Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed E-Book

Patrick Schwerdtfeger

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 343

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

A quick guide to effective techniques that will boost yourbusiness today Want the juicy marketing secrets that save time and get resultsquickly for your business? Then this is the book for you. MarketingSecrets for the Self-Employed offers a detailed plan forentrepreneurs, small business owners, salespeople, and serviceprofessionals. Filled with effective tactics and strategies readyto apply immediately, this guide supplies a complete toolkit toleverage resources, establish online credibility, and crush yourcompetition! * Provides practical strategies to promote your business usingpowerful online tools * Each chapter can be read in 10 minutes or less and offers anitemized to-do list at the end * Author has personally used these strategies to promote hisbusiness online and has helped dozens of companies do the same If you're ready to take immediate action and see results quicklyfor your business, Marketing Secrets for the Self-Employedhas all the tools and techniques you need!

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Part One: Define Your Business Model

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Develop Expertise

Chapter 3: Belief Systems

Chapter 4: Problems + PAIN = Profit

Chapter 5: Value Proposition

Chapter 6: Elevator Pitch

Chapter 7: Target Market

Chapter 8: List of Prospects

Chapter 9: E-mail Distribution Lists

Your Own List

Joint Ventures

Distribution Lists

Chapter 10: Write a Business Plan

Part Two: Plan Your Internet Presence

Chapter 11: Google Codes and Alerts

Chapter 12: Keyword Ideas

Chapter 13: Keyword Research

Chapter 14: Positioning Statement

Chapter 15: Website Sales Function

1. Why am I here?

2. Where do I look?

3. What do I do?

Chapter 16: Website Cornerstone

Chapter 17: Website Cornerstone

Chapter 18: Website Cornerstone

Chapter 19: Website Conversation

Chapter 20: Expand the Frame

Chapter 21: Categorize Your Content

Chapter 22: Beginner Content = Trust

Chapter 23: Intermediate Content = List

Chapter 24: Advanced Content = Revenue

Chapter 25: Killer Sales Copy

Step 1: Get Their Attention

Step 2: Identify the Problem or Need

Step 3: Position Your Product as the Solution

Step 4: Differentiate Yourself from the Competition

Step 5: Establish Credibility and Build Value

Step 6: Provide Proof (Statistics and Testimonials)

Step 7: Close with a Call to Action

And Finally, Give Them Something to Buy!

Part Three: Build Your Website and Blog

Chapter 26: Website Development

Chapter 27: The Blogosphere

Chapter 28: Negative Comments

Chapter 29: SEO: Keyword Saturation

Chapter 30: SEO: Inbound Links

Chapter 31: SEO: Surrogate Homepages

Chapter 32: SEO: Diagnostic Tools

Google Webmaster Tools

The SEO-Browser

Website Grader

Chapter 33: Google Analytics

Chapter 34: Understand Analytics Data

Chapter 35: Making Sales Online

Chapter 36: Website Shopping Cart

Chapter 37: Outsource Basic Tasks

Part Four: Populate Internet Properties

Chapter 38: Internet Directories

Chapter 39: Blog Directories

Chapter 40: Outbound Links = Currency

Chapter 41: Subscribe to Top Bloggers

Chapter 42: Interviews and Guest Bloggers

Chapter 43: Blog Carnivals

Chapter 44: Conversations Are Markets

Chapter 45: Social Bookmarking

Chapter 46: Online Branding

Chapter 47: Optimize Google Places

Chapter 48: Leverage Yelp for Business

Part Five: Attract Qualified Prospects

Chapter 49: Understand the Process

Chapter 50: E-mail Marketing

Chapter 51: Start a Podcast

Chapter 52: Publish Articles Online

Chapter 53: Post on Blogs and Forums

Chapter 54: Post on Yahoo! and Amazon

Chapter 55: Online Classified Advertising

Chapter 56: Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Chapter 57: Write a Press Release

Chapter 58: Start a Group or Club

Chapter 59: Event Marketing Strategies

Chapter 60: Product Launch Formula

Chapter 61: Build Massive Credibility

Record Your Own CD

Record Your Own DVD

Part Six: Leverage Social Media

Chapter 62: Social Media Mantras

Content is King . . . or is it?

Content is . . . Queen.

