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Market Your Product

The Goal of Marketing

What is the goal of marketing?

I was training with Rich Schefren the other day, and copied down this pic:

When you look at how simple the goal of marketing is, it really makes you think differently about your approach doesn’t it?

Let me explain:

Some entrepreneurs think the goal of marketing is to make the sale.

That’s not how I see it.

The goal of marketing is to capture the attention of prospects who will benefit from what you have to offer.

We’ve heard over and over again about adding “value” to people’s lives, right?

But WHAT is “VALUE” in the eyes of the prospect?

I believe the value we offer a prospect is helping them understand how much WE understand THEM.

Take a look at the picture again.

Do you see the interception point?

THAT’S the goal of marketing

To intercept the person’s life by sharing YOUR life experiences with them.

At the point of interception, the goal of marketing is to help the prospect understand that if they hitch their wagon to you, you’ll help them grow faster and easier than if they never met you in the first place.

THIS is why it’s so important to share your story.

Share your stories of struggle, adversity, failures, successes, wins and so on.

In coaching handful of entrepreneurs over the past five years, this is one area they are afraid of.

For some reason, they believe they need to show themselves as resilient beings.

Someone who is successful and never fails.

To me – that’s not genuine. We ALL have failed at something in our lives. And the more we have failed and kept going, the better it is for our prospects to see and hear that.

Your prospects WANT someone to lead them

When they “meet” you in your marketing, make sure you are sharing those stories.

It could be that you were “once where they were” and now you’re miles ahead of them – and you can help them do the same thing.

But it comes back to relating to them NOW. Understanding where they are in their lives.

That’s the goal of marketing in my opinion.

It’s to CONNECT to your audience and polarize everyone else.

And that concept alone freaks many entrepreneurs out. “What, you want me to ONLY talk to these people over here? I can help EVERYONE though…”

That’s a topic for a whole other discussion.

The point is, the goal of marketing for you is to display the stories RELATE to your specific prospect so when they “meet” you, the necessity of “selling” is diminished.

What are your thoughts? Let’s get a conversation going below

Spark Entrepreneurship

How to run a company with (almost) no rules

I just “met” Ricardo Semler, and he taught me more about how to run a company with (almost) no rules.

Because a student (thank you Marc) from my talk last week sent me this video after he said I was one of the most authentic talks he’s heard in a long time.

And the talk I did was about “real estate investing.”

I think it was authentic because I really do give a rats ass about people doing something with their lives…

But I’m not about to stand up and wave pom-poms cheering them on when their not doing shit.

Know what I mean?

So my talk was more of a “kick-yer-ass” motivation, rather than “hey-you-can-do-it-if-I-can-do-it” speech.

So I took 20 minutes out of my “busy” day to watch this video of “How to Run A Company with (almost) No Rules”:

[ted id=2182]

Here’s why Ricardo inspired me to write this post about how to run a company:

In 2005 I SOLD my “stake” in the family company…

The decision was based on a LOT of what Ricardo says about our jobs having control over our lives.

I was only running the company for 2 years after returning to it when I shut down my music business.

In all honesty, it was my “fail-safe.”

But here’s the thing, I didn’t run my other companies with that thought in mind.

In fact, when my father was dying of cancer and begging me to take over the company, I still refused.

Imagine how that felt.

But two years after he passed, I went back.

I didn’t want to run the company from “his” chair.

In other words, I only wanted to do what I do best.

I wasn't my father. I didn't have the charisma and people skills he did.

But I knew I could build the company from the back-end; not from the golf course, or at the fancy dinners…

I was a master at marketing, putting in systems to make things run smoother, easier, open up new niches, and so on…

AND, I wanted to ‘humanize’ the way we dealt with our employees.

Here's where the “how to run a company with (almost) no rules” comes in:

I didn’t see a problem having our staff do their piece work ON THEIR TERMS.

If they wanted to come in an hour late and stay an hour later – so be it.

If they wanted to take an afternoon off so they could watch their kids play soccer or see a school recital…

Go enjoy.

As long as the “widgets” were completed by Friday, I really didn’t care WHEN they were done.

See as the owners of the company, I really didn’t feel it was “fair” that WE could do all of that and more.

