Marketing vs. Sales

Many folks lump these two concepts together – and wonder why they struggle for cash and clients in their business.  MARKETING is about communicating to as many ideal potential clients as possible about your product, program or service.

Marketing is about getting the word out about what you are up in a way that magnetizes perfect people to you and your business.

Marketing does not make you money.

When done well, it will help attract people to you – but it’s an entirely different function to get those newly magnetized people to hand over their hard earned cash in exchange for your stuff.

That’s where SALES comes in.

SALES is the process of converting those interested potential clients into active, paying, current clients! Sales is about having a step by step, well thought through process by which people are invited, enticed and encouraged to give you money in exchange for value.

Got it? Marketing means sending your message’ to as many people as you can in a way that allows them to ‘SELF SELECT’ or ‘choose themselves’ as being interested in what you are offering.

After you’ve generated a bunch of leads (or people interested in what you have to offer) it’s a selling function to convert those leads or potential clients into buyers.

Marketing = Communication
Selling = Conversion.

Now – ask yourself, “Do I have specific processes and procedures for both marketing and selling?”

Over the next few blogs, I’ll be taking you through the fundamentals of what you need in place to make sure you’ve got the ‘magnetic marketing’ piece down. After that, we can talk about an easy 5-step system to convert those interested people into even more enthusiastic clients.

See you soon!

Marketing is just a specific form of COMMUNICATION. That is…

Marketing = Communication

It is a specific communication to your specific audience about the specific problem you solve.

Let’s take this one step further.

The best, most heartfelt, most effective communications (whether personal or professional) are INTIMATE COMMUNICATIONS.
Communications that feel like they are about you, for you, and were created specifically with you in mind!

Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say you and I were out on a date, and I wanted to communicate my appreciation of you. Which compliment would have a better chance of increasing our connection?

Compliment A: “I love animals, and warm blooded mammals are actually my favorite!”

Compliment B: “You have beautiful eyes… and the sweater you are wearing really compliments them.”

I’m guessing you chose Compliment B, right? (If you didn’t – we need to talk.) Compliment A was general, generic, and well, just plain silly. But I think it helped illustrate the point. Compliment B was intimate, tailored, and directed right at YOU!

Let’s adjust our formula with this idea in mind:

Effective Marketing = Intimate Communication

This is golden. The only effective marketing communications are INTIMATE marketing communications. Marketing that feels like it was created only for you. Marketing that speaks directly to you, and is crafted specifically for your benefit. That is what it means to get intimate.

Increasing the INTIMACY of your marketing communications will make people way more likely to choose you, your events, your programs and products! It’s really about creating relationships, and the more intimately you can communicate/connect with your potential clients through your marketing, the more likely they will want to engage in a relationship with you…. business or otherwise!

So how do you do it? This is a HOT topic that takes us an entire day to teach at our Magnetize Your Audience event… but here are a few tips you can use right away.

Tip #1: Know a lot about the person you are speaking to! This means, you need to get really, really specific with WHO you are directing your marketing at. This is the underlying WHY behind the idea of choosing a specific audience, a narrow niche, or a tight target market. When you know WHO you are talking to specifically, you can use language they respond to. You can use… intimate language!

Tip #2: Always speak in the singular in your marketing. For example, when using email marketing, don’t write, “Hello Everyone.” Why not say, “Hi Callan!” If you are on a teleclass, don’t say, “I’m glad you all showed up!” Say, “I am so glad YOU chose to be on the call with me tonight.”

Tip #3: Pretend you are writing your marketing to a dear friend. Give it that intimate, personal, friendly feel.

I love to get intimate with my clients. And it pays…

Here are a few other rules that go hand in hand with the Golden Rule:

1. MAKE SURE YOUR CLIENTS ASKED SPECIFICALLY FOR WHAT YOU ARE SENDING.

If they signed up for HEALTH TIPS and you’re sending emails that offer MLM pitch-even for a Health Company-you’re breaking their trust.

2. GIVE GENEROUSLY.

Stay away from taste tests, teasers and fluff at all costs. If you have a tidbit that can change your clients life-make her more money, give her more energy, or help her be more productive-then give it away. If it works, she will buy everything you have.

3. STAY OFF THE GRAVY TRAIN.

I hate seeing this one. Please,please, please, don’t promote every affiliate that offers you a commission. Be very choosy! You must be willing to stake your reputation and your business on the person and the product you’re promoting. Only choose to promote people who offer products and service directly related to what your clients signed up to your list for!!! If your client signed up for Business Building Tips, please don’t promote an Affiliate that has a Weight Loss Book – no matter how great the commission to you might be. (This happened to me recently. I unsubscribed immediately.)

QUICK SIDE NOTE: When you have a list, other marketers will often ask if you can promote their product. Here’s a great way to eliminate 90% of them in a few seconds.

