Marketing Made Simple!
by Bob Stalbaum

If I had to draw any conclusions as to why so many businesses seem to languish without achieving real and sustained success, I’d attribute it to the following three fundamental flaws:

1. Far too many businesses don’t have a meaningful and compelling value proposition.

2. Even when they do, they don’t know how to effectively communicate what it is.

3. They don’t truly understand marketing, and the benefits it provides.

Let me explain.

Look at your current company brochure, your latest ad or the most recent sales letter you’ve sent out. Is it immediately obvious what makes you better? Would a prospect clearly see why they should choose to do business with your organization over your competitors?

Define what makes you special

If you don’t have a real, quantifiable and exciting reason why prospects should buy from you, your business is in trouble and chances are excellent you probably find yourself competing a lot on price!

The only way to get out of this predicament, and ensure long-term success, is to learn how to provide people with a real reason to buy from you. You’ve got to distinguish yourself from your competitors.

Learn how to say it effectively

Next, you’ve got to be able to articulate what your value proposition is. Even when a business owner has a unique selling proposition, they frequently don’t know how to effectively communicate what makes them "good." When prospects for your business can’t distinguish your business from your competitors because of your inability to state what makes you better in a compelling and embraceable way, you’ve got a problem!

I am sorry to say that just talking about how long you’ve been in business, how great your service is, or the high quality of your products won’t drive business to you anymore. Most often, prospects simply dismiss those pronouncements merely as platitudes and hype.

Market using a systematized approach

Finally, when you have something to say, and you decide to make the commitment to "tell your story," you’ve got to do it the right way. You can’t just cram everything you want your prospects to know about your organization into one all-encompassing advertisement or marketing piece and send it out one time.

Instead, you’ve got to create a systematized series of well-articulated marketing messages that will generate interest with your top prospects, address their areas of concern, build trust with them over time, and position your products and services as the obvious best choice.

"Why is all of this necessary?" you ask. Well, there are two very good reasons.

Understanding the buying process

First, you must realize that there are many different stages of "the buying process" and that there is a whole procedure people go through from the time they start thinking of buying your product or service, and the time they actually do. Prospects begin by realizing they may have an interest in the products and services you sell. They start gathering information. Then, they begin asking for recommendations from friends and peers. Next, they begin to narrow their choices…and so it goes.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine what stage of the process your prospects are in. Consequently, you must market to them with frequency and consistency, so that whenever they are ready to actually buy, yours is the company of which they think of.

Second, consumers and business owners alike are now bombarded with hundreds of different advertising messages a day. Of those, they probably take note of just a small handful, and choose to act on fewer still. One reason for this is that people don’t really notice most ads on a conscious level.

Focus on "hot buttons"

To get prospects to notice your marketing, my best advice is to focus your marketing efforts on their problems, needs, wants, concerns, frustrations and annoyances. I call these their "hot buttons." The best way to do this is with big, bold provocative headlines. (In a radio or TV ad, this is accomplished through the first sentence spoken.) Use headlines to sell the hurt; make prospects feel their pain; and move them into a state of consciousness.

Build your case

Once you have accomplished this, use the rest of your ad to position your product or service as the solution to their problems. This is best achieved by educating prospects and providing them with the relevant information they need to make an informed buying decision. The more compelling and convincing your case, the more successful you will be.

Don’t be afraid to guide prospects and share valuable information with them. The more you do, the more valuable you make yourself. In sharing what you know, you also have the opportunity to prove your expertise and gain their trust and confidence. When you’ve accomplished this, you take a giant step forward in the sales process.

Provide prospects with evidence that you can solve their problem by incorporating testimonials, public acknowledgements, awards, case studies and facts and figures into your campaign.

Consistency is key

Most important of all, you must understand that good marketing requires a sustained commitment. Consistency is key to your success. Think in terms of a campaign, not just one letter. Make up your mind to communicate with your top prospect at least every two weeks. Make sure that each communication builds upon the learning experience of the last, and that each contact is designed to move your prospect one step closer toward their purchase.

So there you have it: marketing made simple! Utilize this approach and I guarantee you’ll have all the business you want!

AlphaGraphics LaGrange Park provides offset and digital printing, graphic design, signs, mailing services, post cards, direct marketing solutions, variable data printing, personal websites (PURLS) and crossmedia campaigns. We are locally owned and operated, dedicated to serving the needs of our customers. We do more than just design, copy and print––we help our customers GROW! Let our team of professionals work with you to find the best solutions for your needs. .

Like all AlphaGraphics locations, we are committed to quality and customer satisfaction, when promised, as promised. Whatever your printing or marketing communication needs, we can help. Call us or e-mail us today to get started.

Social Media is for My Kids

By Gini Dietrich

I talk to people every day about social media and there is a common theme: “I don’t understand why I should care what people say on Twitter” or “I have a Facebook fan page, but no one is talking to me there” or “Social media is for my kids; my customers don’t use it.”


Gini Dietrich

I’ll tell you something, though. According to a study by Cone LLC, 93 percent of Americans expect the companies that they do business with to have a social media presence. So you may think your customers don’t use it, and they might not to communicate with your company, but they use it daily to do business with other companies and, quite potentially, your competition.

Everyone is so focused on the tools, and not the philosophy or the strategy, that it’s no wonder it’s overwhelming and exhausting…and that it’s not working for some.

So let’s start from the beginning. If you’re thinking about social media from a tool perspective (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, Google Buzz, Foursquare, Yammer, etc.), you’re not ever going to achieve what you want, both from business and personal points of view.

Social media is about having better relationships.

· Better relationships with your customers/clients.
· Better relationships with employees or colleagues.
· Better relationships with prospective customers/clients.
· Better relationships with stakeholders.
· Better relationships with potential talent.

Better relationships, on a one-to-one level, using the tools that are available to you (right now) to make you more efficient.

Those of us who spend time daily in social media understand the value and power of it.

· A customer who is unhappy can be turned into a brand ambassador, just by listening to what they have to say, responding to them, and making changes.

· A new product or location can be launched by asking for ideas from your customers in order to make them feel like they have ownership in your brand.

· Someone across the country or even overseas has access to your product or service.

But none of these things happen if you build your social networks and expect people to come to you. Or if you use the social networks as just another way to sell your wares.

I always say this is not the Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will not come. So I want you to do two things:

1. Listen, listen, listen. Listen to what people are saying online about you, your company, your competitors, and your industry. Tools such as Google alerts, Backtype, and TweetBeep will help you do just that and will send you alerts so you don’t have to go out and get the information yourself.

