Screw Goal Setting – Implement! December 31, 2008

It never fails – each year around this time we get the feeling we need to be setting goals for the next year.  And, about a month from now the

Goal = Top; Task = Hang On, Don't Look Down

 entire plan goes to pot.  This year, screw the goals.  Focus only on implementation.  That’s always where the plan goes south, so let’s put it under the hot-white-light and figure it out this time.

 

Focus Only On What You Can Directly Control – No matter if the goal is business or personal, if you alone cannot completely control it don’t add it.  ”Increasing Office Moral,” is a good goal if you look at what you can do directly to affect it.  Make It Realistic: Wanting to double your sales from last year is fine, as long as you have the resources in mind to help achieve it.  Many people just set a high goal like this and think the plan will come to them.  Have at least a loose implementation plan around your goal.  It can always change.  Here are my implementation suggestions to help you achieve more next year.

1. Make Fewer, But Bigger Goals –  Instead of having tons of smaller goals to keep track of look to one big goal in a particular area and let the smaller goals support reaching it.   I want to double my sales and wanting to buy a new Porsche would go together, right?  One is personal (Porsche) and the other business (sales), but without sales you aren’t getting the Porsche.  So, the Porsche is the big goal.  Tying your business goals to your personal goals will really help you stay on track.
2. Really Break Things Down – After you’ve written all your goals down, put them in hierarchical order.  What needs to come before another?  Try to get the list down to 3 big goals for the year with all the others supporting them.   Then, start at the first supporting area and break it down to tasks and due dates.  I even go further and use one entire post-it note pad for each goal. I start from the top with the first task I need to do, then the next so I can reach the supporting milestone (your original smaller goals) and I stay motivated watching the pad get smaller. 
3. Become a Visual Task Master - Make photos of your big goals your screen saver.  Be sure your goal is in your face constantly. Stop when you notice it and ask yourself honestly if you have done the tasks you set aside this week to get you closer to that goal.  This works with pictures, photo journals, iPhone screen savers, too.  

Again, schedule your implementation to reach those big goals.  Check your progress each month.  If you are working hard, you should know where you’re at but an actual appointment is for those of us who might slack.  Don’t slack in 2009 – Just Implement!

Paula Pollock is Director of the Pollock Marketing Group:  helping business owners attract consistent clients with less effort.  To receive her quick-read, weekly marketing tips and her Special Report, “7 Client Attraction Secrets That Will Double Your Income,” CLICK HERE and sign up. www.paulapollock.com

Create Peace on Earth; Practice Self-Absorption December 24, 2008

Around the holidays we are surrounded with friends and family, demands on our time to shop and socialize.  Unless you are a monk, there will be mental challenges and pressures that can make you come unglued.  Even in this time of giving, you need to focus on yourself to stay calm.  It’s not much different than stressful times in your business.  

When we’re stressed at work we start snapping at people, make poor decisions and take prisoners!  Once we lock ourselves in our office, breathe and assess the situational realities we start to look at things clearly.  It’s no different in social situations around the holidays. Families are not always kind, polite and appreciative.  But, you have no control over them.  You do, however have control over your reaction and your thoughts.  If you can observe the situation with detachment, and take frequent self-absorption breaks you can create the best possible outcome.

I meditate (practice self-absorption) almost every day for 10-20 minutes.  This helps keep me rooted in the present.  Interpreting self-absorption as bad is common, but it is really just looking to yourself for clarity.  Cousin Frankie’s version of “Smoke on the Water” with your son’s electric guitar might be annoying or humorous – it depends on your perspective.  Practice mindful self-absorption.  Better, put the guitar in the garage before he arrives!  Peace on Earth

Sweet Aunt Marilyn was a great cook in her youth, but still wants to help you in the kitchen.  Her walker and you cannot fit in your small kitchen so, instead of taking away her joy give her a task at the kitchen table that she can do while you both talk.  Be sure to thank her for all the help. Peas on Earth.

This time of year can be boom or bust for businesses.  Instead of bobbing along with the current, accept the seasonal reality and find a way to handle it.  If it’s slow, plan your marketing for 2009 and set goals (more next week).  If you are having a great season and feel stressed trying to get all the holiday preparations complete, delegate some things to others less busy or take the easy route of gift cards or prepared foods. Appease on Earth.

Find your center, whether it’s an hour on the treadmill or putting on your iPod while you clean the house.  Self-absorption is where you can really keep your cool through the holidays with your family and your business.  I have a friend with a home business and three sons under age 8.  She hides in her bathroom with her iPod and listens to a particular song that always makes her happy.  She even does this when visiting her in-laws to keep from commenting on their shitzu who uses the guest room carpet for a winter potty.  Pee on Earth?

