What's the best marketing advice you have ever received? We asked 7 savvy marketers.by Brad Hines 3.17.13
Jim Daliankis, Actor and Stand up comedian
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The best marketing advice I ever received was that I should get a professional website and post my clips on YouTube, then
combine the two. This advice came from another professional comedian who showed me how successful he was and that was enough proof for me.
Ever since I did that, I've had inquiries from all over the world, have
been getting a lot more high-paying corporate work and have traveled
extensively. It's also helped get my film project (which has a distribution
deal) more exposure in order to receive the financing.
Chellie Campbell, Author of Wealthy Spirit, and Zero to Zillionaire
Attract the right people, and repel the wrong
The best piece of marketing advice I ever got was from Gene Call, who taught a Word of Mouth Marketing workshop:
"You want to attract the people you want - and repel the people you don't want."
Now this was a revelation to me, because I had been raised to be a "good girl" and nice and acceptable to everyone. I even took sales trainings that taught you how you had to behave differently in order to reach different people. This is great for getting along with people in your personal life, but bad for marketing - if you try to appeal to everyone you'll be so bland and boring that you'll actually turn off everyone! This one phrase gave me the courage to relax and be myself and let my wild and crazy side show, wear gold tennis shoes, joke, and tell the truth about money as I saw it. My brand really took off after that!
I attended a marketing workshop early in my business. The facilitator drove home the importance of identifying what characteristics your clients possessed and from there you could define your ideal client. Then craft a message that would appeal to that particular niche.
I found that most of my clients have been in therapy, are spiritual, and do yoga; all proactive steps in self-care. Hiring me (a financial planner) is a similar step in self-care. Now my mesage ("I help people find peace with money") attracts those people who are proactive, desire peace, and have hired people before to help them.
The best marketing advice I have ever received, and I define "best" by mygross margin, was from a family friend who started a brokerage firm in the late '90s and took it public when he was 31 years old. I was 13 at the
time, but I never forgot.
He said that it wasn't a matter of advertising and spending money, it was a matter of customer service. Do right by your clients, and you'll never have to spend a dime. Word will spread.
I have done just that - we don't actively market ourselves at all. Most of
our services are free, and we receive business by word of mouth. And in
today's age of exponential information availability, you only need one
happy customer to ignite the powder keg of virility.
Treat your marketing campaigns like you are approaching a woman for the first time.
Treat your marketing campaigns like you are approaching a woman for the first time.
If you approach them and tell them that you're the best and no
one else has what you have, they'll probably ignore you. Boom - you've lost your opportunity. Rather, get to know your client and build a relationship. You have a better chance of taking the relationship to the next level. The advice came from Morris Pittle from Two Ton Creative in El Paso, Texas. We are a 96 year old family business and we applied this advice to our marketing and refrained from touting our years in the industry, but rather use our experience as a tool for everyone to use, via our informational videos and free advice. It's paid terrific dividends.
The best marketing advice I ever received was during a training session with Greg Habstritt, founder of SimpleWealth. While most marketing programs talk about solving the problems of your customers, or discovering the pain your customers are feeling and fix it, Greg took us down a different path. While solving a customer’s problem is important, it is hard to be successful marketing from that position. Instead, Greg explained that we are in the Age of Transformation. Consumers are no longer purchasing products and services. They are purchasing the transformation that those products and services provide. Think about a gym membership. Are you paying a monthly fee for the use of the equipment? Or are you paying a monthly fee so that you can lose weight and get in shape? For most of us, it’s about the transformation – getting in shape, not the product.
The advantage of understanding this distinction is that it makes tailoring your message to your potential customers easier. Too often a marketing message focuses on the business or the product and there is no emotional connection to the consumer. By focusing on the transformation, you are forced to relate your marketing message to the consumer making it that much more effective.
I cannot remember who gave me this advice but it was, "Don't go anywhere without your business cards."
I've adhered to this 95% of the time and it's amazing how often my business cards have come in handy when meeting new people. Me and my business cards give the best marketing return.
Similarly, I'm using for my new free iPhone/Android app-Love Builder- cookies in the shape of my app icon, and an attached business card. It's not a viral type success, but these have been a great hit when I'm at networking events - makes me very memorable - and everyone squeals with happiness when they realize how 'creative' I am!
I'm not a traditional business person, being creative with my career always brings me the best success.
For more on Marketing advice, I love and highly recommend the books 'Duct Tape Marketing', 'Likeable Social Media', and 'Marketing to Women: How to increase your share of the world's largest market'.
About the writer: Brad Hines is the president of YumDomains.com, and the founder of HungryKids.org. He is a digital marketing and social media strategist. A writer as well, he typically writes about internet, business, and science trends. He can be followed on Twitter: Follow @BradHines
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