When we speak of mass marketing, advisors often turn up their noses. “We don’t use telemarketing or direct mail,” they say. Mass Marketing is defined as, “Broad-brush, unfocused attempt to appeal to an entire market with one basic marketing strategy utilizing mass distribution and mass media. Also called undifferentiated marketing.” (www.businessdictionary.com)

The problem with mass marketing is the lack of focus. However, speaking and seminars provide a great way to mass market in a focused manner.  There are a wide variety of civic organizations, retired employee organizations, and others that would love to have you present a program that tells ablout you and your services. Also consider networking organizations as a way to mass market in a more focused manner.

I practice what I preach. On September 9 I will be speaking at the Midwest Speakers Bureau’s Got Talent Speaker Showcase. Meeting planners from across Iowa will have to opportunity to hear eleven quality speakers in one location.

Consider how and where you can speak in a focused manner to a target audience that wants and needs your services.

Good selling!

LinkedIn® provides professional services marketing and sales people with a wonderful tool for building and expanding relationships and growing business. Consider the following tips for maximizing the use – and profitability – of one the top business building tools on the Internet.

This daily game plan has 8 steps and takes 15 – 20 minutes.

1. Comment on Comments – Show your connections you are paying attention.
2. Make recommendations – If you have not made a recommendation for a connection, DO SO if at all possible. Please make sincere recommendations; remember, your name is on the line. If you cannot recommend someone in good faith, don’t do it.
3. Make your profile publicly available – While you can set the information which is publicly available to non-members/contacts, be careful with blocking too much information as this will also be unavailable to the search engines. As a minimum, consider providing enough information for the search engines to index your profile and cache the external links you have listed! In terms of optimizing your profile, the main goals are normally to rank for your own name, company name and possibly industry keywords related to this.
4. Comment on Profile Updates – Congratulate others on promotions and awards, inquire about other changes, and always offer assistance.
5. Check your Inbox – Respond to requests and messages in a timely manner.
6. Look in the “People You May Know Section” – Find new connections and leads.
7. Check Your Groups – Look for new discussions, answer questions, and look for other items of interest. Ask questions to gather information and open new relationships.
8. Use LinkedIn® Answers – This can help to build up your reputation within a field. For SEO it also builds the number of internal links pointing to your profile from within LinkedIn, therefore helping to strengthen your profile in the search engines!

A word of warning: LinkedIn® is a tool, not a religion. Relationships are still made person-to-person, not digitally. You can receive an introduction or introduce yourself on the web, but true relationship building comes from personal interaction. LinkedIn® and other social media sites help maintain and grow relationships. In a busy world, that is truly priceless!

Marketing is serious business, and you should always be serious about serious business. Yeah, right…

Logan Crawford portrays a comical news anchor in a series of TV commercials for AT&T’s the Backflip, from Motorola. Crawford is seen “reporting the news that’s important to you…” with impeccable sources such as Facebook and Twitter. The key feature of the Motorola Backflip is advertised as “Facebook, Twitter, text and more, streaming on a single screen.”

The commercial spoofs the common absurdity of social media posts with lines like, “This just in via text message and wall post: “The search is on for cute boots.” Another line reads, “This just in on Twitter and Facebook: A local bachelor has just enrolled in Karate.”

Here’s the paradox; so many social media posts are trivial dribble – and AT&T is using that fact to SELL. We buy from companies that get us to laugh at ourselves. The question is simple; do you take yourself a little too seriously in your marketing and sales presentations. The work of an advisor is serious business, but too often advisors treat every recommendation as if they are a doctor telling a patient they have terminal cancer. As a professional it is perfectly acceptable lighten up, use a little humor, and let your clients see you are real, even when you are making important recommendations. Don’t try to be a comedian, just relax and be yourself.

Good selling!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE AT&T COMMERCIAL