It’s the middle of the year and by this time you’ve been running a series of marketing strategies.  Some have worked and some didn’t.  This is a good time to stop and debrief about what worked in your marketing plan and why – and what didn’t work and why.  Use this handy checklist to see where and how you can tweak your strategies to get the desired results.

1. Focus on your strength – the best strategy for inexpensive and effortless marketing is to build it around your natural strengths. I call them signature strengths( tm).  A marketing strategy that comes from a conversation that you are excited about has so much more attraction power than a message that’s structured around something that “should” work because someone else has done it.  To identify your strength, just think back to a customer you gained and look at exactly what it is about that relationship that is so successful.  What is it about YOU that is so appealing to them?  It could be your energy or the fact that you deliver quickly.  Whatever it is — build your natural ability into a competitive strength.
2. Turn your strength into a success- process — know what you need to be successful and be rigorous in defending it.  Don’t take on any customers that don’t fit your formula for success.
3. Identify your ideal customer. Just because a company has a well-known name and is giving you money doesn’t make them an ideal customer.  An ideal customer is FIRST a profitable customer.  That means that the business system that you’ve created meets their needs and provides enough value that they are happy to pay the price.  The third element is, of course, that there is a mutual like of doing business together.
4. Find out what’s important to your ideal customer.  It’s not uncommon to have a customer you like that likes you back, and an offer that they are willing to pay for, but if there’s something that’s important to them that isn’t covered, a dream customer will turn into a nightmare.
5. Know your competitive advantage.  Take the time to do a thorough exploration and analysis of what sets you apart from other alternatives your customers are considering.  Embrace your advantage.  Be sure that your competitive advantages address potential objections that your customers might have
6. Create a compelling brand story – and tell it often.  The way to really make marketing easy, effortless and inexpensive is to leverage your brand story.  What is it that drives your business?  Why did you start your business?  What is it that you believe or value?  Is there a dirty little secret in your industry that you reveal?  Create a story that’s centered on the value that you discover and bring to your ideal customer.
7. Use a keyword rich catch-phrase. Dr. Phil is known for his phrase “How’s that workin’ for ‘ya”.  It’s something he says often and it goes with his in-your-face style.  What is it that you find yourself saying often?  Become known for a phrase or two in your business and you’ll have a wonderful branding and marketing tool that you can really leverage.
8. Fish in your ideal customer pond.  Once you’ve identified your ideal customer – be where they are.  It’s that simple.  Think about attending the trade shows that your customers attend and exhibiting there.  Don’t just go to industry shows where your competition is – go to the shows where your customers are.  If you can’t exhibit there, create an educational or informational topic your customers will appreciate and present it.
9. Reject customers and projects that don’t fit your ideal. If you’re going to focus on your ideal customer, you’d think it was logical to reject anyone who doesn’t fit that profile, but, most businesses don’t.  Create a sales process that weeds through the wrong customers to get to the right ones.  Any prospect that doesn’t fit your ideal profile has a high probability of becoming a dissatisfied, disgruntled customer that will make your life and your bottom line a living hell.
10. Connect with influencers and help them build THEIR brand.  Become laser focused on those people and organizations that are connected to large groups of your ideal customers.  Take the time to choose those centers of influence with whom you can create a win-win scenario and help them build their brand.  In return, you will see your influence and brand grow as well.  Back to the Oprah examples of Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and the rest of her discovered talent.  They served Oprah well and in return, she grew their brand beyond anything they could have done themselves.
11. Run a referral strategy.  Referrals are not a surprise or a gift or a happy accident.  They can be a function of a referral, word-of-mouth process that you work as diligently as any promotional communications strategy that you come up with.  Create a referral guideline to educate your centers of influence and help them refer you.  Make sure you have at least five referral conversations each day where you get to tell your brand story.  And be consistent and persistent with this process.  You’ll notice a steady stream of ideal customers come your way in no time.

Notice that the biggest investment that each of these items requires is thinking time.   The items on this list would belong in Covey’s “Sharpen the Saw” chapter.  If you’re like me (and many other folks) you’ll want to dive right into action.  But the power of this checklist comes in the quality of thinking and analysis more than in the implementation.

Have you written a book yet.  It’s old marketing hat that writing a book builds instant credibility.  But it’s the publishing and promoting part that gets most business authors stuck.  Today’s guest, Aaron Goldfarb is the author of  ”How to Fail: Self Hurt Guide“, an in-your-face book about how to fail at everything. While the material in the book isn’t exactly family friendly, his advice on how to promote yourself as an author is spot on.

