Blog Archives

Do YOU have THE POWER 2?

1/30/2014

Welcome to the second installation of “The Power of the List” Series.

Today we are going more in-depth into the Action List.

This list has the activities that you do regularly each week such class, work, business, etc. Categorized into major items that stay the same each week such as your General To-do, Business To-do, and School To-Do.

Within these categories are sub categories that you do to accomplish your general, business, or class goals such as books your reading, your weekly blog post you have to write, or the Geology class you are taking. These don’t change often with updates.

The part that does change is the specific goals attached to each. These are tasks you need to do specifically to be successful, and have set due dates and times. An example “To do – Groceries (W, 1pm)”. This example broken down, tells you that you are going to get groceries Wednesday (W) at one o’clock pm (1pm). If you notice, all the items with (W)’s are bolded, this is because this list was updated on Tuesday night. They are bolded to let you know those are the things you have to get done for tomorrow.

This list is best used consistently with updates as you accomplish your tasks and at the end of the day for a complete overhaul to ensure that you didn’t miss anything.

Below is an example in a Word Document.

General To-Do

To do – Groceries (W)

Books to Read – Unleashing the Power of Consultative Selling (W)

Meetings – Doctor’s Appointment (Th, 10am), Catch-up with former colleague (M, 1pm)

Business To-Do

Blog (Every Th) – List Article finished (Sa), Post (Th), Dissect Power of Habits (F)

Social Media – Post to 3 blogs (Th), Respond to Comments (W)

Network – Copywriter seminar (W, 8pm), Mastermind Group (Th, 7pm)

School To-Do

Psychology 101 – Hw (W), Exam (F)

Geology 101 – Research Paper (M)

Algebra 101 – Exam Study (Th), Tutor (W), Study Group (F)

Remember, once you instill this list into your habits, and treat its word as law. You will see your productivity and efficiency skyrocket. You will know what is due, when it’s due, and plan your day’s success the day before. After just a few days of using this list, you will be able to see all your small victories in your day journal and make you happier.

Just give it a shot by following this simple step-by-step guide.

Step one: Identify the things that you do regularly

·         I go to work.

o   Work To do

·         I go to school.

o   School To do

·         I have errands to run.

o   General To do

Step two: Identify the categories that make up Work, School, and General

·         Work

o   I have Paperwork, Client Meetings, and orders.

§ Paperwork –

§ Meetings –

§ Orders –

·         School

o   I have my Fraternity, Classes, and club meetings.

§ Fraternity –

§ Geology 101 –

§ Math 102 –

§ Club –

·         General

o   I have all sorts of things to do, read a personal book, take a free online class, meetings with old friends, etc.

§ To do –

§ Book –

§ Meetings –

Step three: Combine them

·         Work

o   Paperwork –

o   Meetings –

o   Orders –

·         School

o   Fraternity –

o   Geology 101 –

o   Math 102 –

o   Club –

·         General

o   To do –

o   Book –

o   Meetings –

Step four: Add the weekly things you do to be successful at those categories and the dates you need to get them done.

·         Work

o   Paperwork – Write Order #432 Report (Tu)

o   Meetings – Meet with client (W, 10am)

o   Orders – Complete orders 231 and 537 (M)

·         School

o   Fraternity – Ensure members pay dues (F)

o   Geology 101 – 3 page paper (M)

o   Math 102 – Online Homework (Th)

o   Club – Meeting (W, 6pm)

·         General

o   To do – Groceries (Th), buy gas (Th), and pay bills (F)

o   Book – Read Chapter 2 of White Fang (Sa)

o   Meetings – Doctors appointment (3pm Tu)

Step five: Institute it into your habits by using consistently and updating daily. To find out how click habits.

With that, I hope this proves helpful to you. If you have any questions on how to create your own or how to incorporate it into your life, then please email me at [email protected].

4 Comments

What's the Thing you need on Day One?

1/23/2014

39 Comments

A Marketing Toolkit.

The thing every business needs to start is a collection of marketing that tells people their story. Your story. The story of exactly what you do, how you do it, and most importantly why you do it.

In your Marketing Toolkit, you will have a Pocket Folder containing, a Case Statement, a Difference Summary, a Case Study, and “The Offer”. The Pocket Folder should sport your company colors/logo and highlight your products and services. Complementing the marketing pieces inside. In can also have marketing merchandise such as pens, bookmarks, stickers, etc. Inside your Pocket folder lies your marketing pieces. These pieces are customizable to the event and situation, but should always contain these basics.

