Is there anyone that has not heard that we are all getting buried in information?
Obviously there is. I just overheard the the coordinator for an event I am in say, “No one is reading anything anymore. I sent them lots of emails…”
Yes, he sent way to many emails. They were confusing. I talked to one person that said he took three emails and compiled them into one spreadsheet to get his agenda, only to arrive and find that many of the things had changed.
It is not about more information, it is about clarity and simplicity. Send less, and I will pay more attention.
Jill Lublin Questions & Answers for Buzzoodle – Jill has a new book about referrals.
Q: Jill, please tell us how you got into helping people build their
personal brand?
A: I got started because I was in the music business and discovered
that publicity and promotion was really my true talent and the
music business is so powerful because it’s all about branding and
imagine. I worked for an underdog record label that didn’t have
large budgets. We had to figure out very creative ways to gain
visibility.
Q: What roll does social networking now play in building exposure?
A: Social networking is huge right now in terms of promoting
yourself through the networks. I’m still a believer in the
traditional role of publicity to help build a brand. People
still read newspapers, listen to radio and watch TV.
Q: If someone wants to start building their personal brand but only
can do it 30 minutes per week, what would you recommend as the
best things to do with that time?
A: I think they should write an announcement that specializes in
something good that’s happened to them. Do that every 60 days.
Also look for trends that are happening right now and see if your
story can fit in.
Q: Tell me what would surprise me from your book. I know about
blogging, press releases, etc. Do you have an unexpected secret
you can share?
A: The most obvious one is get back to Belly to belly marketing
which is about leveraging your circle of influence.
Q: What roll can a virtual assistant play in helping someone build
visibility when they are too busy?
A: A VA can stay on the phone and on the internet one hour per day
by creating desire in the community so you have more exposure in
the market place. A VA can also facilitate in networking
opportunities because they connect with so many different circles
and clients.
Q: Can you give me an example of someone you have worked – along
with their success story?
A: Ryan Yee – Ryan is an instructional designer. He needed to get
noticed as an instructional design; that subject wasn’t
interesting. I listened to his story, a story about being fired
from his job, about the fact that him and his wife were pregnant
with their third child on the way, that he had just bought a big
house with a big payment; and was unemployed. I recreated his
story into him being a virtual office warrior, taking a VOW (The
acronym for being a virtual office warrior- never to work in an
office again). That story got him into multiple national
magazines like Entrepreneur, Home Office Magazine, and multiple
daily newspapers, radio, and television. It also landed him a
book contract. Recreating a story is sometimes what will get you
your best success by using everything you’ve got.
Q: Who should buy your book and why?
A: Anyone who owns a business and wants to “Build your client base
and your business by making a name for yourself should by my
book.
For those of you that are loyal readers – sorry but this will be a light week. If this is your first or second visit, there are over 900 older articles to check out, so you probably don’t care.
I am at a music institute every day with my daughter this week. Due to heavy parental involvement, I have limited time blog and I am really not going to worry about it.
It would be so easy for me to rip apart this institute because it has been really challenging to understand what we are supposed to do. They are creative people and have a good time, but I would love to see some nice agendas and schedules I know are not going to change.
But hey, I am just not going to go there. I am just sitting back and enjoying this.
If you do happen to be one of those creative types that help plan and run events, not everyone knows what is expected of them and it is not always funny when people you are joking around but people do not know exactly what they are supposed to do or where they are supposed to be. Try to think like a first time participant that does not know exactly what they signed up for. Your participants may be forgiving, but they are not going to become raving fans.
I love coffee. I drink 1-2 pots per day. (My wife has 2 or so cups of the two pots, even though I tell her not not touch it.)
There are those occasional days that I drink too much and the coffee starts to taste bad. No matter how much I love coffee, there is a point where I’d rather drink water to clean the palate.
It is no wonder that we are all so immune to marketing hype as well. I get a lot of newsletters, read a lot of blogs and talk to a lot of people. Opening an email and seeing “Ready to make millions?” or “Think of it as 1,000 miles per gallon.” creates a very tire, annoyed reaction.
If you want to be 100% sure that I delete your email without reading beyond the first sentence, start out with some hype. I maxed out on hype years ago and I would rather eat dirt than read hype now.
And don’t invite me to waste an hour of my life in your sales pitch/webinar. I might come if you are giving away the farm, but if you are just selling me something, keep it to a decision I can make without wasting more than 30 seconds.
I cringe at hype. I know the sales cycle. Let’s just cut to the chase and get on with life. You either have something that will make my life MUCH easier, or you do not.
The funny thing is that most of us like to buy things. But we do not like to buy everything and we hate to be SOLD.
Do you want me to read your email?
Start out like this in a text only email:
Hi Ron,
I read your blog regularly and get a lot of value from it. I have something that I am certain will interest you (or your readers.)
Since you read my blog, it really might be true and I have to read your email. Probably twice, because it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
If you are still trying to force people to drink their 50th cut of hype for the day, maybe it is time to become a human being and appeal to them by showing them you care.
Without a strong dose of personality and passion, it is a hard road to walk.
Today I was doing a speech someplace and the person I was sitting with before I went on was full of passion, energy and enthusiasm. And he had a personality.
I mentioned he seemed to have everything required to become a speaker – and that would grow his business even more.
He said he’d given it some thought for quit a while, and that other people has suggested the same thing. There was only one problem….
He is too committed to his family and church to take the time necessary.
So I asked him, “Why do you think you need to talk about copiers just because that is what you sell? Wouldn’t you server your mission better by speaking on behalf of your church, and at events you could take you family to?”