And still expect our employees to “punch in and out.”

I argued that THEY were “humans with families and lives” too.

Aside from that, I believe we have “flow zones” – I know I sure do.

There are certain times of the day where I rock…

And others where I’m totally brain-dead.

No motivation. (By the way, those are the times I'm actually napping – that's for another post)

And I don’t think I’m alone.

So why do we need to FORCE people to work inside OUR flow zone?

As you can imagine, I was met with A LOT of resistance…

This ‘crazy’ idea did not go over well with my family “board members” and the other heads of departments.

“We’ve done it like this since day one.”

Ever heard that one?

I won’t bore you with the details of our weekly Friday (shooting gallery) meetings (which quite oddly I started when I got there as part of my implementation strategies to reduce the redundancy of every day operations and meetings about meetings.)

But what I will say is that it got so bad, even I WAS expected to “punch in” at the same time my siblings and other board members did.

In other words, inside THEIR flow zone.

“F that” is what I said.

In fact, I got MORE done sitting in my pajamas at home waiting for the morning traffic to die down, just so I could have the “privilege” of driving 45 minutes to the office to “officially” be at work.

And when I finally arrive around 10am, I had only two choices…

Leave at 3pm to avoid the rush hour…(so it wasn’t worth starting anything in-depth)

Or stay until 7 or 8pm to avoid the rush hour which meant I would never see my family.

Can you see the problem?

Guess which one I chose.

Now you may be thinking “Joey, you had it MADE, those are some cool hours!!!”

On the contrary.

I got LESS done because of what I just told you, AND that I was always stressed out about what “others” would say about me walking in so “late.”

Our Company Had Rules:

That I wasn't prepared to follow.

I wanted desperately to change those rules with the onset of our ‘new world'.

I really don't know what my dad would have thought of it if he was alive.

But I can promise you he figured out that work ISN’T your life.

Even if you LOVE what you do – and he DID.

All I know is that cancer told him “you better start living your life my friend – you've got three years.”

Which brings up another point.

I really can’t understand HOW people can trade away the moments of their life for something they HATE.

Think about it.

I hear all the time how they have to wait for X to happen so they can X to finally do X.

Screw that.

I HAD IT MADE.

A company handed to me with new cars every year, a nice salary and whatever other perks you can think of.

And I gave it up.

Why?

Because it was KILLING ME. And it was ONLY two years.

It wasn’t who I am.

I was no longer willing to trade my life for the stress, anxiety, debates, misalignment of values and so forth just because…

I know this post will probably raise a few eyebrows and have differences of opinions..

That’s cool…

We’re human.

But when it comes to the topic of how to run a company with (almost) no rules, Ricardo Semler NAILS it.

So take a few moments and REALLY watch the video.

You'll be pleasantly surprised that it’s not just about how to run a company…

There are MANY life lessons in here that I truly believe you need to hear.

One last point

When you watch the “how to run a company with (almost) no rules” video, you'll understand why I am so grateful for the “little” things.

Such as taking any afternoon to watch the new Star Wars movie in FULL iMax, without navigating the crazy crowds.

I STILL feel very strongly about how we DO our work.

I don’t CARE when or even “how” you do it…as long as it’s done to the standards of the company.

And that’s about giving up some control to the people I delegate stuff to.

Which of course, was really hard because I’m such a control freak.

But think about it.

The more ‘control’ you need to monitor, the LESS free you are.

Isn’t that true?

Listen, I’m not saying let everything go to hell…

But what I AM saying is to look at what it is ALL for…

And to STOP waiting for the day “when this happens.”

Whether that day is GOOD news or BAD news.

Let’s start a conversation below and let me know your thoughts, comments, opinions…

Market Your Product, Spark Entrepreneurship

A new brand strategy perspective

Brand strategy is a big priority in my line of consulting work.

And 9 out of every 10 clients ask me “how” to brand themselves / company better.

First, I’ll admit I’m not a “branding expert.”

But I’m a marketing expert…

And branding TOTALLY falls under marketing -am I right?

So here’s my take on a brand strategy:

I don’t think you should set branding as a primary goal if you’re starting a business, or if your business is relatively new.

