Out of the Blog, Into the Light

Keep Your Attention Focused on the Right Activities

Forms are at the end.

Years back I taught Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  And even though I knew the system well, I find I need to return regularly to his priority-setting evaluation method.

Fact is, most people who learned this theory found it great stuff to learn yet few ever really sat down and applied the exercise.

Today, I’d like to persuade you to open up some space, take however long is needed, and apply this exercise.  You will find the process rewarding and enlightening.  If you’ve previously completed this exercise, but haven’t in awhile, now is a good time to complete again.

If previous attempts to complete this exercise were unsuccessful, then there is a good chance your inner critic swept it under the carpet with the message “too trivial.”  This message covers a common fear.  As you continue through this process you will learn the answer to your fear.

Enough analyzing for now.  First, I’m going to discuss the exercise.  This could be a review for you.  Next, it’s your turn to apply the exercise to your life, projects, or business now.  Whether you begin with your personal priorities, career or business priorities, it doesn’t matter.  If you are learning this exercise for the first time, allow me to suggest to practice with your personal priorities first.  And since I know how important this is, and how difficult this could be, I’m also attaching a few forms to help you complete the process.

Imprint Onto Your Brain

First, draw a square and divide it into equal quadrants.  Outside the box draw a vertical axis labeled “Importance” and a horizontal axis labeled “Urgency.”  Yes, you’ve seen this before. 

Here’s a visual of what you will be drawing.  It’s important to complete this in your own hand.  This imprints your brain and is a visual learning process.  Just thinking about it will not imprint memory.  Drawing, especially with colored markers, will. 

If your brain’s message chimes in with “this is too easy” or something similar, ask it to step aside and do it anyway.

This next step is one I created that has helped hundreds of others improve the visual imprinting process…

Step 1: Place a number inside a circle in each box.  For instance, the top right, the “More important. More urgent.” box would have a “1” with a circle around it.

The “2” with a circle would be the top left.  The “3” with a circle for the bottom right.  And the “4” with a a circle for the bottom left or “Less important. Less urgent.” box.

After using this circle method several times, your mind will begin seeing the circled number when reviewing a task list not created in this process.  (See #1 below on how to apply this.)

Applying To Your Priorities

Now it’s time to find out if you have been prioritizing well or you need to correct your process.  And you can do this several ways.  Here are the choices:

1.  Print your current computerized task list.  On the printout, one task at a time, place the appropriate circled number next to the task.

2.  There are two attachments.  One is a PDF file and the other a MS Word file.  If you prefer to work on this exercise in writing, print out the PDF file.  If you prefer to type the list, use the MS Word file.

Whichever form you use, continue by placing each task in the box you think it needs to be in.  If your inner critic is chatting away during this process, take a deep breath in between each one to allow it to pass.  Your inner critic has been getting away with convincing you, you didn’t need to do this for so long, it wants to continue having its way.  Take this slow, easy, and love through the chatter.

Here’s where the new awareness may come in…

What If

If everything or the majority of your priorities fall into the top right-hand quadrant, it’s time to get more realistic with what type of priorities you have.  To solve, divide the “More important. More urgent.” category into four quarters and re-plot.  If you’re using the written method, you may want to start with a clean diagram.  If you’re using the Word method, cut and paste and move them to the “get real” box.

If your priority management isn’t great, you will want to complete as many as five or six processes.  Each session will overwrite beliefs and memory just a little more.  Be gentle with yourself during this process.  You’re reprogramming your brain.  This always takes longer than expected.  This is why implementation didn’t fully complete in the past.

If you find you are completing items in “3” box (lower left, “Less important. Less urgent.”) more often, this means you are more concerned with checking-off items as completed rather than focusing on the truly important activities that will progress you forward.  You think you are accomplishing a lot; however, the outcome isn’t working in your favor.

Pay attention to where you’re paying attention.

Clarity in life determines your outcome.  And gaining clarity in life is what “Out of the Blog, Into the Light” is all about.

