| A Winning Strategy To Land Potential Clients
Kethyr's CAMEL Report
Mountain View, California
Saturday, March 1, 2008
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What's the best way to promote your business? According to marketing guru Bob Bly, it's by using the Internet. And the best way to promote yourself on the Internet? Bob says it's by developing your own e-zine, as do master marketers Joe Vitale and Debbie Weil.
I recently started using Bob's strategy to boost client response after attending one of his teleconferences. The strategy is very easy to implement — and is it ever working!
So, what exactly is this strategy? It's simply using an e-zine to keep your name and your skills at the forefront of clients' and potential clients' minds.
If you don't think you're familiar with e-zines, you're wrong. You're reading one now. An e-zine is an online or email-based newsletter.
Your personal e-zine should have one purpose: to sell your services to potential clients and referral sources. In one of their recent teleconferences, Joe, Debbie, and Bob passed on several key steps to accomplish this.
Step #1: All successful Internet promotion… including the strategy of using an e-zine for self-promotion… starts with having your own Website. (I'll cover starting your own Website in future issues of Kethyr's CAMEL Report.)
Step #2: Make your e-zine quick and easy to read online by using a "Quick Reading" format. If your subscriber doesn't read your e-zine as soon as he opens it, he's likely to skip it and delete it later — unread.
To make your e-zine a "quick read," it should have no more than 5 short, useful, and interesting articles… and the entire issue should never take more than 7 minutes to read.
Step #3: Use plain text formatting, not HTML. Joe, Bob, and Debbie all agree that this is best for most e-zines. HTML copy looks more like a promotion and less like an informational piece. HTML copy also looks like there's more to read… which defeats the power of the "Quick Reading" format. In addition, many people read their e-mail — including e-zines — on cell phones or PDAs, where HTML just won't work as well.
The exception is if you're sending to a subscriber list that wants and needs HTML, such as graphic designers, Web masters, and the like.
Step #4: Be regular, but don't overwhelm. Bob sends his e-zine monthly. Debbie sends hers twice monthly. You may choose to distribute yours more frequently, but don't make it more than once a week. If you do, your e-zine won't get read regularly. If you increase the frequency and get a lot of "unsubscribe" messages, you'll know that you're sending it too often.
There are numerous companies on the Internet that can help you start your own e-zine, and most offer design templates, e-mail autoresponders, and contact list management. In other words, they take care of everything for you but the writing! The process is both simple and inexpensive. A couple of the providers I recommend are:
The teleconference ended with this Joe Vitale "Million-Dollar Tip:"
"Write a special report and offer it for sale on your Website. But offer it for free if the visitor subscribes to your e-zine."
"List this report on eBay, Amazon, and other Websites for its cover cost. Then have a link on the offer that takes the surfer to your Website so he can subscribe to your e-zine and get your report for free. And there you have another subscriber for no cost to you!"
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Quick Tip: Keep Telling Your Customers How Good You Are
To encourage repeat business, you should constantly remind and re-educate your customers about what you do for them. Don't make the mistake of thinking they are watching everything you do and appreciating all the improvements and additions you are creating.
If, for example, you buy a top-line BMW, you should receive something from your dealer every month, pointing out how your relationship with BMW can further enhance your life. One effort might be a small brochure that offers a free video course on how to better use the entertainment system. Another might be a booklet that tells you how to brake safely using BMW's patented braking system. A third might be a notice of the free maintenance the dealership provides and the complimentary new BMW you may drive while your BMW is being serviced.
To do a good job re-educating your customers, you must talk about genuine benefits — which means you must provide them. Make your products better, and then tell your customers why they are better and how to use them.
Until next time,
Sean Eric Armstrong
Kethyr's CAMEL Report
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