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Category: Thought Leadership

  • Content’s Proper Place in the Sales and Marketing Funnel

    Content’s Proper Place in the Sales and Marketing Funnel

    Churn Less Content, Sell More Contents?

    [The following is a brief excerpt from my just released book Do Less. Sell More: How Entrepreneurs are Building Seven-Figure Businesses without Breaking the Bank, Working Like Dogs, or Losing their $#@%! Learn more about it, or purchase your copy on paperback or Kindle here.]

    Content is working its way down the sales funnel farther than ever before. While we have historically thought of content in terms of “content marketing”—which generally lives near the top of the sales funnel—we should now be thinking in terms of “content business development.”

    Meaning: How can we repurpose or specifically engineer a new piece of content in a way that is more direct and immediate in its application, so that it nurtures a personal relationship, rather than solely operating as a one-to-many awareness or branding vehicle?

    First, it comes by way of a mindset adjustment. Rather than thinking of business development efforts as sales (if that’s your aversion), think in terms of serving others. Giving, rather than receiving. Invitations, not pitches. The offer, not the ask.

    That simple shift in viewpoint alone will remove a self-applied pressure of expecting every outreach you make to someone to result in a sales opportunity. For one, it doesn’t work that way. Two, you won’t look forward to the activity.

    But if you’re serving your network and people you’d like to include in your network, by providing them with either things of intellectual value or by raising their profiles somehow, that’s not selling…it’s serving.

    And both you and the person you want to influence will be better for it, regardless of whether you ever work together professionally.

    CONTINUE READING >>

  • Podcasting for Professionals

    Podcasting for Professionals

    Does the world really need another podcast?

    The answer to that question may be no. But the more relevant answer is this: The world may not need yet another podcast…but you know who does? Your narrowly defined target audience.

    Remember, if you are producing a podcast to grow your business—and not be the next internet celebrity—you don’t need to appeal to everybody. You only need to serve a very distinct and defined core audience. Unless you’re the next Joe Rogan or Howard Stern, you’re not going to amass an audience of millions. But that’s not the point. 

    The Smaller You Go, the Bigger You’ll Be

    Consider my friends Bryan O’Keefe and Gena Usenheimer, who co-host “Into the Breach,” which bills itself as “the first law firm podcast exclusively devoted to reps and warranties insurance and the transactional risk markets.” Whoa. Talk about niche. What even is that, you might be asking. 

    Yes. Extremely niche.

    When Bryan approached us about his idea to start a podcast serving a very niche audience, he really meant niche. He told me, there are maybe 20 companies in the entire world that would be in a position to hire me and my firm for this type of work that I specialize in. My audience is a very specific person within those types of companies. I figured, the largest his audience might ever get would be one or two hundred people.

    Did that discourage Bryan and Gena? No. It emboldened them.

    Bryan told me, “Nobody out there is doing this type of podcast. Nobody’s serving this audience. We have the opportunity to be the first. And if we do it well, we may be able to stake out a position as the only podcast serving this market.”

    Small Ball Yields Home Runs

    So how’d that turn out for them?

    Bryan wrote me on LinkedIn, “Gena and I saw an incredible explosion of work in the last two months.  We were averaging about [X] deals per month previously. And we’ve had [10X] the last two months, including [6X] alone this month!  It was a very good ‘problem’ to have. We can’t say enough the role that we think the podcast is playing in the growth.” 

    You can do the same for you and your podcast. But resist the urge to appeal to a mass audience, and instead target only a small niche, with niche content and specialized expertise.

    So here’s step one: Complete this sentence:

    My podcast is going to provide valuable  __________________ for ___________________.

    The first blank is your content focus. The second is your audience. 

    Now you’re off and running…and your first professionally produced podcast is closer than you think.

  • Do Less. Sell More. Here’s Your Permission Slip.

    Do Less. Sell More. Here’s Your Permission Slip.

    I’m giving you permission to take a day off. Or perhaps, many.

    Not that you need my permission.

    Nope. Instead, you have to give yourself permission. 

    Permission to do less. So you can sell more.

    Since When Is Less Really More?

    Of course, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

    But if you feel like you’re constantly marketing, constantly selling, and have this nagging feeling it’s never enough—or worse, that you’re actually doing the wrong things!—I have good news.

    You can stop.

    Or, at least…stop most of it.

    You know it to be true in your gut, but it’s hard to convince your head of it: you simply can’t be everywhere at once. And you can’t be all things to all people.

