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More Clients - the Online Marketing Newsletter
for Independent Professionals
from Action Plan Marketing
and Robert MiddletonIn This Week's Issue: What specific marketing approach will work
BEST for you in 2004?
The BEST Marketing Approach
I think it's kind of funny that every time I write an eZine, lead
a TeleClass or workshop, or even talk to a client, no matter the
topic, I'm always emphasizing it as "the BEST thing you can do
to market your business."So what is the BEST thing? you may ask.
Is it creating a powerful marketing message, networking more
effectively, improving your online presence, knowing how to
convert a prospect into a client, or developing a structure of
support to keep everything on track?Well, yes. And no.
Any one of those things could be the BEST marketing approach
for you. But that's not really the point. If you just focus on doing
one or two things that some marketing guru tells you to do, but
you never gain a deeper understanding of marketing, I doubt
you'll see much success.You'll have a lot more success if you take an area of marketing
and really study it. Get into it and have fun exploring. Read
books, attend TeleClasses and workshops, listen to audio
programs, and brainstorm with colleagues.And then test out those ideas in the real world. The more you
know and understand, the better results you'll get. You're going
to discover a few things that actually work quite well. And
because they do, you'll be inspired to repeat them and turn them
into little "marketing machines" that consistently attract clients.A few years ago I wasn't doing much business online. I had
developed my web site and started selling my workshop tape
program. Sales started to come in and I got excited, so I decided
to create a comprehensive marketing manual to offer online.But I didn't stop there.
I realized that it might be useful to learn more about Internet
marketing from the pros. I signed up for a seminar in Boulder,
Colorado with Jonathan Mizel in early 2001. Other seminars
followed in Las Vegas, Cincinnati and San Francisco. I must have
invested well over $10,000. I learned a whole lot.And I started to really get the hang of it, and I began to
implement what I'd learned. My web site improved. My offers
got better. My listing on Google went up. More people signed up
for More Clients and subscribers multiplied. I developed more
online products to sell. This didn't happen overnight; it took a
few years.Now about two-thirds of my income comes directly from Internet
sales.Please understand that I'm not even touting Internet marketing
as the "BEST approach" to marketing your Independent
Professional services. I know many others who use completely
|different marketing methods and do extremely well.The point is to take a particular area of marketing, from
networking to public speaking, and dive in with the commitment
to really master it. Before long you'll have a set of marketing
skills that will serve you for the rest of your business life.So I don't know the one BEST marketing strategy or approach
that will work for you. It could be anything. But I do know you
need to start somewhere, anywhere, and get deeply into the
arcane mysteries of that particular approach until clients start to
come out of the woodwork.And today's a good day to start. I hope I can help.
Throughout 2004 I'll be offering ideas, products and services that
will help you master the BEST marketing approaches for your
Independent Professional business.More about "The BEST Marketing Approach" in Marketing Flashes below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The InfoGuru Marketing Manual
This comprehensive marketing manual for Independent Professionals
is the flagship product of Action Plan Marketing. Written by Robert
Middleton over several years, it contains the accumulated wisdom of
over twenty years on how to attract clients with less struggle.Why is the InfoGuru Manual for you?
- It was developed exclusively for Independent Professionals such
as consultants, coaches, trainers and other service professionals
who are great at what they do but have a hard time consistently
attracting clients to their businesses.- The manual is based on a few powerful marketing principles that,
once you understand them, might seem obvious but are missed by
almost everyone (and implemented by even fewer).- The marketing principles contained will help you: increase interest
in your services, build trust and credibility with prospects, get prospects
wanting to learn more about what you do and create a steady stream of
word-of-mouth business.- It goes way beyond theory, vague generalizations or concepts and
contains hundreds of hands-on marketing strategies and action plans
that are easy to implement, even if you have no marketing experience.- Includes foundational marketing information on things like creating
an attention-getting marketing message and then goes into depth on the
most recent marketing techniques of web marketing and eZines.- You can read it like a book, you can go through it slowly and do
the exercises like a home-study course or you can refer to it whenever
you have a question about marketing your business.- It comes with a boatload of extras, including audio files, articles,
and the InfoGuru Support Forum, where you can get any question
about marketing answered for free.- The Support Forum can be used to answer questions, provide
resources, review marketing materials, web sites, proposals and
sales letters, as well as explore the more complex and confusing
aspects of attracting clients to your business.- It will help remove the mystery and struggle about marketing
and selling that so many Independent Professionals experience and
will help you realize that marketing can actually be fun.- It comes with my unconditional guarantee. Get it and try it. If you
don't think it's worth much more than what you paid, tell me and I'll
refund 100% of your purchase price.- Unlike most marketing information sold on the web, the manual is not
only available in digital form (pdf file) for immediate download, but for
just a few dollars more you can get a printed manual as well.- The InfoGuru Marketing Manual was published in February of 2001
and it's just as relevant today as I add to it regularly with updates of
the manual that can be downloaded repeatedly at no additional cost.- If you are looking for one tool that will help you attract clients with
an approach and methodology that is highly effective but doesn't
compromise your integrity, you've found it!For complete details and to order online go to:
http://www.actionplan.com/infoguru.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing Flashes on "The BEST Marketing Approach"
Instead of "What's BEST," it's better to think of "what's NEXT for
me in my marketing?" The following is the order I usually
recommend to my clients:* Focus - Get very clear on what you're selling and to whom
you're selling it. Develop a Client Buying Advantage that
differentiates you from everyone else. Your goal is to be
memorable and easy to associate with the results you produce.* Articulation - Clearly express what your business is all about
through written marketing materials - preferably on a well-
designed web site. Articulate all the reasons for doing business
with you and build the most solid case possible.* Value - Give away value from the very first contact you have with
a prospect. Write articles and reports, get published both offline
in local publications and online in industry-specific web sites. Plus
start giving talks and presentations at every opportunity.* Relationship - Get to know people and nurture those
relationships. Start with active networking and then develop
centers of influence who can refer you. Keep in touch with
prospects and clients regularly through a newsletter or eZine.* Offer - Create specific packaged services that are more tangible
and easier to buy. It's easier for a client to make a commitment
to a "ten week management development program" than to
generalized management development services.* Persuasion - Study, practice and refine your one-on-one selling
skills. It's not how many prospects that respond to your
marketing that counts. It's how many of those prospects you
can turn into paying clients.Until next week, all the best,
Robert Middleton
ACTION PLAN MARKETING
Helping Independent Professionals Attract More Clients~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
210 Riverside Drive
Boulder Creek, CA 95006
831-338-7790© 2004 Robert Middleton, All rights reserved. You are free
to use material from the More Clients eZine in whole or in part,
as long as you include complete attribution, including live web
site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear.
The attribution should read:"By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit
Robert's web site at http://www.actionplan.com for additional
marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional
service businesses."* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
