The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

2009 Can Make You Stronger

As we start 2009, I am thinking about the challenges ahead.

I've been hearing lately from many creative professionals who relied, during 2008 and before that, on word of mouth and a couple good clients. Now, not so suddenly, the pipeline is empty. So they're starting to put a business development foundation (i.e. a Marketing Machine) in place.

It's not too late, that's for sure. And if you already have one in place, you're ahead of the game. Early 2009 is going to be an important time to rev it up.

If you need business now, here's what to do: network your butt off and pick up the phone.

These two tools are the most proactive ones available and they will bring you into direct contact with people who may need your services.

When deciding who to call, start with everyone you know. The relationships you have already established will lead you more quickly to available work because you won't need to waste time introducing yourself and building trust from scratch.

I am convinced that this year has the potential to make a lot of us much stronger.

(And if you want help, check out our new 2009 Grow Your Business Marketing Plan + Calendar and online and in person Marketing Mentor Groups to keep you accountable. They get started the week of January 19. Details here.)

Do "open rates" matter?

Last month, I was on the panel at the October Taste of Technology session that focused on email marketing (read about that here), moderated by Jennifer Sheehan of Technology Therapy.

During the discussion, we were asked about average "open rates" for email newsletters (that is, now many people "open" the message, according to the tracking through your email marketing provider). As the flood of email increases, open rates seem to be decreasing.

That's when the question came up as to whether, for an email marketing campaign, open rates and click thru rates are even relevant.

I suggested they might not be, based on an email exchange with my client, Bob Bly, who runs a very successful Internet business. (I had asked Bob to share open and click thru rates for his email marketing messages. His response to me: "We don't track that because we don't think it's relevant.")

What do you think? Do you watch yours? What do they really mean? How accurate are they? Does it mean someone actually read your message? Or just that their cursor happened to land on it? And if they do matter, what can you learn from them? How can you use them?

Please answer any or all of these burning questions.

Holiday ideas (already!)

It's time to start thinking about holiday gifts for clients and prospects. But with this strange economic situation, things may be a little different this year.

We're not sure yet what to do. I like to give something useful and relevant and not so expensive, of course. So we're tossing around a few ideas along those lines. (Here's my latest find for something decidedly not useful or relevant, but delicious nonetheless.)

How are you handling holiday gifts? Any different from last year? What are you planning to give, if anything? What resources and web sites do you recommend?

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.

Here's your chance to shine eco-consciously!

Crescent Hill Books, publisher of many collaborative design books (we told you about one of their logo books a ways back), is currently accepting submissions for a new book on eco-conscious design, The Big Book of Green Design. Over 1,000 entries, printed on environmentally-friendly paper, and no charge to submit.

This link will take you to their submission site. You'll need to take a moment create an account in order to view the various books and to submit your own entries.

Don't dilly-dally, either. Deadline is December 1, and November is a short month!

Reader ideas about telling success stories

In my latest tip, with the subject line, "Are your success stories ready to tell," I gave some ideas for avoiding "blank mind syndrome" when someone asks you for "success stories" and linked to a worksheet from our book, The Designer's Guide to Marketing and Pricing, to help you mine your own stories. (If you missed that, read it here.)

A couple readers responded with a few more ideas:

• Bob Bly, longtime Marketing Mentor client and inveterate marketer, wrote, "Here's what I do. I tell the prospect to go to www.bly.com and click on Testimonials. When he is on the page, I tell him: "Here are my success stories."
• Audeliz Perez wrote, "When I first started selling real estate, I didn’t have any success stories, but that didn’t limit my ability to tell one. I would listen to what the other realtors were doing and what success they had. Then I would relate those same experiences to my clients; sometimes I related them in the first person and sometimes I told it as an all-knowing, 3rd person outsider. Ironically, the successes were received the same, as long as I believed in the story. Maybe when you someone asks you for a success story, they are looking for reassurance and maybe they’re looking to be motivated. The morale to this story is: learn to tell a story in any business, even if it’s not your own."

Any more ideas from the peanut gallery?

Guest Post: HARO Creates Buzz for Your Business

I've been a fan of PR genius Peter Shankman's Help a Reporter Out mailing list since I first discovered it this spring, talking it up here, in my own newsletter and in countless emails, conversations and presentations. (In fact, one of the highlights of my recent trip to Seattle was getting to meet the man in person—he's everywhere, is Peter, and just as funny, sharp and generous as his thrice-daily messages would lead you to believe.)

I've used it to raise the profile of Crohn's disease a bit, in an article for MSNBC online. Ilise was recently interviewed for a piece on shyness to run in the NY Post in November. And here, Marketing Mentor client Dara Turransky shares her experience, as well as some tips on how to get the most out of a terrific service.

