"Interview Series Profits"

I had so much fun during the interview I did recently with Tom Buford about his Interview Series Profits program and the feedback from the folks who showed up was amazing.

Tom really outdid himself, sharing lots of tips and "secrets" about why and how to create an expert interview series to help you grow and promote your business.

I personally learned a ton! Here are some of the gems Tom shared:

=> One of the easiest ways to get others to give you referrals to potential guest experts for your series
=> How to set everything up in advance to make it extremely easy for your wish list of guest experts to say "yes"
=> Why you might not want to keep the series intact and how you can leverage each interview into an incredible list builder

Plus a whole lot more. If you missed it, you can still listen and learn from Tom. The special offers he made during the call have expired, but I guarantee you will walk away from this audio with solid action steps you can take immediately.

To listen, click here.

Hate Public Speaking?

"How to Boost Your Credibility, Visibility, and Likeability At the Same Time"

I work with and speak to entrepreneurs all the time and one of the most common questions I hear is, "How can I get more people into my network and, once I am connected to them, how can I get them to become clients and customers for life?"

Let's address one issue at a time...

#1: Getting more people into your community is all about good marketing and networking, whether that is via the internet or in person.

Above all else, you must have a clear message that addresses who you can help and what you can do for them.

If you are going to grow your list of connections via the web, then there are many different strategies you can use such as article marketing, social networking via Twitter, LinkedIn, & Facebook, blogging, pay-per-click advertising, and pod-casting to name just a few. The list is endless.

Some of these strategies, such as article marketing, are very effective but can take a lot longer to payoff. Others, like social networking and blogging can be very time consuming if you don't have the right strategies in place.

If you focus your efforts more on in person networking and you work with small business owners, then hitting the local leads groups and chamber of commerce meetings are good places to start.

#2: Getting people on your list is one thing, but turning them into customers is another.

Shaking hands and collecting business cards can get you a lot of "followers" and "friends" on the internet or names in your database, but it doesn't necessarily mean that these connections will ever translate into money for your business.

In order to do that you must start building the "know, like, and trust factor" that is critical to getting people to invest their time and money with you. With so many competitors and alternatives out there, a potential customer needs to feel that they know who you are, that you are someone they want to spend more time with, and that you are someone who is trustworthy and credible.

Hands down, the fastest way to create that connection is through public speaking, whether that's via an in person speaking gig or via the virtual world of teleseminars or webinars.

The top concerns I hear regarding public speaking are:

1. "I have a fear of public speaking" and/or "I'm afraid I'll screw up and sound like an idiot."

2. "I don't have anything new to teach."

3. "No one will want to listen to me because I don't have a proven track record."

If any (or all) of those statements sound familiar, then a great strategy for you is to enter the public speaking arena not by taking center stage, but by interviewing the experts themselves.

This allows you to position yourself as a leader who is concerned with the same issues as your potential clients which in turn, helps you build rapport with them.

Plus you can then turn the recording of those interviews into either promotional tools or products.

I've had great success getting new clients via hosting free interviews I did with folks who had experience with topics that I don't consider my area of expertise, such as growing your business via Facebook groups, engineering successful product launches and creating quick content.

Not only did I get new clients, I rapidly built my subscriber list and made great connections with successful business owners who I can potentially partner with again in the future.

Got Your Pink Spoon?

"Making Website Visitors An Irresistible Offer"

Speaking of starting movements and building communities, if you have a website, do you have a highly successful strategy for converting your web visitors into subscribers to your mailing list and then into paying clients and customers?

I know some business owners who routinely get 100s of new subscribers to their list every week. But they don't just have a boring "Sign up for my newsletter" offer on their site. They use what some call "Pink Spoon Marketing," a phrase coined by Andrea J. Lee, which means they offer an enticing free sample of something that visitors simply can't pass up.

Coming up with the "right" free offer is tricky because you don't want it to cost more of your time (remember, you want 100s and 1000s of new subscribers each week) and it has to be something irresistible to your target market.

I've seen this method work for coaches as well as dentists, accountants, and insurance agents. Please don't write this concept off as something that "won't work for me."

Two marketing communications experts I greatly respect, Linda Claire Puig, of Ready2GoArticles.com, and Linda Dessau, of YouTalk-IWrite.com, have put together a course called the Pink Spoon Telecamp to help you learn all about pink spoons and how to use them to market yourself.