Community Engagement

Authenticity and Transparency

Chapter 63: Social Media Integration

Chapter 64: Twitter

Chapter 65: Twitter

Chapter 66: Twitter

Chapter 67: LinkedIn

Chapter 68: LinkedIn

Status Updates

Recommendations

Website Links

Chapter 69: LinkedIn

Chapter 70: LinkedIn

WordPress or Blog Link

Amazon Bookshelf

SlideShare

TripIt

Google Presentations

Company Buzz or Tweets

Other Applications

Chapter 71: Facebook

Chapter 72: Facebook

Chapter 73: Facebook

Chapter 74: Facebook

Chapter 75: YouTube

Chapter 76: YouTube

Chapter 77: YouTube

Chapter 78: Social Media Monitoring

Google Alerts

Twitter Advanced Search

Addictomatic

Social Mention

HootSuite

Seesmic

ScoutLabs

Radian6

Part Seven: Conclusions and Execution

Chapter 79: Wow Your Audience

Chapter 80: Consistency Wins

About the Author

Index

Copyright © Patrick Schwerdtfeger. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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ISBN 978-1-118-01420-2 (cloth)

ISBN 978-1-118-07805-1 (ebk)

ISBN 978-1-118-07806-8 (ebk)

ISBN 978-1-118-07807-5 (ebk)

To my dad

Acknowledgments

There are, of course, many people to thank but I need to start with those who played the most significant role. To my agent, Michael Larsen, your guidance made this possible. To my editor, Lauren Murphy, you walked me through the process. Thank you both for your kindness, patience, and professionalism.

Many others played a part in the compilation of this book by editing, providing ideas, or offering direction. They include David Mitroff, Rob and Emily Ludlow, Scott Cooney, and Tom Loarie.

My career as a speaker and the success that stems from people recommending me and my programs is why I now have a book deal. Among many others, my recommenders include Amy Sluss, Ann Evanston, Bryan Clark, Cathleen Hoffman, Christopher Henley, Chrystal Bougon, Deb Droz, Edith Yeung, Ellen Looyen, Gina Harper, Hope Desroches, Jeffrey Slayter, Jessica Thurmond-Pohlonski, Karen Clark, Kathleen Mozena, Lennart Svanberg, Lise Bodine, Luanne Stevenson, Michael Loschke, Rajeev Kohli, and Sahar Kordahi. I am grateful for your trust.

Part One

Define Your Business Model

Chapter 1

Introduction

Let's jump right in.

More than 100 million people are using Twitter today. Are most of them wasting their time? Absolutely! A lot of people are singing the praises of online marketing and social media these days, but much of it is just a bunch of hype. These people might be having fun. They might be “being social.” But they're not finding new clients for their business. They're certainly not growing their revenue. A few people and businesses, however, are taking advantage of the opportunities presented by these new communication tools; they are using simple but powerful strategies to explode their revenue virtually overnight.

That is happening. Those stories are true. So what exactly are they doing? What strategies are they using? What tactics are delivering measurable results? Answering these questions is what this book is about. It's about isolating the success stories. It's about identifying the strategies and tactics that work.

The book also evolved out of my own countless experiments, many of them failures, over seven years of self-employed life. My goal was to build credibility and exposure, and I tried everything! Some of my efforts succeeded. Most didn't. The chapters ahead cover the strategies that actually worked. Will they work in every situation and for every business? No. But they've all been successful for one business or another, and that means they're worth testing on your own business too.

This book tells you how to get things done. You'll notice the contents are divided into 80 chapters, each with a narrow and specific focus. You can read each chapter in less than 10 minutes and quickly gain an understanding of the strategy as well as its implementation process. Each chapter (except this one) concludes with an itemized to-do list, allowing you to break the topic into specific tasks and see results quickly.

The chapters are presented in a specific order. You can waste an enormous amount of time doing things in the wrong order. More than half the value in this book is the sequential presentation. Regardless of where your business is today, you will benefit by starting at the beginning and working your way through the book. Together, we will align your business with today's realities and tomorrow's opportunities. More than ever before, those opportunities are available and accessible to anyone who's willing to do the work.

Here's the sad reality: most people don't do anything. They never take action. They say they will but they don't. They get excited but it fades. As a result, most people never see real results and eventually get discouraged and give up. You can get the best advice in the world but it won't do you any good unless you take action. This book offers dozens of simple but powerful strategies, but the actual implementation is up to you.

Please commit to this process. Create a folder and track your progress. Go through the steps and embrace curiosity when confronting the unfamiliar. The strategies presented in this book are here because they produce results. Together, we'll build a strategic foundation for your business that's far more sophisticated than most businesses ever achieve. Together, we'll take steps that will leave your business far better positioned than it is today.

The first section of this book is devoted to defining your business model. This may seem unrelated to modern marketing but nothing could be further from the truth. A clear and focused business model is essential to effective Internet positioning. Everybody uses the Internet differently. We all have our own favorite platforms and our own way of accessing information. But the one thing that remains constant for all of us is the mechanism of finding information online. Search engines and social media platforms are rewarding websites that offer extensive but focused information about their topic. The websites that shine are those that present a clear purpose with easily understood benefits and a landslide of good information. These websites can only be built by companies that have a well-defined business focus.

