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Encouragement

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If you want to know real joy, build others up, offer encouragement, show a genuine interest in them. It will come back to you ten-fold.

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"You Are NOT George Clooney - So Get Your Social Networking Act In Gear!"

by Adam Urbanski,
The Millionaire Marketing Mentor

When George Clooney was recently asked about his take on Facebook at the Toronto Film Festival, his response was short: "I'd rather have a prostate exam than a Facebook page."

Now, that's probably understandable when movie studios (his potential clients) have his number on a speed dial, and pesky paparazzi (freebie seekers and unqualified prospects) chase after his every move.

But unless you already have more prospects and high quality clients than you and your business can handle, your approach to Social Networking should be drastically different.

Frankly, a little over a year ago I considered online networking a total waste of time. Fortunately, I was able to recognize how wrong I was. And I wasn't the only one that had a change of hearts on this.

After Dell revealed they generated a cool million dollars in extra sales in 2008 (ahm, make it a cool $3 million by June'09!) many other companies large and small started paying attention to this social networking "fad"!

Just consider a few of these facts:

· Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks initially considered online hang-out places for kids and teenagers are now attracting a much more demographically diverse crowd.

· Big brand names, like Ford, WholeFoods, Comcast, IBM, Dell, Southwest Airlines, and many, many more are establishing a strong presence on social networking hubs like Twitter and Facebook.

· Facebook membership has just passed the 300 million mark (that's nearly the population of USA!) and Twitter is marching towards 18 million users by year's end! That's a lot of potential customers!

· Although started with college kids in mind, over 50% of Facebook's members now are over 25 years old, over 55% are women (the new buying power), 51% have an annual income of $75K, with 33% claiming to earn $100K or more.

· Finally, Facebook has become one of most trusted companies in America, and people spend three times more times there than on Google!

Got your attention now?

Good, let me give you just five basic tips on putting this massive connection power to your advantage.

1. Get Started!

Open an account on every social media and social networking platform you come across. Even if you are not actively using all of them (which you never will) you should reserve your own name, the name of your company, your brand, or your key products, because those are like real estate locations - once the prime spots are gone, they are gone!

For example, I have the vanity url facebook.com/adamurbanski - but there are at least six other Adam Urbanskis who will never be able to grab that link! I also have twitter.com/adamurbanski, youtube.com/adamurbanski and many more like this - are you getting the point?

2. Get Involved!

Just opening the accounts won't do anything for you. You must be actively involved. Choose the best three platforms for you - where you can find the largest population of your ideal clients and it's the easiest to connect with them.

Each platform provides search tools that enable you to find people you already know, current customers, as well as hubs where most of your ideal potential clients already hang out - so you can become visible to a lot of them very quickly.

And start connecting and talking! But first...

3. Listen, Listen, Listen More!

The most important thing you must remember is that social networking is NEVER ABOUT YOU! It's ABOUT THEM!

So don't listen twice as much as your talk (I mean "post") - listen 10 times as much! Find out what the current topics are. What people are concerned about, what information and solutions they are looking for. Then make your posts relevant to other people's needs!

Here is a hint - nearly all of social networking services and tools, at least the basic version of them, is free! So don't go out there pitching your high-priced wares. Give, give, and give some more first!

If your focus is on getting and taking, you will get a big fat NADA from your networking efforts. But if you focus on giving, you'll be abundantly rewarded in return.

4. Get Attention!

Following all the rules is for sissies! So don't be a social networking pansy - have an opinion (in fact, have lots of opinions on everything!) and voice it loud and often!

People admire people with opinions - even if they don't agree with you, they will stick around to watch what will happen next.

Social networking experts are quick to dispense all their "must not break" rules (heck, I'm doing it right now!), but the fact is, this is such a new media that most of the effective approaches are still to be discovered. And the only way to do so is by stepping on some toes and breaking some norms.

If you want a "safe" way to practice this, follow my PET formula: polarize, entertain, teach! 

· POLARIZE. Whether you piss people off or make them love you, they will pay attention. If they are indifferent, they will leave!

· ENTERTAIN. People will always choose fun over education. If people laugh w/ you, they like you... Plus, when they laugh - they learn!

· TEACH. Gary Veynerchuk says "give good s#!%." And he gets how PET works, because that phrase rubs some people the wrong way, it entertains, and it teaches! Peeps love good tips they can use right away - so share some!

5. Automate!

The purpose of social networking is to CONNECT WITH PEOPLE on a very personal level, still there are some tools that can help you impress your fans with your "omnipotent online presence" and get more networking done in less time.

RSS blog feeds, friendfeed.com, ping.fm, twitterfeed.com, socialoomph.com, tweetbeep.com, and tubemogul.com are just a few of a plethora of tools and services - most of them free - that will kick your online socializing into high gear!

Here is my final take on it. And I really want you to get it!

In April of 2008, from a stage at one of my boot camps, I called people who use Twitter "lazy idiots with no life" (yeah, how is that for polarizing, huh?)

But at the same boot camp earlier this year I had my Twitter networking activities to thank for clients from Australia, Singapore, Netherlands, Spain, England, Hungary, and a few other countries.  Needless to say, I changed my tune.

I'll leave it to your imagination as to what I now call professionals and entrepreneurs who refuse to recognize the client attracting power of social networking. Better yet - stop wondering, and if you aren't involved yet - get started now!

