http://parallelmind.wordpress.com (my book/my events)
http://freshasylum.wordpress.com (design/marketing/promotion)

Since I hate selling, I just had to see if the author, Michael Port, could finally make selling palatable to me. After all, so many others have tried and failed. Immediately, upon opening the book, I found solid marketing and branding information bound to be helpful to me and to other consultants in the service industry.

Micheal personifies the ethical marketer. The reason I bought the book is not because he taught me how to sell, but because he encourages his readers to follow their dreams. So many books are written by marketers with a get-rich-quick scheme that is based upon an unauthentic foundation. Michael is an inspirational coach who advises his clients to live their passions and make money at the same time. Here’s an excerpt:

“Often when I’m working with clients, I discover they’ve chosen a target market based on what they think is logical or most lucrative. The end result is that they’re bored, frustrated, and struggling to book themselves solid. Don’t make that mistake…When you choose a target market you’re passionate about, growing your business will feel like passionate play and will bring you joy.” (See excerpts from my book Parallel Mind about the importance of play in our lives.)

The techniques he outlines will help the reader do more than market or sell ; they will aid him or her to define and refine who they are, and what benefits they bring to their client. When you are clear on what you provide, the client will then be able to perceive the value of your services. You will be “booked solid” as a natural consequence of the love that you have for your work, and the ethics that you personify.

For more on marketing and design, please see my blog http://freshasylum.wordpress.com/

Copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr, author of Parallel Mind, the art of creativity

Change careers, start your dream business, jumpstart your relationships and have fun doing it! The envisioning process was designed by creativity coach Aliyah Marr to help individuals and entrepreneurs with the very beginning stages of business development. It may be regarded as a pre-branding process, and may be classified under both life coaching and business development. It combines intense brainstorm sessions with strategic individualized coaching.

Sign up for Free telecoaching sessions:

http://www.lawofattractionclub.com

The SEO or search engine optimization game is to try to get at the top of the search engine’s list of relevance or ranking for each keyword search term. Marketers have tried various ways to fight their way to the top of this heap or words: repeating a keyword in the text, including it in the title of the page, using metatag keywords or metatag descriptions, hiding the repeated words on the page in copy the same color as the page, or in the alt tags descriptions. Some of these are still valid marketing tools, others are now disqualified as “spamindexing” techniques. Search engine developers try to stay one step ahead of the marketers who hope to trick them. Therefore, it is best to prepare copy that truly represents your product or service, while including the more obvious keywords that people may naturally use to find you.

Good copy depends on saavy and honest marketing skills, and should be written for the target audience. Copy that is pertinent to your product or service makes it easy for the user to buy from you. This has always been the best way to advertise, and makes your copy “evergreen” because you are not trying to stay ahead of the constantly evolving search engine algorithms.

Many websites deliver content that is badly written, or they deliver too much copy on each page, resulting in a confused and overwhelmed viewer. This is where good site architecture can be combined with good copy for outstanding bottom-line results. Editing, organizing, shifting, and redistributing your content enhances good communication, which results in happy clients and increased profits.

For more information on how to write copy, read this entry in my other blog, FreshAsylum:

http://freshasylum.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/promotional-copy-that-sizzles/

– Copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr

http://www.freshasylum.com

Many people make the mistake of assuming that creativity or originality is what sells. This is so not true. If it were, people would be buying original paintings instead of cheap reproductions. They would value a hand-knitted sweater over a cashmere name brand. Instead, people have values that restrain them to the known, to what other people value, to what makes them look good, and to what is useful to them

In a recent coaching session, a client of mine revealed that she was concerned about what exactly she was selling. I realized that she is ready to market herself, but like many of us has trepidations about committing herself to her path. The excuse that she is using to keep herself from moving forward is that she doesn’t have a product or service that is exclusively hers. This is just an excuse: after all, how many products out there are truly original or exclusive? New companies would have a very hard time starting for tripping over all the trademarks and patents out there.

One of the prime precepts of marketing success is “knowing your customer.” But how does one reconcile monetary success with following one’s heart: doing what one loves? I know many, many artists who do what they love and make not one penny from their art.

