Friday, March 16, 2007
AD WRITING RECIPE
Remember the recipe for writing good ads. Start with a strong Unique Purchase Appeal (UPA). Then make a comprehensive feature list of what you're selling and a comprehensive benefit list of what's in it for your customer. Then put together an offer sheet, complete with the most compelling pot sweeteners or bonus incentives you can think of. That would be a pretty good start on a checklist, don't you think?
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The Success Gift
Success has a lot more to do with hard work than it does with gifts. If you’re seeking after a gift, maybe the gift to seek is simply the willingness to work hard at marketing… to pay the price for perfection… to keep at it until you get it so it will work!
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Getting Things Done The Mastermind Way
Today we’re going to talk about “masterminding” as a method to accelerate the pace of your implementation and improvement in marketing, or any other aspect of your enterprise.
There are five “u-needs” if you are to get things done. Especially if you are to get them done rapidly and effectively. They are…
1. Knowing what to do
2. Knowing how to do it
3. Resources for help
4. Feedback to make sure you do it right
5. Accountability to make sure you actually do it and do it when you say you will.
You can get the what-to-dos from books. You can also get them from meetings, seminars, workshops, classes and bootcamps – and audio, video, and on-line training programs.
The how-to-do-its – now that’s a little tougher. To some degree you can still get them from the same sources, but so often the how-tos are at least somewhat dependent on too many variables to be able to “cookie-cutter” onto the printed page or onto some other medium. Live events can be useful if there is a high level of U-need number four – feedback – available on the spot.
Usually, what passes for the how-tos in all of the educational systems we’ve mentioned so far, is really a collection of step-by-step what-tos, broken down from the larger, overriding what-to.
Regardless of whether you’re dealing with what-tos or how-tos, it’s a good bet you’re not going to be able to do it all yourself and expect an excellent outcome. That’s not to say you’re not reasonably capable person. It is to say that you’re an outright fool if you think you can do everything in your business as well or better than anybody else. And you’re a bigger fool if you want to.
Resources include books, tapes, classes, equipment and supplies. But your most important resources are vendors. The people you turn to for help in accomplishing your goals. In the marketing world they include ad agencies, printers, photographers, illustrators, media buyers, consultants, sales trainers, etc.
But now we move to feedback and accountability. And this is where the rubber really meets the road, especially in the small to mid-size business world.
Feedback is what you need to make sure your execution of the what-to-dos and how-to-do its is as good as it can get. And accountability is whoever is going to hold your feet to the fire and make sure you actually do what needs to be done.
The point is, you can’t do this alone. When you are in business for yourself; when you are the boss, nobody holds you accountable. You hold everybody else accountable, but the whole point of being the boss is that nobody has their thumb on you.
“Wait a minute, Jim. I am too accountable. I’m accountable to my spouse. I’m accountable to my customers.”
Yes, you are. But only in a general sense. You aren’t accountable to either for the accomplishment of specific business-building assignments, by specific dates. Don’t believe me? Okay, then why don’t you have a written marketing plan in your business? Why don’t you have a formal referral system, or a program designed to get your existing customers to come back on a regular basis? You know you’ve needed all of these things for a long time. Why haven’t you made a commitment to your customers or your wife for completion of these projects by a specific date? And if you have, why haven’t you lived up to those commitments?
Admit it. Nobody is holding you specifically accountable. So you have to be humble enough to delegate that responsibility to someone or some entity.
I am a marketing coach and I do that for my clients. They designate me as the guy who will hold their feet to the fire. They pay me well to do it and I do a good job.
But there is another way. You can assemble a “mastermind group” of like-minded entrepreneurs and you can hold each other accountable. It matters not whether you’re all in the same industry or in different businesses. The key is that each be committed to improving his or her business and be willing to submit to the scrutiny of the group.