In other words, if you’re in the GROWTH stages of your business, trying to “get” new customers…

Your brand strategy should flip to a marketing strategy.

Why?

Because branding is about “protecting” a company image…

It’s about reminding the market ‘why’ they like you in the first place.

“Coke – the real thing”

Coca-Cola didn’t START branding – they BUILT their company first.

You need to build your company FIRST –

The branding comes from the CUSTOMER INTERACTIONS.

Think about this for a moment:

When a realtor client comes to me for consulting and tells me they want to “brand themselves”, my first question is “OK, tell me what you commonly hear about yourself from clients”

“Well, that’s the problem, I don’t have enough clients yet, and I want to brand myself to get them”

WRONG!

We can’t just put out a huge billboard that says “#1” “BEST” and so on and have people automatically follow along.

(Well you could, but you’ll more than likely end up in the same bankruptcy pool like the others before you.)

I’ll further this brand strategy example with my own business…

I believe I’m DAMN good at what I do for my clients…

In other words…I’m the “best”. 🙂

But I don’t have a real “brand” yet.

However, in the last year or so, I’m ‘kinda’ starting with branding…

ONLY because I NOW know exactly what I do for clients –

AND, more importantly, how THEY describe what I do for them.

For this example, I’m widely known as “the entrepreneur’s secret weapon.”

THAT’S my brand.

The reason is, I’m hired by entrepreneurs to help them build their business through marketing, technology, personal coaching and so on just like a ‘regular’ consultant…

What makes ME UNIQUE & VALUABLE however, is that I constantly train with the world’s best entrepreneurs…

I spend tens of thousands of dollars learning, absorbing, AND USING what I’m taught… (it doesn’t just sit on my shelf or hard drive)

I then filter out what doesn’t work, ask my clients what they **specifically** need, reach into my ‘vault’ of knowledge and apply it to their business.

So I’ve completely cut the learning curve down to almost nothing for them AND, I’ve relieved them from spending their precious hard-to-come-by “extra” time learning-reading, etc.

So, that makes me a “secret weapon” to my clients because they leap over everyone else that have to go learn, test & adjust it all on their own.

Follow?

So I didn’t really “know” how to brand myself until I built my business model.

I didn’t “know” what real ‘value’ I brought to the market until my clients TOLD me.

I could have “branded” myself as “the best entrepreneur coach” or something like that…like every other Joe-Blow out there.

But I waited until my business was built.

Same goes for you.

Build your business FIRST – THEN brand.

Don’t blow your marketing budget on billboards, newspaper ads and whatever else the advertising companies tell you.

INVEST those marketing dollars into building your business first, finding the customers, getting the interaction with them…

THEN worry about branding.

Like this? I’d love to learn what your thoughts are – let’s get a conversation going below…

Market Your Product

Take the ‘pro’ out of your marketing mix

Your marketing mix might be standing out.

and not in a good way…

your marketing mix stands out like a sore thumb (and is something people avoid) when you ‘professionalize’ everything.

Here's why:

People no longer trust ‘smooth’ ‘professional’ advertising / marketing.

in fact, you're doing more harm than good when you try to make your stuff smooth and professional.

why?

because of one word:

PREDICTABILITY

and you know what I'm talking about…

how many times have you read / heard the same promise or claim?

do you still believe it?

Which one of these headlines would pique your interest further:

3 power foods that help you lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks.

3 power foods that keep you off the operating table while you lose weight naturally & safely

I just made these up quickly , I'm sure you can come up with something better…

…but you get my point right?

the SECOND headline totally interrupts the pattern of ‘losing weight easily’, doesn’t it?

it uses fear as the motivator – not the pleasure of losing weight.

PLUS, it adds an element that is rarely talked about (if ever) in a weight loss ad “the operating table.”

If I were scanning through a magazine, that would totally catch my eye…

the first one is predictable and it's got cliche promise written all over it.

I'm sure it will still ‘do ok’ as an ad…

but you and I want better than ‘ok’ , am I right?

we want outstanding !