2. Think about social media as a way to network 24/7. What is the first thing you do when you go to a networking event (after you get a drink)? You introduce yourself to someone you don’t know. You join a conversation. You ask questions. You listen. Then you decide if the people you’ve met are going to become a referral source, a new customer, a new employee, or a new friend.

If you listen and if you network, once you build your channels (on the platforms where your audiences already are) they will come.

Advertising says to people, 'Here’s what we've got. Here's what it will do for you. Here's how to get it."

Leo Burnett

Want Lots More Sales? Avoid These Seven Deadly Sins
By Drayton Bird

A few years ago, after making a speech about copywriting that I thought was excellent in every way, my childish delight at my own brilliance was destroyed by a cynical listener.

He said, "Well, you seem to know just about everything about what to do in order to write good sales copy. So why can't you guarantee success?" With rare modesty, I replied that I don't know everything you should do -- merely most of the things you shouldn't.

So let's look not at what makes for good copy, but at why most copy stinks. Because until you banish the bad, how can you hope to succeed?

I bet if you look through your ads and mailings, you will find some -- if not all -- of the following seven common sins.

The first sin is being slow to get to the point.

Weak beginnings kill sales. Signs of a weak beginning are being slow to mention the main benefit and incentive. (You don't offer an incentive? Shame on you. Incentives always, if they are relevant, increase sales by more than they cost.)

Your incentive should be impossible to ignore. Its purpose is not merely to persuade people to reply, it is to encourage them to read.

Research by Ogilvy and Mather, done 20 odd years ago, found that if you get people to read the first 250 words of your copy, 70 percent of them will read all of it. So a weak beginning loses your readers when it matters most.

Copywriters seem to have minds like old auto engines, which needed to be warmed up for a few minutes. They often put in a couple of paragraphs of waffle before they get to the point. Maybe it's fear of being rejected when they do.

You will often find that you can edit the first three paragraphs down to two without losing any meaning, but gaining in "attack." On a surprising number of occasions, you will also find that the best place to begin is round about paragraph three.

Your job is to communicate as fast as possible what you're are talking about. Prospects don't have time to work out our clever ideas or subtle approaches. Remember, they have only one thought in their minds: "What's in it for me?"

The second sin is forgetting there must be something for your prospect at every point in the message.

The reader's eye may turn first to the letter, the brochure, the order form, or some other piece in the mailing. Their eyes hover over an ad before they start to read it. And they skip around e-mails and landing pages.

Certain elements -- headings, illustrations, videos, and captions -- attract the most attention. So make sure your most prominent benefit and your incentives are boldly featured wherever that reader's eye might land.

Don't worry about repetition. Just vary the way you make the point each time.

The third sin is failing to do a complete selling job.

You must give every sensible reason why your reader should respond -- and overcome every reasonable objection they may have.

Years ago, when my agency had the Reader's Digest record account, I noticed that if we did not list every tune in a compilation ad, we lost sales. Everyone looked for their favorite tune. If it wasn't there, that gave them a reason not to buy -- and vice versa. Omit nothing relevant!

The fourth sin is failing to prove that what you say is true.

As David Ogilvy once said, "Why should anyone take the word of an anonymous copywriter?" Which is why you should always include testimonials in your marketing copy.

If you don't have a testimonial file, start building one. It's easy: Just ask your customers to tell you what they think. You can ask them to rate your product/service on a scale of one to five, or from poor to excellent. By doing so, you can then say something like "78 percent of our customers rated this good or excellent."

When using testimonials, it's a good idea to show photos of the people who wrote them, and even their signatures. Or show their letters in the original handwritten or typewritten form. This makes them more believable. It doesn't matter if your testimonials have spelling or grammar errors. In fact, that may make them even more convincing.

The fifth sin is not showing enough people.

I've lost count of the number of times I have looked at visual treatments of copy and suggested: "Why don't you put pictures of people in it?" People look at people.

For example, in the ads for our client INSEAD -- the world's most expensive business school -- I included a picture of the associate dean. We found that when it was omitted, response dropped by nearly half.

The sixth sin is wasting money on unnecessary elements.

Every word, every picture, every piece of paper, every element of a mailing must contribute to the result. If you can't see what job something is doing, take it out. You are wasting your money and your prospects' time.

Many mailings include the traditional letter, brochure, envelope, etc., where the brochure is only there because people think there should be one. Sometimes a letter without a brochure will do just as well -- or even better.

One famous example: an insurance company that sent out a mailing every year that included a beautiful brochure featuring the prospect's horoscope. It was timed to arrive on the prospect's birthday. One year, they forgot to put in the brochure... and response went up by 25 percent.

Another example: I changed a mailing for a loan company by taking out two brochures. The response doubled, while the cost of the mailing was reduced by 66 percent.

A brochure costs money -- and the higher the cost of the mailing, the harder it is to make a profit.

Some of the most successful pieces I've written -- particularly in the financial and business-to-business fields -- have contained no brochure. They were simple letters, perhaps even more persuasive because they seemed somehow less commercial.

The seventh sin is a weak ending.

Every element in any mailing, ad, e-mail, landing page, or commercial has to be good if you are going to get results -- but two are more important than the others: the opening (which I have already covered) and the close.

You must make it easy for your prospect to respond. American Express once enjoyed a 30 percent uplift in sales in a highly competitive market, largely by making the application easier to fill in.

The close should be powerful and persuasive, and should repeat all the reasons why your prospect ought to reply, including the offer. If you don't get every single person who is slightly interested to respond, it's a shame. You got them this far. NOW's the time to cash in.

One important weapon, originally developed by Reader's Digest, is the yes/no technique - getting people to choose. I have never seen it fail to increase response. You get more no's than yes's, but you get more yes's than you would have gotten without it.

Remember that you can have more than one call to action -- in fact, the more the better. Have one early on for people who don't need much persuasion. Then keep asking in different ways.

All of the above may sound simple and obvious. But then, most of the things that make big differences in business are.

And please don't think I'm being a know-it-all. I still make these silly mistakes -- but that doesn't mean you have to.

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions."

Martin Luther King Jr.

Fuel Your Business Growth With the Power of Thought
By Rich Schefren

It's no big secret that I've coached more "up-and-comer" Internet entrepreneurs to guru status than anyone else. Heck, that's why I'm often referred to as "the guru to the gurus."

So it's no big surprise that I'm often asked...

What single trait separates the winners from the losers?

My answer: Winners spend time THINKING!

Yep, you read that right. It's that simple.

That's one of the reasons I enjoy blogging. It forces me to think. Better yet, blogging forces me to think about the concerns of my prospects. And the more I think about ways to solve their challenges... the more my advantage grows over my competitors.

But today, we're not talking about blogging, thinking about our prospects' challenges, or solving our prospects' problems.