Work through the first few chapters and do the suggested exercises. They will force you to hone your business model and fine-tune your value proposition. That clarity adds to your business foundation and pays dividends online and off. Success breeds success! Share this book with your business colleagues and work through the steps together. You might be surprised how different their experiences and ideas are from your own. Not only will you benefit from their unique perspective but you'll have more fun along the way. The Twitter hashtag (explained in Chapter 59) for this book is #80shortcuts. Please include it in all related tweets.

Now, let's get down to business!

Chapter 2

Develop Expertise

Are you an expert?

The answer is yes! Yes, you are. You're an expert. On what? I don't know. That's what we need to figure out. The truth is, everyone is an expert at something . . . even you. And whether you realize it or not, thousands of people are searching for your expertise to improve their lives or build their businesses. My first book, Make Yourself Useful: Marketing in the 21st Century was all about being an expert and providing value. In today's information society, you need to carve out a little slice of the universe and claim it as your own. You need to decide what your specialty is and become an expert in that field.

A common phrase in Internet marketing circles is “go an inch wide and a mile deep,” referring to the importance of a clearly focused specialization. Search engines such as Google love narrow little niches that people dominate with massive expertise. Pick a specific topic and become an expert in that field! In a 2004 article published in Wired magazine, Chris Anderson coined the term “long tail” to describe this same idea. He was referring to the advantages of exploiting super specific niches on the Internet. He later elaborated on the idea in his book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More (2006, Hyperion).

This process of establishing your qualifications as an expert involves the following steps:

1. Pick a narrow specific topic.

2. Acquire massive expertise.

3. Present yourself as an expert.

I'll leave step 1 to you, and we'll deal with step 3 in the next chapter. But step 2 is tactical. Step 2 is structural. We can begin tackling step 2 right now. We'll start with an exercise that will take some time, but will yield amazing results. First pick a few keywords to describe your specialty, then do the following:

Go to EzineArticles.com and do a search for the keywords you chose to describe your area of expertise. You'll find thousands of free articles other people have written about your topic. Browse the titles and read the articles that catch your attention.Go to the iTunes Music Store, click on Podcasts, then do a Power Search using your keywords. You'll find hundreds of free podcasts about your topic. Sort the results by popularity and subscribe to the top ones. Listen to the podcasts while commuting to work or getting some exercise at the gym.Go to YouTube and do a search for “how to” and the same keywords. You'll find incredible free videos people have made about your topic. Watch the videos and learn. Not only will you be introduced to your competition but you'll gain tremendous expertise in the process.

This exercise demonstrates the nearly limitless resources available at your fingertips. It also helps you refine your specialty. You'll see what others are already doing and, more important, you'll see what they're not doing—at least not yet. Pick your topic. Stake your claim. Start building your expertise.

Implementation Checklist

Decide on a field you can specialize in.

Select a few keywords for your specialty.

Use your keywords to find articles on EzineArticles.

Use your keywords to find podcasts on iTunes.

Use your keywords to find videos on YouTube.

Make notes and build your expertise.

Notice what your competition is doing.

Notice what your competition is not doing.

Compare notes and ideas with a colleague.

Chapter 3

Belief Systems

Are you sabotaging your own success?

When it comes to growing your business, one of the most important things you can do is get your belief systems in check. If you don't, your own limiting beliefs can turn you into your own worst enemy.

This happens a lot, and most of the time, you're not even aware of the undermining effects those limiting beliefs are having. Whether you realize it or not, your belief systems define almost everything you do.

Consider Figure 3.1. Your Beliefs form the foundation of your Decisions. Your Decisions lead to your Actions. Your Actions define your Results. And your Results feed back into your Beliefs.

Figure 3.1 The Cognitive Execution Cycle

On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran a mile in less than 4 minutes for the first time in human history. It had never been done before. Many doctors had even believed the human heart was incapable of enduring such an incredible strain. They were wrong.

But . . . Bannister's time was bested just 46 days later. And during the next three years, 16 athletes ran a mile in less than 4 minutes, and hundreds more have broken the 4-minute mile since then. As of this writing, the current record is 3 minutes and 43 seconds.

What changed? The belief system.

Up until the day Bannister ran the 4-minute mile, nobody believed it was possible. Once someone proved that it was possible, the belief system changed. After that, the mental barrier was gone and the new results reflected the new beliefs.

Improving your belief systems is a never-ending process. Even if you're already successful, I'm willing to bet there's still a gap between where you are and where you'd like to be. Different people and different programs advocate different approaches.

Law of Attraction programs start in the Beliefs quadrant. By imagining and focusing on what you want, you can trick your mind into a different belief system and that can roll through the circle and improve your results.

A lot of motivational speakers start in the Decisions quadrant. By making a single decision—a decision to take action—you can change your life forever. The self-help author and speaker Anthony Robbins espouses this philosophy, and the statement is true. One decision can indeed change everything.

