The Marketing Mix | official blog of the Marketing Mentor community

Ready to position yourself as an expert? New group starts next week.

Our Marketing Groups are on the verge of a transformation. The “Advanced Groups” will instead focus on particular tools like thought leadership, using LinkedIn, defining your market, and doing direct outreach. 

First up, my new thought leadership group starts next week. If you’re ready to position yourself as an expert, this one’s for you. Two spots are left; email me if you’re interested. 

Over this 3 month group process, each participant will develop a plan that includes writing and/or speaking to a target market. You will develop topics, find venues and do the outreach to get the ball rolling.  

• Session 1. Developing the content. Brainstorm topics.
• Session 2. Draft blurbs for your topics.
• Session 3. Find outlets for your writing.
• Session 4. Find venues for speaking.
• Session 5. Draft proposals for writing and speaking
• Session 6. Outreach to initial prospects. 

Ready to learn the tools to become an expert? Email me for details.

 

Podcast: Bryn’s tax surprise

When it comes to taxes, are you deducting everything you can?

Bryn wasn’t. 

Bryn Mooth is an independent journalist and copywriter at Writes4Food. We’ve been following Bryn’s journey, and recently, we talked about taxes.

In the first meeting with her accountant, Bryn had a big surprise:

She had a percentage in mind for Uncle Sam, but says,  

“It was significantly higher than I expected… I knew that I needed to account for self-employment tax and social security; what I didn’t realize is that, as an independent contractor … I need to pay my income tax quarterly… When I was employed by someone else, it was sort of off my radar…”

Having to pay a much bigger percentage than she expected was a “rude awakening” for Bryn. Fortunately, she had built up a financial cushion before becoming self-employed. This cushion was a huge relief.

Now, Bryn has a different mindset. Going forward:

• She realizes that she can expense a lot more than she thought. All of a sudden, knife sharpening, food for recipe development, and props become expenses.
• Every time a paycheck comes in, half goes into a tax account (just to be safe). 
• Bryn is now very careful about keeping receipts and updating her spreadsheet on “Finance Friday.” This way, when she files next, her estimate will be more manageable and realistic. 

Listen to this 10-minute interview here.

Have you experienced any tax surprises?

For guidance when it comes to taxes, we adore June Walker, tax advisor for the self-employed. Read her guest posts on the Creative Freelancer Blog and check out here books,  Self-employed Tax Solutions + Five Easy Steps, and her free resources. 

Using Google Docs to track contacts?

Recently, I asked if a simple contact management system exists, and Cynthia Sterling, a member of my Advanced Marketing Group, gave a glowing recommendation of Bento.

In response to this post, Michelle Bisson, from POPcliQ, shared how she manages her contacts. She created this system because it was simple, easy to share, and free.

Michelle says, “My simple system is probably very common.  But before one evaluates more complex systems, they might find that this system will meet their need just fine.”

Michelle tells how she set up her Google Documents spreadsheet:

The first column is for the "Next Contact Date," second column for the "Last Contact Date." Then some columns for Contact Info (as many as needed) and one column for "Comments."  

In this column I attach a Google Comment that you see as a pop up box when you mouse over a cell…

In this attached "Google Comment" I keep all of my previous comments in order of latest comments first with the date always at the beginning of the comment. That way the history of my comments is kept in order by latest date first.

There is no word limit (or at least I have never met the limit) in these Google comments that stay hidden until I mouse over the cell that contains the Google comments.

When I move the mouse away from the cell that has a "Google" Comment, the popup disappears and all you see is the latest brief comment.  This keeps my rows from ballooning as the previous comments are hidden till I mouse over.  There is an orange triangle on a cell that has a comment.

Different columns can be used to store additional info.  Also, if I have additional phone numbers or email addresses, I put them as "Google" comments that can be viewed when mouse over the appropriate cell.

I can quickly reorder the table by reordering the first column, putting the ones to contact first at the top of the table.

I have been using this system for 2 years and it works great, simple to use with no feeling that the system is inadequate.  One can color code cells.  Hot leads I put a background of florescent green and those who are "dead" leads I put red as the background.  One can do searches quickly.  Plus whenever Google updates their spreadsheets with new functionality, I do not need to update the software as Google does this automatically.  So I always get Google Spreadsheets latest tools.  

In addition, I chose Google Docs Spreadsheets because I needed to share this document with an employee as he needed editing privileges. We can both edit the same document (just not the same cell) at the same time on different computers/locations.  Otherwise, I could of used any spreadsheet software that is freely available or installed on my computer to set up the same system.

