The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Guest Post: Another HARO success story

We're big fans of Peter Shankman's Help a Reporter Out (HARO) mailing list here at the Marketing Mix blog. Previous guest poster and NYC-based feng shui consultant Ann Bingley Gallops is, too. Check out her latest experience with the list, and how she addressed the reporter in question to maximize her chances of becoming a journalist's resource.

I am on Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out (HARO) mailing list. One of last Monday's editions (editrix's note: HARO goes out three times daily) contained the following query:

"I need an expert in the field of Feng Shui to speak about how harmonizing your bedroom/house will help relationship dynamics. This article will be posted on Beauty News NYC, an online beauty publication with over 400,000 unique visitors monthly. This is an opportunity to promote yourself as an expert. High resolution photo needed.”

I responded immediately with the following email:

"I am a Feng Shui expert here in NYC and have just given an entire workshop on this very topic, Feng Shui in the Bedroom.  In Feng Shui, the bedroom is one of the top three most important areas in any home. I love to talk about it because there are so many things people can do with Feng Shui to enhance their love lives in the bedroom."

I signed off with contact information and a link so that the reporter could check out my credentials.

The result? The reporter contacted me immediately to ask about my background and experience, and out of over 30 respondents to her query, she chose me for her piece. She told me that unlike the other responses she received, mine was "the most sincere". I interviewed with her the next morning and will be going to her home for a sample Feng Shui consultation. The results will appear on BeautyNewsNYC.com throughout the month of December. 

What did I learn? That “Be Yourself” applies in the field of media relations just as it does in so many parts of business life. This reporter didn’t want to hear about all the credentials I’ve accumulated until she was convinced that I was passionate about what I do.

Excellent ideas from my market

Last Friday I took the train up to Boston for the day to give a brown bag lunchtime talk at Sun Microsystems for a couple of their affinity groups: Asian-American Diversity Network and Women@Sun.

This was not a gig I pursued. It came directly from my market. One of the readers of my tips responded to one of them with a request to speak. I don't even know how he got on my list (he couldn't remember either) but it didn't matter. He'd been receiving my tips for a while and felt the material was relevant to him and his colleagues: an audience I didn't even know existed.

So I tailored my "Networking Nuts 'n Bolts" for his group of IT professionals. It was a 90-minute session and I didn't even get through all the ideas, they were so engaged in the hands-on workshop and the actual networking. So I may "need" to go back and give a half day or full day session.

This is what's possible. But that's not all.

After the event, I was approached by a woman in the audience who asked how my mentoring works. She wondered if I could work with her on her networking skills. "I could make it part of my professional development plan for next year."

Yes, what a great idea. Another one I would not have thought of. Helping employees as part of their professional development.

I love it when ideas for new services and new markets come from the market itself. That's what I mean when I say, "everything flows from the market."

Has anything like that happened to you lately?

Trade Show Prep

A Marketing Mentor client who is targeting the specialty food market will be attending the Natural Food Expo East this week in Boston and asked how to prepare to approach prospects she's been calling.

Here's my answer:

Refresh your memory about your last conversation and ask where they are  in relation to what you discussed, if they're made any progress, if anything has changed, if they are affected by the economy....

in other words, ask lots of questions.

And be prepared to talk about any new projects you've done that are relevant to them.

Any other ideas for someone in this position?

Stop tweeting and start listening!

It was Labor Day. I had just come back from the CFC and was still unpacking when a neighbor invited me to a picnic in a local Hoboken park. I whipped up some green beans with ginger and garlic and headed out with a blanket.

One neighbor brought a friend from New York. We started talking about  our dogs, of course, then eventually got around to, “What do you do?” of course.

When she mentioned she is an editor at BusinessWeek.com, my ears perked up. Then she said she’s always looking for people to write opinion pieces for her section, The Debate Room. That was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I put my thinking cap on. Which of my opinions should I propose?

A couple days later I followed up with an idea that had been rolling around in my head for several weeks. Ever since I got back from Bizjam in Seattle, I’d been threatening everyone, especially Colleen, that I was going to write a piece about why I won’t Twitter. This seemed like the perfect place for it.

Not only did she like the idea but my timing was perfect; they had a series on microblogging planned for this week! I had to write fast.

So I did. And here it is: Stop Tweeting and Start Listening.

Please read and comment.

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?

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?