Nope. Today we're talking about how you can grow your business by thinking.

You see, most Internet marketers make a disastrous mistake. They falsely assume that "knowing more" is more important than "thinking better."

So they spend an inordinate amount of time learning more instead of thinking more.

What about you? Are you spending more time learning than thinking?

If I were to guess, I'd say you've already invested plenty of time (or plan to) in learning lots of different things related to online marketing and growing your business.

Now don't get me wrong. That's important. But unless you did some focused thinking first, the odds are high that you've learned many things that aren't really necessary for growing your business right now.

I'm talking about the difference between "just-in-case" learning and "just-in-time" learning.

Right about now, you're probably expecting me to present you with a persuasive logical argument in favor of better thinking. But I'm not going to do that...

Why? Because one personal experience on your end will trump a thousand logical arguments on mine.

So today, I want you to think about your business for 60 minutes -- and I assure you... it won't be easy.

Specifically, here's what I want you to do...

1. Spend 15 minutes identifying all the obstacles currently standing in the way of your business goals. Then choose the one you believe will give you the biggest payoff if eliminated.

2. Next, spend 15 minutes trying to uncover the root cause of that obstacle. You can do it by thinking about the obstacle and asking yourself, "Why am I experiencing this stumbling block?" When you have an answer to that question, ask yourself WHY about your answer. Keep repeating the process until you've drilled down to the root cause of the obstacle -- at least five levels below the surface.

3. Now, spend 15 minutes brainstorming as many different approaches as you can come up with to dealing with the root cause of the problem. Choose the solution you believe to be best.

4. Finally, for the last 15 minutes, think through all the steps you'd need to take to execute the solution you just identified.

Then... get to work on it!

In other words, take action immediately.

The idea is to minimize the time from the conception of your plan to its completion.

That's what winners do. They first spend time thinking through new solutions to their problems. And when a new solution works, they not only get an immediate payoff, they also have new intellectual capital they can use (and sometimes sell) over and over again.

"Advertising says to people, 'Here’s what we've got. Here's what it will do for you. Here's how to get it."

Leo Burnett

Want Lots More Sales? Avoid These Seven Deadly Sins
By Drayton Bird

A few years ago, after making a speech about copywriting that I thought was excellent in every way, my childish delight at my own brilliance was destroyed by a cynical listener.

He said, "Well, you seem to know just about everything about what to do in order to write good sales copy. So why can't you guarantee success?" With rare modesty, I replied that I don't know everything you should do -- merely most of the things you shouldn't.

So let's look not at what makes for good copy, but at why most copy stinks. Because until you banish the bad, how can you hope to succeed?

I bet if you look through your ads and mailings, you will find some -- if not all -- of the following seven common sins.

The first sin is being slow to get to the point.

Weak beginnings kill sales. Signs of a weak beginning are being slow to mention the main benefit and incentive. (You don't offer an incentive? Shame on you. Incentives always, if they are relevant, increase sales by more than they cost.)

Your incentive should be impossible to ignore. Its purpose is not merely to persuade people to reply, it is to encourage them to read.

Research by Ogilvy and Mather, done 20 odd years ago, found that if you get people to read the first 250 words of your copy, 70 percent of them will read all of it. So a weak beginning loses your readers when it matters most.

Copywriters seem to have minds like old auto engines, which needed to be warmed up for a few minutes. They often put in a couple of paragraphs of waffle before they get to the point. Maybe it's fear of being rejected when they do.

You will often find that you can edit the first three paragraphs down to two without losing any meaning, but gaining in "attack." On a surprising number of occasions, you will also find that the best place to begin is round about paragraph three.

Your job is to communicate as fast as possible what you're are talking about. Prospects don't have time to work out our clever ideas or subtle approaches. Remember, they have only one thought in their minds: "What's in it for me?"

The second sin is forgetting there must be something for your prospect at every point in the message.

The reader's eye may turn first to the letter, the brochure, the order form, or some other piece in the mailing. Their eyes hover over an ad before they start to read it. And they skip around e-mails and landing pages.

Certain elements -- headings, illustrations, videos, and captions -- attract the most attention. So make sure your most prominent benefit and your incentives are boldly featured wherever that reader's eye might land.

Don't worry about repetition. Just vary the way you make the point each time.

The third sin is failing to do a complete selling job.

You must give every sensible reason why your reader should respond -- and overcome every reasonable objection they may have.

Years ago, when my agency had the Reader's Digest record account, I noticed that if we did not list every tune in a compilation ad, we lost sales. Everyone looked for their favorite tune. If it wasn't there, that gave them a reason not to buy -- and vice versa. Omit nothing relevant!

The fourth sin is failing to prove that what you say is true.

As David Ogilvy once said, "Why should anyone take the word of an anonymous copywriter?" Which is why you should always include testimonials in your marketing copy.

If you don't have a testimonial file, start building one. It's easy: Just ask your customers to tell you what they think. You can ask them to rate your product/service on a scale of one to five, or from poor to excellent. By doing so, you can then say something like "78 percent of our customers rated this good or excellent."

When using testimonials, it's a good idea to show photos of the people who wrote them, and even their signatures. Or show their letters in the original handwritten or typewritten form. This makes them more believable. It doesn't matter if your testimonials have spelling or grammar errors. In fact, that may make them even more convincing.

The fifth sin is not showing enough people.

I've lost count of the number of times I have looked at visual treatments of copy and suggested: "Why don't you put pictures of people in it?" People look at people.

For example, in the ads for our client INSEAD -- the world's most expensive business school -- I included a picture of the associate dean. We found that when it was omitted, response dropped by nearly half.

The sixth sin is wasting money on unnecessary elements.

Every word, every picture, every piece of paper, every element of a mailing must contribute to the result. If you can't see what job something is doing, take it out. You are wasting your money and your prospects' time.

Many mailings include the traditional letter, brochure, envelope, etc., where the brochure is only there because people think there should be one. Sometimes a letter without a brochure will do just as well -- or even better.

One famous example: an insurance company that sent out a mailing every year that included a beautiful brochure featuring the prospect's horoscope. It was timed to arrive on the prospect's birthday. One year, they forgot to put in the brochure... and response went up by 25 percent.

Another example: I changed a mailing for a loan company by taking out two brochures. The response doubled, while the cost of the mailing was reduced by 66 percent.

A brochure costs money -- and the higher the cost of the mailing, the harder it is to make a profit.

Some of the most successful pieces I've written -- particularly in the financial and business-to-business fields -- have contained no brochure. They were simple letters, perhaps even more persuasive because they seemed somehow less commercial.

The seventh sin is a weak ending.

