| |
| |
|
Marketing Resource Center |
|
|
|
How to Profit from Your Expertise (Part 1 of 2)
Are you looking for a natural way to market your professional services? What if you could exponentially multiply the number of motivated, pre-qualified prospects you reach in a fraction of the time that networking and referrals require? Now what if you could be the person in a crowed room with whom everyone wants to talk about your services? And no, they don't want to sell you something?they want to buy what you've got. Too good to be true? Not if you know how to leverage the knowledge you get paid for every day as a professional service provider. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, sharing what you know is the #1 fastest way to attract more clients. Hands-down, the two best ways to do this are by writing articles and giving talks. In this month's e-newsletter, I'll give you detailed guidelines for packaging your knowledge that really work. Next month, we'll cover where to look for knowledge-sharing opportunities and how to make them happen. STEP 1: Get Inspired If you've been reading this e-newsletter since at least February, you may recall that issue was all about how to get started with using your expertise to attract clients. Get inspired by re-reading your February issue or read it on my website at http://turningpointemarketing.com:8080/icms/icms.php/cs/21/linktarget.html?cs_news_ref=14&COMP=dated_items. If you've done the basic things outlined in the February e-newsletter, you're ready for Step 2. Before you move on, make sure you've: ? Brainstormed a short list of problems your clients have that you can solve ? Written a few paragraphs describing the problem, the lost opportunity, why this is important to address, what will happen if it's ignored, what your solution is, any tips you have for implementing your solution, and an example can you use to illustrate your point STEP 2: Attract Attention for Your Knowledge by Giving it a Compelling Title Copywriters have a bag of tricks that are used on us everyday in the marketplace. They skillfully use words as tools to persuade us to do things. Like it or not, you need to adopt some of these tried and true approaches in your own marketing materials. Trust me, clients will not clamor for your services just because you're really good at what you do. You've got to motivate and persuade your target audience to take action. By the way, these principles apply to all of your marketing tools: website, direct mail, brochures, flyers, newsletter, press releases, value-adding freebies such as checklists, etc. Bottom line: you've got to catch and hold your target audience's attention, if you're going to convince them you're the right solution to their problems. This is very how-to stuff, but stick with me. If no one reads your article or attends your presentation, it doesn't matter how brilliant your content is. So you've got to hook them with a WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) title that gets their attention. Rules for Writing Good Titles: In a nutshell, it's all about the WIIFM. One of my favorite Marketing Gurus, Robert Middleton, has nicely summarized how to write an attention-getting title. According to Middleton, a good title? 1. Is clear and easy to understand ("Time Management Techniques") 2. Targets the audience ("Time Management Techniques for Managers") 3. Includes core benefits targeting the reader's self-interest ("Managers, Save Two Hours Per Day With Better Time Management") 4. Leads the reader into the article or talk ("How 20 Managers Saved Two Hours a Day With These Time Management Techniques") Secrets from the Copywriting Pros for Compelling Titles: The following titling approaches are what the pros use that really work: 1. How-to titles: Start the title with the words "How to" or "How (target audience), followed by a benefit. 2. X# of ways titles: Implies a system or process that's easy to master: "Five Secrets for Improving Your Golf Game." 3. Contrarian Titles: Tongue in cheek: "Ten Ways NOT to Attract New Clients." Shows you have a sense of humor. 4. Fun titles: An interesting or fun twist that is hard not to read: "How a Graphic Artist Who Wouldn't Network and Couldn't Make Cold Calls Found All the Business She Needed Using Her Dalmatian." 5. The word "these": The word "these" draws you into the article or talk to find out more: "Do you Make These Mistakes in English?" Remove the word "these" and it loses its impact! 6. Story titles: Set up a story: "They Laughed When I Called Myself a Marketing Expert... But When the Dollars Started Rolling In..." To learn more secrets from the pros for getting attention for your expertise, keep reading? Richard Bayan, author of Words That Sell: The Thesaurus To Help You Promote Your Products, Services, And Ideas, offers a lot of good ideas for sharing your knowledge in compelling ways: 1. Write to motivate and persuade: This is not about a sales pitch for your services. It's about clearly articulating the WIIFM in words that will get your target audience nodding their head in agreement, saying, "Yeah, you really understand my situation." 2. Use "grabbers" to get your audience's attention: ? Open with a question: "What if you could??" "Wouldn't you like to??" "How many times have you said to yourself??" "Do you struggle to??"? Open with a statement: "You've probably noticed that?" "Let's face it?" "_____ may determine the future of your business."? Open with a challenge: "If you're serious about?." "Make time for?" "Say 'yes' to?"? Use heading and slogans: "Some straight talk about _____" "Your shortcut to?" "Don't take chances with?" Go ahead?give it a try. Use some of these techniques to spice up an article or talk and see what kind of response you get. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what happens. Next month, we'll look at how to get you in front of the right audiences to put your attention-getting articles and talks to work in promoting yourself. We encourage sharing and publication of Your Monthly TurningPointe in whole or in part if copyright and attribution, including live web site link and email link, are always included. Please let us know where and when it will appear. Thank you! References Bayan, R. Words That Sell. Lincolnwood, IL: McGraw-Hill, 1984. Lant, J. Cash Copy. Jeffrey Lant Associates, 1992. Middleton, R. InfoGuru Guide, Action Plan Marketing, 2001. Putman, A. Marketing Your Services. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1990. (c) 2004 TurningPointe Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved.