    But the temptations are difficult to ignore: Marketing FOMO is real: the Fear of Marketing Omission.

    But you absolutely have to give yourself permission to get over it.

    If you won’t, I will…

    Stop That. Start This.

    Effective immediately, strip away everything in your marketing plan that’s not generating significant return on investment, however you measure it. (You are measuring, right?)

    I’ll even let you decide which metrics are important. Is it sales? Leads generated? Warm and fuzzies, like accolades and recognition? Vanity metrics, such as clicks, likes and comments on social media? You decide!

    But chances are, if you’re like most startup businesses, sole proprietors or service professionals trying to build a book of business, results are hard to come by.

    That’s actually good news. It allows you to wipe the canvas clean—guilt-free!—and start fresh.

    Here’s the new plan: Pick one.

    That’s right. Out of the 5-10 marketing activities you’re currently engaged in, get rid of them all…except one.

    Actually, two.

    But I’m going to give you the second one, as a non-negotiable. Because it’s the single-most effective marketing tool out there. And too many marketers ignore it at their own detriment.

    Marketing’s (Not So) Secret Weapon

    Last week I promised to share with you the one marketing tactic that consistently achieves the highest ROI of anything out there, regardless of vertical or market. 

    Did you guess what it was?

    The answer may surprise you: It’s email.

    What the WHAT??!?!?

    Old-school, boring, analogue, my-boomer-father-still-reads-his…EMAIL?!?!?!

    Yup. It can also be the most affordable.

    When’s the last time you checked your email? If you’re like the statistical average, you spend nearly 6 hours a day in front of your email. If I need to find you, I know where to look.

    And there are no gatekeepers between you and your audience. No algorithms to overcome. No editors to pitch. No pay to play.

    Okay, Fine. Seems Obvious, but What Should I Choose for my Other Tactic? 

    So, if you’re still reading, email marketing is going to be the workhorse of your marketing strategy going forward. But it won’t be alone. I said you can pick one other platform to focus on.

    But that’s not true. At least, not all of it.

    What I’m going to show you is how email, combined with the one other perfect platform aligned to your unique audience’s preferences and affinity, is the new marketing model of the future. It’s the fix to what’s broke out there. And you’ll be among the first to adopt it.

    Take that, competitors!

    (Be not afraid: It’s what Brian Clark is using to build 7-figure businesses for himself and others, all without a single employee or investor. It’s all about being Unemployable. And that’s a good thing. If it’s good enough for him, it should be good enough for you.)

    When paired with email, this single tactic will check all of the boxes in the PESO Model of Marketing. It will take care of:

    • Email marketing

    • Digital marketing

    • Social media marketing

    • SEO (search engine optimization)

    • Content marketing

    • Inbound marketing

    • Lead generation and nurturing

    • …and even a little bit of sales, to boot!

    So how do you identify that one other perfect platform to pair with email? That depends on who you are…but more importantly, who they are.

    By “they,” I mean your audience.

    And everyone’s is different.

    So I can’t in a a single blog post just pick something for you. 

    But I can offer you the process to figure it out for yourself.

    In fact, I have a free audio course (yes, 100% free!) that walks you through the process to cut away the clutter, zero in on the single most effective platform for you to reach your target market, and to starting doing way less, in far less time, expending far fewer resources…all to greater effect than anything you’ve been struggling with the past!

    Doing less; selling more.

    How to Get It? Shoot Me an Email, of Course!

    Yes, it’s that simple. To enroll in the free audio course, simply shoot me an email (info@creativemillco.com), and I’ll enroll you personally.

    I’ll even send you a permission slip to do less and sell more!

    That’s it from me for now. Until next time…

  • How to Use Content to Overcome the Selling Aversion

    How to Use Content to Overcome the Selling Aversion

    We’ve discussed in a previous post the Catch-22 that lawyers and other service professionals who bill their time face when it comes to developing their books of business: We have to bill our time to make money, but we have to spend our time doing non-billable work (prospecting) to build a practice.

    But what if that’s not the only conundrum standing in the way of an effective business development effort? What if, like many, you suffer from an aversion to the notion of “selling,” either out of ethical concerns or a simple distaste for the perception of peddling your wares? After all, you want to practice law, or accounting, or consult…you didn’t earn an advanced degree to be a sales person.

    Understandable. But as our careers mature, business development becomes crucial to advancement opportunities. So, we might not like to “sell,” but we’d better be active relationship builders, if nothing else. You might not want to cold call a prospect, or send an unsolicited invitation to lunch, or attend a networking event. But you might not have to.