The second you get a book published, it’s easy to now think you’re a celebrity.  You’re not.

Or, hell, you might be, but that doesn’t matter.  Unless you’re in the realm of the super-famous, or infamous, you’re not going to be cold contacted by media outlets.  You’re going to have to do the marketing work yourself.  This was something I didn’t quite realize as my book “How to Fail:  The Self-Hurt Guide” neared its publication date.

I assumed reporters and interviewers would contact me in droves.  They didn’t.  I assumed my publishing company would hook me up with bloggers and talk show hosts galore.  They couldn’t.  I assumed that, now that I was a “published author,” it was somehow beneath me to drum up my own press.  Like people would laugh at the pathetic writer acting as his own publicist.

Then, one day just a few weeks after my 30 Bars in 30 Days book tour ended (another DIY marketing effort, but I digress…) I was talking to Seth Godin who mentioned how he loved public speaking.  He noted that he used to just sit around waiting for Harvard or TED (or whomever) to call and ask him to speak before he realized:

“I don’t need to be picked, I can do this myself.”

So he just started booking himself, finding his own venues, and giving his own speeches.  It worked!  People now pay thousands of dollars to hear him speak whenever and wherever he feels like it.

I was so inspired I immediately changed my entire thinking about publicity and marketing.  Sure, I could tell myself I was some hotshot writer and sit on my ass all day waiting for people to contact me, or I could contact them myself.  And, you know what?  It worked.

I started sending emails to my favorite bloggers and websites, to my favorite podcasters and radio hosts, to the people I most admired and respected that had outlets to discuss things…such as my book.  I wasn’t phony, I didn’t just write one form letter and BCC a massive list all at once, but instead took my time to craft personal emails that made it clear I knew them, knew their material, was a fan myself, and thought “How to Fail” was a valuable book for them and their audience.

Something like this, which is the exact same kind of something I wrote to Ivana just a few weeks ago:

Hi [Name],

I love your work for [whatever].  I particularly enjoyed your [piece/video/post] because [reason].  To tell you about myself, my satirical novel “How to Fail: The Self-Hurt Guide” was published in November and sold well.  In November and December I embarked on a unique 30 Bars in 30 Days book tour which garnered me a lot of publicity and really boosted sales.

I’d love to show support for your site and help in any way I can.  Maybe I could discuss [whatever is relevant for their audience]?  I’ve attached a copy of “How to Fail” as thanks for your work!

Cheers!

Aaron

I always make sure to include a free “How to Fail” ebook too.  Free to them, but free to me too being that it’s the same cost for me to send one PDF or a zillion.  Now, I’m sure many authors (and publishers) would rather not give books away, especially PDFs that can be forwarded on, more concerned are they with trying to milk $15 from any one they can, but I don’t care.  I’m promiscuous with giving my books away to influencers.  My book is a slut when it meets a person with a media outlet, no matter how small.

Now, I wasn’t going overboard, I wasn’t trying to get booked on Letterman or interviewed by the Today Show, but I wasn’t going pathetically minuscule either.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t ignore people because they have “only” 1000 Tumblr followers.  Sometimes those people are more influential than the big boys.  But, even the so-called “big boys” on the internet usually have easily obtainable email addresses and answer all their own messages.  So why not email them?

I’ve had an astounding response rate to my personal publicity.  90% of people write me back and most book me for interviews on their sites or podcasts or radio shows.  (Some people, oddly enough, have even apologized for not contacting me first!)  Whereas before I started doing this, I’d been interviewed maybe ten times in the first few months since “How to Fail” was released, in the few months since I’ve started doing this, I’ve been interviewed tenfold that number.  And, just like the ladies man at the bar who, paradoxically, attracts more women the more women he attracts, I have a much easier time getting booked for interviews the more interviews I have in my past.

I’m assuming people Google my name and when dozens and dozens of pages are returned go:

“Well if he’s good enough to be interviewed by X, Y, and Z, then we want him too!”

Remember, it’s a lot of work for these journalists and interviewers too.  They constantly need to be thinking up their own content and finding and booking their own guests.  By “booking yourself” you’ve saved them a few hours of work finding you (or someone else–most likely someone else) and now produced 500 words or 10 minutes of content for them.  Win-win for both of you.

Anything you can do to allow someone else to be lazy in their job will usually help you achieve your own goals.

