The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

What kind of copywriter can you be?

In this world where “content is king,” more and more of marketing is “content marketing.” With the need for content so vast—you can be a writer who specializes in exactly what a prospect needs, such as a web writer, content strategist, direct response writer or technical writer.  

Stacey King Gordon, from Suite Seven, started as just a plain “writer” in 1998, and now she’s a “content strategist.” An evolution happened during that time, in which she realized what type of writer she wanted to be—for herself and for her clients. 

In my first interview with Stacey, we talked about the process of renaming her business. In this interview, I wanted to delve deeper with Stacey to determine how the shift from “writer” to “content strategist” happened. 

She answers these questions: 

• Was there a gradual shift in perception or positioning?
• Where did the process begin?
• How did confidence play a role?
• How long did it take?
• What marketing outlets did you change first?
• How is she gaining recognition in the content strategy community? 

Stacey also talks about her new elevator pitch, why she was choosy about which portfolio items to show, and more… 

Listen to this 17-minute interview here.

 

Join me: Free Telesummit for Women, Feb 20-25th

On February 20th, I’ll be speaking at The Success Biz For Women Telesummit where I’ll be one of 12 marketing experts sharing secrets for success.

The invited speakers are from New York and Florida, and include fellow New York consultants, Liz Lynch and Wendy Weiss! 

My presentation, “The Only Marketing Tools You Need” will take place Feb. 20th at 8PM EST and will detail the most effective, efficient, and low-cost marketing tools, that when used together, can fill your pipeline with ideal clients. 

Here’s a short interview I did with Biba Pedron describing the highlights of what I’ll be talking about, including how to use LinkedIn. 

 

Check out the speakers and register here for this free event: www.successbizforwomentelesummit.com

 

Ready to position yourself as an expert? New group starts next week.

Our Marketing Groups are on the verge of a transformation. The “Advanced Groups” will instead focus on particular tools like thought leadership, using LinkedIn, defining your market, and doing direct outreach. 

First up, my new thought leadership group starts next week. If you’re ready to position yourself as an expert, this one’s for you. Two spots are left; email me if you’re interested. 

Over this 3 month group process, each participant will develop a plan that includes writing and/or speaking to a target market. You will develop topics, find venues and do the outreach to get the ball rolling.  

• Session 1. Developing the content. Brainstorm topics.
• Session 2. Draft blurbs for your topics.
• Session 3. Find outlets for your writing.
• Session 4. Find venues for speaking.
• Session 5. Draft proposals for writing and speaking
• Session 6. Outreach to initial prospects. 

Ready to learn the tools to become an expert? Email me for details.

 

Podcast: Bryn’s tax surprise

When it comes to taxes, are you deducting everything you can?

Bryn wasn’t. 

Bryn Mooth is an independent journalist and copywriter at Writes4Food. We’ve been following Bryn’s journey, and recently, we talked about taxes.

In the first meeting with her accountant, Bryn had a big surprise:

She had a percentage in mind for Uncle Sam, but says,  

“It was significantly higher than I expected… I knew that I needed to account for self-employment tax and social security; what I didn’t realize is that, as an independent contractor … I need to pay my income tax quarterly… When I was employed by someone else, it was sort of off my radar…”

Having to pay a much bigger percentage than she expected was a “rude awakening” for Bryn. Fortunately, she had built up a financial cushion before becoming self-employed. This cushion was a huge relief.

Now, Bryn has a different mindset. Going forward:

• She realizes that she can expense a lot more than she thought. All of a sudden, knife sharpening, food for recipe development, and props become expenses.
• Every time a paycheck comes in, half goes into a tax account (just to be safe). 
• Bryn is now very careful about keeping receipts and updating her spreadsheet on “Finance Friday.” This way, when she files next, her estimate will be more manageable and realistic. 

Listen to this 10-minute interview here.

Have you experienced any tax surprises?

For guidance when it comes to taxes, we adore June Walker, tax advisor for the self-employed. Read her guest posts on the Creative Freelancer Blog and check out here books,  Self-employed Tax Solutions + Five Easy Steps, and her free resources. 

Podcast: Are you paying the price for a checked-out December?

Bryn Mooth is an independent journalist and copywriter at Writes4Food.com. I’ve been checking-in with Bryn for the past 8 months (since she went freelance) to follow her journey, and last week, we did our first calls of 2012.

How did she do? Overall, 2011 “exceeded” her expectations. Bryn was pleased with the income she earned and the work she did.

But…

January is slow.

Why?

Bryn says she “checked out” in December. She put off doing things like following up on completed projects, “slacked off” on networking and contacting, and now, she’s “paying the price.”

What’s her plan of attack?  She says, “I’m starting from scratch, a little bit.”

Bryn has identified the kind of projects that really appeal to her, and in 2012 is going to actively pursue that kind of work. She spent the last week on LinkedIn building a list of prospects. Then, she’s seeing who in her network can make an introduction.

What she’s learning about the marketing process:

Like most freelancers, I’m not really good at it. Early in this freelance career… some things were landing in my lap… I was doing some networking and yielding some good projects. But I wasn’t doing as much of that as I need to be. I got busy. I kept thinking, I need to allocate some time to think about who my ideal prospects are and get that planning going, and I didn’t.  So, that’s what I’m doing now.