I am currently a member of four mastermind groups. One is a collection of people from diverse walks of life. Two are groups of individuals within my industry, and one is a group of my own licensed and certified coaches. Two of my groups meet monthly in a live get-together. One meets bi-monthly by telephone conference. One meets weekly by phone. I find my productivity is increasing and my business is along with it.
Here are the keys I believe you must follow if a mastermind group is to work for you…
1. Begin with a group of at least four and any additions must be by unanimous consent of the group.
2. Limit the size of the group to no more than eight or 10, unless you are all in exactly the same business – like my group of licensed, certified coaches.
3. Clearly identify the purposes of your mastermind group.
4. There must be strict standards of participation. (The organizer of one of my groups kicked out her own brother because he was wishy washy about showing up. Had excuses for not being there the first two sessions, so she axed him on the spot.)
5. Everybody sets specific goals and there are consequences for failing to meet them. That usually means money. You pay a fine for failure to perform.
That last one is where the magic happens. One of my groups started out with no fine structure. Doesn’t work. Simple as that. We piddled around for six months and nothing really got accomplished. Everyone finally gave in to the fine concept and the impact on each one of the participants exploded!
There’s got to be teeth in the program if it’s going to work. We’re fined if we don’t show up without being excused. We’re fined if we’re late. We’re fined for every goal we fail to accomplish, and we’re obligated to define both the goals and the criteria by which our accomplishments will be judged by the other members of the group. We’re obligated to submit our goals to the group within 24 hours of completion of our previous meeting, and if we don’t… you guessed it… we get fined.
If you’re not happy with the speed with which your business is moving forward, either get a coach or get a mastermind group. Have somebody holding your feet to the fire and make sure it hurts if you come up short. You’ll watch the excuses melt away and your business take off, the way you have always dreamed it could.
THE END
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Ackerman is a Salt Lake City-based Marketing Consultant, Writer and Speaker, and is President of Ascend Marketing, Inc. He is President Elect of the National Speakers Association Utah Chapter. For the next 2 weeks Jim will offer a no-cost, no-obligation, 30-minute consultation on how to set up your own mastermind group or coaching program. Send an email request to mail@AscendMarketing.com, or call 800.584.7585 to set an appointment.
There are five “u-needs” if you are to get things done. Especially if you are to get them done rapidly and effectively. They are…
1. Knowing what to do
2. Knowing how to do it
3. Resources for help
4. Feedback to make sure you do it right
5. Accountability to make sure you actually do it and do it when you say you will.
You can get the what-to-dos from books. You can also get them from meetings, seminars, workshops, classes and bootcamps – and audio, video, and on-line training programs.
The how-to-do-its – now that’s a little tougher. To some degree you can still get them from the same sources, but so often the how-tos are at least somewhat dependent on too many variables to be able to “cookie-cutter” onto the printed page or onto some other medium. Live events can be useful if there is a high level of U-need number four – feedback – available on the spot.
Usually, what passes for the how-tos in all of the educational systems we’ve mentioned so far, is really a collection of step-by-step what-tos, broken down from the larger, overriding what-to.
Regardless of whether you’re dealing with what-tos or how-tos, it’s a good bet you’re not going to be able to do it all yourself and expect an excellent outcome. That’s not to say you’re not reasonably capable person. It is to say that you’re an outright fool if you think you can do everything in your business as well or better than anybody else. And you’re a bigger fool if you want to.
Resources include books, tapes, classes, equipment and supplies. But your most important resources are vendors. The people you turn to for help in accomplishing your goals. In the marketing world they include ad agencies, printers, photographers, illustrators, media buyers, consultants, sales trainers, etc.
But now we move to feedback and accountability. And this is where the rubber really meets the road, especially in the small to mid-size business world.
Feedback is what you need to make sure your execution of the what-to-dos and how-to-do its is as good as it can get. And accountability is whoever is going to hold your feet to the fire and make sure you actually do what needs to be done.
The point is, you can’t do this alone. When you are in business for yourself; when you are the boss, nobody holds you accountable. You hold everybody else accountable, but the whole point of being the boss is that nobody has their thumb on you.