Ask yourself: Is this marketer telling me how much money I’ll make from helping him? Or is he focusing on how my clients will benefit from his product or program? Stick with the opportunities that your clients will benefit from the most. And partner with the people who focus on that.

(In any Joint Venture opportunity, there must be 3 wins. 1) Your clients must win or benefit first and foremost. 2) Your JV partner must win 3) There must be a win in the partnership for you. Look for JV promotions that have this triple win potential.)

4. HAVE FUN.

If you don’t giggle to yourself at least once when you’re writing your emails then it’s probably boring. You’re a fun person. So write fun emails whenever you can. When people are laughing, they are learning. And if they are learning and laughing with you – they’ll keep reading your emails.

As you continue to provide value for people, they will deepen their loyalty toward you. And that is the beginning of a relationship that will profit your business, and your heart equally.

They are offering you something personal and valuable to them – and they are trusting that you’ll give them something personal and valuable in return.

Having a client’s email address is a humbling responsibility-or at least it should be. You now have the ability to send them any bit of information… any news, gossip, factoid, anecdote or funny animal footage that strikes your fancy.

So should you?

Of course not!

(But you already knew that, right?)

So the question is…

‘What should you send? And how often should you send it?’

There are very specific rules with regards to this-please memorize them so you’ll know for sure when you’re breaking them.

The first rule is really the ‘Golden Rule’ of email marketing. This rule can be broken, but the consequences will be very unpleasant.

Email Marketing ‘Golden Rule’ = “Your clients let you email them for THEIR benefit-NOT YOURS!”

When you only send information that YOUR CLIENTS CAN BENEFIT from… and when your clients learn to trust that you’ll only send information that they will benefit from… your open rates will sky rocket -and your click through rates will keep pace!

Keep checking back here at this blog as we post more helpful email marketing tips to help your business be a BIG success!

The subject line of your emails has one purpose and one purpose only…

…to entice your client to open your email!

If it’s interesting enough, then everyone you mail will be exposed to your amazing message.

If you leave it flat and boring, then no one will ever know how you could have helped them.

The first step then is to ensure your subject lines are seductive and interesting!

This takes testing and practice – but I’ll shorten the learning curve for you with a few suggestions.

When it comes to subject lines, there are only a few types of subject lines Justin and I recommend…

1) Enrolling Questions

Trying asking a question in your subject line that you know your reader will respond to.

Example: “Do You Want to PACK Your Next Workshop With Ease?”
Example: “Do you make these Email Marketing mistakes?”

2) Incomplete Sentences:

Try a subject line that leaves something unfinished…

Example: “Are You Ready To…”

This subject line is mysterious and your client’s brain will want to find out how the sentence finishes – so they’ll open the email to see.

3) Curious Statement

Try making a statement that stirs curiosity.

Example: “Callan is all jacked up…”

4) Numbered Sequence Subject lines

If someone has asked for information from me, like the “11 part Email Marketing Mistake” Series, I make sure the subject line is exactly the same for each email in the series.

The only thing that changes is the number

Example: “Email Marketing Mistake #11
Example: “Email Marketing Mistake #10

Your client’s brain will say, “I asked for this,” which means your email is far more likely to get opened.

Here are a few subject line templates I’ve seen work:

“About Your ______”

Example: About Your ‘Registration’ for Magnetize Your Audience

If your client has just invested money on this valuable program then they are very likely to be very interested in the content of this email, right? Of course.

“Get Your _____ Questions Answered”

Example: Get Your ‘Email Marketing Questions’ Answered

A great time to use this template is when you’re promoting a teleclass or other type of interactive Education Based Marketing Service—like a webinar or live seminar.

“10 Tips All _______ Need to Know”

Example: 10 Tips all ‘Workshop Leaders’ Need to Know

You can change ‘10’ to any other number, and ‘workshop leaders’ to any other title.

The key is to know your clients well. Do they think of themselves as Workshop leaders, Newlyweds, Golfers, Women Over 40, Entrepreneurs, etc.? How do they refer to themselves? What ever they call themselves, is how you should refer to them in the subject line.

“How to ________”

Example: How to Attract Massive Amounts of New Clients…

To use this template effectively you need to know what Specific Problem your clients are faced with. And then use this template when you’re offering a solution to that problem. Include a few useful tips in the email and a link to a webpage where your clients can learn more.

“Do you make these _____ mistakes?”

Example: Do you make these 11 Email Marketing mistakes?

Sometimes you know your client better than they do. They might be unconsciously doing something every day which will cause them tremendous pain in the future. They might even think it’s a smart thing to do…

By providing a solution, you become more than a hero, you become a ‘Trusted Advisor’ that they will happily spend their money with for years and years and years… all because they opened that 1 email. That’s the difference your subject line can make.

FINAL IMPORTANT NOTE:

One of the BIGGEST MISTAKES I see people make in their subject lines is trying to sneak in a little company branding.

