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Never Halt Your Marketing!

Greetings everyone,

An IDEAL rule of marketing is NEVER halt your marketing.

This is what I have been adamant about for years and have declared it shameful to even think about, so now the question is, “How to re-crank your marketing plan?”

A positive attitude of PRESS and move forward are very much needed. The following, details the challenges to overcome in a marketing plan and creative plan to combat when marketing is halted.

Challenge 1:

Your audience forgets you fast! Without being in the eye of your audience daily, you won’t be remembered. The point of marketing and advertising is for people to know about you and your services.

Challenge 2:

Understanding that you will have missed opportunities because you are not in the game. If you are not playing in the game, there is no opportunity to win.

Challenge 3:

Your competition is picking up YOUR missed opportunities. The competition is creating relationships with potential clients or customers and in this economy establishing those relationships are marketing gold.

Challenge 4:

Starting over. You can’t start a business without marketing and you can’t maintain a business without it. Without marketing there is no business.  The time and money spent to gain share of MIND is wasted. Once you stop marketing you have lost share of mind and really must start over.

When developing your marketing plan knowing these basic challenges will help structure your marketing campaign to succeed after you have halted your marketing.

There will be many posts sharing how to overcome being out of the eye of your audience, so sign up to receive blog updates.

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World

Lisa Henry

Marketing Coach, I Got Ideas!

Personally Develop: Become a Mental Athlete

Greetings everyone,

Personal development is the core of creating, building, and sustaining a marketing plan/campaign on limited financial resources. The journey of a marketing war with low or limited resources requires heart, presence of mind and many compromises.

You must be a mental athlete. One that can move around the obstacles of limited resources. Personal development of mind and self fills the void of lack of financial resources, lack of objects needed, and pressures from those asking, “How, what, where, when, and why.”

It is never too late to learn, grow, and achieve. All things are possible, BELIEVE.  Bringing your dream into reality is work that is worth the journey. There is much trial and error developing, so be patient. This is what I remind myself to do daily.

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

Lisa Henry
Marketing ideas  .  .  .  .  .

Be Persistent!

Greetings everyone,

Persistence can be the greatest asset or your worst enemy. Dedication and persistence are necessary when marketing on a low budget. It is like watching water boil, it seems the water will never get hot, especially when finances are unsecured. However this is the normal journey of marketing on a low budget in the beginning.

To keep your eyes on the prize, surround yourself with people who will encourage, support, and bring joy. Make a plan and follow it, however leave room to explore other opportunities that may arise. Be aware of negative influences, naysayers, and dream killers. Visions are to be believed or not, when shared. If you share your vision with someone and they do not believe in your vision, thank them for listening and give birth to your vision. Just keep your mind focused and not let negative influences cause doubt. This includes friends and family also.

Persistence can be your greatest asset. Remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. The Tortoise knew he was not as fast as the Hare, but he believed he could win. He won by persistence! Vision, faith, and a plan equals PERSISTENCE.

Persistence can also be your worst enemy. Prioritizing where to focus your resource of persistence is huge!!! There is such a thing of persistently riding a horse to death. Choose your battles, focus your energy of persistence in a direction that will benefit you and your business.

<b>It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!</b>

The RIGHT way to Market??

Greetings everyone,

Constantly asked, “How do you market for attorneys?” My cookie cutter answer is, “I grassroots market by using direct mail and community marketing.” Now the cookie cutter answer is not working anymore.

I practice guerrilla marketing strategies to make the phones ring for law firms that need it the most. Lucrative firms use a few guerrilla marketing strategies, however they are financially stable to market the “RIGHT” way. Which I whole heartedly agree is the best way in the correct circumstances.

The heart of Guerrilla Marketing is fighting to protect a way of life. Everyone is quick to share with you the right way to market business for law firms, however when there are bill collectors knocking on an attorneys professional and personal life it is time to look for alternatives to traditional or the right way to market. Keep in mind, law offices have staff employees and their way of life is also in question.

Law firms are businesses just as others. They flourish, have rocky times or close. The bottom line is do you give up or throw that Hail Mary pass? When I am contracted, I understand what is at stake.

There are rules of advertising that attorneys must abide in marketing clients. I know them like the back of my hand. I explore alternatives marketing to people who are need of legal services that have not been used that are within the realm of those rules.

Along with being a legal marketing virtual assistant, I am a strategist. For example, for direct mail startegies, names from various county and city jails are collected and then mailed. There were about 5 of us from different firms that showed up like clock work to view and write down the names from the jail docket book. This is a log of all people who have been arrested. That means that there were 4 to 5 letters hitting those mail boxes at the same time. I needed those names first, remember I am protecting a way of life, I wrote a letter to the Sheriff asking if the firm could get a print out of the jail docket after 3:00 daily at a cost that he deemed appropriate for paper, ink, and the time of his staff.

Notice the time frame. In this jail, the book was put out at 10:00am daily and taken by 2:00pm that means that we were not getting some names until the next day. The sheriff agreed to twice a week after 3:00 at 25.00 a docket, that was 50.00 weekly. This freed me to capture the names from the city jails. Not everyone arrested made it to the county jail. It took the other firms almost 3 months to catch on. For three months we had that area on lock down. I also doubled back to jails after 5:00 and included those names in the days mailing. What time do most offices close? I dropped the mail at the main branch at the post office dock because we were usually past the regular time.

I agree with marketing the right way, however there are instances when it is appropriate to throw that Hail Mary pass.

