Types of Business

If a person is asked if they think that they have competition in their business (does anyone else do exactly what they do or is their product/service completely unique), their response is generally no, they don't have competition. They are completely unique. Wrong! Everyone has competition. Don't think in a way that might hurt you The first thing that you need to come to terms with is that what you do is probably not unique. That doesn't mean that it is not different and that it does not have unique qualities to it. However, to think that it is 100% unique and that nobody else in the universe does anything that even remotely resembles what you do is just not true. If your competitors have been in business for a while (at least, longer than you have been), the chances are really good that they already went through at least some of the trials and tribulations that you have yet to experience. At this point, you need to ask yourself why you need to learn the hard way. ...

Revisiting the Sales and Marketing Conversation Back in October 2015, we shared an article called "5 Ways Marketing Departments Help Salespeople Catch Butterflies." Recently a tenfold article was shared with us, titled "What is the Meaning of Sales & Marketing and Their Advantages?" and, I have to say, it does a pretty awesome job of breaking down the differences, responsibilities, and links between sales and marketing roles. Why revisit this now? Because it has never been more apparent that the relationship between sales and marketing is still just as misunderstood as ever, especially with advances in marketing technology. Setting the Record Straight Many in the business world, especially those who rely on sales and marketing for success, don't actually have a concrete grasp on exactly what sales and marketing are. Yes, the two are linked, but they are not one and the same. Sales departments rely on marketing; marketing departments and strategie...

Many people think that it is difficult to make money through Affiliate Marketing. Probably it is because of the jargon and the use of technology like affiliate links. Some people believe that earning money through direct selling is easier to manage. What many do not realize is that the potential to earn out of Affiliate Marketing is limitless. Let us now take you into the journey of your affiliate marketing career. What is Affiliate Marketing? Simply put, Affiliate Marketing is an activity where you sell the goods or services of other people, not yours. In exchange, these merchants give you a fraction of their profits. How much can you earn from these sales? Many affiliate programs offer a minimum of 10% of the sales price. Some will offer up to a whopping 50%. So imagine if the sales price is USD 100.00, you get $50.00. Multiply this by 100 sales per month and you get USD 5,000.00 per month. And this is only for a single product. In a nutshell, you need to look for merch...

An ongoing debate exists in the marketing industry that begs the following question: Is it more important to devise a marketing strategy or to execute actions to achieve your goal? There are good arguments all the way around this debate, but when it comes down to it, the answer is really... neither. You simply can't be successful without either one. The problem, however, is that many companies, consultants, and marketers do a lot of "theory" and talking, without taking it beyond that. They can sit around and discuss all the latest marketing tactics and even try to put them in place, but in the end, it's all for naught if they don't develop a solid strategy and execution steps to make it work for their business. It's like school-you can sit in a classroom and learn all the information and theory that is taught to you, but what good is it unless you can apply it in real life? We all know this, but as marketers, we forget that it works the same way. Unde...

What do you think you need more than anything else to attract more of your ideal clients? Many people will say, "better information to show me how to do what works." Others will say, "more motivation and drive to implement what I already know." Another common answer is, "more time to fit marketing activities into my schedule." And lots of people will say, "I need better goals and more clarity about what I want to achieve." In writing this ezine/blog for the past 20 years I've talked about the importance of all of those. But I'm finally understanding a factor that is much more important: good habits. Over the past year, I've been a big advocate of the writings of James Clear. He writes a blog about success and habits. And he just came out with his first book, Atomic Habits, which is fantastic. Even though James isn't a marketing expert, I'm convinced he's right when he says that the ultimate determinant o...

Does the following give a pretty good picture of your current marketing activity? You have a website but you're not really satisfied with it. You go to networking events once in a while. If someone asks you to give a talk, you're happy to do it. You post on Facebook and/or LinkedIn semi-regularly. When you find the time, you send an article to those on your relatively small email list. You occasionally set up meetings with colleagues to explore opportunities. Now there's nothing wrong with any of those marketing activities. And usually, they will result in landing some new clients. But this is not the approach that works to get a steady, predictable stream of new clients. Please don't tune me out here, thinking, "Well, I really can't do more than this. I'm already stretched thin. If you give me too much to do I'll get overwhelmed." I agree. It's not that you need to do more marketing, it's that you need to shift your marketing p...

Your marketing message communicates to the world what your business is about. And your LinkedIn profile is the perfect place to both develop and spotlight your most focused marketing message.LinkedIn is one of the most important online tools for marketing your professional services. However, only a very small percentage of users post-effective summaries of their business on their LinkedIn profile. Your LinkedIn profile needs to telegraph the essential message and value of your business. This article shows you exactly how to do that. Your Business Headline The very first item someone reads on your profile is your business headline. And almost all of them are bad. They are typically titles (Patent Attorney, Management Consultant, Personal Chef) or labels of what people do (tax preparation specialist, training in communication skills). None of these are effective messages because they don't communicate how the professional can help their clients. Instead, you want somethin...

I've probably had more conversations about this topic with clients than any other: What marketing strategies should I use to market my professional services? These days, there are more options to market yourself than ever before. And you may have a tendency to look for something quick and easy that will generate a never-ending stream of new prospective clients. I wish that a solution existed. Some of the newer methods of marketing, such as YouTube videos, are very powerful, but extremely difficult for the average person to pull off successfully. Over the years, I've had tremendous success with three primary marketing activities. And I've also helped a whole lot of clients implement these strategies successfully as well. Nevertheless, for all of them, it can take a tremendous amount of time and energy to get consistent results. Here are the pros and cons of each strategy and my overall recommendations about how to integrate each one into your overall marketing pla...

I like to think I'm a pretty good marketer of my professional services. After all, I've been at it for 34 years, read hundreds of marketing books, thousands of articles and studied with the very best marketing gurus. But marketing is still challenging for me and the majority of independent professionals. If it weren't, we'd all have more clients than we could serve, they'd be paying us high fees, and we'd never having to worry where our next clients would come from. And we wouldn't need the thousands of marketing coaches and consultants like me offering services of all kinds to help you attract more clients. So, why is marketing so challenging? There are many marketing challenges, however, if you look at marketing closely, there are actually only three big challenges that give us the most trouble. Learn how to meet those challenges and your marketing will become more successful, easier, and fun. Here are those three marketing challenges: Cha...

Is it possible to use the personalized email that gets a response, and ultimately, new clients, from those in your network? I'm not talking about mass direct emails, but sending individual emails to people in one's network, LinkedIn connections, past clients, etc. to generate enough interest to get a conversation with that person. For a full year, I conducted a Marketing Action Group program to teach and support participants to use direct, personalized emails to get new business. In this article, I want to share the results with you and also best practices for emails that get the most response. Many of the participants got very good results and ultimately attracted enough clients to fill their practices. Of course, some were less successful. What are the things that made the biggest difference between those who got great results and those who didn't? Quality of the contacts and relationships This may have been the most significant factor of all. If you are...