Resist this urge! Any reference in the subject line to your company name, ezine title or business branding will turn folks off immediately.

Keep your titles conversational, interesting, intriguing and enjoy soaring open rates, avalanches of new sign ups, and loads of new income for your business!

And that’s what makes e-mail such an effective marketing tool-it’s personal!

So to get your emails opened and to avoid instant deletion you need to follow this simple rule: Make your ‘from line’ FRIENDLY and RECOGNIZABLE.

1) To be FRIENDLY, put YOUR NAME in the ‘from line.’ (A pseudonym or the name of your company ‘figurehead’ will work as well.)

Why does this work? Because people want to hear from you-not from your company!

If you put anything that smacks of a cold, hard, corporate company – you’ll turn folks off. None of us want to get email from ‘Corporate America’ anymore than we want corporate telemarketers phoning us during dinner, trying to sell something!

What do we want? We want to hear from our friends.

So be friendly in your ‘from line’! Any overt “branding” (even your company name) in the ‘from line’ will send your response rate tumbling…

…and leave your customers feeling like you had your assistant draft a memo to send out while you were doing something more important.

You want your readers to feel like you personally took the time to send out some valuable information that was so important it just couldn’t wait.

2) To be RECOGNIZABLE you need to choose a name and be CONSISTENT with it. This means using the same name over and over again. You’ll notice we send our emails to you ‘From – Justin & Callan’.

If you decide to switch names in your ‘from line,’ don’t make the decision lightly. It will take substantial effort to make sure every one of your clients recognizes the ‘new you’. Imagine if your best friend called you from a new number that you didn’t recognize on your Call Display. You might just let it go to voice mail, right?

Remember, your ‘from line’ is sacred. It makes you a friend in your client’s in-box. And changing it will make you a stranger all over again.

When creating a new seminar or workshop, many people in this business ask, “What do I know about?” or “What can I teach others about?” Unfortunately, this is the #1 reason they flop in this industry.

Here’s what to do instead: Before creating any new program, product or service ask yourself another question; “What specific REAL WORLD problem am I solving with my program, product or service?”

Most problems fall into 5 categories: health, wealth, relationship, sexual, and identity (i.e. Am I a good ‘mom’? Am I a good ‘teacher’?). What you need to do is ensure that what you are offering actually solves a problem in ONE of these 5 categories.

(And by the way, focusing on helping people, “live the life of their dreams” or “take their life to the next level” or “empower themselves” is NOT a Specific Problem.)

You can do all that of course, but first you’ve got to hone in on a solving a more precise, conscious pain… and you must use your marketing to articulate that.

Here is an exercise for you to do. Imagine your potential client lying in bed at 3am. They’re awake and very upset about something they are facing in their life. What is that thing? What is it SPECIFICALLY?

Name it, solve it, and prosper. Stay generic, and promise to ‘empower them’ and struggle.

There are a multitude of tasks in your business that must get done, but that take you away from your true genius, the passion that got you into the business to start with. You know the tasks I’m talking about… the stuff you HATE to do! (I hate checking email, for example).

The good news is there are people out there who LOVE to do the things you hate. All you need to do is find those people and get them on your team… now! I couldn’t believe it when I found my Admin Assistant who absolutely loves administrative work.

Any time you find yourself struggling to start or expand your workshop or retreat business, one of the questions you should ask is: Am I trying to do it alone?

Many workshop and seminar leaders have either consciously or subconsciously chosen to isolate themselves out of some misguided desire to declare their business success as solely their own. Or they tell themselves no one can do it like they can. Or they tell themselves, I can’t afford to get help. (None of these are true, no matter what your mind will try to say). For example, if you are just starting out and capital is an issue, get creative! There are many ways to hire someone without paying them an arm and leg.  Revenue shares.  Trades for programs. Commission based help.

A team is the KEY to making your dream a reality. Trust me, Justin and I have tried it both ways. When it was just us two, we were miserable, overworked and overwhelmed. When we finally gave in and started surrounding ourselves with a capable team – our business started to get fun again.

Now go find your team!

Keeping your clients guessing about your next creative and innovative business image or brand will only do one thing – keep you scratching your head wondering why your clients aren’t calling!

To create an image or brand that actually generates business you must identify the EXACT feeling or emotion you want your clients to experience any time they come into contact with your company. Once identified, you must CONSISTENTLY COMMUNICATE in a way that evokes that same feeling again and again – forever!

To do this, you must have one look and feel to your online marketing (websites, sales, pages, online newsletters), your print materials (pamphlets, brochures, business cards), and your live events, promotions, and programs. Avoid having multiple personalities! It confuses your clients…. and a confused client will not buy.

Human beings love consistency. Being consistent in your company communications help you create a deep and loyal following. Be honest. Do you suffer from multiple personalities in your marketing communications? Then start focusing now. Be clear, and the results you want will follow.