Market your services without feeling like a slimeball
| Category: Marketing | Date: 2001-03-20 |
When it comes to marketing and promoting your services as an independent professional, you may wonder how you can manage it with authenticity and integrity. After all, to market and sell yourself you need to stretch the truth a bit; you have to promise a little more than you can deliver; you need to present a face that isnt really you. Well, dont you? No you dont! It can be confusing, however, because most of us are culturally conditioned to see marketing and selling as necessary evils, something we just have to accept as borderline "sleazy" if our businesses are going to succeed. But "authentic marketing" is not an oxymoron. It starts with unlearning many of the misconceptions we have about marketing and then learning to simply share the value of what we have to offer.
What You Need to Know
When I give workshops, I often poll audiences with this question: "What product does the stereotypical salesperson sell?" Nearly 100 percent of the time, the answer is "used cars" -- not the most positive stereotype in the world. Most of us associate selling used cars with exaggeration, dishonesty, lack of knowledge, not caring about the customer, and general sleaziness. Rest assured, it doesnt have to be that way.
Do Nothing, or Become a Sleaze?
If you think that selling your professional services is all about emulating a used car salesperson, chances are youll handle marketing in one of two ways: not promoting yourself at all, or being sleazy.
Commonly, gurus simply avoid marketing and selling altogether. "After all, Im a professional, arent I? And since marketing and selling are sleazy activities, I dont want to have anything to do with them. Ill just do the best work I possibly can and hope I get enough business from word of mouth."
The other method works something like this: "Since I have to do marketing and selling to attract more clients and survive in my business, Ill just hold my nose and do what I have to do, no matter how distasteful it is. Sometimes I may have to bend the truth and make promises I cant keep, but I guess thats just the price of success."
Lots of people have come to me with this problem. My clients are management consultants, writers, and business coaches who are caught in the trap of doing projects theyre not excited about. The challenge is gone. Their learning has plateaued. And often, the money isnt so great. The heart of the problem is that these gurus stopped doing marketing a long time ago. Instead, they let their clients define who they were and what they did, instead of focusing their services in a way that served both their own interests and those of their clients.
Gurus who take the path of reluctantly jumping into marketing with the mindset of a used car salesman dont fare much better. Ultimately, they dont feel good about those kinds of marketing techniques. One of the phrases I often hear them use is, "I do it, but I hate it." Well, when you do something you hate, you never really get very good at it. These gurus never seriously entertained the idea that they could actually love marketing -- that it could actually be fun and rewarding. But if you market with authenticity and integrity, it will be.
Clear, Concise, Complete, and Cut the Crap
The foundations of authentic marketing are caring and respect. And caring and respect start with good communication. Whether youre answering an everyday question -- "So, what do you do?" -- or creating content for your website, your communication style should always be clear, concise, and complete. Your language should be straightforward and easy to understand, and it should speak directly to the clients needs. Communicate in a way that is to-the-point without going on and on, and provide all the information a client might need to take the next step: calling you.
The Web is a place where inauthentic, uncaring marketing abounds. Imagine going to a website to learn about a product or service youre interested in buying. On the homepage is fancy Flash animation that takes a long time to load. Its cute, but it really doesnt say much. Next, youre bombarded by hackneyed industry jargon, hard-to-understand service descriptions, and vague information. You get annoyed. You feel that they dont care enough to communicate clearly. Youre outta there.
"But wait," you might say, "when I talk to prospective clients on the phone, theyll see that I am caring and authentic! Just give me a chance!" Fact is, you may not get that chance. If your marketing is such a turn-off, youll never get that call.
Make Less into More
The first step in communicating effectively about your services is to pretend youre sitting across from a valuable potential client who is asking you questions about what you do. Youre giving them the vital information they need to make a smart decision. They sense you care. They feel youre authentic. Before you know it, you have a new client! Now take everything youd say in such a meeting and put it in your printed and Web materials. Build your case from every possible angle -- case studies, testimonials, details about how your service works, background material on you, and so on. Use straightforward, everyday language. Strive for clarity and simplicity.
Be well prepared. Making stuff up as you go along isnt convincing, authentic communication. If your presentation is wandering and disorganized, youre doing a disservice to your clients and yourself. Authentic marketers take the time to polish their marketing materials until every page, every paragraph, and every word communicates precisely and with impact. You dont need hyperbole and exaggeration. Simply focus on caring about your clients and the quality of your service, and the words will come.
What You Need to Do
The attitudes of caring and respect come pretty naturally for most gurus. But when it comes to promoting themselves, caring and respect are often tossed out the window. Remember: Youre not marketing to make a one-time sale. Youre trying to develop longterm clients who will come to you again and again. If people feel tricked into working with you, your business isnt going to grow.
Make a Name for Yourself
Once you have great marketing materials, you have the foundation to promote yourself. Your object is to become visible and known, to build trust and credibility. Throw out all your preconceived notions of marketing image, style, and flash. At the heart of it, authentic marketing is about getting to know people -- and letting them get to know you. There are three primary techniques that you can use to accomplish this: networking, public speaking, and writing. These tools enable you to build meaningful, substantive relationships and connections with the people who most need your services.
