Figure out what you’re selling - a common sense marketing tip

To me, this post falls along the lines of “common sense marketing” but really, there are a lot of people who know little to squatola about marketing. And that’s nothing wrong with that. Not everyone “gets” marketing.

The basic fact is that if you have something to sell, a product or a service, then you need to spread the word. I can be the best damn writer around. But if no one knows of me or knows how to find me, then I’m the best damn writer around with zero clients. And that’s not good.

So…what are YOU selling? Web design services? A high-tech gizmo? Dr. So-and-So’s Health Tonic? You’re selling something…

But it’s more than that. If you’re selling web design services what you’re really selling is a hassle-free (hopefully) design of a web site that will a) represent the client’s product or service well, b) be easy on the eyes, c) establish an immediate connection between the viewer and the site, d) make a call to action and e) all of the above and more.

Hint: You should pick “e.”

If you’re selling health tonic, you’re not really selling some nasty tasting liquid (well, maybe you are) but you are selling hope in a bottle. You are selling the idea that the drinker of said health tonic will reap benefits in many ways…health, hope, happiness…and whatever additional adjectives you want to heap on there.

Starting to get the picture? Before you start your marketing campaign, you need to determine what it is you’re selling. And how it will benefit your target market.

In my previous post I mentioned that I will be following my marketing campaign. At this point, I already know what I’m selling. Yes, I’m a writer. And I sell my writing services. But what I really sell is the ability for other people to establish credibility, make money, spend their time wisely…the list goes on.

How do I do that? As a ghostwriter, my clients typically give me an outline and research (hopefully) on the topic they want written about. Typically, I write books. What better way for a professional to establish their authority on a subject and credibility within a given field than to be an author? Some of my clients stick with ebooks…either for sale or as giveaways to their prospects. Some of my clients get their books printed. And they’ve made a pretty penny doing so. Get some books printed up and shipped to you for about $4 a book and then turn around and sell for $20…not a bad mark-up. So, yes, I make my clients money.

And lastly, I save my clients time. Many people just don’t have the time it takes to crank out a book. And many don’t have the writing ability. So I save them the trouble.

I know what I’m selling…do you?

Brace yourself, baby!

I know my blog is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I like it that way.

But I’m developing a marketing campaign and I figured I would follow the process and break things down in several posts over the next week or so. Because, hey, I gotta make that MBA useful somehow. It makes me feel better when I have to make the payment on the student loans each month.

Some of the tips should be useful, regardless of the industry you are in, whether you sell a product or a service…and heck, let’s face it…some ideas and tips just spark other ideas in your head, right? (And if they don’t, you might want to go get checked out, or up your daily intake of caffeine).

So come on back and take a look, leave some input if you think my marketing stuff (for lack of a better all-encompassing word) is brilliant or BS.

AZ one of the top foreclosure states - why am I not surprised?

Congratulations, Arizona! You were numero 4 in foreclosure rates for the month of July!! Woohoo!!!

Bad news for us homeowners who know we’re living in homes completely upside down. Bad news for those of us living next to vacant homes that are being vandalized.

But great news for current real estate investors and anyone interested in becoming one!

You can check out the other states in this auspicious top 10 here.

Gotta love those business cliches!

So I’m over at Squidoo checking things out today because it’s looking like it will be part of my marketing plan for my upcoming work-at-home ebooks. Yes, a Squidoo lens is in my future. I see it in my crystal ball.

But what I also came across was one of Seth Godin’s squidoo lenses - on business cliches. And it’s freakin’ hilarious.

If you’ve been in business for any amount of time, you should have heard most of these and may be guilty of even using one or two. I know I have. There have been times when I used these terms and phrases that really are meaningless, if you think about them. And as I’m saying them, I know they’re fairly useless in terms of bringing any meaning to the conversation at hand. But sometimes, you can’t help but tell people things like “It’s important that we get on the same page and have a meeting of the minds.” Or, using the current top-ranked statement in a convo…like “Sure, I’m terrific at thinking outside the box.” Uh, yeah…what box are you currently thinking inside, goofball??