Do you use a simple spreadsheet to track your contacts?

Have anything to add?

Here is my “2012 Goals + Prospects” Worksheet

Hi, I'm Deidre. In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a web copywriter, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and what I’m learning as I go (with Marketing Mentor as my guide).

Recently, I shared what I accomplished in 2011. Want to know what I didn’t accomplish? Well, here it goes…

I did not meet 2+ prospect per week (even though I had a starburst on my wall). I did not meet anywhere close to 2+ prospects per week.

This was possibly my most important marketing task last year—and I didn’t do it.

Why?

Because I slacked. I lied to myself. I was a truth-stretcher.

The word, “meet,” was too vague. I justified this to myself by saying, “Sure, I met 2 people this week.” I didn’t track who I met, so it was easy to tally them favorably in my head.

Here’s the dilly. Vague goals don’t work. If there is room to “stretch the truth,” I will. Most of what I accomplished last year was clear-cut. The things I slacked on were greyer.

For 2012, my goals are black and white. First, if I do only one thing this year, it will be this:

Introduce myself to 5 new prospects per week.

The method doesn’t matter. It can be through email, phone, in-person or carrier pigeon. But I will track these people that I introduce myself to.

The simple fact is: My business will not grow unless people know about me.

I can’t rely on my meta tags. I can’t rely on word of mouth. The best way to meet new people is to simply say hello. This year, I’m getting serious about saying hello! (I’ve already said hello to 15 people this month.)

My specific goals for 2012 are:

• Meet the magic number every month
• Send my un-newsletter every month
• Introduce myself to 5 new prospects per week

I also want to track:

• How many projects I have each month
• The average invoice size per project
• How many prospects become clients
• Who I added to my email list (Marketing Mentor loves Emma for email marketing and offers a 20% partner discount!) 

To do this, I created a worksheet.

It’s super simple, but maybe it can help you too? 

Download my "2012 Goals + Prospects" worksheet here.

I’ve used formulas, so that when you update the prospect worksheet, it automatically updates the “Goals” worksheet with names, and denotes which prospects turned into clients, tallying each month.

What is the one thing you’re doing this year?

Podcast: Are you paying the price for a checked-out December?

Bryn Mooth is an independent journalist and copywriter at Writes4Food.com. I’ve been checking-in with Bryn for the past 8 months (since she went freelance) to follow her journey, and last week, we did our first calls of 2012.

How did she do? Overall, 2011 “exceeded” her expectations. Bryn was pleased with the income she earned and the work she did.

But…

January is slow.

Why?

Bryn says she “checked out” in December. She put off doing things like following up on completed projects, “slacked off” on networking and contacting, and now, she’s “paying the price.”

What’s her plan of attack?  She says, “I’m starting from scratch, a little bit.”

Bryn has identified the kind of projects that really appeal to her, and in 2012 is going to actively pursue that kind of work. She spent the last week on LinkedIn building a list of prospects. Then, she’s seeing who in her network can make an introduction.

What she’s learning about the marketing process:

Like most freelancers, I’m not really good at it. Early in this freelance career… some things were landing in my lap… I was doing some networking and yielding some good projects. But I wasn’t doing as much of that as I need to be. I got busy. I kept thinking, I need to allocate some time to think about who my ideal prospects are and get that planning going, and I didn’t.  So, that’s what I’m doing now.

In this 11-minute interview, I suggested for Bryn a three tool combination to turn these prospects into clients:

1. Use LinkedIn to connect.
2. Use email to follow up.
3. Use the phone to make it real.

Bryn is going to do this—and we’re going to talk to her next month to see how she did.

How long does it take to take to turn cold (or warm) prospects that you find on LinkedIn, and turn them into actual clients?

Stay tuned to find out…

Did you miss the marketing pep talk?

Thanks to all 1562 people who signed up for my "marketing pep talk" last week, "The Only Marketing Tools You Need for 2012."

These 1562 people know that this year—less is more! I’m recommending no more than 5 marketing tools depending on what your goals are and how much marketing you already have in place.

Want to know exactly which ones and how to use them? For those of you who missed the pep talk, here are the links for the video and the pdf of the PPT:

• Mac Version: http://bit.ly/AjS8et
• PC Version: http://bit.ly/woFd3P
• PowerPoint Presentation PDF Format

And if you need some structure for your marketing, try the Creative Professional's Marketing Plan + Calendar for 2012. It comes in Beginner and Advanced versions.