Network Naturally
Dont sit at home, hiding behind your computer and email. Get out there and meet people one-on-one! This is especially important when you are first starting your business. Group networking opportunities, like chamber mixers and professional associations, are a start, but its up to you to make the extra effort to sit down with your contacts face-to-face. Tell them what youre doing. Be enthusiastic about it. Then find out what theyre doing. Listen very carefully, and try to connect the dots: "Susan Ford seems to know a lot about this industry. Can you introduce us? Id love to meet her."
One-on-one meetings naturally lead to more contacts, which ultimately lead to new business. I once met with a friend who told me about the results that her business had produced. Id known about her work for a long time, but our personal connection made me finally see the value of her services. She left the meeting with three leads, all of which later became new clients.
Speak Out
As a professional service provider, you know a lot about what you do. Youve developed models, strategies, techniques, and approaches that others would like to know about. There are plenty of professional groups and conferences that are looking for speakers on your topic. Isnt it about time that you put together a presentation, approached some of these groups, and gave talks about your area of expertise?
Ive never met a professional service business owner who couldnt take advantage of this promotional tool. And what better way to demonstrate your authenticity? There you are, in front of an interested group, enthusiastically sharing ideas that can help them. Nothing builds trust and credibility more than speaking. Public speaking has been the foundation of my own promotional strategy since day one, and I still talk to at least one group a month. Sound intimidating? It isnt. Read Robert Dickmans Guru Guide on effective public speaking, Stage Might, for more detailed advice.
Tell Your Story
The corollary to speaking out is to take that same information and put it into an article, newsletter article, or e-zine. Start simply, by writing an article that explains the core solution your business service provides: "10 Strategies for Improving Retention in Hi-Tech Startups." Remember the principles of clear, concise, and complete communication. With a four-page article in hand, you have some leverage. Give it to the people you meet with, use it as the outline for a talk, post it on your website, send it out in an email newsletter. Ten years ago, I wrote my first article on marketing and sent it out in a printed newsletter. Four years later, I started an email newsletter with about 50 subscribers. Today it goes out to almost 4,000 people monthly. For more information, read Alexandria Browns Guru Guide about creating email newsletters, Shameless Self-Promotion, and Steven Van Yoders Guide on publishing professional articles, Get Slightly Famous.
Branch out with speaking and writing one step at a time. Soon youll find that authentic marketing is not only fun, it really works. And it sure beats selling used cars!
About the Author
Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing works with professional service businesses to help them attract new clients. His web site is a valuable resource for anyone looking for effective marketing ideas.
robmid@actionplan.com
http://www.actionplan.com
What You Need to Know
When I give workshops, I often poll audiences with this question: "What product does the stereotypical salesperson sell?" Nearly 100 percent of the time, the answer is "used cars" -- not the most positive stereotype in the world. Most of us associate selling used cars with exaggeration, dishonesty, lack of knowledge, not caring about the customer, and general sleaziness. Rest assured, it doesnt have to be that way.
Do Nothing, or Become a Sleaze?
If you think that selling your professional services is all about emulating a used car salesperson, chances are youll handle marketing in one of two ways: not promoting yourself at all, or being sleazy.
Commonly, gurus simply avoid marketing and selling altogether. "After all, Im a professional, arent I? And since marketing and selling are sleazy activities, I dont want to have anything to do with them. Ill just do the best work I possibly can and hope I get enough business from word of mouth."
The other method works something like this: "Since I have to do marketing and selling to attract more clients and survive in my business, Ill just hold my nose and do what I have to do, no matter how distasteful it is. Sometimes I may have to bend the truth and make promises I cant keep, but I guess thats just the price of success."
Lots of people have come to me with this problem. My clients are management consultants, writers, and business coaches who are caught in the trap of doing projects theyre not excited about. The challenge is gone. Their learning has plateaued. And often, the money isnt so great. The heart of the problem is that these gurus stopped doing marketing a long time ago. Instead, they let their clients define who they were and what they did, instead of focusing their services in a way that served both their own interests and those of their clients.
Gurus who take the path of reluctantly jumping into marketing with the mindset of a used car salesman dont fare much better. Ultimately, they dont feel good about those kinds of marketing techniques. One of the phrases I often hear them use is, "I do it, but I hate it." Well, when you do something you hate, you never really get very good at it. These gurus never seriously entertained the idea that they could actually love marketing -- that it could actually be fun and rewarding. But if you market with authenticity and integrity, it will be.
Clear, Concise, Complete, and Cut the Crap
The foundations of authentic marketing are caring and respect. And caring and respect start with good communication. Whether youre answering an everyday question -- "So, what do you do?" -- or creating content for your website, your communication style should always be clear, concise, and complete. Your language should be straightforward and easy to understand, and it should speak directly to the clients needs. Communicate in a way that is to-the-point without going on and on, and provide all the information a client might need to take the next step: calling you.