Every element in any mailing, ad, e-mail, landing page, or commercial has to be good if you are going to get results -- but two are more important than the others: the opening (which I have already covered) and the close.

You must make it easy for your prospect to respond. American Express once enjoyed a 30 percent uplift in sales in a highly competitive market, largely by making the application easier to fill in.

The close should be powerful and persuasive, and should repeat all the reasons why your prospect ought to reply, including the offer. If you don't get every single person who is slightly interested to respond, it's a shame. You got them this far. NOW's the time to cash in.

One important weapon, originally developed by Reader's Digest, is the yes/no technique - getting people to choose. I have never seen it fail to increase response. You get more no's than yes's, but you get more yes's than you would have gotten without it.

Remember that you can have more than one call to action -- in fact, the more the better. Have one early on for people who don't need much persuasion. Then keep asking in different ways.

All of the above may sound simple and obvious. But then, most of the things that make big differences in business are.

And please don't think I'm being a know-it-all. I still make these silly mistakes -- but that doesn't mean you have to.

To serve is to rule. Who are you ruling?

You've all heard the stories - fabulous stories of great service. Nordstrom, Lexus, Auto Zone, Les Schwab, and individuals in small businesses that have gone WAY BEYOND the norm to provide extraordinary service.

You have probably heard them enough to make you sick.

Especially if your service is lousy.

You go to the airport and see some huge banner of an airline BRAGGING about the "satisfaction award" they just won from J.D. Powers. HUH? Am I missing something here? When did an airline deserve to win anything? Maybe the luggage fee award, but I can't see how anyone who makes a customer wait endlessly on the phone, get dinged for everything under the sun, be penalized to change a ticket, and stand on line for an hour to receive "service" just to get a boarding pass and get charged for a bag or two should be rewarded. Help me understand the "award" part of that.

But I digress.

As a country, each of us has had a wake-up call both in business and individually. Things ain't what they used to be. And in spite of what you may hear or read from some economic or government genius, it will be a long time until things return.

Meanwhile in the real world, you and I have a job to do, a business to run, customers to serve, people to employ, and attitudes (morale) to maintain. Some will take these tasks more seriously than others.

And now is not the time to point fingers and blame. Now is the time to take responsibility – personal responsibility – for the outcome of business success, especially your business success. Whether you own it, sell for it, work in it, or are part of the family of someone employed, NOW IS THE TIME.

REALITY: There is no handout, er, I mean bailout coming in the mail for you. The check is NOT in the mail.

REALITY: You are the bailout. I am the bailout. Together we are the collective bailout.

REALITY: Your victory starts with your customer's victory. Without customers, there is no chance of winning.

REALITY: There are less customers, and those that are left have less to spend.

NOTE: I didn't say, "nothing to spend," I said, "less to spend."

Now is the time to think: SERVICE BEFORE SALES.

Here are the elements of your bailout, your survival, your sales, and your success:

Success starts with attitude training. If you, or your people, or your co-workers are angry, afraid, or resentful, it will reflect in the way customers are served.

Leadership creates the tone, and the environment for success. Employees look to employers for direction, and to set the example.

Attitude starts inside with co-workers and bosses. Train attitude before you train service – invest in people. Start with real world training.

It costs no extra to be friendly. But friendly is worth a fortune, and a reputation.

Identify every service opportunity. There are probably less than 25 actual opportunities to serve co-workers and customers. Once you identify them, have a company meeting (or meetings) to identify best practices – and dates to IMPLEMENT new and better strategies and expressions.

Service is an individual not a company. Serve for yourself first. This is perhaps the most difficult of all the points I'm making. It means you have to be personally responsible for everything you say and do – for yourself and for others.

Service is a personal act of pride, not a chore. Most people fail to realize how powerful service really is. Service is not a job or a task. It's not a bunch of words you say to others. It's not how you respond and react to a situation. It's not just recovering from an error. Service is being kind, having a heart, and doing the right thing – the best thing – in favor of your customers.

Well, there you have it. The secret sauce, the formula, and the actions that will help you through these trying times.

GREAT NEWS! If you start today, you'll be just in time to catch the wave of customers as the economy begins to tick up – or should I say up-tick? Either way, the clock is running. Better catch it before it blows by you – to your competition.

"Persuasion is often more effectual than force."

Aesop

Upsells
By David Cross

Salt is a restaurant tucked away near Patterson Park in Baltimore. I ate there last week. I'd give it 8.5 points out of 10, which for me is a very good rating. The food was great and I received an immediate warm and friendly welcome by the owner, Jane. But it was my waitress, Theresa, who really made the evening.

She also reminded me of the importance of push marketing, which is what we do as direct marketers. We go out and find customers. Then we promote products, services, and ideas that are of interest to them. That is probably the business model you want to follow.

When I ordered, Theresa didn't just write it down, nod, and manage a "Yeah," like many waiters and waitresses do. She repeated my order back to me. As she did, she described each dish exactly, including the flavors and subtleties of how it would be prepared.

I knew I'd made the right choices, because Theresa immediately validated my decisions. And my taste buds were titillated as she expanded on the already-appetizing menu. Throughout the meal, she took a genuine interest in how everything tasted.

And now comes our marketing lesson...

I dislike being "sold to," don't you? But I do enjoy getting suggestions for things I might enjoy. Theresa took the opportunity to suggest drinks, appetizers, and side dishes that would complement my entree. And after I'd eaten, she conjured up visions of scrumptious desserts that I couldn't pass up. Those additions probably added $25 to my bill. All told, I'm guessing she pump's up Salt's sales by a few hundred thousand dollars every year. If the restaurant has three "Theresas," that means an additional 15 to 25 percent in profits.

But push marketing is not something you do once and rest on your laurels. Push marketing should permeate your online business. And at no time is this more important than when a customer is in the process of taking an action -- like making a purchase or signing up to receive information from you. That's because, at that hallowed time, your customer is much more likely to take the exact same action over again. How many times have you gone shopping for one thing and come back with many other items? (This is what Michael Masterson calls "The Buying Frenzy.")

When your customer is placing an order, do you take the order and nod? Or do you suggest things they may like that would complement their choice?

• Ordering a nice fountain pen? How about this lovely leather-bound notebook to go with it to record your important thoughts?

• Signing up for a one-year subscription to our newsletter? You'll love it! If you add a second year to your subscription right now, we'll knock off $50 and give you this free magnifying glass.

• We notice you're buying the Beginner's Trout Fishing Kit. Check out this beginner's guide to trout fishing written by our in-house trout fishing expert. It's yours for just $9.95 with the purchase of your kit.