The best part, though, is that during the course, they'll also help you create your own pink spoon so that by the end of it, you'll have yours ready to put into place to attract your ideal clients and prospects!

They are offering tons of resources and perks. I particularly like the fact that they provide fill-in-the-blanks worksheets so you don't have start completely from scratch.

Some important details:

=> The course starts next week.
=> You'll also receive everything on CD and DVD.
=> They are currently offering $100 off but that ends TODAY.

Click here to read all about it...

My suggestion: Whether you decide to take their course or not, register on this page to listen to the free training that Linda and Linda gave recently. It's called "Help! My Website's Not Working!" and it's full of meaty content. Plus it's a great example of how Pink Spoon Marketing works.

To read all about it and save $100 today only, click here.

How to Start A Movement

If you were a conscious adult in the 1980s then you might be all too familiar with the term NIMBY which stands for "not in my back yard." Although there are a lot of negative connotations associated with that acronym, I generally like to think of it as a symbol for community activism, which can often be a very good thing.

(You might recall I mentioned in an earlier issue that I went to UC Berkeley, well known for being the site of some notable protests including the Free Speech Movement in the 60s. Plus, I worked for the publishing house of Sierra Club in San Francisco, another organization known for bringing people together to take a stand.)

Rallying around a cause do several things for your business:

1. Stir up emotions: Think about some of the most effective marketing campaigns you have ever experienced, whether it was a TV commercial, magazine ad, or billboard.

What made it memorable for you? Was it the funniest thing you ever saw? Or the most bittersweet or controversial? What do you feel right now when recalling that moment? YouTube is a great place to witness silly, bizarre, or super cool marketing videos that go viral quickly because they make an impact and get passed around.

Generally, the stronger the emotions, the more memorable the experience. The last thing you want is for your message to be bland or tepid.

2. Polarize your audience: When you convey a strong message or point of view, prospective members will find it easy to love you or hate you (and that's a very good thing--see point #1).

3. Bond members of the community together: When you start connecting people together and cultivate a sense of family, a wonderful thing happens...members start bringing more members to you and people stay longer because they have a sense of belonging.

   • What do I stand for?

   • What does my business stand for?

   • What cause do I already help advance with my clients and customers?

   • What specific topic needs an advocate to advance the cause?

   • Who's already in my community?

   • Who needs to stay and who needs to be kicked out?

   • Moving forward, what's the purpose of my community?

   • With whom do I want to surround myself?

   • What sort of environment do I want to experience?

   • What sort of environment do the members of my community want to experience that they currently can't get anywhere else?

   • Who's going to lead this community? (Will it be me or somebody else?)

   • How can I be of service to my community?

   I'm going to cover some of these points in more depth over time. But a good place to start cultivating your own community right now that is also directly related to supporting and growing your business is via social networking sites like LinkedIn and Twitter.

   These sites are great places to do research to see how others lead their tribes as well as experiment with and receive instant feedback about your message.

   If you're trying to be funny, are your messages landing the right way? Do people naturally gravitate towards your movement or is that the sound of crickets that you hear when you get up on your soapbox?

   A great example of effective social networking leadership is the highly profitable group that my colleague, Donna Kozik, created on Facebook. I recently interviewed her about how she created her group on a whim and how she then turned it into a vibrant community with members who asked her how they could pay her to lead them further. How cool is that?

   To gain access to this interview as well as receive the complete transcripts and my personal Success On Facebook Cheat Sheet, click here.

   Think about the questions in this article and understand that you already have a community of some sort.

   The trick lies in taking responsibility for purposely evolving that community into a network that supports you and your business instead of waiting for someone else to take a stand or hoping a spontaneous movement for your business will spark on its own.

Web 2.0: Why Should You Care?

This is almost old school now, but the whole Web 2.0 thing is still hanging around. Do you even know what I'm talking about? Otherwise known as Social Networking, it's a "new" way of doing business and building relationships through internet outlets such as MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn to name a few.

Of course, this way of communicating isn't exactly new. MySpace and Facebook have been around for nearly 5 years now. And way before they arrived, there were forums, chat rooms, and online community groups which allowed users to converse with one another, in a less organized fashion.

So have you embraced the power of Web 2.0 for your business or is this something you'll hope will be just a passing fad?

