he went on and on about how I needed this postage machine because Canada Post is pushing more electronic postage - even though I only post about $200.00 a month. By the end of the call I was frustrated at him and he was YELLING at me.

I wonder what he thinks of that call? Is he proud?

Today, I called a few prospects that I had sent my package to - to follow up. One particular Director of Marketing was - as soon as she heard it was me - reserved and changed her tone. She went silent and a little aloof. What to do? I immediately said to her, "Oh dear, I can tell I've caught you at a bad time."  She responds all, ha ha chuckle chuckle, "It's never a good time." I respond understandingly, "I know, life is warp speed these days." And then we have lift off. Gone is the aloofness and the silence. She then proceeded to tell me that she received my package, and instead of going home on Friday night to drink wine - she stayed and flipped through my magazine.

We turned the call around.

Ilise is always reminding me to look for openness in people. Sometimes it's just not there, but I’ve found it most definitely will NOT be there if you push it. A little understanding and sincerity will get you a long way.

How do you turn the call around?

New episode of the podcast (Chapter 3)

It's Tuesday! Which means it's time for a new episode of the podcast. This week,  the fourth of 12 podcasts covers Chapter 3 from Peleg's and Ilise's new book, The Designers Guide to Marketing and Pricing: How Should I Present Myself?

Enjoy!

Guest Post: Tips to keep the Marketing Machine on the tracks

With Peleg & Ilise in Boston for the HOW conference this week, previous guest mixer Jennifer Neal of K9 Design agreed to pick up some of the slack. In this post, she talks about some great tricks for keeping marketing duties under control.

Before my metamorphosis into the design world, I was a head hunter for 8 years. We had, back then, what we called “Prime Time” -- this is 9-5, otherwise known as "business hours". You never did things during “prime time” that could be done on "off hours". This becomes almost everything but calling!! I still have that mentality in my head and herein begins the problem.

I am trying so hard to do ALL the marketing things I should be doing that my efforts are getting derailed due to lack of time.

Now I need to find time to prospect, time to call, time to follow up calls, time to attend events, time to find events, time to read blogs, respond to blogs, time to send out packages, time to create packages...UGH! Oh and then there's MY job... the client service, account rep, accounting and mother part.

Somehow it's getting done – but I am in OVERWHELM.

So, I read the "what to do when you are in overwhelm" post a few weeks back and by the time I got finished prioritizing my list, I had a very busy notebook with lots of pretty icons - but no work done yet. (although after all that, I did have a clearer picture of what to start on first.)

I am always looking, as you probably know by now, to make this "marketing thing" easier. One of the areas I always seem to fall down on is the database management. There is always a new contact to add or a change to be made. The biggies are the brand new entries. I find myself saying "Oh, I'll enter that in later – after “prime time" and then the pile of post prime time becomes a monster.

So how do I tame my database beast? This is what I do.

Tip #1 - Mondays are prospect days (I go on the web searching for my target’s contact info). Once I have them and their details, I copy and paste from the web into the notes section of my database or anywhere there is a lot of open white space for notes - I add their name to the appropriate field and I SAVE it. Even if that's all I do I now have a record for them and they are on my call list for the next day, so I know I am going back to it.

The next day, when I go to that person - as I am calling them, holding on the line or being transferred, I am tidying up that entry. Cutting and pasting the proper info into the proper fields. Adding the web site link, adding all of the email addresses etc. I find there is always a field I can add to.

Then, as I return to that entry over time I am perfecting it and before long it's picture perfect. We all know there are fields we need more than others - like e mail addresses - those I do those first so that if I need to send out an email message before I get back to it – the info is there.

Tip #2 Take good notes. I know that sounds obvious, but it really is key. My notes are very full and when I return back to them in a month's time I am so glad I took the time to record our conversations thoroughly.

Here is a sample entry:

March 26 - 2008. Sylvia was very open, they use many different design teams and have no agency of record. Didn't feel what I send her was enough to base a decision on. Send our whole portfolio and send another copy of the magazine - she sent it around. Would like to see the whole package. DO NOT SEND MONTHLY E MAIL.

This way, I know exactly what I am walking into the next time I talk to her.

I know these are really basic things – but when you are trying to put the whole Marketing Machine together from scratch, it’s these little things that help to keep it on the tracks.

Hopefully, these little tips help you in some way. I’d love to know what you are doing to keep your Machine running efficiently.

Colleen's note: I would reeeeeally love some more of these tips in the comments, too. And if you've got something more substantial to share along the lines of marketing and promoting a small business, feel free to hit us up with an email: we're always looking for guest posters, and if you do it regularly, you even get your own cutie-pie icon!

DIY web site template sites

If you still don't have a web site, don't be ashamed.

Just realize that there are really simple ways to create a phase 1 site so that you can have the online presence that legitimizes your business.

A few clients in our "Feet to the Fire" Group are looking for templates to use.

Here are a few we know of:

• Yahoo Small Biz
• Google Apps
• GoDaddy.com
• IV Websites
• Intuit's option

Do you know of others?

Do you have experience and opinions on these? If so, please share it in a comment.

5/16 UPDATE FROM COLLEEN:

Sandra Koenig emailed us to say some photogs she knows use LiveBooks. I checked it out and there are some pretty spiffy portfolio options. And Vanessa Stump gives the thumbs up to RapidWeaver, a Mac-only program with good templates.