A New Year & A New Site

It’s a new year and I’ve launched a new site at neiltortorella.com. Along with the site, there’s a new blog and an e-newsletter. The focus of this effort is to provide marketing tips, resources and information for independent professionals, freelancers and small businesses. The site will also carry information about my writing and speaking stuff.

I’ll be kicking off the new blog with a series about email marketing. This won’t be heady theory, just practical tips and how-tos. In the series I’ll cover:

• Why email marketing is still a viable and very useful tool
• How to find a topic for your emails that won’t fizzle out
• How to choose an online email marketing service that’s just right for you
• Creating your first email – dos and don’ts
• Writing must read subject lines
• The best days and times to send your messages
• Understanding email metrics and reports

My monthly e-newsletter, News & Views, will provide useful tips about getting the biggest bang for your marketing bucks without breaking the bank. The premier edition will cover dumb marketing mistakes and how to avoid them.

The Store section will carry selected white papers, reports and other tools, books, audio and video, both by me and others whose products I believe to be of value.

Swing on over and let me know what you think along with what you’d like me to cover in the blog and e-newsletter. If you have some sites or favorite articles and links, email them to me and I’ll post them on the Resources page. Over time, I’d like the Resources page to evolve into a meaty section covering all things marketing for folks like you.

If you like what you see, please Stumble it and / or forward the link to friends, associates and colleagues you believe will benefit from the content.

Common Sales Mistakes

I recently read an report from the savvy gang at Rain Today about common mistakes when selling professional services. It was enlightening, to say the least.

Three chart-topping mistakes are:

• Not listening
• Not understanding the prospect’s needs
• Not crafting a compelling solution

That makes sense. If you don’t listen, odds are you’re not going to glean a clear understanding of the needs. Without a clear understanding, developing a spot-on solution is going to be awfully tough.

The stakes are high in the professional services sales and retention game. Rain Today surveyed B2B buyers and found that a cash-flow-stopping 52%, to as many as 72%, would consider switching suppliers. Yikes! 80% of buyers said they experienced at least one major problem during the sales cycle.

The obvious up side here is that with all these prospects ready to switch providers, if you handle the sales process better than your competition, you can bring a lot of new clients into the fold.

The trick is moving from the first point of contact to beginning the sales process. A lot of potential prospects are lost at the get go. When you first meet a prospect at, say, a business luncheon, do you offer anything compelling to keep the conversation going? Can you communicate an authentic and differentiating value proposition? Or, are you like most who answer the question, “So, what do you do?” with their job title or profession? Saying, “Oh, I’m a graphic designer,” or “I’m a financial advisor,” is a sure way for the next words out the prospect’s mouth to be, “Oh. Can you pass the salt?”

For example, let’s say you’re an accountant who focuses on small service businesses. Rather than just saying you’re an accountant, maybe you say, “I help small businesses pay less taxes, make sense of their finances and manage their money better.” That’s a bit more compelling than the former, now isn’t it? If the person who asked is a small business owner, you likely just got their attention.

Your value proposition is what you bring to the table that provides real value and benefits for your clients.

When you think about benefits, don’t confuse them with features. Think about what you’re really providing. In the accountant example above, the benefits for the client are saving money and keeping more of what they have. A feature might be a speedy new computer and state-of-the-art software that runs like a jack rabbit after downing a half dozen espressos. The benefit is fast turnaround time. At the core of that benefit is your client saving time, having less stress meeting their deadline and fewer woes from their boss.

Your benefits should focus on the core issues that hit home with people – creating comfort, safety, reducing worry or anxiety, making them look good to their bosses, etc.

Differentiation is simply what makes you different from the rest of the pack. It might be a unique service, process or methodology, industry specialty or specific experience. It takes some soul searching, but it’s all about what you can bring to the table that your competition either can’t or won’t.

WHile you're at it, don’t get caught in the me too marketing trap. “Me too” marketing is doing the same stuff and sending the same messages as your competitors. Zigging while the competition is zagging will help you stand out in the crowd. If you don’t differentiate yourself, everybody starts to look and sound the same from the prospect’s point-of-view. When ethat happens, typically the only way to compete is on price and that’s a lousy place to find yourself.