Sometimes something little like that can be powerful. He did not need me to explain that it would generate sales anyway. He got it right away. When people like you are respect you, they want to do business with you.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO COMMUNICATE ABOUT WHAT YOU SELL!
Selling insurance does not mean you need to start an insurance blog.
Selling copiers does not mean you need to speak about copiers.
Being good at technology does not mean you need to write a technology book.
Financial Planners do not have to do podcast shows about financial planning.
And real estate agents do not have to spend 100% of their time showing homes.
How you make money may be one dimensional, but you most certainly are not. Let your personality show and do things that you are passionate about. The great relationships you have from your effort will pay off.
I am copying over my article from the Virtual Buzz Assistant Blog. You might want to follow the link for two reasons -
#1 – If you or someone you know is thinking about starting a business, that Free Business Launchpad eBook will help.
#2 – To download the eBook, you sign up for an email tip list on creative ways to use virtual assistants to enhance your Buzz Marketing. Now all the visitors here should be interested in THAT.
30 Day Virtual Assistant Business Launch Pad
Thinking about launching a Virtual Assistant Business?
I started out writing this eBook as a members-only kind of resource. Then I realized it could be very valuable to anyone starting any kind of home-based or small business.
People were getting lost in what seems like overwhelming issues, so we lay it out day by day and make it easy to move from idea to income in 30 days.
Since we have launched several ventures, we know the basic stuff you need to get in place, and how important it is to focus on generating revenue quickly. If you are thinking about starting a business or are trying to figure out what things need done for a business you recently started, this resource is for you.
Because online marketing is newer than other forms of marketing, it is easy to think of them as two different worlds. However, if you think of business being about relationships and providing value, that barrier breaks down right away.
The question is not whether online will work for you. The very legitimate question is, Do you have the time and inclination to use online tools to extend what you are doing?
I do not do direct mail. I don’t want to, and while I may be losing out on some clients, I do not care because I do not believe in direct mail as an effective marketing tool in most cases.
For many business owners, they have a website, but they do not believe in internet marketing. That is fine as well. It is your choice, and it is less about whether it works or not, and more about your inclination to try to do it right.
Something that is often lost is that online extends off-line. Here are some ideas on how to use your real-world marketing and online marketing to form a great marketing alliance.
Speech Teaser – When you give a speech, mention the limited time but let the audience know where to go on your website to find a video of 5 more secret tips. Ideally it is after they sign up for the newsletter.
Direct Mail – Go to the website and sign in to get your secret discount code – or to see if you have won a prize.
Brochure – Expand your paper brochure with a website address that has video of your product, service, etc.
Business Card – Don’t just list your main website. List your blog or other resources. Use the back of your business card to add value.
Networking – When you have a chance to meet people and work with people, use sites like LinkedIn to connect and leave testimonials and endorsements.
Cold Calling – When you call someone and they are interested in your offer, get their email and send them a link or two to video or resources that will interest them but not be too sales oriented.
Print – Always have ways to get more information by visiting the website. I recently saw a whole proposal done as a public blog to demonstrate the companies commitment to social media.
Advertising – No matter what your advertising, they should be able to explore the topic more by going online.
If you are doing all of these things, you could say that you are doing Internet Marketing, you could say you are doing traditional marketing, or you could just say you are a damn fine marketer.
LinkedIn Approval - If you are openly linking to people on linked is, as I do, it is silly to be approving those links yourself. You could get a lot more mileage if you have that approval and polite email reply outsourced.
Asking Bloggers to Write About You – If you are researching blogs in your industry and sending them a polite request to link to your site or write about your product, do not do this work yourself.
Reciprocal Connections – I tend to follow people that follow me on twitter if they are active. I also approve friendships in many networks and return the connection. But I do not need to do those things myself.
Light Blog Writing – If you want to have more blog posts, consider hiring a virtual buzz assistant to write a daily summary on industry news – in addition to your regular posts.
Account Creation – Do you need help creating and managing your many social network accounts? Don’t do it yourself unless your time is worth next to nothing.
Interlinking – All your accounts and sites perform better when they occasionally link to each other. An assistant that is managing these accounts for you can also link to a few resources every day.
Correspondence – View Yaro Starak’s piece on this. Reducing your activities to critical business building activities is best for you in the long term.
Keep in mind I am a huge fan of creating great relationships. But given the choice of a few stronger 1 on 1 relationships vs. more free time to create more great content for all readers, I will usually take the free time to write. And a good assistant will forward me the connections that make sense.
I got an email from someone over at Fresh Air Fund. On the one hand, I was a bit annoyed. I was not in the target areas they need families, and my blog is not about family, travel, disadvantaged youth or any other niche I could tie into.
However, they are an organization trying to help out, so I tried to work it into a post [the one you are reading now].
The point I am making is that there are definitely some better blogs to email about your product, website, etc. However, you never know when someone will take what you are doing and make it into a relevant post for their product or service, so contacting bloggers outside of your target may not get as high of a conversion, but it can get results.
I could hand build a great pop up window with aWeber, but it was going to be a lot of work, so I kept putting it off.
Then I tried Floating Window. It more than doubled my sign up rate, it integrates with my aWeber account and it really is as simple as they show in this video.
There was one thing that I did not like. I could not have it only pop up once per visit. So to solve that, I added it only to the front page, but not the sub pages, that still use a simpleraWeber form.
If you want to save time, impress people with a great pop-up email offer and get more people to opt into your email list, I recommend Floating Window.
Lead Generation Resources