In this 11-minute interview, I suggested for Bryn a three tool combination to turn these prospects into clients:

1. Use LinkedIn to connect.
2. Use email to follow up.
3. Use the phone to make it real.

Bryn is going to do this—and we’re going to talk to her next month to see how she did.

How long does it take to take to turn cold (or warm) prospects that you find on LinkedIn, and turn them into actual clients?

Stay tuned to find out…

Did you miss the marketing pep talk?

Thanks to all 1562 people who signed up for my "marketing pep talk" last week, "The Only Marketing Tools You Need for 2012."

These 1562 people know that this year—less is more! I’m recommending no more than 5 marketing tools depending on what your goals are and how much marketing you already have in place.

Want to know exactly which ones and how to use them? For those of you who missed the pep talk, here are the links for the video and the pdf of the PPT:

• Mac Version: http://bit.ly/AjS8et
• PC Version: http://bit.ly/woFd3P
• PowerPoint Presentation PDF Format

And if you need some structure for your marketing, try the Creative Professional's Marketing Plan + Calendar for 2012. It comes in Beginner and Advanced versions.

 

Podcast: What do art buyers really care about?

Recently I interviewed Scott Hull, an agent for illustrators who, when you ask what he does, says he, “links creativity to the corporate world." We talked a lot about how illustration has changed and who the new “art buyers” are.

He shared some interesting information for creatives and illustrators—especially when it comes to selling themselves to art buyers and agencies.

Scott believes that we’ve fallen short in marketing creative services and that what the new art buyers care about is: What value are you going to bring to me? How are you going to make my life easier?

So how can a creative sell themselves? 

Scott says: An illustrator can talk about the value they bring and the potential return on investment over stock illustration or photography. 

He also suggests emphasizing turnaround time. "The illustrator has the training and sense to convert concepts into a visual translation in 3-4 weeks. This is probably one of the biggest sales tools I have found.”

In this interview, Scott also shares his thoughts on: 

• Students coming out of art school, what should they do? 
• Can an illustrator directly approach an art buyer?
• Can an illustrator learn enough about ROI to persuade corporate decision-makers? 

Listen to this 14-minute interview on the Marketing Mentor podcast.

Don’t miss the free annual pep talk – Thurs, Jan 12th @ 3pm ET

What are the only marketing tools creative pros need this year? Find out on Thursday, January 12th at 3:00 PM ET. 

This hour-long webcast is free and in it, I will not only outline the simple “to dos” that will keep your pipeline full and your Marketing Machine humming all year long, I will also give you the kick in the butt you may need to get those to dos done! 

One of the tools I’ll highlight is LinkedIn and you’ll learn how to use this social network to get new clients, get the most from the groups and which “apps” are best. 

Get your 2012 started right—sign up now (even if you won’t be free to listen live; you’ll get the recording afterward) - http://bit.ly/yLkRos

It all started with a tweet…

When combined, the right marketing tools get you what you want. One good combination that worked for me is Twitter + In Person Networking + Email. Here’s how. 

One of my personal goals for 2012 is to speak at more schools and universities. I want to help equip student creatives with the marketing know-how they’ll need to make it in the real world.

I signed up to attend an event and saw that, Dr. John Maeda, the president of Rhode Island School of Design would be speaking. So I tweeted him (@johnmaeda) to say I was looking forward to hearing him speak. This led to a series of events that has me speaking in-person at RISD on Thursday, January 19^th. (Details here: http://www.risdcareers.com/programs/calendar/).

Here’s what happened:

1. I tweeted.
2. We met in person.
3. I followed up (with email).
4. I’m speaking at RISD.

The timing must have been right because when Dr. Maeda got my tweet, he went to Marketing-Mentor.com to find out more. I didn’t know that until, at the event, Iintroduced myself before I asked a question. He remembered me and said (in front of the whole audience) that he had sent my information to his head of career services.

The day after the event (remember, timing is everything!), I followed up with the head of career services—and now I’m speaking. And it all started with a tweet…

 

Does a simple contact management system exist?

This year, I’m trying to streamline the marketing process to make it more doable. That’s why I’ve simplified the 2012 Marketing Plan Bundle to include only the most effective tasks. One of the main marketing tasks in the bundle is direct outreach. But once you’ve reached out to these new prospects—how do you keep them organized? 

Cynthia Sterling, a member of my Advanced Marketing Group, recommends Bento:

I did research about 6 months ago, and most of the options seemed more complex to implement and manage than made sense for my business. I wanted something that I could customize and that could capture more information than Apple's Address Book, but didn't require a large time investment to set up and maintain. For me, Bento was the answer. I'm not formally trained in sales, and what I really wanted to track were notes about my interactions with the contact, when my last attempt and contact with them was, what that consisted of, and when I needed to follow up and how. And I didn't want to have to go to a whole separate database to track these things. Now, everything I enter via Address Book shows up in Bento and vice versa. 

It's from the Filemaker Pro folks, and is a simple database that has various templates you can use for all sorts of data. It's designed to integrate with Apple's iCal, Address Book and Mail. I was able to get a Customer & Contact Manager template. I had to ask specially for a version that automatically syncs with Address Book, but they do have one they'll give you. I ended up with a more robust database containing all the info already in my Address Book, and was able to add fields such as "subscribed to newsletter" or "received letter about (my company) change of ownership." You can link tasks to a contact, as well as emails, documents, etc and create any field you need in several formats. So, for instance, you could track all the people who find you via your lecture series.  

Do you use Bento? Do you have any simple contact management systems to recommend?