Marketing is Dangerous

As I write this, I'm sitting here in my rented Camry Hybrid under a tree in Vancouver, Canada. I'm on a final summer vacation to relax after my fun, but grueling, eight-city workshop tour.

In the B'n'B where we're staying, the Internet connection isn't working, so after this is written I'll be searching for an Internet cafe and uploading the eZine.

Clearly I don't have time to do this. (I'm on vacation!!!)

One of the sections of the Fast Track Workshop is on Marketing Mindsets and one of the most frequent mindsets is, "I don't have the time to market my services." But the truth is, you'll always find the time to do something if you see the value and make a commitment.

Then time is never a problem. 

I often wonder why so many things seems to stop people from putting their marketing into action. But during this workshop tour I discovered even more mindsets that stop many people cold.

Here's one: "I can't start marketing until I know exactly what to do." This mindset is interesting because there's actually some truth in it, but there's also a big lie.

There's no question that it's useful to know what to do before you start anything. It's like a recipe. And when you have that step-by-step-recipe, it's usually a lot easier to get started.

However, just like cooking recipes, there are a whole lot of marketing recipes available. All you need to do is take a little time to study them and get started. You can find these recipes in books, my InfoGuru Manual and my Marketing Audio Programs.

The step-by-step details are there for anyone to follow.

It's not a big deal to launch a speaking strategy, an eZine, or a networking plan. Nevertheless, you may have access to these recipes and still not get started.

For instance, after last week's eZine on LikedIn and Facebook, how many of you are still thinking about them?

Perhaps there's another mindset in the way. Does this one sound familiar? "I might do it wrong, and if I do, I'll make a fool of myself and be ridiculed or rejected." This one is very common.

Despite having a step-by-step recipe, you may hesitate or procrastinate in getting started, or you may try to get everything perfect before you finally launch your plan. But, "I have to do this perfectly," is just another limiting mindset.

Let's do some reality thinking here.

How dangerous is marketing, really?

What's the worst thing that could happen if you put a marketing action plan into place? What would people do if you launched your eZine, or gave a talk to a group on your area of expertise, or put your profile up on Linked in and Facebook?

The worst thing that could happen, in my experience, is that people wouldn't be interested. They just wouldn't care. They wouldn't respond or want to know more.

But tell me honestly, would that kill you?

Truthfully, wouldn't you survive? If you really think you wouldn't, you just may be in the wrong business! You should pick a safer profession, a job where nobody could ever reject you. Maybe a forest ranger or night watchman.

Instead, take a look at the potential upside.

If you put yourself out there, if you were willing to face some disinterest, even some rejection (in fact, if you could embrace the disinterest and rejection), you just might discover that some people actually were interested and wanted to know more about your business. Heck, they might even hire you!

Here's my challenge to you this week: Pick a marketing strategy that is scary to you, (but that you intuitively feel could help your business) and then learn the step-by-step recipe to get started and put it into action.

And then just do it.

Now I'm off to find an Internet connection and get on with my vacation. See you next week.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: Taking any kind of marketing action is potentially dangerous. You could fail, be ridiculed or rejected. But your thinking about what could happen is almost always worse than the reality. It's not hard to find the tools to help you. And the potential benefits almost always outweigh the risks.

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What are you going to risk in your marketing this week? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Comments

[Oliver]

Keep on up with this great writing!!!

[Lara Fabans]

I am going to rewrite parts of my website, and I am going to start selling myself more instead of hiding behind the "I need marketing material before I can sell my services."

[michael cardus]

Marketing is a philosophy that I walk and talk too much.
WHat I will risk is making phone calls instead of emails.

[Andrea Susan Glass]

What I will risk this week, Robert, is using email marketing. I am just getting my database together and in the past, my emails have mostly been ignored. As I build a list I want to learn how to use email marketing more successfully, so I will risk being ignored, but I will continue to study the experts and see how they do this. As you said, what's the worst that can happen? I can only get better.