    And this is where content comes in.

    Serving Isn’t Selling

    As Jay and I discussed on a recent episode of The Thought Leadership Project podcast, content is working its way down the sales funnel farther than ever before. While we have historically thought of content in terms of “content marketing”—which generally lives near the top of the sales funnel—we should now be thinking in terms of “content business development.” Meaning: How can we repurpose or specifically engineer a new piece of content in a way that is more direct and immediate in its application, so that it nurtures a personal relationship, rather than solely operating as a one-to-many awareness or branding vehicle?

    First, it comes by way of a mindset adjustment. Rather than thinking of business development efforts as sales (if that’s your aversion), think in terms of serving others. Giving, rather than receiving. Invitations, not pitches. The offer, not the ask. That simple shift in viewpoint alone will remove a self-applied pressure of expecting every outreach you make to someone to result in a sales opportunity. For one, it doesn’t work that way. Two, you won’t look forward to the activity.

    But if you’re serving your network and people you’d like to include in your network, by providing them with either things of intellectual value or by raising their profiles somehow, that’s not selling…it’s serving. And both you and the person you want to influence will be better for it, regardless of whether you ever work together professionally.

    We shared some specific examples during the episode linked above, but here are a few others:

    A personal email with a link to your latest post. You’ve written the content, it got published to your website, and your firm blasted it out to everyone on its mailing list. But what about a personal email to someone who you think might legitimately benefit from the thought leadership contained therein? “Hi, Bob. I remember you saying that you were frustrated with your research project. I put together some thoughts on overcoming the barriers to research initiatives that I thought you might find useful. Hope this helps.” Notice: no ask…all give. You didn’t have to “sell,” but you have likely further endeared yourself to the recipient. They’re apt to respond to that email, no?

    An invitation to guest author. What sounds more flattering to the person on the receiving end? Can I buy you lunch?, or Would you be interested in guest authoring or co-authoring a piece on a topic that I know you have considerable expertise? One sounds like it has strings attached, the other is a bonafide compliment. Maybe such a post will live on your website, but maybe you and your subject matter expert cohort can co-pitch its publication to a broader audience, say, an industry magazine or blog. Now you’re working in harmony, rather than negotiating a sometimes awkward or adversarial buyer-seller dance.

    A request for an appearance on your podcast. If you or your firm produce a podcast on a particular area of subject matter expertise (or even if you don’t), think of someone you’d like to meet or further a relationship with and ask him or her to be a guest on your podcast. While you might meet some resistance to that lunch invitation, I’m confident that your prospect will find the time to call into a radio-style interview that will amplify that expert’s platform. In the process, you will have a genuine conversation with that individual and, likely, create a much deeper connection that might blossom further over time.

    An offer to opine. Other variations on this theme include:

    • asking subject matter experts if you can interview them for a book you’re working on, either for inclusion or on background

    • inviting professionals or whole firms to participate in a research study that you’ll later publish (which provides a great opportunity to follow back up with such a prospect once the report is out and insights can be gleaned and shared)

    • querying a subject matter expert for a quote or anecdote to support a piece you’re authoring for either your own blog or a third party

    • conspiring with a colleague to co-present at a speaking opportunity you’ve either already secured or are willing to pitch for an upcoming industry event

    Ask Me, Don’t Sell Me

    Notice, in every example cited above and on our podcast, the outreach is always an ask, and never a pitch. It’s an offer…an invitation…a service, of sorts. You are providing legitimate value or making a flattering commendation. Anyone can do that. And more of us should.

    This is content business development—the crucial counterpart to content marketing.

    So if your aversion to business development is the fear of “selling,” overcome that fear through great content, and a legitimate desire to help others. Do that consistently and effectively, and the sales will take care of themselves.

  • 11 Things a Failed Music Career Taught Me About Marketing

    11 Things a Failed Music Career Taught Me About Marketing

    It might be hard to believe looking at me now, but a full-time music career and pursuit of rock-and-roll stardom preceded my foray into marketing and public relations. That’s me in the center down there…looking too cool for school.