I don’t typically write in cliches…unless that’s what a client wants. But I know I’m guilty of talking in them from time to time.

Want to offload some guilt? What cliche do you tend to use?

My thought for the day…for what it’s worth

Today’s post over at Chrisblogging.com got me thinking.

Two things:

1) What happened to peoples’ work ethic?

2) Most excuses are pathetic.

Sure…there’s always the dying relative or serious health problems. I’m not a complete unsympathetic a-hole.

But the jerks that use excuses left and right…well, they kind of ruin even the legitimate excuses for the rest of us.

Think about it. When a vendor or someone you work with gives you an excuse, do you question it? Maybe not out loud, to their face. But in your head. You’re thinking, “Yeah, right. He/She is totally bs-ing me.”

I had a headache today. I’m talking monster headache. The ”I wanna curl up in a little ball and cry like a baby” headache. I told myself to take a nap and sleep it off. Even if it was for a half hour.

But I had a deadline. And this time, it was for myself, my own project. I’ve never missed a deadline for a client, but I’m more lenient with my own stuff. But today, I treated my project as if I was an ultra-important client (gotta get my pats on the back somehow) and I cranked it out.

I didn’t cry like a baby. I didn’t take a nap. I popped a couple Tylenol and kept on working.

It’s time people start sucking it up and getting back to good old fashioned work.

No more excuses. Unless they’re the legitimate kind.

First day at the new office!

This morning I set up shop at a new location: the library.

And you know, I got a lot done in the couple hours I was there. No puppy whining for me. No fridge with snacky-snacks calling my name.

It was nice.

It’s the new Monday, Wednesday, Friday plan. My son has officially started preschool and it’s about 30 minutes away from home. Instead of spending precious minutes and costly fuel driving back and forth in my gas-guzzling truck (yes, people, a truck!!! A truck I LOVE), I have decided to pack up the goods and make my office a table at the local library.

So today was Day One.

Day One consisted of a trip to Target since the library wasn’t quite open. A purchase of several school-type shirts for the kiddo took place (how can someone get out of Target without buying a little something?) and then I was off to the library.

Despite the mildewy scent at the front door, people still stream in and out of this library. It’s actually quite a busy little place. I made a beeline for the new cafe inside (caffeine, YAY!!), bought a large iced tea and set up.

Before you know it, I was cruising along. Being the freak about public wi-fi access that I am, I didn’t even try to get on the internet. I just tip-it-tee-typed away. LOVED it!

There’s something to be said for packing up all your crap and doing business someplace new every once in awhile. It’s called being productive, baby!

The glorious catch-22 of ghostwriting…

Most days, I LOVE being a ghostwriter. I mean, I LOVE it!!!! I get to write about a lot of topics. My clients are happy because they get top-notch writing with their voice and notes and vision…

Among my various marketing efforts, I do belong to a couple subscription freelance sites. It’s a way to find new clientele and fill in time between other projects. So, among these freelance sites, I am on Elance and Guru.

I don’t bid alot. I wait until I see a project posted that 1) I know I can do a superb job on, 2) is typically in my niche (the real estate, mortgage and credit industries) in order to build that section of clientele and 3) isn’t a nickel and dime job. My rates aren’t cheap. I’m negotiable…but I’m not cheap.

Several posted projects have me scratching my head lately. In one, the poster wanted an experienced ghostwriter (I’m talking NY Times bestseller ghostwriter) and wanted the writer’s resume. Details about titles, etc. Uh, hello?? Most ghostwriters sign NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) and can’t divulge that information. My clients want to be seen as the author of the material. Some clients give me copious notes, outlines, research and more. Some clients give me the minimum…an idea, a sketchy outline, some direction for research. But in either case, the clients are the author of note. Not me. 

Ask me what I’ve written. Go ahead. Ask me. 