It’s important to note that the sales cycle (from first contact to closing a deal) for professional services can be months. Sometimes longer. It depends on many factors, not the least of which is price. If you’re selling a big ticket item the cycle can often be lengthy. Another big factor is how painful it will be for the prospect to change suppliers. In as much as they may want to change, if the process is too painful, they may want to stick with their less-than-stellar current supplier.

If the Fates are smiling upon you, you get past the opening, engage the prospect and get an appointment. Naturally, do as much preliminary research as you can before the meeting to gain an understanding the the prospect’s business, audience, competition or other criteria that fit your business offerings. Fire up your browser to see if there are obvious common problems that relate to the solutions you provide.

Since listening is one of the most reported sales mistakes, at the meeting, listen ... intently. When you do talk, ask open-ended questions. Those are questions that can’t be answered with a simply “yes,” or “no.” Sure, you’ll talk about your business, experience and such, but try to use “you” and your” more than you use, “I,” “me ,” and “my” (or their plural counterparts). Repeat key points back to the prospect to help ensure you’re getting things right. If you don't understand something, ask for clarification.

If you do these simple things, your much more likely to craft an on-target solution and a powerful proposal.

To learn more about common sales mistakes, download the Rain Today report. It’s an excellent and brief read.

Setting up for 2010

Have you ever noticed how the older one gets, the faster the years seem to blow by? It’s one of those time-relativity things. When you’re five, a year represents 1/5 of your life. When you’re 50, it represents 1/50. Each year, our perception of time compresses, so the years roll by, seemingly faster and faster, until the next thing you know, AARP is filling up your mailbox with membership invitations and you find yourself considering which Medicare plan is best. Now then, isn’t that a cheerful proposition?

But this post isn’t about our ever increasing race toward oblivion. It’s about planning. This year went by with head-spinning speed and the new year is upon us. Now is the time to close out 2009 and start to set things up for 2010. If you play your cards right, you can schedule your work for the next several months or more.

To do that, you’ll need to get chummy with your clients for more than holiday get-togethers and toasting the new year. Consider contacting your best clients – the ones you want to clone – and inviting them to lunch, on you. It’s a nice way to say, “Thanks!,” for sending you all that work during the year. But, it’s also a way to glean a lot of useful information.

During your lunch, ask your client how you did during the previous months. Scary? Maybe. But, it’s something you need to know. Are they pleased as punch? Were there some things you could have done better? This exercise will aid you in providing a better client experience in the future.

But, this breaking of bread shouldn’t be all about you. It should be mostly about your client. Once you have a handle on how you’re doing, ask them what their plans are for the upcoming year. Will they be presenting at any trade shows? Are their new products or services to be launched? Are they expanding into new locations? What are their goals and how can you help them attain them?

For example, during your conversation, your client tells you they’re planning to go to trade shows in June and October to support the launch of a new product they plan to roll out in May. You’ve just been presented with an opportunity to pitch a lot of work. Odds are they’ll need a product logo, some literature, website updates and, perhaps, a new trade show display. If you manage things correctly, you can schedule several projects for the first half of the new year, all for the price of a nice lunch.

Do this with several clients and you can see how your calendar and job roster can fill up pretty quick. Plus (and it’s a big plus), you’ll avoid the crunch of rush gigs, which are often the result of poor planning.

The thing is, your client will likely hit the ground running come January. They know they have a product to launch in May, but other, more immediate things, take precedent. Next thing they know, it’s April and the product launch has become a scrambled rush.

You can avoid this scenario simply by addressing their future needs now. And, you’re client will thank you for it. Taking some time now to plan the coming months will help them do a better job with a lot less anxiety. You’ll avoid that nasty feast or famine syndrome, too, knowing that you’ve got projects scheduled months in advance.

Now, isn’t that a nice way to start the new year?

Demystifying Websites & SEO

Dang! December already. November blew by in a flurry of web projects, writing gigs and marketing consulting with several new clients. That along with some speaking gigs.