 

Podcast: What do art buyers really care about?

Recently I interviewed Scott Hull, an agent for illustrators who, when you ask what he does, says he, “links creativity to the corporate world." We talked a lot about how illustration has changed and who the new “art buyers” are.

He shared some interesting information for creatives and illustrators—especially when it comes to selling themselves to art buyers and agencies.

Scott believes that we’ve fallen short in marketing creative services and that what the new art buyers care about is: What value are you going to bring to me? How are you going to make my life easier?

So how can a creative sell themselves? 

Scott says: An illustrator can talk about the value they bring and the potential return on investment over stock illustration or photography. 

He also suggests emphasizing turnaround time. "The illustrator has the training and sense to convert concepts into a visual translation in 3-4 weeks. This is probably one of the biggest sales tools I have found.”

In this interview, Scott also shares his thoughts on: 

• Students coming out of art school, what should they do? 
• Can an illustrator directly approach an art buyer?
• Can an illustrator learn enough about ROI to persuade corporate decision-makers? 

Listen to this 14-minute interview on the Marketing Mentor podcast.

Don’t miss the free annual pep talk – Thurs, Jan 12th @ 3pm ET

What are the only marketing tools creative pros need this year? Find out on Thursday, January 12th at 3:00 PM ET. 

This hour-long webcast is free and in it, I will not only outline the simple “to dos” that will keep your pipeline full and your Marketing Machine humming all year long, I will also give you the kick in the butt you may need to get those to dos done! 

One of the tools I’ll highlight is LinkedIn and you’ll learn how to use this social network to get new clients, get the most from the groups and which “apps” are best. 

Get your 2012 started right—sign up now (even if you won’t be free to listen live; you’ll get the recording afterward) - http://bit.ly/yLkRos

It all started with a tweet…

When combined, the right marketing tools get you what you want. One good combination that worked for me is Twitter + In Person Networking + Email. Here’s how. 

One of my personal goals for 2012 is to speak at more schools and universities. I want to help equip student creatives with the marketing know-how they’ll need to make it in the real world.

I signed up to attend an event and saw that, Dr. John Maeda, the president of Rhode Island School of Design would be speaking. So I tweeted him (@johnmaeda) to say I was looking forward to hearing him speak. This led to a series of events that has me speaking in-person at RISD on Thursday, January 19^th. (Details here: http://www.risdcareers.com/programs/calendar/).

Here’s what happened:

1. I tweeted.
2. We met in person.
3. I followed up (with email).
4. I’m speaking at RISD.

The timing must have been right because when Dr. Maeda got my tweet, he went to Marketing-Mentor.com to find out more. I didn’t know that until, at the event, Iintroduced myself before I asked a question. He remembered me and said (in front of the whole audience) that he had sent my information to his head of career services.

The day after the event (remember, timing is everything!), I followed up with the head of career services—and now I’m speaking. And it all started with a tweet…

 

Does a simple contact management system exist?

This year, I’m trying to streamline the marketing process to make it more doable. That’s why I’ve simplified the 2012 Marketing Plan Bundle to include only the most effective tasks. One of the main marketing tasks in the bundle is direct outreach. But once you’ve reached out to these new prospects—how do you keep them organized? 

Cynthia Sterling, a member of my Advanced Marketing Group, recommends Bento:

I did research about 6 months ago, and most of the options seemed more complex to implement and manage than made sense for my business. I wanted something that I could customize and that could capture more information than Apple's Address Book, but didn't require a large time investment to set up and maintain. For me, Bento was the answer. I'm not formally trained in sales, and what I really wanted to track were notes about my interactions with the contact, when my last attempt and contact with them was, what that consisted of, and when I needed to follow up and how. And I didn't want to have to go to a whole separate database to track these things. Now, everything I enter via Address Book shows up in Bento and vice versa. 

It's from the Filemaker Pro folks, and is a simple database that has various templates you can use for all sorts of data. It's designed to integrate with Apple's iCal, Address Book and Mail. I was able to get a Customer & Contact Manager template. I had to ask specially for a version that automatically syncs with Address Book, but they do have one they'll give you. I ended up with a more robust database containing all the info already in my Address Book, and was able to add fields such as "subscribed to newsletter" or "received letter about (my company) change of ownership." You can link tasks to a contact, as well as emails, documents, etc and create any field you need in several formats. So, for instance, you could track all the people who find you via your lecture series.  

Do you use Bento? Do you have any simple contact management systems to recommend?