Okay, enough puns.  Sanity comes with clarity.  You can only control you and your thoughts.  The only person you can hold to your level of expectations is you.  This is a great time to set your sights reasonably low with your family and reasonable with your business.

Wishing you…Inner Peace on Earth.

Paula Pollock is Director of the Pollock Marketing Group:  helping business owners attract consistent clients with less effort.  To receive her quick-read, weekly marketing tips and her Special Report, “7 Client Attraction Secrets That Will Double Your Income,” CLICK HERE and sign up. www.paulapollock.com

Making Money From Your Blog, EZine December 16, 2008

“How is my blog/ezine going to make me money?”  Consider both to be very cheap, 24/7 sales employees that take very little time to maintain.  Think how much time and money you spend to traditionally attract a new prospect and then the investment to convert them to a client.  This is too cheap not to do.

Businesses hire PR firms to gain exposure to their brand.  In a marketing world where our clients have ultimate control over what messages they will notice, blogs and ezines capture the attention of an elusive but profitable client - the fanatic or fan.  Additionally, SEO pros will share that inbound links (someone clicking from your blog to your website) definitely help with your search ranking.  When you speak regularly to someone that’s remotely interested in what you have to say, you are given a golden opportunity to connect with them through this impersonal medium called the Internet.   With so much information available to potential buyers, you need to make a connection to stand out.

Which should I use, a blog or an ezine?  My answer is both since the blog is passive – readers finding you (push marketing) and the ezine active – readers requesting you (pull marketing).  Sometimes even these two aren’t enough.  Multiple blogs on different market segments of your business will work best.  Blog readers like niches.   Only those who blog to entertain can really get away with random brain-dumping.   If you have a blogging darkside, have a separate blog with the remotest connection to your business.  Yes – you should still connect back to your business site since that reader may find your ranting refreshing and may seek to patronize you because of it.

Purpose Comes First:  Decide your goal for each and stick to it.  Nothing kills readership like ever-changing messages.  Blogs should focus on something of value – usually information or entertainment.   

Delete!  Unsubscribe!  Common Boo-Boos  Ezines should be client conversion focused.  People subscribe to them to gain information about what you have or know.  The difference from a blog is to make a personal connection with information and sales pitches. 

Blunder 1 – Pitch them to death!  Many ezines are hard core sales vehicles (push marketing).  You are barraged with pitch after pitch forcing you to search just to find a link to their website with a lame article buried amongst more pitches. 
Blunder 2 - Infrequency.  People like their information regularly and delivered the same time each week or month.  Quarterly isn’t worth the effort, by the way.  You need to be top-of-mind when they discover the need for what you offer.  
Blunder 3 - Dull Content.   If you can’t write with interest please do your business a favor and let anyone else in your company write it.   Sadly, the people who write boring stuff usually think it’s great.  This also goes for humor: if you often need to explain it’s too vague for an ezine.  Though it could be perfect for an esoteric blog.

Money Tree Marketing is an information blog that occasionally has some wry humor, but always focuses on marketing information.  My weekly ezine has a high value article for my clients, a greater personal connection and first-releases of my products, seminars and consulting openings.  If you would like to take a look at a simple EZine format that works subscribe below.

Paula Pollock is Director of the Pollock Marketing Group:  helping business owners attract consistent client with less effort using her step-by-step proprietary program that simplifies and automates your marketing.  To receive her F.R.E.E. Report, “7 Client Attraction Secrets That Will Double Your Income,” and her weekly articles on attracting more clients with less effort to dramatically increase your income every month, CLICK HERE and sign up.  www.paulapollock.com

Tis the Season to Mine Referrals! December 11, 2008

The weather outside is frightful - as is the economy, but darn it you better be sending at least a holiday card to your clients.  If you don’t you’ll make the naughty list for sure.  Instead of simply sending wishes from “our family to yours” and all that mush, why not use the opportunity to mine some business? 

That’s horrible.  What would my client’s think?  You need to send them something anyway, but it doesn’t need to be the same old dull card.  Tis the season to be creative!

I often preach that boring marketing is a collasol waste of money.  This season the same cards will be mailed and end up recycled without a thought.  Here are some ideas that can get you marketing with your greetings without being obnoxious or pushy.

Share Who You Are:  If you send a nice family card to friends that shows what you have done all year outside of work, why not send that to clients, too?  People like to peer into others lives and get to know them.  Share that you learned to snowboard after 15 years skiing.  Maybe your son was in the state finals in soccer.   These personal tidbits allow your clients to connect with you.