    But what I learned as a starving artist back in the early 90s taught me the basics of nearly everything I do today as a marcom professional. In order for us to survive, it was all about promotion…and I mean, literally, “survive.” Here, then, are the 11 lessons I look back on and draw upon even today (musicians always “go to 11”):

    1.) Video killed the radio star. The birth of MTV in the early 80s totally reshaped the music industry. Video gave adoring fans instant access to the personalities behind the music, and labels had to rethink the way they packaged their artists. It was not enough to sound good anymore, you had to visually appeal to your fans, and give them a side of you the music couldn’t otherwise convey. Brands and B2B marketers need to do the same. Video conveys personality, passion and persona far better than the written word, yet many businesses are slow to leverage the power of what can be extremely affordable video communications.

    2.) Nothing travels faster than word of mouth. Good or bad, word of mouth will travel faster than your ability to control the message. If your band had a lousy live performance, people would scorch you. If you rocked live, your following would quickly grow. The same goes for social media today. People are talking about brands all day on social media. Are you listening? Are you engaging with the conversants? Are you keeping up with word of mouth?

    3.) Publicity is platinum. Record reviews, live show write-ups and artist profiles were invaluable to the indie artist (in an era before the emergence of social media). Get your band in the press, and you would gain instant credibility and raised recognition. No one needed to know that you as the artist peddled your CD around with free pizzas to get access to the reporter…and no one needs to know a PR firm is behind the scenes generating your company’s publicity today.

    4.) Constant contact. Third-party and indirect communications are clever and vital, and all…but never discard the power of direct communications. Back then, it was the periodic mailing with upcoming tour dates, sent via postcard to our database. Today, this can take many forms, from e-blasts and newsletters to compelling print communications artfully designed and packaged…all of which will serve to keep your company top-of-mind among current and prospective customers.

    5.) You’re nothing without a database. Pursuant to the above, you simply MUST maintain a current database of vital contacts, including customers, prospects, referral sources, vendors, associates and friends of the firm. It sounds simple and self-evident, but you’d be shocked how many companies we talk to who have absolutely no database established. This is like planning a concert and not telling anyone about it. Or sending out a show announcement without mailing labels. (I would know…my keyboardist tried it once.)

    6.) Advertising works. That is, if you have a measurable call to action. (Image advertising also works, but is a lot more difficult to measure.) The grunt work of being in a band performing at college towns in the early 90s included the exhaustive process of “flyering the gig.” This meant illegally adorning every tree, streetlight, kiosk and powerline pole on campus with flyers promoting the gig at the local bar. How did we know they work? On the flyers, we asked people to mention the “free shots” at the bar upon arrival. The bar owner didn’t care much for the tactic, but we knew the flyers were working.

    7.) Your fans will do your bidding for you. If truly engaged, your fans become your greatest asset. They aren’t afraid to tell their friends how awesome your band is, but you might be. Brands, by the same token, need to empower their “fans.” Give them a place to gather (social media communities like Facebook and LinkedIn), let them engage with you so that they feel like part of a movement (Twitter and other social media), give them tools to spread the word on your behalf (sharable content on your website and public content communities such as SlideShare, YouTube and Flickr). Most small companies today ignore social media as a marketing strategy. Big mistake.

    8.) If you can’t get signed, put out your own CD. The barrier to entry for a local band was the ever-elusive record contract. Without it, no one could get to the music, at least not on a large scale. So many local bands simply recorded their own CDs, distributed them independently, and grew their followings organically. Today, companies perceive a barrier to mass communications being the difficulty in engaging a mass media outlet to spread the word about an event or other news story. But content communities like YouTube, Flickr…and the sheer breadth of the Internet’s reach allow any brand to be a mass communicator. They have the option of simply creating the content themselves and using the available online channels to spread the word. Like the local indie artists, nothing is stopping them but their own imaginations, budgets and level of commitment.

    9.) Not all bands should toot horns. All of the marketing in the world won’t work if you’re not honest about what you’re selling. Marketing is often spin, but it can’t be spun out of control. Social media is keeping brands more and more honest these days. Keep that in mind when you’re communicating your product’s or service’s strengths to your key audiences. It’s like the band that uses studio tricks and effects to make their album sound masterfully polished…but then can’t pull it off live. You WILL get found out.

    10.) Grow your hair out and wear second-hand clothes. Brands need to be known for something—big brands and small businesses alike. In music-artist terms, you need to have an “image.” Do some in-depth soul searching to discover what yours is—and what you want it to be—then carefully craft that message for all to behold. Preach that message internally, and live it always externally. Be consistent, and be recognizable.

    11.) Have fun. Life’s too short to sweat the small stuff. In other words, “Rock on!”

    (For those who are interested, and for those who don’t believe me, see more about Jes Gru, the band that was, here, here, here and here.)