·         The Case Statement makes a case of why your customer should buy your product. It addresses their challenges, frustrations, and fears. Paints the vision of a future without them, how they can get there. And what they must do to start.

·         The Difference Summary explains why you’re better than your competition and what you provide that they don’t. This can include your unique approach, processes, or the extra things you do to make your customer happy. A difference summary can include many things based on your objectives to include the story of your company and the motivations behind it, the top values of your market, and a description of your ideal client that your customer can relate to and knows that you’re talking to them.

·         The Case Study (a.k.a. Testimonial) of a real life customer who is so amazed with your product that they wholeheartedly back it with their support. This is a marketing piece for showing off pictures of happy people using your product, giving a face to the future happiness that your customer can have if they buy your product.

·         The final piece that should always be included is “The Offer”. The Deal that you are presenting should be compelling and something they just can’t refuse. The deal with a strong call to action such as contacting you for more information or to order, will be the crescendo of your Marketing Toolkit.

With your Marketing Toolkit in place, you are ready to wow everyone instantly. It works great as an automatic response on your site to be mailed or emailed to a interested prospect as well as a piece to rally other marketing pieces around such as your brochure. The best part is that each marketing piece inside your Marketing Toolkit can in and of itself, a standalone marketing piece that you can turn into a microsite, sales letter, or more.

For your Ease-of-Use, below is a bulleted list of your future Marketing Toolkit as well more information in building it.

Marketing Materials Toolkit

1.       Pocket folder – case statement, difference summary, ideal client description, marketing story, and offerings
a. Notepads, bookmarks, posters, stickers, and a useful tool (calendar or ruler)
b. Create mini folders

·Case Statement – Make a case on why your prospect should buy your product

Case addresses challenge, frustration or fear of your client
An image of life after problem is solved (Future)
How they got there (Past)
A directed call to action (Present)

· Difference Summary – why your different and how you do it (unique approach, Processes, and extras)

Use top 3 or 4 things that your market values
Ideal client description
Marketing story – Personal story of your company

§ Types – Client, Who, What, Where, Values, Lessons Learned

· Case Studies

Actual example of how you solved problems with your service and product
Include the situation, problem, solution, and result
Include images and testimonials
Interview and create Case study with real client

§ What solutions were you seeking when you hired us?
§ What did we do that you value most?
§ What has been the result of working with us?
§ What would you tell others who are considering hiring us?

Testimonial Proof – Create a What people have to say about us page!

§ Create one with Clients approval (Audio, Video, and word)
§ Ask a prospect to ask a client
§ Photograph your client using product

Systematize getting a testimonial into your after sale experience

§ Ask them to write it as a referral to a friend
§ Use a business card system to collect

Frequently asked questions – Marketing piece / Website piece

§ Questions that should be Frequently asked page = Funnel Technique
§ Client list
§ Show processes and checklists to emphasize the premium service pricing.
§ Articles

· Product/ Service Offering

Describe in detail your offerings to include benefits

Need your own Marketing Toolkit today, but don’t have the time to do it yourself?

Then hesitate no longer and send me an email to get your very own customized Toolkit.

For your industry. Your customers. And your Business.

Sincerely,

L. Thomas
@ [email protected]

39 Comments

Do you have a Story to Tell?

1/16/2014

2 Comments

Here I am.

Brain-dead…

Staring at the blinking screen of my computer…

Robbed of my muse… my inspiration…

I think back to a simpler time… when words flowed from my imagination like a torrent.

That torrent… long run dry… squeezed of every ounce of creative energy.

Leaving behind, but rocks.

Scraggly rocks that rub the feet raw while searching endlessly for new inspiration...

“AAAAH”, walking away from that dreaded computer with only hours to go before my deadline…

“What to do… what to do”, as I reach into the fridge for my ham and Swiss sandwich. Turning on the coffee maker for that all too familiar sound.

Thinking… ham and Swiss…plus coffee … the Writer’s Go-To Comfort from Writer’s Block.

Staring into the brown quagmire as its drips from the heavens. Looking… Looking for the answers…

Turning to look over my phone…

Biting into my ham and Swiss…

Storytelling.