PDF priorities form Click to open

MS Word Form Need Word to Open

(c) Copyright 2009, Catherine Franz.  All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: Stephen Covey,The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,setting priorities,article,blog post,time management,tips,techniques,priority setting,Catherine Franz,Out of the Blog,Into the Light blog

Web Sites Offering Layaway

Read this interesting article in DM News this morning about how Web sites offering layaway plans are selling more.  If you think outside of the box on this you maybe you can see how you can do something like this, or something similar.

Here’s a copy:   

PDF reading

Technorati Tags: retailers,layaway plans,DM News,retail web sites

Help a Reporter – Free Publicity

Help a Reporter (HARO) - is an amazing, FREE email newsletter that comes out three times a day. It is broken down by category (e.g. business, health, lifestyle, technology, etc) and its purpose is to put reporters in touch with potential sources.

 

Technorati Tags: free,publicity,help a reporter,HARO

Social Media Map

Overdrive Interactive has this cool Interactive Social Media Map available with live active links for easy clicking.

You can this to your desktop if you can use this often for easy access.

Click here to upload Interactive Social Map

 

 

Technorati Tags: Overdrive,Interactive social media map,search engine marketing,online media

Timing Is Everything In Social Media

Timing is everything in social media. It's so much easier to post the video on YouTube and to immediately follow it up with an announcement on twitter. But that isn't the best way of doing it.

Your objective for marketing and social media is to prolong the message. Your strategy means everything!

Below is an example of doing this beginning with a video.

If you are beginning with a video on YouTube, you will want to post your video, and wait a week then make the announcement on Facebook, wait a week and announce it on LinkedIn, wait a week and announce on your blog, and wait a week to post on Twitter.

Let’s look at the timing using a picture.

Facebook is known for its pictures so you want to begin your social media journey with a picture. It's important to only upload one picture at a time.  The spacing (timeline) will improve your promotional longevity. The biggest mistake people make is uploading all their pictures at once.  You definitely never want to do it this way. 

When you begin with the picture, you post one picture with some really good tags and then wait. I suggest waiting a week to allow the picture to run across Facebook’s media system.  Then timeline it across your other social media contacts.  Again, spacing it out to other social media sites, your blog, newsletter, etc. 

For instance, you begin with the picture on Facebook. Wait a week. Then place the picture on LinkedIn. A week later, your blog, then Tweeter a week later.

Everything needs to have an embedded command. If you don’t know how to write embedded commands there are places on the Internet to help you.

In summary format, an embedded commands tells the viewer what to do next after watching the video, after seeing the picture, after reading your blog (this is usually easily you want them to subscribe to the blog), and your tweet need to also have a embedded command.

And that's one of the number one mistake I see most often on tweets – there isn’t an embedded command at all or a poor one. And if I do see an embedded command there isn’t any mention of a benefit for why I need to click there.

So when you're thinking about your social media promotion, think about timing, think about your purpose, think about your embedded command, but always get the timing right!

And yes, this all takes tracking.  So an editorial or publishing calendar needs addressing.

Technorati Tags: marketing,promotion,social media,tip,techniques,timing,Facebook,LinkedIn,Twitter,editorial calendar

How to Create and Use Word Clouds or Tag Clouds in Your Marketing

It’s Sunday and my play time with new stuff -- my research today is word clouds -- how to use them and how to create them.  Here is the result of my play:

You may even be wondering why you should?  Let me answer this as we continue.

Word clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.

Some blogs services create them for you and even change with each post. 

But did you know there’s a FREE place you can create them to use in other ways?

Sell the Happy Hen

 

Last Saturday was the first day for my volunteering at the Arlington County weekly Farmer’s Market.  I’m one of their roving reporters.  My assignment for my first visit was to observe.

So I did.

I talked to the vendors, gathered names and ideas for stories and sat and watched buyers.

Strawberries is a big seller this time of year.  So I sat on the lawn and watched the three vendors I could see who were selling them.  Two had about 10 pints for sale.  The third about 40 displayed.  The one with more had a line of 30 or so people waiting to purchase.  The other two no line at all.  It was extremely fascinating to watch.  I was so curious as to why the one had a line and the other’s weren’t making any sales.  I was hoping to have enough guts to approach a few people in line to find out but never could get up the courage.  I’m going to be watching for this again on my next visit. 