HARO is an excellent resource for creating some buzz for your business. I used HARO recently to find radio interviews for two of my clients. The pitches worked out great. My clients received much needed exposure, and I looked like a hero to them.

The best part about the service is that it's FREE. All you need to do is sign up for the daily inquiries and HARO is sent to you three times a day. HARO reporters are always looking for experts to interview for articles ranging from the latest Halloween trends to best marketing practices.

Keep in mind these simple tips to get the most out of HARO:

• Only answer inquiries that match your business objectives.
• Craft your pitch to match what the reporter is looking for as closely as is humanly possible.
• Don't SPAM any of the reporters with off-topics.
• You can forward inquiries to friends, but don't post them on the Web or on any blog.
• You aren't allowed to harvest the reporters' email addresses in any way. There are severe virtual consequences for anyone who does.
• You don't need to know a great deal of PR to use the list, just be yourself and professional. If you're so inclined to learn a bit more about PR, then I would read Michael Levine's Guerilla PR 2.0. He writes in an easy-to-read format with great tips and lots of examples on how to write a pitch that delivers results. You will also find most of the actionable items in the chapters can be scaled down for a one or two-person shop.

You can sign up for HARO here and join the other 36,000 subscribers on the list. Information on Michael Levine, his book as well as his PR firm is available here.

Dara Turransky is the Founder and Creative Director of 7 Lucky Dogs, a marketing agency for the pet industry. Learn more about her agency by visiting her website or email her at dara AT 7luckydogs DOT com.

Writing articles isn't just for writers

Getting articles published online is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your web site and position yourself as an expert in your field, and especially in your niche.

So if you can't write, hire someone to write for you or let me teach you (through the mentoring program) how to write for online publication (it's not all that complicated). And if you can write, what are you waiting for? Get your articles out there?

Here are recent articles written by a few of our Marketing Mentor clients:

• Ivan Drucker -- Mac Expert for New Yorkers
  First of a monthly column on eWeek
  "The Mac Moment: Apple Advice for IT Support Professionals"
• Colleen Wainwright (aka the Communicatrix) -- Focus Agent
  You, in a Compelling Nutshell
• Dani Nordin -- Graphic Designer and Professional Problem Solver
  "Making the Most of LinkedIn"
• Ann Gallops -- Feng Shui Expert
  "On the Road? Set up for Success" and "The 15-minute difference"
• Jezra Kaye -- Speaker Coach and "SpeakWriter"
  "2 Truths and 7 Tips for Becoming a Great Public Speaker (Yes, You!)"

You'll notice that a lot of these articles are posted on one of our favorite business networking sites, Biznik. Where else have you found to post articles? What other article-marketing strategies are working for you?

Marketing is not about you

Last week I was invited to sit on a panel at the AIGA Orange County big self -promotion expo. My colleagues on the panel included Steve Morris, Petrula Verontikis, Mick Hodgson and John Travis, VP of Brand Marketing at Adobe. He represented the client side.

At one point one of the attendees asked John, “What do you look for when you receive a marketing piece and what do you usually get?”

John shared with us that most of the design firms that contact him take a lot of time talking about themselves—their accomplishments. Very few actually talk about how they can help him with his needs.

“I don’t really care what you have accomplished for other clients or what awards you’ve won," he explained. "I want to know that you care about what it is I need and that you do exceptional work.”

Do your marketing materials focus on yourself or your client? Are you sending a message that says “I care about what you need help with and here is how I can help you?” Something to think about.

Guest Post: The Big Duh!

Self-promotion is part of any good marketing mix, but for some of us, it's the last thing we think about. This great story from Marketing Mentor client and frequent guest contributor, Jezra Kaye, illustrates why it's a good idea to always have a few bits of "you" stuff handy.

Thanks to a recommendation from Laura Allen (founder of the awesome 15secondpitch.com), I was recently interviewed for “A League of Our Own,” the excellent show about women and achievement on WRHU.

As always before an interview or panel appearance, I sent the show’s producer (a) my suggested introduction and (b) a list of possible questions and roughly how I would answer them. (You do this, too, right? It saves the interviewer a ton of leg work, and makes you look prepared, not pushy.)

The next day, producer Fran Spencer sent back her list of questions she planned to ask.  Many of my questions were on there, but so was this zinger: “Tell us about some successes you’ve had.”

Duh! I was all set to talk about how public speaking is different for men and women, how college women can learn to speak the language of success, etc. The only thing I wasn’t prepared to talk about was my achievements—which was actually the topic of the show!

I’ve learned my lesson, and will never again go out in public without some well-thought-out “brags” to share with one and all. We’re all proud of our successes, so why is it so difficult for us to talk to others about them?

Jezra Kaye is a presentation skills coach who helps good speakers become great and excellent speakers become extraordinary.  This Wednesday night, 10/15, she’ll be leading a workshop in NYC on Presentations that Persuade.