Here's Another Area to Remove “Professionalism” From your Marketing Mix

in your emails.

this is a BIG one.

because I coach a lot of professionals in their respective fields, the first thing I advise them to do is personalize … not professionalize their email.

when was the last time you had a conversation with ANYONE, and when you were leaving, you said “best regards”?

or when you greeted a friend you said “dear…”

not very likely right?

so why would you do it in your email correspondence?

if you want to be friendly in your emails, and get people to trust you like they would trust their best friend…

TALK to them like they're your best friend.

When my friends send me an email, it doesn't start out with “dear”

in fact, it rarely has a salutation at all..

‘check out this video I found on YouTube'

That's it.

now I'm not saying strip away everything in your emails…

but you can do away with the corporate speak right now.

do yourself a favor; edit your templates emails and remove anything like ‘best regards’, ‘warm regards’, ‘dear’, ‘I hope this email finds you’…

and replace it with:

‘hey’

‘hope you're doing well these days’

‘talk later’

‘talk to you soon’

that sort of thing.

in other words…WRITE like you would talk to someone…

and that keep congruency, PLUS it sets you apart from all the others out there!

bottom line: remove the predictability and ‘smooth’, ‘professional’ sound in your marketing, and watch how your customers and prospects begin to trust you more.

what do YOU think? let's get a conversation going below…

Spark Entrepreneurship

Why you should nap every day

I’m super glad there’s more “proof” available to support why you should nap every day.

Like Michael Hyatt says in his post, I’ve always felt guilty about it…

Like I was lazy, or slacking off.

In fact, when I ran my family “corporate” company, I pulled a “Costanza” (that’s George Costanza from Seinfeld if you’ve lived under a rock 🙂 ) before the writers ever thought of it.

What is the “costanza” I’m referring to?

The episode where George takes a nap under his desk when he’s working for the Yankees.

Anyhoo…

Here’s why you should nap every day

Napping is becoming more popular as people write about the benefits and our world becomes more connected with how others are “productively” rockin’ out their day.

Michael Hyatt talks about the 5 reasons why you should take a nap every day in this post.

Here’s my take on why you should nap every day:

I’m proud to know that I’m in the same circle of successful celebrities who figured out why you should nap every day:

Leonardo da Vinci
Napoleon
Thomas Edison
Eleanor Roosevelt
Gene Autry
John F. Kennedy
John D. Rockefeller
Wilson Churchill

and so on.

The point is..many of these people had regular routines about their daily naps….

And they were NON NEGOTIABLE.

Some of my coaching clients think I’m off my rocker when I tell them to take regular “time outs” in their day so they can GET MORE DONE.

I totally agree with being consistent with your naps because it helps stabilize your circadian rhythms…

AND…keep them under 30 minutes.

I like to call these “power naps”. Mine are set for 20 mins.

I literally time my naps so I don’t fall into a deep sleep.

There are also major benefits to why you should nap every day you probably didn’t realize:

A nap restores alertness. The National Sleep Foundation recommends a short nap of 20–30 minutes “for improved alertness and performance without leaving you feeling groggy or interfering with nighttime sleep.”
A nap prevents burnout. In our always-on culture, we go, go, go. However, we were not meant to race without rest. Doing so leads to stress, frustration, and burnout. Taking a nap is like a system reboot. It relieves stress and gives you a fresh start.
A nap heightens sensory perception. According to Dr. Sandra C. Mednick, author of Take a Nap, Change Your Life, napping can restore the sensitivity of sight, hearing, and taste. Napping also improves your creativity by relaxing your mind and allowing new associations to form in it.
A nap reduces the risk of heart disease. Did you know those who take a midday siesta at least three times a week are 37 percent less likely to die of heart disease? Working men are 64 percent less likely! It’s true, according to a 2007 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Dimitrios Trichopoulos, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, who led the study said, “Taking a nap could turn out to be an important weapon in the fight against coronary mortality.”
A nap makes you more productive. Numerous medical studies have shown workers becoming increasingly unproductive as the day wears on. But a 2002 Harvard University study demonstrated a 30-minute nap boosted the performance of workers, returning their productivity to beginning-of-the-day levels.

I took those right from Michael’s post. You can read the entire thing here.

What do you think now? Are you already a napper? Will you BECOME a napper now that you’ve read this? Let’s start a conversation below….

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