Sharing your knowledge

You’re probably pretty good at what you do. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be in business very long. Along the way, you’ve likely picked up quite a bit of knowledge about your field, had some ups and downs, a few horror stories and [hopefully] many success stories.

Here’s an idea. Share your knowledge and wisdom. Consider putting together some special reports that teach your clients and prospects something, how to avoid common mistakes or get better results. I’ve written about this often, but I’m going to give you some additional ideas in this post.

Using education as a marketing tool is a great way for service professionals to position themselves as experts. So, where do you start? Glad you asked. Begin by grabbing a legal pad and pencil. Then simply jot down potential topic ideas. “How to ...,” “10 tips for better ...,” “How to avoid the top 5 mistakes in ...” You get the idea. These don’t need to be perfect (ergo the pencil). Cross out or erase the losers and whittle your list down to what you believe are some winners ... that you can follow through on.

Tips sheets are pretty easy as starters. Odds are, you’ve come across the same problems over and over in working with your clients. Bingo! You’ve got a tip. Start off by stating the problem. Maybe your a graphic designer and many clients have a hard time communicating their project goals. How about writing a tip sheet like, “5 tips for writing a killer project brief.” Short, sweet and to the point.

Next, simply write down what you ask your clients. What questions always come up? Maybe it’s “Establish your project goals,” “Defining your audience.” “Determine your schedule,” “Create your specifications,” and “Determine a workable budget.” Once you have your topics, toss in an example or two. Follow that up with how this helps move the project along on target. Voila! You’ve got a tip sheet. How easy was that?

After you’ve got several tips sheets put together, you can use them as the basis to draft a special report. Ooooo! “Special Report.” Sounds like it has a lot of authority, doesn’t it. Well, it should if you did your homework.

Okay ... so now you’ve got tips and maybe a report or two. What do you do with them? Here’s a few ideas:

• Use them as leave-behinds after a meeting. This goes for prospects and clients alike.

• Send out a postcard promo and offer a tip sheet or report and freebie. Simply put a line in there that says something like, “Call today to receive our special report, “How to use [your service] to win thousands in new business.” Next thing you know, prospects are calling you and a dialogue begins.

• Offer them as complimentary downloads on your site. In a case of the shoemaker’s kids going barefoot, this is something I’ve been working on in the background for my site. Ideally, have a vehicle in place to gather names and email addresses. A database function is ideal for this, but it can simply be a matter of having them email you to receive the material.

• Submit them as articles to relevant sites. Be sure to include a link to your site. This will help build some additional link popularity.

• Give them to your network of associates for them to distribute to their clients and prospects as a free gift or leave-behind.

• When your making cold/warm calls, before you hang up ask them if you can send them a copy. Nine times out of ten, they’ll say, “Sure.”

• Here’s a nifty idea to generate some additional revenue. Contact a reasonably large company that supplies something to your target audience. Get with the Marketing Director or Sales Director. Ask if they would like copies of your report to use as a free gift for their customers. Print copies off at a local copy shop or create a CD or DVD with your report, dupe it and sell it to the company for a fee. Be sure to cover your expenses in the per item price. You get some dough and they get a great gift to give out. Quality information that can really help their customers is better than a pen, notepad or a mug any day of the week.

And there you have it.

Okay ... maybe you aren’t exactly a Hemmingway. If that’s the case, consider hiring a ghost writer to either write the stuff for you or edit what you write. You might even be able to trade services. If you don’t know any writers email me. We’ll talk.