The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Why are they so inspired?

Inspiration comes in many forms – but we feel like some of the best are through learning and networking. That’s why we started the Creative Freelancer Conference.

This week, on Blog Talk Radio, Colleen Rice Nelson interviewed me and two Creative Freelancer Conference veterans. Listen to Alisa Bonsignore and  Dyana Valentine talk about what they learned at past conferences. Alisa shared how CFC helped her to see her business as a business and take it more seriously – and we all tried to describe the amazing networking, support, and camaraderie that sizzle during the conference. Oh yes, and I outlined all the topics that will be covered at this year’s conference. Listen here: www.blogtalkradio.com/freelancer-forum/2010/04/11/creative-freelancer-conference-2010-news-updates

Feel inspired too? Sign up today. The early bird discount expires Thursday, April 15th!

Start creating business friendships

My mother once told me, “You've got to be a friend, to make a friend.”

I believe this bit of information is the key to unlocking the floodgates to our creative businesses. It’s all about putting ourselves in the other person’s shoes. If you had a problem, how would you want the person you came to for help to treat you?

The above principle also rings true in meetings, not only with clients, but with other creatives. If you’re going to HOW or CFC for the first time, and you strike up a conversation with someone else who is new to the conference, you both have common ground from which to start a new friendship.

You've got to be a friend, to make a friend. This little insight will work wonders in helping you hurdle you fears about being in a new place and meeting new people. You could talk about how many people are around, how shy you may be, who you’re excited about hearing speak and so on.

I read an awesome tweet the other day that said, “You don’t have enough business because you don't have enough relationships.” So, if you shift the perspective of your encounters with people, you will move forward in your career successfully. Start creating ‘business friendships’ instead of adding more ‘contacts’ and meeting with ‘prospects.’

Intentionally changing the language that you use to describe the folks you work with will change the way you perceive them. You’ve got to change who they are in your head before they become someone different (and better) in your life.

Are you targeting prospects? Or are you developing business friendships?

Special thanks to Clint Walkingstick from Eye Say Design.

Attend the Small Business Summit with me?

We’re excited to be partnering again with Ramon Ray and his Fifth Annual Small Business Summit, to be held on March 16, 2010 at Digital Sandbox in NYC. Seth Godin is this year’s headline speaker, and if it’s anything like last year’s event, a fantastic day of sessions and networking can be expected.

Want my extra ticket?

I have an extra ticket for the event, and I’m looking for someone to join me. Send your networking or conference success story to me at ilise@marketing-mentor.com. The best entry wins!

Build your Marketing Machine - Brooklyn, Jan 20th

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to grow your business and get new clients, you'll need a strategy and a marketing plan. Join me for this hands-on workshop where you will learn which are the most effective, and least expensive, marketing tools for freelancers and how to fit them into your life. 
 
Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 6 PM
Freelancers Union, Brooklyn, NY
Build Your Marketing Machine

More info & sign up here: www.freelancersunion.org/events/2010/winter/build-marketing-machine.html

P.S. Attendees get a discounted copy of the 2010 Marketing Plan + Calendar

What is it that you do do?

In my latest edition of Biz Bits, I asked the question, "When was the last time someone asked you what you do?" Here's why:

I just returned from a week’s vacation cruise. Every day I met dozens of people from around the world and had to answer this exact question over and over again.

Having a ‘seven word blurb’ is a business necessity. I teach people to craft their statement as part of every consulting relationship I get involved in.  So you would think that when it’s my time to answer the “what do you do?” question, I would have no trouble. Right?

Big trouble.  I found I needed to rethink entirely the way I answer this question.

My practiced answer to the ‘what do you do?’ question is “ I mentor creative agency owners and teach them how to grow their business.” You understand that, right? Of course you do, because if you’re reading this newsletter, you’re most likely a creative agency owner or a creative person in my target market.  Most of the time I answer this question I’m meeting creative people at creative industry events:  not on a cruise ship.

So in the cruise ship dining room one evening when a guy from Sweden asked me “what do you do?” and I gave him my practiced answer, what I got in return was a peculiar look and the honest response, “I have no idea what that means”.

“What is a creative agency?” the Swede asked. “And what’s a mentor?” I found myself trying to explain what I do in a whole new way.  I started stumbling and stuttering (which is so not me).

I knew I had to find a simpler way to explain what I do and still get the “oh, tell me more!” response from the other person, I hope for. It had to be clear enough that a foreign tourist could understand and still convey a depth that would leave things open to take the conversation further.

So after a few more tries, and a lot more explaining in ways that were clearly still too confusing to people outside my target market I came up with the line that worked magic for the rest of the week.

“I teach artists how to make money.”

How to get your work published

To celebrate the release of Designing for the Greater Good, co-authored by Peleg and Jonathan Cleveland of Cleveland Design, Peleg is hosting an L.A. area on Nov. 5th called, “How To Get Your Work Published.” It will show designers how to catapult their design work with the best free PR in the business -- getting international exposure in a high-end design book.

At this event, limited to 40 people, Peleg will talk with Nancy Heinonen, Publications Director of Crescent Hill Books.

During his interview with Nancy, you'll learn:

• What top editors and designers look for when selecting work for publication

• How anyone with a paying client can qualify for international exposur

• The easy steps you can take to streamline the submission process and maximize your chances for success

• How to develop and submit ideas for your own design book

• Plus: You'll have the opportunity to ask Peleg and Nancy your own questions in person.

Here are the details:

When: Thursday, November 5, 2009
7:00 pm: register & meet other LA creatives
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm: program followed by Q&A.
Where: The studio of our friends at Lime Twig Group, South Pasadena, CA 
Cost: $18.00- **advance registration required**

Click here to register and save your spot!