I could list dozens of real-world examples off the top of my head. One upsell that you're probably familiar with is Amazon.com's Prime service -- which gives "members" unlimited two-day shipping on millions of items. (It's free for 30 days; $79/year thereafter.)

Companies that offer upsells generally increase their average per-transaction value by 15 to 30 percent. In other words, just by giving customers the opportunity to add something else when placing their order, an average customer order of, say, $87 is now worth $100 to $113.

Ready to start using upsells? Here are some tips:

• The cost of the upsell should generally be less than the cost of the primary item. Some marketers suggest that somewhere between a tenth to a third of the price of the original item is about the right price to test.

• Do it judiciously. Offering an upsell on every item in a shopping cart or in your e-mail pitches can be overwhelming (giving customers too many choices) and result in too high a final price (which means they may cancel their entire order). Start by testing one upsell on a popular item. You are trying to nudge up your overall average order value, not double it in one fell swoop!

• The upsell should be relevant to the primary item being sold. But if you want to test an overall "all items in cart upsell," check the stock in your garage or warehouse and offer something you already have.

Most shopping carts and e-mail marketing programs have upsell capabilities. Done correctly, it can boost your online business with very little extra work on your part.

"In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Are You an Existentialist?
By Alexander Green

I recently received a letter from an Atlanta Falcons player who told me he quit the NFL not long after reading my book The Secret of Shelter Island.

"I realized I was living someone else's dream, not mine," he said. "The truth is I haven't enjoyed football since high school."

Some might be surprised that anyone would walk away from all that money and celebrity. But perhaps he's an existentialist. They recognize the dangers of living an inauthentic life.

Who, exactly, are the existentialists and what do they know? Existentialism is a philosophical movement that came about in the late 19th century. It is not some abstract set of theoretical truths. Rather it is a no-nonsense philosophy that encourages you to take a hard look at your life and ask two essential questions: Who am I and how shall I live?

Its goal is to awaken us from our slumber, have us grab life by the lapels and start living authentically. Unfortunately, there is no particular school that offers a systematic account of existentialism. Its founders were fierce individualists who avoided labels, detested "isms," and refused to be lumped into any group.

So there is no grand philosophical system here. Essentially, existentialism exists at the intersection of the essays of Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre, the novels of Albert Camus and Fyodor Dostoevsky, the religious writings of Soren Kierkegaard and Paul Tillich, and the plays of Harold Pinter and even William Shakespeare (particularly Hamlet and King Lear). Clearly, existentialism is older than the term itself. The philosophy is based on six general themes:

1. Acceptance of the Absurd. Each of us drops unexpectedly into this world, in a universe where time -- at least as we know it -- has no beginning, space no end, and life no pre-set meaning. It is an inexplicable mystery. This realization is hardly new, of course. Ecclesiastes kicks off with the words "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. What does man gain from all his labor and toil here under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3). Existentialists believe that it's only when you confront the fundamental absurdity of life that you begin to live honestly.

2. Personal Freedom. Life itself may be meaningless, but you give it meaning when you begin making important choices. These, in turn, reveal who you are. With freedom of choice, however, comes responsibility. Taking ownership of your decisions means not blaming your parents, your spouse, your teachers, or anyone else for the shape of your life. More responsibility brings greater freedom. And with it: hope.

3. Individualism. Existentialists are keenly aware that society continually pulls us toward conformity. There are immense social pressures to go along, get along, and live pretty much like everyone else. Existentialists challenge you to buck conventional wisdom, express your true nature, and follow your dream, whatever that may be.

4. Authenticity. Most people are so consumed by desire, guilt, fear, or anxiety about what other people think that they find it almost impossible to follow their true calling. However, it's only when you begin to do what you want -- and not what others expect -- that you begin to live authentically. But expect resistance. Institutions want to mold you. Other people want you to go on their trip. It's far easier to live unthinkingly as part of the crowd. Yet authentic individuals are in control of their own lives.

5. Passion. Being passionate and engaged is crucial. This doesn't mean acting crazy or hysterical. Quite the opposite, in fact. Existentialists believe you should devote yourself to a cause, one that you're willing to organize your life around, perhaps even die for. For Kierkegaard, that passion was the pursuit of truth. For others, it may be artistic expression, healing the sick, or building a business that employs hundreds and serves thousands. In all walks of life, you'll find that passionate men and women are more purposeful.

6. Acceptance of Death. Life is finite. Yet existentialists don't see this as a reason for pessimism. Facing death is what forces you to take life seriously, use your time wisely, and make meaningful choices. It should invigorate your life. As the character Andy puts it in The Shawshank Redemption: "Get busy living or get busy dying."

Nietzsche, the philosopher most closely associated with existentialism, refers to it as the noble ideal. Your life, he argues, is an unwritten book that only you can write. Or, he says, visualize your life as a kind of artistic project, except that you are both the sculptor and the clay. This concept runs throughout existentialist works.

Martin Heidegger counsels us to learn to "dwell poetically." Kierkegaard says "to exist is an art." All existentialists agree that life has the meaning you choose to give it. Sartre even declared that man is "nothing else but what he makes of himself." This view is fairly widespread in the West today. But it was once considered revolutionary.

The Catholic Church, for instance, decided that Sartre's ideas were so dangerous that it placed his entire works on the Vatican Index of Prohibited Books -- including those he hadn't yet written! Ideas can be dynamite. And the proclamation that you should live your life on your own terms rather than according to the dictates of an institution was explosive. Perhaps that's why existentialism is called the philosophy of freedom.

No matter how things stand in your life, you choose how to interpret your situation. You choose how to respond to it. Even if you do nothing, you still have made a choice. There is no escaping the consequences of your actions -- or your inaction. This makes some people profoundly uncomfortable, of course. They don't like facing up to the world as it is. They don't want responsibility. It's easier to blame others, circumstances, or "the breaks."

Existentialism, however, is known as "the no-excuses philosophy." You may be old. You may be broke. You may be sick. But existentialists say you start from where you are and move forward.

How? By accepting responsibility and making choices.

This isn't always easy. Pursuing authenticity requires relentless self-examination. It exposes you to things about yourself that you may not want to know. It may cause discomfort or friction with others. But inauthentic lives, by comparison, are shallow, trivial, and unsatisfying. They are often marked by the dogged pursuit of material goods, social status, or the approval of others.

In many ways existentialism is a return to the roots of philosophy, a return to the ancients' concern with truth, virtue, and the art of living well. Existentialism offers a guide to the perplexed. It shows us not just how to live, but how to flourish, how to create meaning in a senseless world. Those who reject this philosophy often do so not because they don't understand it but because they can't face it. And that's unfortunate.