Gift with the Card:  If you have an offer, a coupon or special that you can include with the card you have a better chance of repeat or referral business.  Don’t make the card the offer.  It needs to be separate.  Why?  You want it to be transferable.  If the person receiving it doesn’t need it, have a place to write their name and pass the offer along.  If you get the card back from a new client, you will know who to thank.  You can even offer something for referring upfront. 

Segment and Reward: If you have layers of clients:  past, current and prospective send them all the same card but a different offer insert.  Past clients might get something to return – do you have their email address?  Current clients get a bonus for referring someone.  Prospective clients a special offer to do business in the next 30 days.  Don’t forget to use a highly visible expiration date and a strong call-to-action.

Gifts: There are those terrific clients that really deserve special attention.  Because most holiday gifts are so mundane, I encourage you to only reward your very top clients and do something that they would enjoy and you can experience.   Perhaps you host a lunch for your top 5-25 clients.   You can write off the expense and network with everyone.   Save the candy and fruit for the teachers and cleaning lady.

Don’t Forget the Call-to-Action:  The main reason I like the insert is to complete separate the messages.  It’s subtle, but people notice it and won’t take offense if done well.  If you are only offering this to a few clients, you can hand write these for an extra touch.  Make it ego focused on them and that they are so much your favorite type of client that you want more just like them.  With so much competition for their attention during this season, you can afford to be bolder.

 

Paula Pollock is Director of the Pollock Marketing Group:  helping business owners attract consistent client with less effort using her step-by-step proprietary program that simplifies and automates your marketing.  To receive her F.R.E.E. Report, “7 Client Attraction Secrets That Will Double Your Income,” and her weekly articles on attracting more clients with less effort to dramatically increase your income every month, CLICK HERE and sign up.  www.paulapollock.com

Online Marketing 101 – Know, Like and Trust December 1, 2008

If the Internet is so impersonal, why is it so amazingly popular?  Many have theories, but I can with 100% certainty tell you why in two little words that all advertisers and marketers hate to hear:  user control.  That’s all it is.  For most of us who are older than 30, mass marketing has been a huge part of our exposure to the outside world.  There were once less than 5 TV networks – remember those days?  Remember the test pattern on TV when networks were “off the air”?  

Those days are never going to return again thanks to the Internet.  Any computer user can type in anything they want to know about and get instant information.  We have come to expect this level of control in our experiences.  Google, Yahoo and MSN conditioned us to be this way. 

There are a few people out there that still don’t use the Internet.These people are only interested in engaging people and business they Know, Like & Trust.  When they find one, they not only return they refer others regularly.  So, how do you accomplish this same experience online? 

It still boils down to Know – Like – Trust.  If you are a private person, I highly recommend to get over it.  With kids using their iPhones to video everything they do and post it on YouTube, do you really think your private life is off limits?  The fact is, your ideal clients want to get to know you and have total control over who they work with before they ever contact you.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a total SOB, if your ideal client would find that okay.

Case-in-point:  I have a few marketing mentors that would curl some people’s hair with their crass attitude.  Additionally, they’re experienced, factual and confident.  I’ve taken time to learn more about them and they are still experienced, factual and confident – all features I like in my mentors.  The crass ones appear more real for me, so I don’t take offense.  Warm and fuzzy seems fake.

You need to get genuinely out there for your clients to see and know.  New media and Web 2.0 strategies make this easy for anyone with accessible sites offering free exposure for video, blogging, social networks, virtual worlds and more.  You don’t need to tell all, but just focus on being you.  Good old fashioned PR doesn’t hurt either, but you’ll need to be visible and interesting to get it.

But, what if people don’t like me?  Newsflash: No one is liked by everyone anyway.  You can’t be all things to all people, so just be yourself for those you will welcome you.  If you’re fake, those people might return your products or even become a “demon client”!  Better to let them go away before irritating you.  “Like” is subjective and in the client’s control.  If you are one of those people trying to get everyone to like you, my sympathies.  You will lead a very unhappy life and have a lot regrets.

Trust, however, is something you need to earn.  There is absolutely no way you can buy trust.  It comes over time and is in the mind of the consumer.  Some ways to help this are through strategic testimonials, regular communications, exposure and networking.  This is an investment that you need to make long-term and consistently.  The good news, your competition will probably peter out early on this and if you stick to it you will gain the trust of their clients when they drop the ball.

Anyone can market online if they make these three steps the backbone of their online strategy.