It is Always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

http://www.LisaHenry.org

Marketing is WAR!

You do Realize  .  .  .  . That this means WAR!

War terms are used when discussing marketing, such as the term CAMPAIGN. If you have ever purchased Avon you have browsed their CAMPAIGN book. Ordered from campaign book number 2, possibly. A campaign is a strategic plan of attack that is implemented to win wars, to gain the support of the people. People fight wars and people are marketed to support it’s efforts.

Guerrilla marketing? Guerrilla marketing is a style of war. In a previous post about marketing power, I shared that money is an object of power as food and gas are objects of power.

Now don’t misunderstand, I realize money has to exchange hands before some things or situations can move forward. How do you move an object? It takes power. Power is diverse. You can use money to buy gas to power your car, however stuffing paper money literally into your tank is not the real power needed to start your car. It is diverse. Marketing is war and finding your weapons may take being creative with your power sources.

Guerrilla marketers know that fighting a marketing war without a proper budget leaves no other resource than using your power resources creatively. I have seen many give up because of the thought of being temporarily uncomfortable. You must decide the maximum level of uncomfort when choosing your war strategies. Marketing is war. What are you willing to do, to get what you say you want? Meaning; stay up late, get up before day, not go to the movies for 2 years, move miles away from your hometown, etc . . .

Traditional marketing carries with it a price tag that budding entrepreneurs cannot afford. How do you bring your dream into reality when your competition is well funded? You fight the war with creatively using your POWER  resources and always remember marketing is a WAR. A fight for the survival of your small business.

You better get ready to RUMBLE

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

Does everybody know your name?

Greetings everyone,

When thinking how to convey the heart of Guerrilla Marketing after about two days I thought about the timeless theme song of the 80’s sitcom CHEERS! It resonates exactly the direct point of this post.

Does everybody know your name?

When marketing with low or no budgets, YOU are your greatest asset! Probably the only employee is YOU! Why not make the most of it? Becoming famously known in your local community can literally cost you nothing. (Nothing financially that is.) Your cost or investment, is taking the time to connect with the community. Sounds easy and sounds simple and soooooo far from simple. Communicating and connecting in this manner is a skill. It requires commitment and much trial and error. Think about how you invest your time on a day to day basis. Where do you spend the majority of your time? Remember, what you focus on GROWS.

Answering this question with a YES gives you confidence when marketing in a recession. Is this a yes for you? Does everybody know your Name?

It is a fact, people are people and just want and need to be treated with respect. Sometimes when in Rome . . . as the saying goes; Connecting positively is a sure thing when you go to Rome and do not make Rome uncomfortable in their own country.

The CHEERS theme song, hit the nail on the head! People just want to go where YOU know their name and YOU are glad they came and YOUR troubles just maybe the same.

Make connections more on a personal level and you will have success marketing on a low budget. Take time to show you really care and they will know and remember your name!

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

What does thought and character have to do with Marketing?

This is an excerpt from James Allen, “As a Man Thinketh”

The aphorism, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he,” not only embraces the whole of a man’s being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”

In the search to find my marketing style, I found that the power of marketing was living within and it was on me to cultivate and bring out this gift. There is no secret code or magic, anyone can market!

Change your thinking and you can Change your LIFE! All things are possible, when you believe . . . . and so it is!

What does thought and character have to do with marketing? People purchase because of the seller, they purchase because of your character, not because of the benefits of the products or services alone. They probably can get what they need anywhere. They come to you because they like you! They have confidence and trust in your character!

My biggest FAN, my Granny taught me, “When a person shows you who they are the first time believe them.”

What does your character translate to the world? Perception is very important to marketing. Change your thinking and close a deal!

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World

Lisa Henry
Twitter.com/lisahenry1

What is “QQS”?

Greetings everyone,

There is a tremendous difference marketing services and marketing products. When marketing services you must be your own salesperson. For some professions, the idea of being a “salesperson” is hard to wrap their brain around. If you are a provider of services, you are a salesperson. Rainmakers are salespeople or liaisons for professional positions which include and require management of educationally trained specialized fields.

So what is QQS? (Quality – Quantity – Spirit)

The three most important elements of a salesperson.

1. Quality of Service
2. Quantity of Service
3. Spirit of Service

I applied the rules of QQS just after I read Napolean Hill’s best selling book, Think and Grow Rich. He explains QQS as,  ” . . . . means that quality, plus quantity, plus the proper spirit of cooperation, equals perfect salesmanship of service.”

Quality of service explains itself. How well did you do the job? Your performance and timeliness of the service provided.

Quantity of service is raising your experience level through increased work and practice. The goal is to increase the amount of service maintaining a premium standard.

Spirit of service also explains itself. Create an agreeable atmosphere which fosters cooperation from your clients and employees.

Creating an environment with “QQS” is very important to any business owner. It will either make or break the small business owner who is working with low marketing budgets. Don’t stress if your “QQS” is not present at all times in your business as you are implementing and growing. This formula must be customized to fit your clients, your business, and your city or town.

It is really easy for us all to say, “I am a customer and I should have been treated better” until you become the person who serves. “QQS” is something that becomes habit and to have something become habit requires practice and repetition. Repetition is the mother of invention, and in this case the beginning of a successful business with future happy clients!

What is QQS? It is practicing and making a habit of growing your business!

It is always a Blessing to Share, Dream a World!

Lisa Henry
Twitter.com/LisaHenry1