Existentialism provides a practical way of thinking about the world. It offers personal freedom and empowerment. It is a path to dignity and nobility. An existentialist doesn't live as though he has forever, frittering away his time and putting off until "someday" the things he really wants to do. He or she recognizes that each day, each moment, is precious and irreplaceable.

Are you an existentialist? Only you can say, of course. But perhaps you should be. Carpe diem.

The Ballad of Rusty the Roofer
Patrick Henry

Sitting in the living room of "Yellow House," watching water drip from four different leaks in the ceiling, I decided that it was time to fix the roof. Yellow House was a rental property in Nashville that I shared years ago with my two beautiful female roommates who, despite my best efforts still thought of me as a buddy.

After receiving a number of estimates, a guy pulled up unannounced one afternoon in a white van and said, "Wud up?" Enter Rusty the Roofer. Rusty was a red-faced, red-headed, redneck who offered to repair my roof for half of what the other roofers would. In my naivete I hired him on the spot. The events that transpired over the next week taught me two things: 1. In the words of Ronald Reagan "trust but verify," and 2. Never do business with a guy in a white van.

On the first day, Rusty and his crew came out and took all of the shingles off of the house. I had to later apologize to my female neighbors for the cat-calls that were being lobbed from my roof like grapefruit. I learned that taking shingles off of a roof does not require exorbitant amounts of brain matter. Putting new shingles on requires a bit more skill, but in order to apply that skill, one must be present. When Rusty was ready to leave for the day, he told me that he would return the following morning at 9:00 am. I assured him I would be waiting. The next morning, nine o’clock came and went, and I was left standing on my porch underneath my naked roof. Rusty finally showed up at 10:30am and apologized for his tardiness. I told him that I was planning my workday around his start time so I insisted that he be on time. The following day at 8:30am, I as standing on my porch waiting for Rusty to show up only to be stood up yet again. When he rolled into my driveway at 11:00am, I was furious. I said "Rusty, when you tell me that you are going to arrive at 8:30, I EXPECT YOU TO BE HERE! When you don’t arrive until 10:30, you screw up my whole day." I told him that doing business with him was becoming more trouble than it was worth and that’s when Rusty looked right me in the eye and said, "Patrick, you have to admit that 90% of the time, I do exactly what I say I am going to do." There ends the ballad of Rusty the Roofer.

Like with Rusty, customers judge a vendor or service provider by the 10% of the time their expectations are not met. Here are three ways to turn prospects into clients, clients into fans, and avoid becoming a "Rusty the Roofer":

1. DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO.

Become known as a person of your word. This establishes trust. Trust enables friendship. As Jeffrey Gitomer tells us, "People want to do business with their friends."

2. UNDERpromise and OVERdeliver.

Too many times we are tempted to say anything to close the sale. When you close the 10% margin of error, you become a resource who provides value. Value creates loyalty.

3. BE PROFESSIONAL.

Professional standards of communication and dress have relaxed over the last decade. Become known for superseding the standard.

'Influence Elegantly; Learn about 'The Shadow'... and more'

'Influence Elegantly; Learn about 'The Shadow'... and more'

"Satisfaction of one's curiosity is one of the greatest sources of happiness in life."

Dr. Linus Pauling

Seduction
By Clayton Makepeace

Most marketers approach their prospects like an army would attack a walled city: with a full frontal assault.

We come at them with flags flying, trumpets blaring, and missiles flying. Our siege machines hurl fiery projectiles, our archers darken the sky with arrows, and we send row after row of armored warriors to storm the enemy's gates.

Of course, unlike the ancient Greeks and Romans who used real weapons, our missiles are mere words: benefits honed to razor sharpness.

But there's another way to coax the enemy to abandon the city and join us. And in many cases, this alternative can prove far more effective.

"Curiosity," said Claude Hopkins, "is among the strongest of human incentives."

"Amen!" shout Marty Edelston, Brian Kurtz, Mel Martin, and Gene Schwartz.

"Boy, howdy!" agree Parris Lampropoulos, Arthur Johnson, and others.

Boardroom Inc. is -- as far as I can tell -- the single most successful soft-offer direct-response marketer in America. And Boardroom and its writers learned long ago that, for them at least, the path to profit paradise is paved NOT with in-your-face, benefit-packed headlines and copy, but with intrigue:

The flirtatious smile ... the demurely raised hem ... the glimpse of forbidden flesh ... the implication of otherwise prohibited pleasures to come ... leaves readers panting for more. And, of course, the only way for them to get more is to mail in the reply card!

And so, Boardroom pioneered the use of "fascinations" to sell its books and newsletters on personal finance and health.

Instead of barraging prospects with blatant benefits, Boardroom's legendary copy teases, titillates, and tempts prospects -- intensifying their curiosity to almost unbearable levels, and then inviting them to satisfy that curiosity for free.

"Send no money NOW!" they proclaim. "Just mail this card for your FREE, 60-day preview. If you don't love it, just send it back and owe nothing. If you do love it, do nothing. We'll bill you later!"

Beautiful. Just beautiful. And more than that: a perfect fit for the product being sold.

See, every self-help book or newsletter you've ever read contained two kinds of information or advice:

A) Real, ingenious, forehead-slapping "Ah-HA!" tips you would never have thought of yourself -- and that empower you to save time, save money, make more money, solve a problem, or achieve something else wonderful

and...

B) More obvious, common-sense, mundane, even pedantic stuff you already know -- but if followed, would also do all of the above for you

So Boardroom's copywriters simply...

• Give away the most amazing forehead-slappers in the copy, thus proving how ingenious the tips in the publication they're selling really are, and...

• Use the more common-sense tips to create scores of "fascinations" -- bulleted items that intrigue the reader while offering or implying a benefit -- designed to crank up prospects' curiosity and make "not ordering" a virtual impossibility.

The "forehead-slappers" are a breeze to write. Just take the tip, add a smidgeon of drama, and you've got a proof element that would persuade even the most skeptical prospect of the product's value.

But writing great fascinations is an art form demanding a great eye, well-developed skill, and tremendous creativity.

Take Boardroom's world-famous "What Never to Eat on an Airplane" fascination, for example, from a promotion that mailed profitably to millions of homes.

Want to know the answer? What is it that you should never eat on an airplane?

Are you ready for the Earth-shaking answer to this great mystery?

Here it is: Food!

Intestinal gas is the natural byproduct of digestion. On an airplane, that gas expands as cabin pressure decreases with altitude. Result: You feel bloated and uncomfortable. Or worse: It could trigger an embarrassing... er... "faux pas."