I want to know was it because their pints looked fuller – and they did. Was it because their strawberries looked bigger – and they did.  Was it the strawberries?  Was it because they were under a tent and the other two were not?  Was it because of the other items they were selling?  I’m returning next week just to see what changed and to continue watching.

Across from the strawberry vendor with a line I saw this Happy Hen ad.  It was on 6 x 9 white cardboard. I watched.  Then I walked around to see who else was selling eggs and how they were selling them.  No contenders.  The vendor kept revolving the two cartons. Someone would purchase a dozen and the vendor would replace it with another dozen carton.  Always having only two on display.  They were selling well too! 

When I looked at the eggs they weren’t even medium size.  In the store they sell extra large, large and medium.  Well these were even smaller than medium.  And the price wasn’t a bargain for sure.

So why were they selling?  Was it convenience?  Could be.  They could be thinking, “Well, now I don’t need to go to the market just for eggs.”  I even thought this.

Actually, she was selling the story behind the product.  She was implying that if the hens were happy you would be as well when you ate them.  Cool huh!  I asked one purchaser.  She said she liked the idea she was buying from someone who took better care of her hens.  Hmm, nothing in the sign said that.  I actually heard this three times from different purchasers.

This proves many marketing principles.  First, perception is created by the story people connect to it.  Happy Hens paints a picture for the prospect immediately in just a few words.  There was a implication that her hens were happy and the ones who lay the eggs that you purchase in the story weren’t – the differentiation.

I wonder if the other strawberry vendors could have added a sign “Happy Strawberries” or “Happy Strawberry Plants” and sold more?

Of course, there were many other marketing principles being worked here.  Think about it and learn how to use the Happy Hen sign to your advantage.

I know I am . . . where can I place a Happy Hens sign?   

Technorati Tags: Happy Hens,marketing principles,Arlington Farmers Market,Arlington,Virginia,booth selling,sales,market sales,farmer market selling

How to Express Your Core Marketing Message

When someone asks what you do, how do you respond?  Here is a time-tested format that gets the attention and interest you want. You don't start out talking about what you do, but who you work with and what their problem is. This takes the focus off you and onto your clients. This always generates a better initial conversation about your services.

This is a very simple but powerful method for gaining interest and attention for your services. Note carefully that the discussion is always focused on what you do for your clients and what they get from working with you. What people tend to do is talk about what they do, their services, and processes. What's missing when you do that is the "what's in it for me?" factor.

The Question: What do you do? Here's how to respond.

1. Target Market -Say who you work with first. Let your listener know your service is for them, not someone else.

"I work with IT executives in Fortune 1000 companies…"

2.. Problem -Articulate the problem or predicament or pain your target market is experiencing in terms that are meaningful to them,"

"...who are having difficulties getting their top talent to stay around."

-Pause - Wait for response or question.

3. Problem/Stories -Tell them more about the problem and discuss examples of those you have worked with.

"Many IT managers are losing people because they are so bad at managing people, For instance, a client we worked with was losing 30% of their best technical people every year...."

- Conversation about various problems and challenges.

4. Solution/Uniqueness - Tell them your solution and what makes you different.

"We've had very good results in turning around the attrition problem for clients. Typically we can cut their attrition in half in less than six months."

- More conversation about solutions and results.

Technorati Tags: What do you do,meet and greet response,expressing your marketing message

25 Web Sites You Can Use to Drive Traffic to Your Blog

Here are 25 directories and methods you can post your blog information and increase visitors.

How you list your blog on these sites depends on their submission requirements.

Some sites, like Blog Rush, require a reciprocal link or for you to display something they sell.

Squidoo allows you to set up a webpage on a topic. Then you can add a link to your blog from there or products you may be promoting.

Some submissions just require your blog’s URL.

I suggest submitting one at a time and then review your statistics to see how it did or didn’t make a difference. This will let you know where to spend your time in the future.