I make it sound easy, but it’s not.  I might spend an hour a day and only craft one or two personal emails.  But, I’m relentless and I make sure to do this every single day.  You likewise don’t want to get so caught up in publicity that you neglect production, that you hold off on continuing to produce your art on a daily basis, but it’s a must that you devote some time every day to self-promotion.

And, sure, it doesn’t necessarily lead to a massive influx of sales.  You might put in a hour or two of effort to get mentioned on a blog of 1000 readers or interviewed on a podcast listened to by a few hundred.  That could lead to a few dozen or a few hundred extra sales on the day of the interview, nothing life-changing.  However, if you do dozens of these interviews, or hundreds, or thousands if you’re lucky, it will add up.  Keep doing this for months, if not years, as you produce more and more works of arts, and you will soon have a pretty damn big fan base.  Then perhaps, the media will start finally cold contacting you and you can just sit on your ass waiting.

Just because Stephen King and Malcolm Gladwell aren’t their own publicists doesn’t mean you can afford to rest on your laurels.  Start today and contact one person you admire, ask them if they’ll write a piece about you, or interview you.  It will probably work.

About the Author

Aaron Goldfarb lives in New York and writes screenplays and stageplays, most notably “The Honey Trap.”  “How to Fail:  The Self-Hurt Guide” is his first novel. He also has a short story collection about the sexes, sex, and sexiness in New York, “The Cheat Sheet.”  In November and December 2010 he embarked on a unique 30 Bars in 30 Days book tour to sell and sign “How to Fail.”  He considers any and all cross-promotional marketing opportunities, the crazier the better.  Pitch him something.

This post is part of a “Blog Carnival” that’s being hosted by Tea Silvestre from The Word Chef Blog.  The theme of the carnival is “Building Business Relationships” it’s part of a series of posts on the subject from a variety of small business experts.

I can’t believe I’m going to write another article on market segments or target markets.  But I HAVE to because I just noticed that most of us aren’t getting it right.

I was reading a business book just now that referenced Wal-Mart’s original target market as “People living paycheck to paycheck.”  This isn’t a very complicated thing.  That’s what makes it so powerful.

It’s only five words!  And yet, there is something so real, so visual, so emotional, so visceral about those five words.  You already have an immediate sense of who these people are, what they want for their family and for themselves.  What their daily habits, challenges and delights might be.

The Challenge

The challenge for many of us seems to be in profiling our customers in these simple terms.  Sometimes I wonder if our default to fancy demographic language “Men between the ages of 35 and 45 who wear glasses” makes us THINK that we are being more precise when we are actually being entirely too vague.

Another obstacle or challenge is that you might think you have to get to that simple, single sentence profile the first time around.  maybe you will.  Maybe this article will be enough to have the profile just pop right out.  But maybe it won’t.  You might have to do some “noodling” or thinking about this.  You might — heaven forbid – have to spend a few minutes, hours, days or months actually thinking about your customer and what their life might be like as it surrounds your product or service.

Embrace the Exercise

I say embrace the exercise.  Decide to be CURIOUS about who your customer really is and what their life is like.  Simply decide to pay attention, spend time with them and actually observe what’s going on there.  Give yourself the freedom to notice the little things about who they are outside their interaction with your product.  You will be amazed at what you discover.

Your Ideal Customer Profile Checklist

Here’s a quick how-to list that will get you started.  This is by no means the best method to do this.  I haven’t included every possible question and I don’t claim that this will give you the profile you’re seeking.  But it will certainly get your brain started in the right direction.

1. Pull together a list of about 10 of your ideal, most favorite customers and people you LOVE to work with.
2. If you are friendly enough with them AND they are on Facebook – become their friend and simply watch their profile activity.  This is a less intrusive way to get to know them and you will get to see simple things like what sports teams they like, where they are from, what they like to do with their family.
3. Assuming you’re NOT friendly with them – become a little more friendly with them – take the time to ask more personal questions about what their life is like.  Do they like to read, cook, travel, etc.
4. You have to build a personal rapport with someone before they actually tell you the truth about what they want or expect from your product or service.  And more importantly, you want them to describe their life as it surrounds their interaction with your product or service.  That isn’t going to happen until you have a good enough relationship for them to share the juicy stuff.
5. Get into their daily routine.  Get into the daily world of your customer from the time they get up to the time they go to bed.  What might they be thinking, what might they be worrying about?

Remember, for Wal-Mart to get to the fact that their target market is “living paycheck to paycheck” they would have to know some personal things about them.  They might know that their pre-teen daughter loves Miley Cyrus but they can’t afford concert tickets so they get products with Hannah Montana stuff on it.

