Get Clients Online

Break free of the “vendor trap”

Posted byIan Brodie on October 11th, 2016.

I've had a couple of conversations recently that have caused me to go back and look at an article I wrote way back in 2011 called “Why I've changed the way I sell, and why you should too”.

You can read it here.

Normally when I look back at my old writing I think “how could you have been so dumb?”

But in this case it turns out I was actually talking sense. 

In fact, the effect I talk about in the article has become even more pronounced. And I see so many smart professionals with so much to offer ending up competing on price as a result.

In the article I talk about how the default position of clients today is to see you as  just another vendor, and what to do in sales meetings to break out of that frame and be seen as the expert you really are.

Since I wrote the article I've come to realise you can get the most impact by starting earlier. By using the same techniques in your marketing as well as when you're face to face with potential clients.

I'll share more details on that tomorrow. But for now, take a look at the article, see if you agree with my conclusion, and share your thoughts in the comments.

>>> Click here to go to the article <<<

Hope you find it useful.

Get Clients Online

The strange psychology of Value in Advance

Posted byIan Brodie on August 7th, 2016.

As someone who's been a subscriber to my emails for a long time you've no doubt heard me mention the concept of “Value in Advance” quite a few times.

Normally when I talk about it I discuss how by making sure your marketing delivers value to your potential clients (a free report, a high value briefing etc.) you generate much more interest and goodwill and get connected with way more people who are actually interested in what you have to offer.

But there's another element to Value in Advance I usually don't mention.

It's that giving Value in Advance is a strategy that you're much more likely to do. 

Now I'm not arguing that it's easier than traditional promotional marketing. In fact the reverse: it takes time and effort to create the value you're going to give away free.

But the key thing is that for most of us, we don't like being promotional. We don't like pushing our services on other people. We don't like showing off about how good we are.

But we do like helping people.

So a Value in Advance strategy is powerful both because potential clients like it, but also because you'll feel comfortable doing it.

And marketing you feel comfortable doing gets done. Marketing that makes you feel like you're being pushy or promotional doesn't.

Get Clients Online

What you need to make your marketing work

Posted byIan Brodie on December 20th, 2015.

Back in college 30 years ago my friend Stuart suggested we join a gym.

“If we get in shape, we'll be able to drink more” he said. That's student logic for you.

Needless to say, we didn't last more than a session or two at the gym.

That's the thing with hard work like working out. If you don't enjoy it and you're only doing it for the results it's really difficult to keep it going long term.

It's why, when you're trying to figure out what marketing to do, you need to make sure that the approaches you select are ones you enjoy doing.

Not necessarily initially. When things are new and difficult they can always be rather painful. The first few blog posts I wrote and videos I made took me an age and were a real struggle.

But after a while I came to really enjoy writing and making videos. Still do.

That's why years later I'm still writing blog posts and emails and doing videos. I don't just want the end result, I enjoy the process.

There are some bits of marketing we can outsource, of course. But most of us need to do a lot of our own marketing. And if we try to do things we really don't enjoy doing then no matter how effective they are in theory, we'll just give up on them before we get results.

Far better to pick the second best method you'll actually do than the very best one you won't.

Stuart lives in Australia now, swims a lot, and is way healthier than when we were in college. I'm walking 5 miles a day and I'm exercising 3 times a week in our converted loft. 

Don't give up at the first hurdle. But if you've worked hard at a particular marketing method and you still hate it, it might be time to find a different one you'll stick too.

Get Clients Online

Which of these will win?

Posted byIan Brodie on April 26th, 2015.

I've been testing a new widgety thing on my website..

As you probably know, the main goal of my site is to get people to sign up for these regular emails. That's my best way of being helpful and building a relationship.

So normally I keep things very simple on the site. Just the content, a few links, and various sign up boxes.

No distractions. Nothing much to take people away from signing up.

But on the other hand, you've probably seen those little thumbnails at the bottom of articles on news sites with links to other related articles on the site.

They increase the amount of articles on your site people read, so that increases the opportunities people have to sign up. Although they may choose to read another article instead of signing up.

So which one will get me more signups? Plain and simple with all the focus on signing up. Or getting more articles read and hopefully more signups that way.

Here's another dilemma…

You want people to sign up for a webinar from advertising. Do you promote the webinar directly, or offer some sort of lead magnet to get email subscribers and then promote the webinar to subscribers?

One route is more direct. The other offers instant gratification to subscribers so may well get more people to sign up initially, but they might not then go on to register for the webinar.

Which will win?

Frankly, I have no idea in either case.

I can see the logic on both sides of the argument.

The only way to know is to test.

And you have to do the test for yourself too. You can use other people's results as guidelines and starting points. But in that second example I know people who've tested and got more registrations going directly to the webinar and others who've tested and got more through a lead magnet.

Understanding analytics and testing may be the most important skills when it comes to online marketing.

No matter how talented you are at writing. No matter how great your headlines and calls to action are. Eventually, someone who knows how to test and improve will iterate their way past you.

It's not glamorous, but it's effective.

Learn how to use Google Analytics.

Use a tool like Visual Website Optimizer or Optimizely to test different options like headlines, offers and optin form designs on your website and see which one does best.

Not every test will produce a winner. But over time your results will improve step by step.

And no one will know why, but you.

So no one will be able to get the same results as you :)