Speaking of speaking, I’ll be presenting Demystifying Websites & SEO at Citibank in Tamarac, Florida on December 12. For those of you that aren’t in the area, here are some highlights from the search engine optimization part. It’s hardly a definitive work on SEO, but it should get you moving in the right direction.

It’s estimated that there are 231.5 million websites floating around out there. Those sites serve up over one trillion pages. That’s a whole lotta pages. How’s a self-promoter to be found? Well, the sad truth is that most aren’t.

I have a handy little plug-in for Firefox that shows a page’s Google Page Rank and Alexa ranking. If you’re not in the know, Google ranks pages on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the best. Google’s a 10. JoeSchmo.com’s probably a 0 (actually, I just checked and it turns out they are, in fact, a 0).

It’s pretty sad to see most of the sites folks ask me to review have a Page Rank of 0 or maybe 1, if they have a rank at all. There are usually a few things these sites have in common. They have page titles like, “Home,” “XYZ Company,” or “About Us.” Not exactly descriptive from a search engine point of view. Well, I guess they’re okay if someone out there is searching for “Home,” or “About Us.” The content tends to be focused on the business, not the visitor and isn’t often keyword-rich. You don’t want it to be too rich, just rich enough. But, we’ll talk more about that later.

Page titles are pretty important when it comes to search engine optimization and it’s a good idea to have some keywords in yours. I’ve found that it works best for me is to lead off with your best keywords, and end with your company name. Unless you’re a household name, or folks already know of you, it’s a safe bet that they won’t be using your business name in their search efforts.

How do you know what keywords to choose? Our friends at Google have a nifty keyword tool that helps to take the guess work out of finding your best keywords. Plus, it’s free. You simply pop in your best guess to start. Google will return with the number of searches conducted for that term or phrase in the past month ... plus a slew of alternates. Take it for a whirl and look for the keywords with the highest number of searches. Those are likely to be your best bets.

Once you have your winners, incorporate them into your page titles and content. The latter is the tricky part. Writing for the Web is different than writing a brochure or an ad. The reason are the balancing act of including keywords while maintaining a sensible flow and keyword density. Keyword density is a double-edged sword. Too little and the search engines won’t think your site has any useful, relevant content. Too much and they’ll think you’re keyword spamming. That can be an easy way to get your site banned from the search engines. That would be a bad thing.

Do a search for “keyword density checker,” and you’ll find numerous, free online tools to gauge your density for specific keywords and phrases.

You’ll still want to have your metadata in place. Metadata is the section of your page code that carries the page title, description, keywords and other info for the search engine bots. Although the keyword tag isn’t used by Google anymore to directly index a site, it’s still useful. The description tag also isn’t as important as it once was, but hey, every little bit helps.

The biggie when it comes to SEO is also the hardest thing for small businesses to get – backlinks. Backlinks are links to your site from other sites. But, not all links are created equal. You want “quality” links. A quality link is one, ideally from a fairly robust site, that carries content similar to yours. For example, a photographer would want a link from, say, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) or links from other photography related sites. A link from CreativePro or HOW Magazine’s site would be a good fit for a graphic designer. You get the idea.

So, how does one go about getting backlinks? First off, you’ll want to have all the usual social media bits going on. That means a Facebook account, Twitter, LinkedIn, perhaps YouTube, if video is relevant for your purposes. Be active on these sites and build up some content.

Next, get yourself listed on as many relevant directories as you can. Again, these should relate to your site’s topic. These can be industry directories, associations, portal sites and such. Fire up Google and you’re sure to find a boat load of sites where you can get listed.

Online press release submissions and syndication is another way to gain backlinks. But, it’s important not to submit releases simply for backlinks. Your release should be authentic and newsworthy. A link back to your site is gravy. Plus, releases tend to head off to the archives pretty quick.

Articles are a bit more permanent. If you have a flair for the written word, and something useful to write about, consider drafting some articles and submitting them to syndication sites like ezinearticles.com.