Was I a Conference Commando?

In Keith Ferazzi’s book, Never Eat Alone (which, ironically, I read a few years back, almost entirely while I was eating lunch, uh, alone), he advises readers to “Be A Conference Commando.” He posits that conferences are not for gaining information and insight, but instead are opportunities to develop relationships. You must be pro-active, not passive. 

In March I made the decision to attend the annual BRITE conference—Branding Innovation and Technology—sponsored by Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership for two main reasons:

1. Because in 2007 I moved out of NYC to rural central New York state so I needed some mental stimulation, exposure to new ideas, and a good write-off-able excuse to hang out in the city for a few days (not to mention a good, urban, soul-satisfying bagel and lox breakfast).
2. I’m following the 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar (veteran’s version) and felt attending this conference would be an excellent networking component to my marketing checklist—along with all the other strategies we’ve been reading about on this blog: research calls, crafting your online bio, blog creation/posting, etc. 

At the conference, through various addresses, breakout sessions, and a fantastic keynote given by Seth Godin, I gained a better understanding of such current catchphrases as ‘crowdsourcing’ and ‘tribes’; was able to hone my Twitter skills on my iPod Touch (in fact, unlike most other public gatherings, this audience was actually encouraged to dialogue with their devices while the talks were taking place, and after each speaker, the MC would field “tweeted” questions); and was exposed to compelling new technologies—my favorite of which is prezi.com, zooming presentation software.

However, according to Keith’s standards, as a conference attendee, I failed. (Well, maybe a D+). 

Did I sign up to volunteer at the conference in order to gain access to its inner workings? No. 

Did I research the VIPs beforehand and set up opportunities to hobnob with the ones I wanted most to meet in person? Uh, no. 

I did not even really set goals for myself, other than that I would go, meet people, and learn a few things.

However, upon returning home to the farm, I did follow up with each of the people I met, with an email that read:

New York Networking April 17th

Marketing Mentor clients, Jezra Kaye and IvanExpert, are hosting a Biznik New York Happy Hour.

When: Friday, April 17th, 6:30-8:30PM

Where: In Good Company Workplaces, 16 W. 23rd Street, 4th floor, NYC

Meet and mingle with 75 other NYC entrepreneurs.  This event is co-sponsored by IGC, and Biznik, and hosted by Jezra Kaye and Caroline Green of IvanExpert ("personal Mac help for NewYorkers").  You must be a Biznik member to attend, but membership is free.  Click HERE to attend.

I'll be there. Will you?

More Notes from a Networker

I jumped into the Darwinian mosh-pit of networking again last week. It’s pretty wild out there!

NYSIA: New York Software Industry Association

I’ve mentioned them before -- I finally got to a monthly meeting. The amenities were sparse -- no food or drink -- but it was free after all. It was a panel discussion, so there was just time before and after to chat. With my usual luck I sat near a job hunter, so got nowhere. However, the panel was quite interesting -- about new cell phone software -- and occasionally quite funny, so at least I was entertained.

SWINY Science Writers in NY

A writer I know has been getting my e-news, and asked me to consider speaking to her group. So I went to their winter party to check them out ($30., some nice wines). They were science journalists rather than marketing writers -- apparently there is a big gap between the two tribes. But I did get to poll people on their feelings about a current client, who publishes scientific journals. I eventually decided they weren’t a good fit for me as audience, but may be good for Ilise -- so I made the referral. One of the advantages of networking is that occasionally I have something of value -- information.

C Squared

Another group I’ve been eyeballing. I went to their charity sector event -- and it was odd. It was sort of a mix of singles bar and business networking, which to me is a queasy combination. There were a lot of people chasing very few prospects. I did talk to a person looking to serve on a board, so I gave some suggestions on ways to research organizations. Other people I’ve talked to who have attended C Squared say that some events have been great --they just can’t say which ones.

Note that even though these events were (kinda) duds, I still had some business cards to follow up with.

One of my goals this year is to do presentations -- so last week I got to do one at an association of non profits in Connecticut. I team up with Howard, a direct competitor, to do these events -- it works out because on our own, neither of us would do these -- it is a ton of work. The audience was a rather glum bunch -- but hell, if I were in their shoes, I’d be glum too! I did get me thinking about expanding seriously into other sectors.

This week among other gigs I went to the NYSIA Sales and Marketing SIG (special interest group), which I have attended on and off for a while now. This was my second early morning meeting this week and I did not want to go -- but after struggling to stay awake during the presentation, I was waved over afterward by the SIG leader -- he gets (and reads!) my e-news. He asked if I wanted to be on a panel discussing marketing at a future meeting -- so you never know…

Anyone else have networking experiences to share? Productive or just peculiar?

Growing Your Business with Marketing, Week 11: Conferences are marketing, too

This is Week 11 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. You can follow along here every Monday; check in with my companion blog, A Virgo's Guide to Marketing, for additional links and information.

Website tasks are still on the calendar, but this week, I threw it all to the winds for the Mother of All Geek Conferences: South by Southwest Interactive. Here's how and where preparation and action coincide...for me.

Full disclosure: this week, for good or for ill, I gave myself permission to go off the plan—that would be the marketing plan (and calendar!)—foregoing my regular, prescribed marketing tasks in order to prepare for and attend a conference that's become a focal point of my working, intellectual and, uh, social life over the past four years.

Today wraps up my third South by Southwest Interactive Festival in four years (I skipped 2007) and it's easily been my best yet, for a variety of reasons.