Now think about that for a moment. You're a copywriter, plowing through a 400-page Boardroom book, preparing to write your sales copy. Among hundreds of gems of advice, you come across a small, seemingly obvious travel tip: Eating while flying gives you the farts.

You'd probably be tempted to just move on. Not exactly a life-changing insight. Sounds like common sense, right?

But not to a great fascination writer! Immediately, his mind goes to work, turning that seemingly insignificant fact over and over... examining it from every angle... finding an element of intrigue or irony... identifying the implied benefit... and Voila! A legendary fascination is born.

In most cases, this kind of seduction tends to work best in promotions of information products: books, special reports, newsletters, seminars -- that kind of thing. But I'll bet that if you put on your thinking cap, you could figure out ways to use this powerful persuader in just about any promotion!

Overcoming Business Frustrations

2010 | Feb 17 in Entrepreneurship , Business Development , Home Page News , Systems , Management , Leadership

By E-Myth Business Coach

We define business frustrations as a series of specific recurring events in your business over which you feel you have little or no control.

Every business has frustrations. From small "hiccups" that hinder the flow of work, to fatal flaws that can have a devastating impact on the bottom line, and everything in between.

As it is with every challenge you face, the question is really about how you deal with it. You can ignore the frustration all together; you can abdicate and hope that somebody else will take care of it; you can apply a quick band-aid fix… But all of those options would be doing yourself, your team, and your business a great disservice.

I'd like to share this story about Michelle who owns a printing and design business. Michelle was having trouble finding the time to develop systems and processes because of constant interruptions from clients. She was getting so many project status requests that she couldn’t focus on the strategic work she wanted to do. Michelle told me that she was feeling frustrated by the fact that her customers weren’t relying on her support staff. She hadn’t taken any proactive steps toward fixing this situation because she was afraid that her clients had gotten used to working with her and she didn't want to jeopardize the level of service they'd come to expect.

There are three ways people typically perceive business frustrations like the one Michelle was experiencing.

1. Self-Directed: I am the cause. “I make my clients rely on me too much.”
2. Outer-Directed: Someone or something else is the cause. “My customers aren’t utilizing my support staff.”
3. System-Directed: The lack of an effective system is the cause "There's no system in place for proper project communication."

For Michelle, her first inclination was Outer-Directed. And that's typical, we all have a tendency to blame other people. But if you ask the right questions you can move through the blame game and focus instead on the system solution.

Finding the solution to a frustration begins by asking the right questions. The questions that will enable you to discover what the true, underlying business conditions are.

• First explore the big picture. What is the real impact this frustration has on you, your employees, your customers and your business?
• Then quantify anything and everything that might be a result of this situation. Whether it's lost time, productivity, lost revenue... every frustration is ultimately costing you money.
• Finally, keeping the first two steps in mind, observe the frustration objectively. Avoid blaming people, instead focus on the systems. Walk step-by-step through the sequence of events until you're able to dissect what’s really going on. You'll probably identify areas that can be improved with system implementation right away.

For Michelle, it boiled down to the fact that her clients went to her for answers because they were never told to do otherwise and her support staff did not have the systems in place to regularly contact clients. In short, there was no customer communication system in place.

With a System-Directed frustration identified, you have the clues you need to begin understanding the underlying business condition that is the cause of your frustration.This will eventually lead you to the solution—a system solution. What Michelle needed to do was work with her support staff to create the appropriate communication system for clients.

Now her clients receive introduction emails from their assigned Customer Service Representative at the beginning of each project along with regular status updates until the project is completed. They improved their email signatures and website contact information so that clients can be clear about who to contact for what.

The result? Michelle estimated that establishing this client communication process freed two hours of her time each day. Imagine that! Two hours she can now put to very good use working on her business. Her support staff now has clearly defined steps to take to ensure clients have an exceptional experience on each project. The positive results from this system implementation just keep coming. And it was all born from a frustration Michelle couldn’t see a solution to before!

This process, the Key Frustrations Process, is a client favorite and is really about the essential skill of systemic thinking. It helps you look at problems and frustrations strategically to pinpoint gaps in your systems and processes that a new system or set of systems can solve. When you engage in this process with your team (you should include them!) you end up creating a powerful culture of strategic thinkers looking for ways to solve problems and improve business operations instead of an endless cycle of blame and discouragement.

How Real-Time Search is Changing Social Media
By Lisa Wehr, CEO, Oneupweb

Google has done it again. It has jerked its search vehicle in yet another direction—and by doing so, has changed the marketing landscape once more. As a result, it’s now critical for businesses to truly evaluate their social media presence in 2010.

Why? Let me introduce you to real-time search.

Real-time search is the “now you see it and now you don’t,” live streaming section on a Google results page that’s composed of news articles, blogs, tweets, and more. The real-time results can appear anywhere on the page, but they're usually located above-the-fold on the first page of results.

Real-time search is still new, making it difficult to truly understand its ultimate magnitude. But your business must optimize its social media channels so that when results display in real-time, your business sees peak benefits.

How does Google select what tweets, blogs, news stories, etc. will appear in the real-time results? By choosing what the company deems to be the most relevant information—a critical step towards alleviating the information overload and clutter many searchers now face thanks to the plethora of digital properties available.

So, what does real-time search mean for your business? Today, social media plays a direct role in how and where your brand appears in Google search results. And in order for your business to prosper from and possibly monetize real-time search, you'll need to redefine the approach your business is currently using to handle its social media campaigns.

Here are a few steps you can take to start bolstering your social media presence, and ultimately, increasing your overall social media authority:

Reconsider your strategy.
The way your business approaches social media is a significant part of the overall success factor. And now that Google’s real-time results have provided another platform where your tweets, blogs, news stories, and more could possibly be displayed, it’s important that you approach your social media efforts with confidence, boldness, and above all, honesty.

That's because with real-time search, people no longer have to click on your social media profiles and pages to get a glimpse of what’s being said. So, take a robust approach when it comes to social media. Try new things, be innovative, and above all, don’t be boring.

Tweet things that will grab people’s attention and make them want to click.
You want people to interact with your brand, and it’s up to you to make it happen. Tweet exclusive offers, special promotions, breaking news, or any other relevant information that will tempt people to click through to your website when these results appear in real-time right in front of them.

Stop spamming or doing anything that resembles spam.
This should go without saying. But in case you need further incentive, Google has announced that it will be filtering results that are or resemble spam in any way, shape, or form.

Therefore, your chances of appearing in Google real-time results will be zilch if you continue down this road. Those twice an hour, every hour, tweets you’ve got set up from scheduling services could hinder you in more ways than one. Google’s real-time results are all about relevancy.