The most important part of captivating an audience.

Is telling them a story that inspires them. Arousing their interest and never letting go.

Ever wonder why scientific journals and technical manuals are so hard to read?

It’s because there are no stories to speak of. It’s written in the most opaque language with the most monotonous voice with no beginning or end. Just information for informations sake. Which has its own positives, but more often is plagued by negatives that make it only withstood by the most astute.

Telling your audience a story is what the best movies, music, and copy do. Written to entertain, but also to persuade and inform. This is the art of storytelling for your business and ideals. This is true even to the standards of marketing and copy. Only the best storytellers have the best marketing. People buy some products on price and need. But more often they buy the story that the company tells. The history of what they do, of who they are, and what they stand for. Weaving stories into your marketing allows your clients to connect with your message and makes them want to be a part of what you do. Gives your employees something to aspire to, to work towards, and to uphold. And even though technology changes, we very much stay the same. Everyone loves stories. Everyone loves to have a hero to root for, a villain’ to hate, and be able to follow their fates.

But how do you incorporate a story into your message that people want to hear?

0

Think of your story in a holistic way. What story are you trying to tell. Who, what, where, why, and how are you trying to incorporate your message into your story. And In a way that puts your target audience into the shoes of your character and follow their story. This holistic way directs the rest of the steps and structures them to your goals and outcomes keeping them from being haphazard.

1st
You create a character to follow and can be first or third person depending on your copy. If you want your audience to look through the eyes of your hero and do actions they do and experience their success first-hand then use 1st person. If you want your audience to be outside looking upon your character to set the stage that they want to be just like them and experience the happiness from the success they had using your product or services. Then use a 3rd person view.

2nd
Present the trouble or problem that your character has to deal with that is relatable to problems that your target audience have themselves. This should be a challenge that your specific product or services solves. Here you tap into your target audiences fears and frustrations.

3rd
Present the motivations that lie behind your characters actions. These motivations should mirror or be parallel to your target audience’s motivations. This way, the audience relates to your character and inclined to follow his actions and be more flexible to new introduced information.

4th
Propose the setting for the character. This can range from fantasy to real, but should be directly relatable to your target audiences’ real life. This way they can seep deeper into the story and feel at home. Drawing real emotions, habit cues, and situations from the audience.

5th
Once the setting is in place, you solidify the challenges with the obstacles associated to it, identifying the root causes, introducing the villain, and painting a picture of damnation for the audience to want to solved and be saved from. Here you can foreshadow the solutions to the challenge and how it overcomes the obstacles painting a picture of hope, but should be effectually introduced in the next step, The Climax.

6th
In the Climax, you have you hero, your product, face the villain, your audience’s frustrations and fears. Having it hit a feverish pitch and an almighty crescendo. Explaining in great detail how your hero, your products and services will save their day. Making the success and triumph of you’re hero, the success and triumph of your prospective clients. This will inevitable make your audience want to experience it themselves and excited to know how they can.

7th
In the closing, you bring closure. You bring your call to action. You give your audience the takeaways of what they need to know. Of what you would like them to take away. Or give them the call to action, where you give them the next step. A place to unleash their motivation upon. Be it a transaction page, a site to check out, and free Infoproduct to download, or someone to contact. It’s the precarious part where you win or lose your audience.

Incorporating stories into your media will boost your response rates heavily. Helping build your business and make you more money. As people care more about your product, and will retell your stories to others. Making success yours.

*CRASH*

Like a lightning bolt! It hits me.

Nearly dropping my ham and Swiss.

I run to my computer and strike the keys, embedding my words to the page.

Ideas emerging, ebbing and flowing with the demise of my writer’s block.

Eureka! I have done it.

And all I needed was an update from my RSS Feed.

Outline Steps for your Story Driven Copy.

Step 0: Holistic Notion

Step 1. Character

Step 2. Challenges

Step 3. Motivation

Step 4. Setting

Step 5. Obstacles

Step 6. Climax

Step 7: The Closing

Do you have a story to tell?

2 Comments

What are you doing with your...

1/7/2014

10 Comments

... narrowed market?

How to Narrow your Marketing Focus to One Niche in One Market

Understanding who you are targeting is the most important thing of all marketing.

Understanding what they want and how they want it is the only way to keep them coming back.