1. MySpace.com – Still the number one social networking site. Create a profile, add some friends, and gently promote your blog.

2. Facebook.com – The second most popular social networking site on the Internet.

3. Squidoo.com – Join Squidoo and set up a page related to your blogging topic with links to your blog.

4. HubPages.com – HubPages is a site that has a similar business model to Squidoo. Users, or “hubbers,” create hub pages, where you can discuss any topic you’d like.

5. Knol.com – Knol is a Google service based on the same business concept as Squidoo.

6. Twitter.com is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets).

7. Stumbleupon.com – StumbleUpon will help you discover new sites based on your interests. Visitors can rate the web site through comments. It’s a free service; however, you can pay to have your site “stumbled upon.”

8. Digg.com is a social news site with a social networking aspect. Here you can share your site’s content with other “diggers.”

9. Mixx.com – Similar to Digg.com and striving for popularity.

10. Craigslist.com – It’s free. It takes just a few minutes to register and post an ad for your blog.

11. Technorati.com – Technorati is a search engine for blogs. Register with them, “claim” your blog and then use their tools to promote your blog.

12. YouTube.com – Make a 3-5 minute video about your blog topic and link it inside your blog.

13. EntreCard.com – They advertise their “Entre Card” as your online business card. You place the EntreCard widget on your blog and other members can “drop” their card to you fast and easily. Afterwards, you drop a card by visiting their blog. Each time you drop a card you acquire a credit you can then use to advertise on other blogs.

14. Blogcatalog.com – They advertise themselves as a social network for bloggers. It’s a place for you to connect with other bloggers, participate in groups and discussions and so on. They require a widget on your blog.

15. BlogRush.com– You will be required to place a widget on your blog before you can be listed. You can earn views if people sign up for an account when they click on your widget. It’s a free service but runs like an MLM.

16. Delicio.us.com – De.licio.us is a social bookmarking site owned by Yahoo. You’ll be able to store, share and discover web bookmarks.

17. Pownce.com– You can share information like files, links, events, and messages with approved people.

18. My.Yahoo.com – Set up a My.Yahoo page and add a link to your blog.

19. Yahoo Answers – Answer questions related to your blog topic here and at the end add the link to your blog.

20. Blogsearch.Google.com– Submit your blog to Google’s blogging directory.

21. LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a social networking site geared toward business professionals.

22. Online Directories – Submit your blog information to other directories such as DMOZ, and Yahoo

23. User Groups – Join or start a User Group about your blog topic. They are a great place to connect with like-minded people. A few popular group communities are Google Groups, Yahoo Groups and MSN Groups.

24. Participate in Forums – Join some on same topics or ones with your target market. Add your blog address after your name.

25. Blog Pinging Sites – When you ping your blog, what you are doing is letting a number of sites (search engines, for example) know that your blog has been updated. They will then crawl and index your site so your new post is updated in their records. Pingomatic.com is one of my favorites. Some services like WordPress already handle this for you.

Technorati Tags: blog directors,post,increase visitors to your blog,25 blog directors

How to Develop Your Core Marketing Message

Central to effective marketing is a message that speaks powerfully to the needs of your prospective clients. This message becomes the foundation of all your marketing. This message is developed by first answering the following questions.

1. Target Market: What clients do you serve? Give a detailed profile of your ideal client including demographics (basic facts such as industry, geography, etc.) and psychographics (values, character, interests).

2.. Problem: What problem, issue, pain, predicament or challenge are your clients facing that would make them seek assistance?

3. Solution: What results do you produce when working with clients? Or, in other words, when you’ve completed working with your clients what can they expect their condition will be?  (Before:  struggling to do X – After:  successful in doing X)

4. Proof: What do you have that can prove you can in fact deliver that solution? Do you have references, testimonials and case studies that make a strong case for your results?

5. Differentiation: What makes you stand apart from your competitors? What makes you unique, special, memorable? What is it about your business that offers a true advantage to your clients?

Technorati Tags: developing a core marketing message,sales,pitch,networking