I’ll tell you what topics I’ve written on. And I’ll tell you that I’m seriously proud of many of the projects and how they’ve gone on to sell. It’s pretty cool to go to the Amazon page of a book I’ve ghostwritten and see the comments mentioning the great writing. That’s how I get my proverbial pat on the back.

But I will not tell you the titles I wrote, either for ebook or print. And I won’t tell you who I wrote for. In fact, If you look at my testimonials, you will see I use initials only. Not names.

Why the soapbox monologue? I lost a bid on a project today. A credit ebook. I could have written it with one hand tied behind my back and my puppy walking all over my laptop. I could have hit that one out of the park! But the guy declined my bid due to lack of examples. Sorry, buddy, but I’m not giving up the goods on my work or clients. Come look at my testimonials. Ask me to whip up a page to see what I can do for you…I won’t mind. Really. But don’t expect me to cough up work that is covered under a NDA…especially when your own project demands an NDA. 

Why the Olympics suck! (And what you can learn from their suckage)

The awesomeness and bodaciousness of the Olympics is pretty much gone, if you ask me.

(I blame the two adjectives on Kung Fu Panda, by the way)

Back to the Olympics. I’m into sports. When I was a kid, I played soccer, softball, basketball. I would have LOVED to have been an Olympic athlete for just about any event. But back when I was a kid there was this sense of the greatness of the Olympics. There was this whole aura around it. An Olympic year was bigger than leap year, man!

But the jackasses on the Olympics Committee have killed that one. Let’s see…we’ve split up the Winter and Summer games so now there are Olympics every TWO years instead of four. So in 2008 we get the Summer games and then in 2010 we’ll get the Winter games. Yippee. All it does is make the Olympics LESS special.

How does this relate to business? Most people in business acknowledge that there is something to be said about scarcity. If you’ve got a good thing going with your product, you don’t want to flood the market with it. Over at Itty Biz, Naomi Dunford has actually taken her highly praised SEO ebook off the market. You better bet that if she updates that sucker and puts it out again that 1) people will be waiting to swoop it up immediately and 2) pay more!!

So…if you’ve got the greatest product or service known to man, you don’t make MORE of it or make it MORE accessible. Bad move!

You make it desireable by making it less available. And sometimes not available at all.

How cool - free ebooks!

Everybody likes a freebie, right? I came across a free ebook site today.

I’m not a big fan of ebook fiction. In fact, I would never personally read fiction on my computer that isn’t some short piece of b.s. written in a blog or something. I love to read, but I’ll take a paper book any day, thank you very much.

But I do see a market for other ebooks. (Especially since I’ve been writing a lot for my clients lately). How-to guides and other non-fiction ebooks can serve a purpose…when written well. When written poorly they just make you want to stick a fork in your eye. And possibly maim the idiot who wrote it and the jerk-off who actually paid the idiot to write it.

So…back to the freebie. If you haven’t already stumbled across the website, it’s Free-EBooks.Net You can find business ebooks, marketing ebooks, real estate ebooks, writing ebooks…you name it! Here’s a taste of what you can download:

 Go ahead…download a freebie now!

Common Sense Marketing Tips - Using Color

A few days ago I was reading a post over at Small Fuel Marketing. As I was reading, it dawned on me that sometimes common sense really has to be pointed out to people.

For the most part, we are visual people. In fact, most of us rely on our eyeballs for the bulk of our sensory experiences.

So…the post was a good reminder of the importance of appealing visually to your target market. Use the wrong color and you can turn your prospect completely off.

When I was developing the logo for this site I very purposely picked the colors. And for my Beyond The Pen site I again very purposely picked the color scheme.

When I help clients pick out color schemes for their book covers, I always turn back to colors and their meanings. Color conveys a message. A book on scientific theory would probably not sell well if the cover was awash in pinks and oranges.

Anyways…it’s nice to have reminders of what for many is common sense. Because for some, perhaps it’s a new idea.