© 2000-2009 Marketing Mentors Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The author, Adam Urbanski, helps service professionals and business owners how to
attract all the new clients they want, and how to develop marketing
strategies to increase sales and profits. His website offers more how-to
articles and free tips to create a winning
marketing action plan at www.themarketingmentors.com.

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How to Give Your Biz a Boost with a"Back-to-School" Marketing Makeover

 

by Adam Urbanski,
The Millionaire Marketing Mentor

In just three months 2009 will be over - are you on track for hitting all your business goals for the year? A quick check-up of your marketing strategies and promotional efforts can reveal "week spots" and help identify what needs tweaking to give your business a healthy boost before year's end.

Here are five key areas to focus on with your quarterly marketing makeover.

1. Clarify Your Objectives (some prefer to call it goals)

Are you clear on where want to end up? If you think this has nothing to do with marketing, think again! You cannot design and implement effective strategies unless you know exactly what you want to accomplish.

If you are looking for a magic formula to give your business a boost here is a tip: there is nothing more powerful than writing down your objectives. Your ability to clearly articulate - in writing - what you want to achieve exponentially increases your chances of getting it!

2. Makeover Your Business Model.

Many of my clients paint themselves into a "limited-revenue corner" by structuring their business in a wrong way. No matter how hard they work and try, they can't seem to be able to make more money and just end up being more frustrated.

Take Debra for example. She is a successful small business consultant. Her well developed lead generating process attracts enough clients to actually make them wait a few weeks before she can start working with them. But she still makes only half the money she wants to make. Let me explain...

You see, Debra's business model is to deliver her services using one on one engagements and she can only handle about 15 clients at a time. With her average monthly client value approaching $1,500 she's right on target to make just over $250,000.00 this year. But what she wants is $500,000.

Can you see the problem?

Chances are in some way, you might have a similar challenge: your current business model is incapable of producing the results you want.

What's the solution? Here are a few ideas:

• Diversify your product/service offering. Analyze the needs of your clients and look for new ways to serve them. (Hint: you do not have to deliver all the solutions yourself, form strategic alliances instead).
   
• Find new ways to work with clients. If you only work with people using one-on-one format, start offering group programs. Develop tele-seminars or live workshops. You'll actually be able to attract more clients and exponentially increase your earnings.
   
• Multiply yourself. If you already have a successful service business and a lot of happy customers, chances are you are following a proven process. Bring in other professionals (junior partners) who can be trained to deliver your process to clients who are not willing to pay your fee but will settle for working with your associate at a discounted rate.
   
• Develop info products. There is no better way to leverage your knowledge than turning it into passive streams of revenue. If you are not regularly putting out new products, you are missing out on a huge opportunity to boost your bottom line.

3. Makeover Your Lead Generating Systems.

How many ways are you generating new leads? Do you have at least three to five lead generating vehicles that are consistent and automated?

Too many businesses don't understand the lead generating process and depend on vague methods of getting new clients, like word-of-mouth and networking. Not having structured and easy to duplicate system to attract attention and turn it into sales is a sure pathway to a total disaster.

• If you need clients fast consider direct mail, fax broadcasting, narrowly focused direct-response advertising, and strategic alliances. Also, ask your current clients for referrals and, don't forget the big one, reactivate your past clients!
   
• To ensure long term positioning and visibility in your market place focus on publicity, getting speaking engagements, and writing and publishing articles.

4. Makeover Your Follow-Up.

Are you keeping in touch with your clients and prospects? Do you have a way to automatically connect with them at least monthly? If not, you are only getting about 20% of the money you could be making!

Most people give up following up after just three attempts. Most prospects don't make a buying decision until they've been exposed to your marketing message at least five times? See a problem here?

If you are not doing it yet, start an online or offline newsletter. Create a monthly postcard program. Regularly send out information you come across that your audience would benefit from.

Use technology to automate your follow-up. Online use sequential autoresponders that can be put on total auto-pilot. Offline use fax and voice broadcasting technology, or even simple postcards to leverage your time and connect with people quickly, meaningfully and affordably.

5. Makeover Your Marketing Assets.

We all have a limited amount of time, and if you are spending it all working with clients you are not creating long-term leverage. Every week schedule time to create marketing assets that work for you.

• Give your marketing materials a quick look-over. Are your business cards, websites, and brochures consistently communicating the right marketing message? Are they written in a lively, persuasive and client-relevant language or are you still insisting on telling your prospects your company's history, vision and mission statement thinking they actually care?
   
• Continually build your credibility and positioning. Ask all clients for testimonials, develop new talks on your subject of expertise, and create information products.
   
• Develop tools and systems. Create checklists to make routine tasks easier to delegate. Develop and implement a few extra follow-up steps that can be automated or outsourced. Record your talks and teleseminars and turn them into Attraction Tools™.
   
• Invest in your own knowledge. Read more books, attend high-end training programs, purchase home-study courses, hire mentors to help you gain greater proficiency. Become a perpetual learner and always look for ways to transfer or implement your knowledge quickly.

Finally, keep this in mind: these are all simple things but combined they can make or break your business. That's why I suggest you get busy giving your business a marketing makeover.

© 2000-2009 Marketing Mentors Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The author, Adam Urbanski, helps service professionals and business owners how to
attract all the new clients they want, and how to develop marketing
strategies to increase sales and profits. His website offers more how-to
articles and free tips to create a winning
marketing action plan at www.themarketingmentors.com.

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