Increase engagement.
The release of Google real-time search results has made productive engagement with your consumers critical. Take Twitter, for example. If you have an influx of consumers constantly tweeting things to your business and you don’t respond, they could jump ship or start tweeting negatively about your company. You wouldn’t want possible customers searching for your brand to see poor reviews or an all together lack of engagement.

Overall, there are still many unknowns when it comes to real-time search. But we do know that it can have a huge impact on your brand if your tweets, blogs, news stories, and so are in the real-time results window.

So optimize your business’s social media presence, not only for Google’s real-time search results, but also as a way to increase your social media authority and the productivity of your overall social media presence.

Make Small Commitments. Get Big Changes.
by Michael Dalton Johnson

Real and permanent change doesn't happen by simply resolving to do something. That's not enough. True change is a slower process. It takes time and self-reflection.

This simple, yet profoundly powerful, advice can gently help you change your life and accelerate your personal growth.

What's this got to do with sales? Nothing and everything.

Taking Care of You

Drink plenty of water.
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper.
Eat more fruits and vegetables and eat less that is manufactured in processing plants.
Avoid eating food that is handed to you through a window.
Live the 3 E's - Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy.
Play more games.
Read more books than you did in 2009.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Sleep for 7 hours.
Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Your Outlook

Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don't have negative thoughts of things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Don't overdo. Keep your limits.
Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the past. Don't remind others of their past mistakes.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Learn a new word every day.
Smile and laugh more.
You don't have to win every argument

Your Relationships

Call your family often.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Your Life

The worst promise you can break is one made to yourself.
Do the right thing!
Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
The best is yet to come.
When you awake alive in the morning, thank God for it.
Your Innermost Self is always happy. Follow it.
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

Keep these rules handy and review them often. Follow them and small, almost imperceptible, changes will accumulate into something big. Your life will change.

"Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is

a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in

us, becoming all that we can be."
~ Zig Ziglar

How To Find The Celebrity Inside You And Profit From It! By Kristi Frank

I never thought that two small words could and would change my whole life...

My face felt flush. I was completely shocked, and then I screamed! Me, on the very first season of NBC's 'The Apprentice'! What were the odds, with over 250,000 videotape auditions submitted? And I had no idea of what I was in for next.

I left my friends and family that morning telling no one where I was headed, ready to see what it meant to possibly work for Mr. Donald Trump. That first season it was still very unclear, as the show had never aired and we were actually there to compete for a job with the billionaire himself (not reality television "stars" like so many who followed). I had no idea that this thing called, 'The Apprentice' would capture America's interest and that I'd soon be stopped in the streets for autographs and sitting on Oprah's couch talking to her!

"I'm sorry, Kristi, but, you're fired." And with those two infamous words, the world saw me lose my chance to work for Mr. Trump. And that would be a sad ending were it not in real life such an opportunistic beginning - because what came next was the most interesting and powerful part of the whole journey. And since I've had so much time to reflect on this remarkable experience, I want to share some of my insights with you.

The Power That Celebrity Brings

Before 'The Apprentice,' I had no idea of the potential power of celebrity and what it would mean for me. The show was everywhere that first year. I remember when I flew to New York for the finale, a man across the way from me was staring at me and I looked down and saw that he was reading a Time magazine with a cover page of Mr. Trump and all 16 of 'The Apprentice' contestants on it. Strange huh? I use the fact that I was on Oprah, The Today Show, The View and MSNBC front and center in my bio. Why? Dan Kennedy told me the very first time I met him, "Use it with everything you do, most people I know would kill to be on TV, so milk it, and do it now."

But how do you achieve something as elusive as "fame" even if you don't get on a TV show? How do you achieve a "celebrity" name without becoming what our media has crowned a "celebrity"? It's my opinion that the marketing power of "celebrity" is achievable to anyone, including you.

Women will often come up and say to me, "I'm just a normal, everyday person, how can I become a celebrity?" My answer? You have a voice, a life, a story... anyone can become a celebrity expert!

Why Become A Celebrity Expert?

1. Instant credibility and 'Expert' Status.

When you appear on TV, write a book, magazine article, even a blog, you instantly are perceived as "the expert". No credentials needed. We tend to believe someone more when they have written on the subject.

2. Free press.

When you get the word out about you, your customers will want to write, talk, blog, share and brag about you as well.

3. Creates an automatic relationship.

People buy from people they know, trust, like & admire. It's instant credibility and recognition.

4. Gives your customers a sense of pride.

Have you ever heard someone say, "Take a look at the purse I just bought, it's a Kate Spade," or brag about the latest celebrity doctor they visited, or the book by that lady who was on Oprah?

5. Creates an instant 'Brand' for you.

If you focus on your brand and not the product you can extend your brand across the board. Look at what Mr. Trump has done with his celebrity. He's leveraged it to golf courses, Trump University, clothing, casinos and even water! If he had branded only his buildings the brand ends there, but instead he's extended and keeps building upon it. He is truly the master of the personal brand.

So How Do You Do It?

You become a celebrity because you are good at what you do and the world finally learns about it. Here are six steps towards creating your own path in the celebrity direction:

1. First, ask yourself - what is my "story" and what would people find interesting about me? You have a unique story and your customers are fascinated when they hear it. Make it fun, interesting, unique - what is special about you?

2. Target your niche. It's impossible to reach everyone with your message - it's simply too expensive and ineffectual. Target your niche audience and give them expert advice and you can become an expert in a matter of months.

3. "Credentialize" yourself. Join an association, trade group, peer organization, online community - go to the meetings and get active. Share articles, advice, and talks. Take a class or even better teach one!

4. Determine just who you are and (here's the key) what you can do for your intended audience. Display your expertise and how you can help them. When you give out your business card, put something enticing on the back (ex. 'The 5 Fastest Ways to Find a Buyer in Today's Market'), and send them to your website to download the report. Stand out in the crowd and provide extra value.

5. Write a book, write articles... just write! Start with 12-18 bullet points, write 10-12 pages on each and bam you've got an e-book. If you need help go to www.elance.com, or a local university and hire a ghostwriter to work with you.

6. Publish a newsletter. Break up your advice and ideas into sections and "tease" the audience with small gems to keep them coming back. Let them get to know you with pictures, quotes, etc. and make it fun and interesting.

Once you start doing some of these things, you will instantly be regarded as a leader and innovator in your particular field. You'll even find your competitors coming to you for help. They'll want to advertise in your newsletter, website and ask for partnerships and advice. So, create a unique story, "credentialize" yourself, target a niche audience and give your audience some added perceived value.

Remember, to step out from the crowd first, determine your expertise (you have one or more!); research it; write it; then generate your buzz by letting others know. Then watch what happens as YOU become the celebrity expert and may soon start signing those autographs!