Tell me about how you’ve been profiling your customers.  Got any tips or tricks to share?

This post is part of the The Word Chef Blog Blog Carnival hosted by Tea Silvestre.   Join us for a fun and informative 1-hour Tweet Chat about Finding your Ideal Customer, Thursday, September 29 7pm Eastern / 4 pm Pacific. #WordCarnival

I’ve been saying that traditional sales is dead for at least five years.

Now that I’ve insulted the bulk of my audience, let me explain why I have been saying that.  It really all comes down to basic economics.  Do you remember the phrase “perfect information”?  It was an assumption in economics that actually gave sales people a tremendous amount of leverage — in the PAST.

You and Your Customers Have Access to Perfect Information

The internet, has given all of us access to about the most “perfect information” that we have ever had.  And economics 101 tells us that when buyers have perfect information, they become more price sensitive and start using their knowledge to negotiate prices.

This puts traditional sales people who are still under the illusion that they are actually CONVINCING prospects to choose them at a severe disadvantage.

When Time Became More Valuable and How to Leverage Time as Your Strategy

The instant the internet got mobile in the form of laptops, mobile devices, iPads, etc. and allowed everyone to connect online and to people at every opportunity is when TIME became a critical strategic sales and marketing element.

You’ve already seen the Windows Mobile commercials where people are texting and checking email in the middle of soccer games, you’ve already been insulted by having your dinner companion check their email or text something in the middle of  a deep conversation.  You’ve probably even been the one interrupting your real life experience to see what’s happening online.

Instead of making us more productive , all of this has made us more frazzled.  So why do we think that our prospects and customers aren’t feeling the same way?  THEY ARE.

Pay Attention to TIME

I’ve been obsessed about this topic ever since I read The 24-Hour Customer and since then, my reticular activator (brain radar)  has been spotting books and experts on this topic all over the place.

In my latest article at AMEX Open Forum, I’ talk about Being at the Right Place at the Right Time as a real strategy and maybe even potential business model.

I’ve just reviewed Selling to the C-Suite and guess what — this book talks about how critical it is to get to the CEO early in the process.

I’d love to hear your thought on how TIMING has become such a critical component of marketing.

One of the most common pieces of advice that I share is for small business CEOs to get out there and blog.  Yes — get out there and actually write your blog posts.  Take what’s inside your head and share it with your customers and potential customers.

I’m often met with this “deer in the headlights” stare that says “What am I supposed to write about?”

Well, HERE is what you’re supposed to write about:

Take a look at Paul Rosenfeld’s blog: http://fanminder.com/blog

Paul is the CEO of Fanminder – a mobile marketing application for small business.  While you’re reading the blog- you should check out Fanminder too.  But that’s another post.

Here are just a few things that Paul does amazingly well:

• He posts relatively often.  And he changes it up.  So sometimes he posts every day, sometimes he posts once a week.  But he POSTS.
• He alternates between “professional” posts, short posts, long posts, notes and other variations. This is how I know that Paul is a real life person.  He’s literally COMMUNICATING with his readers in a human way.  Sometimes, he’s sharing an official article type of thing that tells me that he can communicate.  Then he blasts off a quick bit of news that he thinks I should know.   Love that.  I know he’s real.
• He shares customer ideas and strategies (and pictures). I can trust Fanminder works because Paul’s got actual pictures of businesses – their cards and ideas from their campaigns posted on the blog.  I love this latest one with the the “Psycho Donuts” donut shop that has a donut called the “Cereal Killer” and where the people who work there dress up — freaking hysterical.
• He tells you what he’s thinking and what he’s up to. Paul doesn’t limit himself by rules about what he posts and formulas about how he posts it.  It’s clear to me that his objective is to tell me what’s happening and how small businesses are using the product.  Help me use the product, make it easy and fun for me to share what he’s offering.  And more.

I could go on and on, but I won’t.

Thanks Paul for an outstanding example of CEOs (like us) blogging to build our brand and grow our customer base.

There are really only two ways to successful market yourself on the internet:

1. Participate in a well, targeted niche.
2. Identify and “own” the keywords associated with that niche.

There are lots of great free keyword tools out there.  My favorites are

• Google’s keyword search tool
• Aaron Wall’s SEO Book Keyword Search Tool
• Keyword Discovery
• Market Samurai

I’ve been reviewing and participating in Ed Dale’s “The Challenge 2010″ which consists of a series of short, easy-to-follow video clips and easy-to-finish homework assignments designed to help you get better at targeting your market and owning the keywords that will get you found so you can get chosen.