Narrowing it down, however, is not so easy.

If you don’t know where to start, then I have created a Step-by-step list of how and what to look for.

Way to find, create, or narrow a niche.

1. Tools for Niche Hunting

Pay per click ad websites
Database Collector websites
Industry and Service Survey

Why did you hire us?
Why are we different than our competition?
What’s missing from our industry?
What could we do that would thrill you?
What do you “put up with” in our industry?
What would you do if you owned our business?

2. Figure out Needs of your target market and express in your marketing

Find a problem no one is solving and solve it (Solve Targets Frustration)
Can’t Afford solution (Make it cheaper)
Too complex for most to figure out (Make it more simple and convenient)

3. Audit your product to see if it answers these target market questions:

Do they want what I have?
Do they value what I do?
Are they willing to pay a premium for what I do?

4. How to make your own niche

Offer niche – You give offers and promotions no one else will
Solve a problem niche – find fear and problem to solve that no one else can
Extras beyond your product – lifetime guarantee, carpet audit, thank you gift of flowers or free service: Point out that your product makes others prosper

After finding a general need or frustration: ID your Ideal client by:

1.       Demographic surveys
2.       New member survey: favorite music, books, events, hobbies, kind of car they drive
3.       After Service Review Survey after meetings

Use Client Formula to break down your target market to the individual:

1.       Physical Description + What they what + Their Problem + How they buy + Best way to communicate with them = Ideal Prospect
2.       How?

Use Customer Relationship Software
Know your Client Form
Talk it out of them

After IDing your Ideal Client: You must:

1. Find customer list –

Generate your own (Social media, landing pages, contests, etc.)
Buy or barter1 one from someone in your industry who does complimentary work to your business

*Barter1 – Build rapport with a fellow business owner and set deal to give free marketing and referrals to his business, or even joint venture with them to buy their materials to complete your own work

Understanding your niche and the ideal customer in that niche. You are now very capable in finding them, speaking their language, and getting their business.

Found your niche and ideal customer?

Then let us know by commenting.

10 Comments

Do YOU have the POWER?

1/1/2014

5 Comments

Today's blog post is an extension of my Power of the List Series where the list is the most powerful human tool available.

Day Journal

One of the most important things you can do regularly is write down everything you do on a daily basis.

This is known as a Day Journal.

A day journal can be an important part of any person’s life by logging all your accomplishments, your botch-ups, and everything in-between.

Why is it so important?

Because a day journal helps you track the things you do. Letting you know which are helping you with what you want to do with your life, and those that aren’t. By identifying the things that went right. You can continue them and understand why they went right and how to keep them right.

For example, being able to get to the end of the day and seeing the things you actually accomplished is inspiring and gets you pumped up for tomorrow. For me, being able to see that I wrote my weekly blog post t as well as went to the gym inspires me to keep succeeding. It lets me sleep, knowing that I was productive and had many everyday victories.

Going in the opposite direction.

It allows you to see places in your life where you would like to improve. As it is more easy to see the patterns as they emerge and eliminate them before they become too much of a problem. This can go to understand your bad patterns such as sleeping-in too much. Allowing you to think up a solution such as moving your alarm clock out of arm’s length to get you out of bed and more likely to not sleep in as a result.

Below is an example: (Things in Red are things I want to eliminate or improve)

9am – Slept in (Wakeup supposed to be 7am)

10 – Started work on Writing Article

10:30 – Snack (Potato Chips because I missed Breakfast)

12pm – Finished article

12:30 – Lunch (Brown Rice, spinach, salmon burger with green tea and honey

1:30 – Back to work and posted article

2 – Water cooler Break

Just today for example, I found that I missed my breakfast this morning and I was dragging for the rest of the day because of lack of energy. So when I asked myself why, the answer was right there in my day journal.

But what was the real reason I missed breakfast?

It was because I slept in and that is the real root of the problem. Being able to see the cascading effects of one thing to everything else is not only cool to see, but imperative in understanding how your day plays out.

Starting one today will allow you to amass your very own everyday victories!

Have you started your own Day Journal or been thinking about it?

If you have then comment to let the world know about your everyday victories!

5 Comments

Do YOU have THE POWER 2?

What's the Thing you need on Day One?

Do you have a Story to Tell?

What are you doing with your...

Do YOU have the POWER?

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