“Wait a minute, Jim. I am too accountable. I’m accountable to my spouse. I’m accountable to my customers.”
Yes, you are. But only in a general sense. You aren’t accountable to either for the accomplishment of specific business-building assignments, by specific dates. Don’t believe me? Okay, then why don’t you have a written marketing plan in your business? Why don’t you have a formal referral system, or a program designed to get your existing customers to come back on a regular basis? You know you’ve needed all of these things for a long time. Why haven’t you made a commitment to your customers or your wife for completion of these projects by a specific date? And if you have, why haven’t you lived up to those commitments?
Admit it. Nobody is holding you specifically accountable. So you have to be humble enough to delegate that responsibility to someone or some entity.
I am a marketing coach and I do that for my clients. They designate me as the guy who will hold their feet to the fire. They pay me well to do it and I do a good job.
But there is another way. You can assemble a “mastermind group” of like-minded entrepreneurs and you can hold each other accountable. It matters not whether you’re all in the same industry or in different businesses. The key is that each be committed to improving his or her business and be willing to submit to the scrutiny of the group.
I am currently a member of four mastermind groups. One is a collection of people from diverse walks of life. Two are groups of individuals within my industry, and one is a group of my own licensed and certified coaches. Two of my groups meet monthly in a live get-together. One meets bi-monthly by telephone conference. One meets weekly by phone. I find my productivity is increasing and my business is along with it.
Here are the keys I believe you must follow if a mastermind group is to work for you…
1. Begin with a group of at least four and any additions must be by unanimous consent of the group.
2. Limit the size of the group to no more than eight or 10, unless you are all in exactly the same business – like my group of licensed, certified coaches.
3. Clearly identify the purposes of your mastermind group.
4. There must be strict standards of participation. (The organizer of one of my groups kicked out her own brother because he was wishy washy about showing up. Had excuses for not being there the first two sessions, so she axed him on the spot.)
5. Everybody sets specific goals and there are consequences for failing to meet them. That usually means money. You pay a fine for failure to perform.
That last one is where the magic happens. One of my groups started out with no fine structure. Doesn’t work. Simple as that. We piddled around for six months and nothing really got accomplished. Everyone finally gave in to the fine concept and the impact on each one of the participants exploded!
There’s got to be teeth in the program if it’s going to work. We’re fined if we don’t show up without being excused. We’re fined if we’re late. We’re fined for every goal we fail to accomplish, and we’re obligated to define both the goals and the criteria by which our accomplishments will be judged by the other members of the group. We’re obligated to submit our goals to the group within 24 hours of completion of our previous meeting, and if we don’t… you guessed it… we get fined.
If you’re not happy with the speed with which your business is moving forward, either get a coach or get a mastermind group. Have somebody holding your feet to the fire and make sure it hurts if you come up short. You’ll watch the excuses melt away and your business take off, the way you have always dreamed it could.
THE END
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Ackerman is a Salt Lake City-based Marketing Consultant, Writer and Speaker, and is President of Ascend Marketing, Inc. He is President Elect of the National Speakers Association Utah Chapter. For the next 2 weeks Jim will offer a no-cost, no-obligation, 30-minute consultation on how to set up your own mastermind group or coaching program. Send an email request to mail@AscendMarketing.com, or call 800.584.7585 to set an appointment.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Yellow Pages: Over used, under used... and ABUSED!
Yellow Page Advertising. One of the most over used, under used, and certainly one of the most abused tools of marketing in business today… A key weakness in almost everybody's marketing arsenal… a weapon virtually everybody believes is crucial to their success -- one almost everybody pays for -- but one that almost nobody understands and even fewer use effectively. You must treat your yellow page advertising like any other ad. It’s got to have a strong headline and you’ve got to make a specific offer. Nobody does these two things in the yellow pages. If you do, you’ll have a tremendous competitive edge.
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