Some even start in the Results quadrant. By pretending as if you're already there—and living like it—you can get some traction and start a domino effect that improves the level of your performance (but that's a risky approach).

This book starts in the Actions quadrant. It focuses on the specific tactics that get results. If you know which actions deliver results, changing your beliefs is easy.

Regardless of the approach, you need to start a deliberate program to ensure you actually believe you're an expert. If you don't, you'll end up sabotaging your own efforts and making it harder to achieve the goals you've set for yourself.

Believing in yourself is easier said than done. Confidence grows out of an established pattern of success. The purpose of this book is to help you establish that pattern. You'll find that small steps and small victories add up quickly.

Implementation Checklist

Take ownership of your own expertise.

Select which quadrant you'll focus on first.

If it's Beliefs, start visualizing your success.

If it's Decisions, make that decision today.

If it's Actions, start mapping out your plan.

If it's Results, be careful—this is risky.

Focus only on your desired destination.

Establish a pattern of success.

Compare notes and ideas with a colleague.

Chapter 4

Problems + PAIN = Profit

Are your customers ready to spend money?

To answer that question, you might want to think about a brilliant little equation coined by Christine Comaford, author of Rules for Renegades: How to Make More Money, Rock Your Career, and Revel in Your Individuality (McGraw-Hill, 2007). It's so true . . .

There are two basic requirements for a successful business model. Many businesses meet only one requirement. Many more have neither! If you want to build your business, you need to make absolutely sure that you have both. First, you need a problem that you can solve. That's obvious. There needs to be something wrong, a lack or a need that's not being met. Take a look at your area of expertise and ask yourself where the problems are. What's missing? What doesn't work properly? What are people always struggling with? Write down your answers.

Second, people need to be in pain because of the problem. This is important. There are lots of problems that nobody cares about. Many problems don't result in pain. And because of that, people aren't willing to spend their hard-earned money to fix them. You need to find the people who are in pain. Who is suffering? That's your target market. That's your audience. That's your ideal customer. That's who is looking for you and is ready to spend money on your product or service.

This calculation may sound trivial, but most companies never go through this basic exercise and it affects their sales potential directly. If you get a clear picture of exactly what problem you solve and what pain you alleviate, all of your marketing efforts will immediately become more effective. Set some time aside—maybe 30 minutes or an hour—to ask yourself these questions. Put your work into your file. We'll be coming back to it in the chapters ahead and taking the next steps.

Implementation Checklist

Identify the problem your product solves.

Describe the pain caused by the problem.

Note the emotional distress you alleviate.

Focus marketing on emotional benefits.

Compare notes and ideas with a colleague.

Chapter 5

Value Proposition

So . . . what do you sell?

In the last chapter, we isolated the problem your product or service addresses. More importantly, we identified the pain caused by the problem. The people who experience that pain are your target market. They're the ones who are ready to spend money on your product or service. The next step is to identify and understand exactly what your product or service is. What do you sell? Specifically. Is it a silly question? Let's take a closer look.

Does Starbucks sell coffee? I would say no, not really. Starbucks sells an environment, an experience. When McDonald's introduced a variety of high-end coffees, were they really competing with Starbucks? No, they weren't. In fact, they didn't even pretend to compete.

McDonald's realized that some people go to Starbucks to buy fancy coffee but don't care about the Starbucks experience at all. If they could provide a similar product for less money, they could steal those customers. And they were right. But they never tried to compete with Starbucks' value proposition. McDonald's sells a few high-end coffees. Starbucks sells an experience. Two different things. The options appeal to two entirely different audiences. To that end, McDonald's specifically addressed the unpretentiousness of their specialty coffees in their advertising campaign.

If you really want to grow your business, you need to focus your marketing efforts on the customer experience, not your product's features. You don't sell your product's features. You sell your product's benefits. An even better way of looking at it: you sell the emotions your customers experience when they use your product. Think back to our discussion about pain in Chapter 4. What you're selling is the alleviation of that pain. You're selling the emotions your customers experience when the pain is finally gone. In the case of Starbucks, they're selling a feeling of comfort, a tiny little vacation people go on every time they step into a Starbucks store. Their customers escape their lives, even if just for a moment. They take time to breathe. They leave the craziness behind and take a short vacation with their tasty Starbucks coffee.

Think about the emotions your product delivers. You'll need to define those emotional benefits before the next chapter, where we'll be working on your 30-second elevator pitch. So get a pen and paper. Jot down some notes. And figure out exactly what you sell.

Implementation Checklist

List all your product (or service) features.

Identify a benefit for each feature.

Describe an emotion for each benefit.

Define your business in terms of emotions.

Focus all marketing on those emotions.

Compare notes and ideas with a colleague.