The Marketing Game: How to Promote and Stand Out On Your Own or With Others
Marketing.
Promotion.
These can be complex things, but breaking it down to the lowest common denominator goes a long way in determination of the best way to master this facet of business and success.
Nothing can succeed without getting a name out there.
When my book was published, I was surprised that the marketing game in publishing is much less prevalent than I expected.
This was a challenge, but it also taught me quite a bit about how to promote myself, my book and my personal brand.
When I accepted a promotion as a regional vice president handling marketing as one of my responsibilities - designing and signing off on ads for a major company - I applied a lot of the same principles.
First: nothing is out of bounds, unless it is politically incorrect and will offend.
The more unique the better.
Second: Who is your target audience? I wrote a sales book inside a novel, so any reader or anyone who basically lives on this earth is in my target demographic.
As a small business owner, or a website developer or a lemonade stand owner, you have a target demographic, and that is who you are speaking to.
Third: Medium is important.
What is your perfect medium? Key to remember here is that you never want to discriminate against a potential target audience.
I learned this in my years building and leading an advertising sales team peddling a cornucopia of marketing tools - you never know where you will land the big fish.
You also cannot rely on big fish alone; you have to eat, so finding the parts of the stream where you can attract tonight's dinner is important, too.
You also want to attract the most people for the least amount of money possible.
That's the way of the world, right? Social media is huge in this day and age.
Admittedly, I knew little about it until I decided to just jump facefirst into the deep end of the swimming pool.
A year after my book was published, I had thousands of contacts on LinkedIn, Facebook and a 50,000+ following on Twitter, plus articles and videos all over the web.
These things do not happen overnight.
Like anything, you make a goal and you step in the right direction daily.
And you can never be afraid to learn by doing.
Period.
You may have little success in certain mediums, with certain messages or with your first attempt.
But you keep putting something out there.
Believe me, I have caught plenty of flak about some of my early sales videos, but who cares? Sure, there is some cheese there, but I was testing the waters.
It was fun.
At the end of the day, having fun, trying new things, learning by doing, never giving up and just heading in the right direction is the name of the game.
I have not sold enough books to retire yet, but why would I want to? I'm still learning.
Finally, find something to relate to in your audience.
Make yourself relatable.
Give them what they want, be it humor, be it information, be it savings, offers, a bargain, an enticing entry into your world.
You have something that you feel they should and would want - right? That is why you embarked on this endeavor.
So find the best way to non-intrusively introduce yourself to them in a way you challenge them to think again about what they do now in the arena you present a better solution.
You have an answer to their needs.
They just don't know it yet.
But if you choose the right target demographic, your ultimate goal is to steal traffic from those who do similar things to what you do - right? In my world, these are people who are interested in leadership, success and greatness.
So - what's your goal? Mine is to form mutually beneficial partnerships, meet new people with whom I can share ideas, learn from and grow from.
What's the end result? The most rewarding things for me in my career have been meeting people from around the world with whom to have intelligent conversations about success, leadership and common goals.
For you, it may be to revolutionize the food business, the retail business or the work-at-home, network marketing business.
But no matter what your calling, ignoring your target audience and their needs and their wants and where they are hiding out will result in falling.
Where is your target audience looking right now for what they are getting? Plant yourself there.
Do it right.
Do it often, consistently, with a repeated message.
Sometimes, it is not about saying fifty different things to win over your audience; it's about saying the same thing fifty different ways until it prompts them to make a buying decision.
Ultimately, you want to be scoped out and given a shot.
You will get that shot with a unique, respectful and consistent approach to the people with the highest propensity to buy you and your services.
Marketing and promotion are vital, but they are also fun.
Do it right and be yourself, and the rest will fall into place.
Promotion.
These can be complex things, but breaking it down to the lowest common denominator goes a long way in determination of the best way to master this facet of business and success.
Nothing can succeed without getting a name out there.
When my book was published, I was surprised that the marketing game in publishing is much less prevalent than I expected.
This was a challenge, but it also taught me quite a bit about how to promote myself, my book and my personal brand.
When I accepted a promotion as a regional vice president handling marketing as one of my responsibilities - designing and signing off on ads for a major company - I applied a lot of the same principles.
First: nothing is out of bounds, unless it is politically incorrect and will offend.
The more unique the better.
Second: Who is your target audience? I wrote a sales book inside a novel, so any reader or anyone who basically lives on this earth is in my target demographic.
As a small business owner, or a website developer or a lemonade stand owner, you have a target demographic, and that is who you are speaking to.
Third: Medium is important.
What is your perfect medium? Key to remember here is that you never want to discriminate against a potential target audience.
I learned this in my years building and leading an advertising sales team peddling a cornucopia of marketing tools - you never know where you will land the big fish.
You also cannot rely on big fish alone; you have to eat, so finding the parts of the stream where you can attract tonight's dinner is important, too.
You also want to attract the most people for the least amount of money possible.
That's the way of the world, right? Social media is huge in this day and age.
Admittedly, I knew little about it until I decided to just jump facefirst into the deep end of the swimming pool.
A year after my book was published, I had thousands of contacts on LinkedIn, Facebook and a 50,000+ following on Twitter, plus articles and videos all over the web.
These things do not happen overnight.
Like anything, you make a goal and you step in the right direction daily.
And you can never be afraid to learn by doing.
Period.
You may have little success in certain mediums, with certain messages or with your first attempt.
But you keep putting something out there.
Believe me, I have caught plenty of flak about some of my early sales videos, but who cares? Sure, there is some cheese there, but I was testing the waters.
It was fun.
At the end of the day, having fun, trying new things, learning by doing, never giving up and just heading in the right direction is the name of the game.
I have not sold enough books to retire yet, but why would I want to? I'm still learning.
Finally, find something to relate to in your audience.
Make yourself relatable.
Give them what they want, be it humor, be it information, be it savings, offers, a bargain, an enticing entry into your world.
You have something that you feel they should and would want - right? That is why you embarked on this endeavor.
So find the best way to non-intrusively introduce yourself to them in a way you challenge them to think again about what they do now in the arena you present a better solution.
You have an answer to their needs.
They just don't know it yet.
But if you choose the right target demographic, your ultimate goal is to steal traffic from those who do similar things to what you do - right? In my world, these are people who are interested in leadership, success and greatness.
So - what's your goal? Mine is to form mutually beneficial partnerships, meet new people with whom I can share ideas, learn from and grow from.
What's the end result? The most rewarding things for me in my career have been meeting people from around the world with whom to have intelligent conversations about success, leadership and common goals.
For you, it may be to revolutionize the food business, the retail business or the work-at-home, network marketing business.
But no matter what your calling, ignoring your target audience and their needs and their wants and where they are hiding out will result in falling.
Where is your target audience looking right now for what they are getting? Plant yourself there.
Do it right.
Do it often, consistently, with a repeated message.
Sometimes, it is not about saying fifty different things to win over your audience; it's about saying the same thing fifty different ways until it prompts them to make a buying decision.
Ultimately, you want to be scoped out and given a shot.
You will get that shot with a unique, respectful and consistent approach to the people with the highest propensity to buy you and your services.
Marketing and promotion are vital, but they are also fun.
Do it right and be yourself, and the rest will fall into place.