Guest Post: When opportunity knocks, are you listening--or talking

In the Hilarious-Until-It-Happens-To-You Department, previous guest mixer and Marketing Mentor client Drury Bynum of Workerbee Creative got an interesting look at connection and opportunity from the other end of the wire. Read 'em and weep...

At a recent fashion-related networking event, I was reminded of the power of listening when a zealous host bent my ear for a solid 7 minutes - a blink of an eye when you're engaged in conversation, an eternity when someone is showering you in the blinding light of their ego. That’s how long it took for this potential client became someone I never cared to see again.

As a side project, I make 1-minute documentaries on artists and designers - folks whose work I admire. I do these for free and I am always on the lookout for new subjects. Previous to this networking evening, the organizer mentioned that the host was looking for ways to market with video. So I thought I would talk with her and see what I could offer. I even brought my camera. Maybe she was a candidate for one of my films.

I approached the host and introduced myself. That was the beginning and the end of the conversation. In the next 7 minutes, she gave me: her personal history; a history of the event; why the event was video worthy, and; a lamentation on how she couldn't afford me. Finally she asked me a question about fashion-related video but graciously supplied the answer herself.

In the beginning I tried to get a word in, "Well that's -- I think -- Have you -- I could --." In the middle I gave up and just waited for her to finish. By the end I was looking for a way out. In such a short time, this person went from someone I might have offered free services to someone I wanted to avoid at all costs. I'm still amazed at the value of the opportunity she lost but never even knew it. I imagine that she left the conversation thinking, "That went pretty well."

It's obvious that it makes marketing sense to listen and ask questions, but this lesson puts a monetary value on it. Think of the millions of dollars that have been lost simply because someone can't keep their mouth shut.

Mentoring is all the rage

Thanks to good search engine optimization and keyword placement, I was found on the web earlier this year by Fabianne B. Wolff Gershon, Director of The Thypin Oltchick Institute for Women's Entrepreneurship at FEGS.

Fabianne had been searching online for experts to be part of a panel discussion called, "Mentors are the Key to Your Business' Boom." It was held last month in New York and I was flattered to be on a panel with Sheila Wellington, a professor at NYU's Stern School of Business and former President of Catalyst and a colleague I'd lost touch with, Joanna Krotz, business journalist and president of Muse2Muse.

It was interesting to be speaking on the topic of "mentoring" (rather than marketing) and to think about the various types -- formal and informal, short term and long term. We all agreed that, although mentoring is very trendy right now, it's not something to take lightly and requires a strong commitment from both parties. (You can read the summary of the event here.)

Check out their resource-rich, NY-centric Partners page.

This event is also where I met Reg Foster of IBM, who was promoting their new resource web site for small business owners.

A better way to think about cold calling

I'm seeing a pattern to the conquering of fear where cold calling is concerned.

Judith Reppucci described her "Just Do It" method of turning things around right here last week.

And the other day, I got an email from designer and Twitter bud of mine, Dani Nordin, of The Zen Kitchen. She's in the throes of ratcheting up her business; in fact, she recently became a Marketing Mentor client, to help things along.

In a recent blog post, Dani relates that she realized pretty fast (smart girl!) that part of the engine of growth at this new and rarified level is—you guessed it—cold calling.

She also talks about the small-but-huge shift in attitude that helped her get over the hump of a couple different aspects of connecting:

In my mind, part of the reason networking events (or cold calls, for that matter) can be difficult for some folks is because it's hard to tell what the point is. What are you looking for? What do you expect to happen? What would you LIKE to happen? And often, I've found that just articulating that one thing before you get to an event, or before you call a prospect, can make all the difference between leaving the situation feeling like you've gotten something done and leaving feeling like you've just wasted your time.

Both Dani and Judith are really doing the same thing: looking at something differently. It's a small but significant shift. In Dani's case, she came up with an actual prescription (which I love, and plan to use); Judith powered through, but still, the fundamental difference between before and after for her was to wonder "what if?"

What if I could make this a pleasant experience? What if I felt the fear and did it anyway?

I've been thinking about this a lot myself, wondering what I would do or how I would act if I wasn't afraid of x, y or z. For me, kind of ironically, the fear has been more about expressing fear. And guess what? In not one single instance has actually verbalizing something I thought might be stupid, lame or foolhardy made me blow up in a puff of flames and smoke; most times, the thing itself wasn't even stupid!

What one thing have you looked at differently lately? And has looking at it in a new way either changed how you dealt with it, or made it possible to deal with it at all?