Antidote to Pushy Marketing

After last week's eZine on "Playing it Safe" I got this response that Ruby Curran posted on my blog:

"I am enthusiastic and passionate about my business, but I must admit, I do a good job of keeping it to myself - unless someone shows an interest during a conversation. Why?

"I'm concerned about turning people off. I'm often turned off when someone I meet goes on and on about something I'm really not interested in. It often seems like they're trying to push me into something. I don't want to do that to others, so I find it hard to promote myself.

"Does that make any sense? Anyone else know what I'm talking about? How can I be sure I'm being passionate without annoying other people? Ideas?"

Thanks! Ruby

Thanks for this question, Ruby. This really gets to the heart of what stops people from marketing successfully.

There is a fundamental misunderstanding about marketing that you are making. You think marketing is about you. You think marketing is boasting, a big ego trip and fundamentally self-centered. You think that marketing is "going on and on about something I'm not really interested in."

If you believe that, of course, you'll keep your business to yourself. You don't want to be seen as an obnoxious egomaniac.

But marketing is NOT about you. It's not even about your services. It's not about all the things you do and it certainly isn't about going on and on until people are turned off.

Marketing isn't about what YOU do, it's about what THEY get.

Just think, when someone asks you what you do, you tend to talk all about you and how your business works. It just pours out automatically. You can't seem to help yourself. But you realize that this is a turn-off, so you solve the problem by not talking about your business at all (unless someone shows interest).

Clearly, this approach doesn't work.

When someone asks me what I do, I NEVER talk about my business. I talk about the problems my prospects and clients are experiencing. And when I do that, most people do show interest.

I say, "I work with Independent Professionals who have a great service but who struggle with attracting clients." There's absolutely nothing about me in that message. And it interests people because it's about them.

When they ask me how I do this, I say, "I work with them so that marketing is easier for them and becomes less of a struggle, and so that they ultimately attract more clients."

Again, nothing about me, it's all about what they get. And that is interesting as well. It starts a lot of good conversations.

And if they want to know more about how it works, I tell them a story of a client I worked with and the results they got. Again, nothing about me. Stories are great because people can see that if you helped someone else, maybe you can help them as well.

And you know what? When you talk about your business like that, people become interested. They want to know more. Then you provide more information in the form of an article or details of your services on your web site. And, of course, you get their email and put them on your regular eZine list.

Why do I have 50,000 people on my weekly eZine list? It's because that's how I've consistently communicated about my business over the years. It's all about communicating value, not going on and on about how great my business is.

But there's also another way to look at this.

I realize, that at any given time, I'm not going to communicate perfectly. I may say things that turn people off. I might send one too many emails and have someone unsubscribe. Once in awhile I might forget myself and go on and on.

But so what?

I do my very best to communicate with integrity. I know my weekly eZine provides value. I know that my products and services have made a huge difference to thousands of people.

But you can't please everyone all the time. In fact, if you're doing really well with your marketing, you're still only going to please (get positive response from) about 10% of your audience (at best).

For instance, I've been promoting my Fast Track to More Clients workshops since early March. In that time, about 2,000 people have visited the information page about the workshop. And about 200 people have signed up for the workshop. That's just 10%.

What am I going to do, weep and wail that 90% didn't sign up and then beat myself up because I might have turned them off?

Give me a break!

Look, if you communicate about your business with passion, if you stop playing it safe, inside your comfort zone, and instead, put your attention on the value you provide to your clients, your business will take off in ways that will amaze you.

So where do you start with this?

First, you need to understand some fundamental marketing principles. There are seven distinct principles you need to know if you're going to market yourself successfully:

1. The Game of Marketing
2. Your Marketing Mindset
3. The Language of Marketing
4. Your Marketing Message
5. Marketing Information
6. Marketing Strategies
7. Marketing Action Plans

In this eZine, I just touched on the Language of Marketing. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. The more you understand how these principles work, the easier and more effective your marketing will be.

If you don't understand and apply these principles, you're going to struggle. You're going to play the game ineffectively, you're going to hold yourself back, afraid of turning people off. The chances of winning will be very slim indeed.

How long do you want to be a victim about your marketing, worrying you'll offend someone? This is a completely powerless way to live and to run your business.

Learn the principles and then get out and spread the word.

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The More Clients Bottom Line: If you are worrying you'll offend people when you get enthusiastic about your business, you're just not marketing correctly. Your premise is at fault, not marketing. Master the principles and skills of marketing and you'll be free to be enthusiastic, while turning more people on than off.

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Do you have any examples that prove the premise of today's eZine? Please share on the More Clients Blog.

Comments

[Factoring Invoices Expert]

I have always liked your style of marketing and have learned a lot from your Action Plan... Nowadays when I am on a sales conference call, I **cringe** if one of my business partners focuses on "why they are great" rather than on "how we can help you"...

--MT

[Ruby Curran]

Thanks for the 'antidote" Robert! What a difference the wording you use makes! I'm definately going to use it and I'll let you know what happens.

Ruby