The first couple of videos are all about understanding the definitions of market, target market, market niche and, micro niche (which is where all the gold is.)  The assignment was to identify 7 market and niche ideas.

Cool Tools to Help You Brainstorm For Niches

1. Search Magazines on Amazon. com.  LOVE this idea for its ease and simplicity.  Simply head over to Amazon, then head over to the menu on the left and click on “Books” – you’ll get a sub-menu.  Scroll down and click on “Magazines”.  You’ll notice that there are all kinds of subjects and categories.  Those are the different “markets.”  Then click on a subject and you’ll see all the sub-categories (on the left) — those would be your niches and micro niches.
2. Use Google Keyword Search Tool. Once you’ve clicked over to www.google.com/skool you’ll see that there are “categories” that Google has already identified — those would be your markets.  Then you’ll see the keywords that people had been searching on — those are potential “niches.”

See if you can identify 7 niches of your own.

It’s easier and faster than ever to get the word out about you and your company and expertise.  One of the fastest growing trends in marketing is “Guest Posting on other blogs.”  Basically, all there is to it is writing an informational and educational article about your area of expertise and literally submitting it to blogs that might be interested in your content.

To take advantage of this trend, however, you’ll need an active blog where you can send people.  A web site is good, but having a blog is better because this gives your audience the opportunity to learn more about you and the value you provide via your articles.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Purchase your name as a domain name.  Head out to Go Daddy and see if you can get your name as a domain name.  If not, look for words that clearly describe who you are or what benefit you offer.  For example, if your name is John Smith and you write for the web, then you might want to try something like “web writing guy.”
2. Go to WordPress.com and start a blog for free. There are many free blogging platforms including TypePad and Blogger, but if you are serious about business and you think that you might want to expand your blog or use it as a web site as well with more functionality, WordPress is a better choice because it is open sourced and there are tens of thousands of people who can help you.
3. Forward your purchased domain name to your blog. When you start your WordPress Blog its domain will look like this: www.yourname.wordpress.com.  When you forward your domain name to your blog, then when people type in www.yourdomain.com, it will actually go to your WordPress blog – and that is what you want.
4. Write a concept article as your first post. Your first post needs to answer the question – “Who are you and why should I choose you?”  Think about the passion or peeve that lies behind your business.  What frustrations do your customers have and how do you solve them?  What is it that your customers should know, but don’t?

There you have it.  In about 30 minutes, you’ve got yourself a web presence and you are ready to tell the world about it.

What tips and tricks can you add to this list?

It’s easy to say “Find your ideal customer.  Figure out what’s important to them.  Then develop a system to get them to choose you every time regardless of price.  But how do you actually DO that.  This outline will take you through the step-by-step of identifying your ideal customer and the emotional triggers that will drive them to choose you.

Follow this outline to help you identify the strategies and tactics that will help you build loyal and profitable relationships with your ideal customer.

1. What is your Competitive Advantage? In other words, you have to be clear about who you are and what sets you apart.  What is the purpose of your business?  What are you here to do.  What unique features of your business set you apart from other alternatives your ideal customer may have.
2. Profile your ideal customer. Include things like demographics, lifestyle, values, emotional needs, life experiences, philosophies, hobbies, and interests of the heavy purchasers.  Now compare that profile with that of the lowest-opportunity, non-ideal or, pain-in-the-neck customer.  This comparison will point to the key driver behind their purchasing decisions.
3. Brainstorm for Emotional Triggers. Think about your offering and together with your team start brainstorming on a wide range of underlying, emotional triggers  that could potentially drive your customer to choose your offer.  For example, if your product is in the healthcare area you might brainstorm “fear of dying” and “joy of living” and then see which of these triggers your ideal customers relate to most.
4. Create and develop several positioning concepts. Take this information and develop two or three possible positions to test with your ideal customers.  You may want to develop concepts, storyboards, advertising, direct mail — anything that features words, phrases, pictures and your potential positions.  Ask customers to choose the one that resonates with them.   You can also use online survey tools to upload multi-media concepts and have customers choose their favorites.

This is a little bit more of an involved process — especially when you get into developing concept ideas around the messages that you will use to connect with your ideal customer.   But this is really focused on that segment of customers who represent the highest level of profit and opportunity for you.  This is a worthwhile effort because it will save you untold time, money and dead-end strategy.