Let me tell you a quick story...I used to run the group exercise department at UC Berkeley. Back in the 90s, a fellow named Billy Blanks did an infomercial, selling VHS tapes of his exercise program called TaeBo. Remember it? The man made millions.

After a few years, the notion of group boxing and kickboxing classes began to trickle into aerobics studios and gyms. I didn't care much for those classes but I went ahead and got certified to teach it. Why? I knew it was going to be big and I couldn't let the fact that I personally disliked the format get in the way of doing business.

Sure enough, the trend hit in a BIG way and before I knew it, I was teaching classes of 100+ sorority sisters, faculty, and community members 3 times a week because there weren't a whole lot of other instructors trained to do the job.

Was it worth it? Heck, yeah. We had lines out the door every night and turned people away when the class was full at 120 people. Did the "fad" last? To my knowledge, those classes are still going strong, thankfully, without me.

So should you find out a little bit more about what "silly" things like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are all about?

What do you think?

If you're curious, look out for my new, free video, "How a Silly Thing Called Twitter Can Help You Get More Clients, Faster, For Less Money."

Hi-ya!

Free Traffic for Your Blog?

This site bills itself as the "fastest and easiest way to instantly drive a flood of targeted readers to your blog…absolutely free." I dig the concept, but haven't yet taken it for a test drive.

Visit their site. Watch the video. Decide for yourself. Then come back and let us know if it deserves cheers or jeers.

Does Your Marketing Match Your Message?

"A meatball sundae is the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas."

That's a quote from Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync? Chalk it up to Seth Godin to come up with another instantly usable business metaphor. This is the man who brought us the world of Purple Cows (turn something commonplace into the extraordinary) and the Big, Red Fez (not sure what that's about but I know it has something to do with web site design).

Just a head's up that, his latest book will arrive online and in stores on December 20, 2007. Just in time for a quick read while waiting at the airport during holiday travel season.

To get a sneak preview, visit Godin's Squidoo lens (don't worry if you don't know what that means!) devoted exclusively to this new project.

Staying Abreast of the Latest Color Trends

Did you know that it's officially Autumn? For some of us, the season crept in unannounced and for others, well, I think the word "blustery" was invented for Fall. If your business deals with color in any way, shape, or form, you can draw a lot of inspiration from nature's changing palette.

To help you decipher precisely which shade of orange, red, or yellow to use on your next project or the corresponding HEX# to use on a client's web site, visit ColourLovers.com. It's bursting with diverse color palettes, like the one shown above.

I particularly like the Colour Trends section, which lays out the current color schemes from major magazines. This can help, not only the interior decorator who wants to stay abreast of the latest trends, but also the solo business owner who considers a new look for a business card, invoice, or advertising campaign. Check it out.

Purchase by Default

Time Magazine ran an article in their August 27, 2007 issue (see cover at left) titled, Why We Buy. In it, the author, Barbara Kiviat, referenced a study in which people tasted peanut butter from three jars. "Each jar contained the same peanut butter, but 75% of participants thought the contents tasted better in the jar that had a name-brand label on it." Read the full article here.

Witness the power of branding. In this world, name recognition often trumps quality because going with what is perceived as more popular ultimately seems less risky.

Does your business need a brand? What do you do to promote name recognition? Think about brands that you know and love. Why do you continue to buy those products? Do you make a conscious decision to continue with that product or do you simply reach for what's familiar?

All quite thought provoking for a Monday.

Scratch 'n' Sniff Marketing

Back in December, 2006 Advertising Age magazine published their picks for the Top 10 Trends to Watch in 2007. So how do you think they did? Here are 3 of their picks in no particular order:

1. Cultural luxe marketing
2. Social networking
3. Sniffing around

To learn more about these "trends" do a search on Google. I am particularly intrigued in the rise of that third trend which is basically infusing scents into marketing. Think about real estate agents who waft the scent of freshly baked cookies through an open house or Verizon and their new Chocolate phone (no, you can't eat the phone but they did propel the scent of chocolate in their stores to boost sales.) I also know of a baker who created an edible business card, wrapped in plastic to successfully catch attention and appeal to prospect's taste buds.

In other words, how many senses do your marketing efforts target? Are you leaving a sensory experience and therefore money on the table with more conservative campaigns? It's definitely something that needs to be tested.

To read today's article from the LA Times, "Sniff....and Spend" click the title. But hurry because they will probably yank this link by next Monday the 27th.