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Five Joint Venture Marketing Skills A Small Business Owner Must Have Joint venture marketing is a lucrative way of leveraging the assets of two or more businesses. It is the fastest way for businesses to achieve certain business goals and benefit their clients at the same time. Insiders Secret to Selling Mailing Lists If you've got a mailing list of at least a thousand names or more, you're sitting on a gold mine. All it takes is for you to get the word out that you've got a mailing list for rent, at a competitive price, and you should be home free!First of all, you've got to have a bonafide list of customers - a list of names of people that have responded to an ad or bought from you. The Art of the Business Card Use a business card as a note pad for recording important information.I am sometimes asked why I make such use of business cards. Want To Be A Stronger Marketer? Work Your Marketing Muscles! You want to be more flexible? You have to stretch your muscles. Want to be physically stronger? You have to find a way to workout and build your muscles. Go Guerrilla Jay Conrad Levinson coined the term guerrilla marketing, which I define as low-cost, creative and typically self-implemented public relations techniques.Here are a few thoughts that might spawn some ideas for your own business. Tradeshow Booth Cures - Knick-Knack Knockouts Okay, we were kidding about the smoke, but not about the mirrors. Mirrors are exceptionally useful Feng Shui devices, especially in regards to manipulating the flow of energy. 5 Ways to Use Your Business Cards More Effectively Contrary to popular belief, the best use of business cards is not making origami or collecting dust. But, in this article you will find 5 of the most effective ways to use your business cards on a daily basis!When Joe Girard, the world's greatest salesman, was selling cars he would frequently go to Detroit Lions football games. Nine Advance Networking Skills for Seasoned Networkers A seasoned networker knows the real meaning of networking --being organized, efficient, effective, and, of course, workthe event to its fullest. Attending networking groups afterso many years can tire and drain anyone's excitement. Is A Marketing Plan The Same Thing As A Communications Plan? How does a marketing plan relate to an organization's communications plan? What are the differences? Is the marketing plan just one aspect of the communications plan? Should one consider combining them into a single document?A communications plan is a PART of your marketing plan. A communications plan is a focused strategy you use to get the word out about your business, product or service. Massage Therapists Can Now Make More Money As a massage therapist, your income is usually limited by your stamina and the amount of hours there are in a day. Have you considered that there is a way to make extra income that is literally "no sweat off your back?" Adding retail products to your massage business could provide you with the additional income you would like, by doing something that you already do . The Silver Bullet For Success: Revealed Looking for the magic formula or the whiz-bang approach that will unlock your business success? Are you willing to pay hundreds for it? How about thousands? Guess what, you are not alone.Just as people, for ages, have searched for the fountain of youth, entrepreneurs and small business owners around the world are looking for the silver bullet for success: that one sure-fire way to achieve the success that they want without doing a thing. Getting Paid to Promote Yourself We all know we can pay a magazine or a newspaper to run ads for us. Businesses do it all the time. Marketing Quandaries Being in a quandary prevents you from moving forward in developing and marketing your business. When we're in a quandary, we are in a state of perplexity and doubt. How to Turn Your Marketing Into a Money-Making Machine - Preparing for Marketing That Yields Results The usual complaint from companies is that Marketing simply does not yield as expected. So much effort, time, and money goes into campaigns, and yet the frustrations persist: Why aren't sales up? Why are we not growing? And the truth, sadly enough, is that no one can really pinpoint what is working well, and what simply is not producing anything (and costing the company!). Trade Show Events - Do's and Don'ts You can love it or you can hate it but there is no escaping trade shows in a business environment. If you happen to be in the Sales and Marketing division in an industry where trade shows are a part of the marketing plan, it is more than likely than not that you will be involved in them sooner or later. Guide to a Profitable Marketing Mix You may have heard the term Marketing Mix used in connection with marketing planning.Marketing Mix means the combination of promotions, products, places (distribution channels), and prices you chose for your business. 8 Lessons in Strategic Marketing A La Daddy Daycare I bet you thought the movie "Daddy Daycare" was a kiddie comedy, right? Wrong.. 10 Ways to Get Your Flyers Noticed An inexpensive way to promote your services is to createvarious flyers and distribute them wherever you go -- pinthem to the bulletin boards at the library, bookstore,handout out at networking events, or playing tennis. Hereare 10 tips on how to get your flyer noticed and remembered. GoogSpy: Business Counter Intelligence for Everyone So, you want to know what your competitors are up to these days, or maybe you want to research a keyword campaign that will rank you at the top of the heap for whatever product or service you're selling? Meet GoogSpy, a special search engine that not only shows you what Google AdWords your competitors are buying, but it will display all of the search terms that rank them in the top 10, PLUS it even displays their top 25 competitors.What search engine does it base all of its intelligence on? Well, with a name like GOOGspy, there can only be one. The Top Ten Ways to Get Beyond Networking And Generate Cash-Building Exposure Gain the exposure you need to succeed with these ten tips:1. Present yourself as a specialist and/or an authority in your field.
|
| home | site map | Advertising Articles |
| © 2006 |