The Web is a place where inauthentic, uncaring marketing abounds. Imagine going to a website to learn about a product or service youre interested in buying. On the homepage is fancy Flash animation that takes a long time to load. Its cute, but it really doesnt say much. Next, youre bombarded by hackneyed industry jargon, hard-to-understand service descriptions, and vague information. You get annoyed. You feel that they dont care enough to communicate clearly. Youre outta there.
"But wait," you might say, "when I talk to prospective clients on the phone, theyll see that I am caring and authentic! Just give me a chance!" Fact is, you may not get that chance. If your marketing is such a turn-off, youll never get that call.
Make Less into More
The first step in communicating effectively about your services is to pretend youre sitting across from a valuable potential client who is asking you questions about what you do. Youre giving them the vital information they need to make a smart decision. They sense you care. They feel youre authentic. Before you know it, you have a new client! Now take everything youd say in such a meeting and put it in your printed and Web materials. Build your case from every possible angle -- case studies, testimonials, details about how your service works, background material on you, and so on. Use straightforward, everyday language. Strive for clarity and simplicity.
Be well prepared. Making stuff up as you go along isnt convincing, authentic communication. If your presentation is wandering and disorganized, youre doing a disservice to your clients and yourself. Authentic marketers take the time to polish their marketing materials until every page, every paragraph, and every word communicates precisely and with impact. You dont need hyperbole and exaggeration. Simply focus on caring about your clients and the quality of your service, and the words will come.
What You Need to Do
The attitudes of caring and respect come pretty naturally for most gurus. But when it comes to promoting themselves, caring and respect are often tossed out the window. Remember: Youre not marketing to make a one-time sale. Youre trying to develop longterm clients who will come to you again and again. If people feel tricked into working with you, your business isnt going to grow.
Make a Name for Yourself
Once you have great marketing materials, you have the foundation to promote yourself. Your object is to become visible and known, to build trust and credibility. Throw out all your preconceived notions of marketing image, style, and flash. At the heart of it, authentic marketing is about getting to know people -- and letting them get to know you. There are three primary techniques that you can use to accomplish this: networking, public speaking, and writing. These tools enable you to build meaningful, substantive relationships and connections with the people who most need your services.
Network Naturally
Dont sit at home, hiding behind your computer and email. Get out there and meet people one-on-one! This is especially important when you are first starting your business. Group networking opportunities, like chamber mixers and professional associations, are a start, but its up to you to make the extra effort to sit down with your contacts face-to-face. Tell them what youre doing. Be enthusiastic about it. Then find out what theyre doing. Listen very carefully, and try to connect the dots: "Susan Ford seems to know a lot about this industry. Can you introduce us? Id love to meet her."
One-on-one meetings naturally lead to more contacts, which ultimately lead to new business. I once met with a friend who told me about the results that her business had produced. Id known about her work for a long time, but our personal connection made me finally see the value of her services. She left the meeting with three leads, all of which later became new clients.
Speak Out
As a professional service provider, you know a lot about what you do. Youve developed models, strategies, techniques, and approaches that others would like to know about. There are plenty of professional groups and conferences that are looking for speakers on your topic. Isnt it about time that you put together a presentation, approached some of these groups, and gave talks about your area of expertise?
Ive never met a professional service business owner who couldnt take advantage of this promotional tool. And what better way to demonstrate your authenticity? There you are, in front of an interested group, enthusiastically sharing ideas that can help them. Nothing builds trust and credibility more than speaking. Public speaking has been the foundation of my own promotional strategy since day one, and I still talk to at least one group a month. Sound intimidating? It isnt. Read Robert Dickmans Guru Guide on effective public speaking, Stage Might, for more detailed advice.
Tell Your Story
The corollary to speaking out is to take that same information and put it into an article, newsletter article, or e-zine. Start simply, by writing an article that explains the core solution your business service provides: "10 Strategies for Improving Retention in Hi-Tech Startups." Remember the principles of clear, concise, and complete communication. With a four-page article in hand, you have some leverage. Give it to the people you meet with, use it as the outline for a talk, post it on your website, send it out in an email newsletter. Ten years ago, I wrote my first article on marketing and sent it out in a printed newsletter. Four years later, I started an email newsletter with about 50 subscribers. Today it goes out to almost 4,000 people monthly. For more information, read Alexandria Browns Guru Guide about creating email newsletters, Shameless Self-Promotion, and Steven Van Yoders Guide on publishing professional articles, Get Slightly Famous.
Branch out with speaking and writing one step at a time. Soon youll find that authentic marketing is not only fun, it really works. And it sure beats selling used cars!
About the Author
Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing works with professional service businesses to help them attract new clients. His web site is a valuable resource for anyone looking for effective marketing ideas.
robmid@actionplan.com
http://www.actionplan.com
Copyright © 2005-2006 Powered by Custom PHP Programming