You might also consider authoring a blog. Search engine bots will love to gobble up your keyword infested poignant prose. A "bot," by the by, is a little piece of software that the search engines send out to roam around the Web, hitting sites and indexing them. Bots, robots, spiders are synonyms. Alas, I digress. A blog that relates to your business is a search engine is a natural. Blogs carry loads of content and, unlike me, most authors update their blogs on a regular basis.

Avoid, at all costs, getting into Black Hat tactics. Black Hat tactics are all the shady tomfoolery used in an attempt to dupe search engines like keyword stuffing, invisible text and doorway pages.

The search engine gang are hardly fools and they’re on to these techniques. Practice them and it’s another sure way to get your site banned.

Finally, SEO is an ongoing task and it takes time to get decent rankings. I tend to launch new sites on Sunday evenings. I wish I had a quarter for every client that called me on the following Wednesday asking why they’re not number one on Google. Give it time. If you’re diligent and follow these basic techniques, over time you’ll find your ranking moving up.

Recap of Low & No Cost Marketing Presentation

Last night’s South Florida Freelance Network presentation – Low & No Cost Marketing: Tools, Tactics & Techniques for Success – went pretty well. I’m happy to report that not a single rotten tomato was tossed. Gatsby’s, in Davie, FL, is a great venue and Vanessa was a darling hostess. Our dedicated server, Kristen was excellent, as well.

I covered a variety of topics you can find within the archives of Inside the Marketing Mind. The main point was that it doesn’t take a boat load of dough to get the word out and position yourself as the “go-to” expert within your niche. What it does take is savvy, time and dedication.

Here’s a quick recap:

Avoid these common marketing mistakes:

• Not doing anything
• Not understanding your audience and focusing on their needs
• Not having a plan
• Not focusing on a niche or specialty
• Not actively marketing when you’re at your busiest
• Nervous rabbit syndrome – trying this and that, but not giving any one activity enough time work ... or not work
• Not understanding that marketing takes time
• Not having a referral system in place
• Not marketing to current clients
• Not leveraging the power of your business and personal network
• Forgetting that even though you’re a designer, web developer, writer, photographer, etc., you’re really in the business of marketing. You need to be your own best client

The second half of the presentation focused on an how to implement an assortment of low and no cost marketing techniques. Some of them are:

• Editing down your portfolio to include your best work, but also the kind of work you want to get.
• Direct mail with a solid primary offer and secondary offer
• Having an information-packed, search engine optimized website
• Using blogs & social media
• Building a media list & developing a press kit
• Writing news releases, tip sheets & articles
• Generating interview inquiries and speaking engagements
• Networking the right way

I’ll be presenting Low & No Cost Marketing again on Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at the Margate Community Center as part of our Broward SCORE Workshops Program. Click here for information about the event. If you can’t attend, feel free to email me and request a copy of the presentation notes.

Low & No Cost Marketing and Public Relations Tools, Tactics & Techniques Presentation

I'll be speaking to the South Florida Freelance Network on Wednesday, October 28th. The event starts at 6:30pm at Gatsby's, 1805 S University Drive in Davie, FL.

Attendees will learn how to get on their prospect's radar screen and leverage the power of the Web to build an online presence and drive more traffic to their site. They will also learn how to:

• Avoid common & costly mistakes
• Create a one-page marketing plan ... that gets results
• Position themselves as an expert in their industry
• Generate press coverage
• Write news releases that get noticed
• Build a media list
• Produce a press kit on the cheap
• Use Social Media for more than telling friends what you had for lunch
• Leverage the power of personal and business networks
• And more ... all without breaking the bank
  

I hope to see you there!

Click here to learn more and register. It's free. After all, it is a presentation about low & no cost marketing.

Grow Your Business With Social Media Workshop

For all of you in the South Florida area, BrowardSCORE is presenting a new workshop – Grow Your Business With Social Media. Here're some highlights:

• What are the leading social media sites and tools that I can use to grow my business?
• How do I begin using the leading social media sites and tools?
• How do I develop a social media strategy that will produce results?

The workshop, presented by Paul Hartmann, will be held at the Margate Community Center, 6199 NW 10 St. Margate, FL 33063, and starts a 5:00 pm. The cost is only $25.