All else being equal, what is it that makes one idea successful and another not? It boils down to one thing: the packaging. In the final analysis, it is not the content that sells, it is the packaging. I am not suggesting that one should not provide good content, but no matter the quality of your product, if you do not know your customer, you do not know how to present your content in a way he can value.

It is rather like a good date or marriage: you and your potential customer are in a relationship. You can paint a portrait of your ideal client, you know him so well. Thus, you know what he prefers in the way of imagery, colors, words, style, “look and feel.” This qualities are what a good designer can define: every communication, publication, brochure, press release, and website should adhere to the communication style and preferences of your consumer.

In order to effectively self-promote, you have to create a package that is you. It is not important that you be original — although great original packaging is worth it’s weight in gold — think of the countless jean brands out there. What sells the high-priced designer brand over the low-priced generic? Some people will claim it is the designer — and that is often true — but it is the successful image imparted in the advertising: it is the packaging or marketing that is really selling those cloth pants.

In figuring out how you are going to package yourself, your product or your service, it is important that you know who you want as a client and how what you want to do coincides with that clients hopes and desires. The benefits of knowing you, of your product or services are perfectly matched with that client’s style of communication, preferences and secret dreams. How well you match these will be the measure of your success.

The perfect client with the perfect package is a match made in heaven!

– Copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr

Why bother creating a website when a blog will do? Search Engines search text, not images. I am a designer, and I should know. Design appeals to the customer, but it is text that the search engine indexes so that your customer can find you.

I am a creative director who has been designing for the web since the beginning. I have a long list of websites I have designed, but now I simply write and let the blog software provide the visual template for my blogs. Why? Because I love to write, and because Google actually PREFERS blogs. The reason why is that Google knows that blogs are more likely to be updated with fresh content often. Google rates sites on several factors: one of the most important is the freshness of the content and the frequency of the postings.

Whatever other marketers will tell you, you can’t fool Mother Nature or the Search Engine Spiders for long. They know when they are being slammed with copy that is keyword-rich, but content poor. Write relevant copy for your readers on a subject that interests you. If your blog is to support your business you might want to hire a professional writer — such as myself — to write articles for you. That way, you can focus on your business knowing that the search engines are finding you through the fresh content that you are posting regularly.

—– Copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr

People would come to me to design their website. Sometimes I would tell them that they didn’t need one, or that they could be just as happy with a cheap template. Why do a custom design for a simple site? Custom design is simply too expensive for most folks at a minimum of $3000 for a well-designed site.

Without a doubt websites have become an indispensable tool in contemporary culture. I now think that everyone doing any kind of business should have one, and perhaps every individual should too. The caveat is that if you are going to skimp on good design, it would be far better to have no site at all. A badly designed website — and any other marketing materials — will hurt your image far more than you probably realize.

A website is only one item in your package of marketing materials. A website alone is not enough — you should support it with your business card, your brochure, your profile on Linked In, and so forth.

— Copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr

When you are in a networking situation — and anything can be a potential networking situation — your slogan or your sound bite is every bit as important as your business card or website.

How do you make one? Think about yourself from your customer’s standpoint. What benefit do you bring them?

Say you are a personal trainer. I know a trainer who calls himself the Zen Commando. His name says it all. He was in the war, and trained commandos. Now he trains San Diegans as if they were in the army. He looks the part too, bulging chest muscles under a vest is his standard issue. He hosts a boot camp on the beach, and charges over $150. (last time I checked) for an hour of training with him.

Someone else I know brands herself as the “water queen,” she is one of the people in a MLM venture, called Ionways. She believes in the water ionizer that she sells, and has no problem telling everyone she meets that she is the queen of water. Any time that you pursue a business, and invent a slogan, it is important to believe in what you are doing.

Your integrity and passion for your product is what sells. People buy because they believe in you, therefore a salesperson who believes in their product is bound to be successful. Your slogan is a summation of who you are to your potential client. It should reflect your beliefs as well as it brands who you are and helps you market your services.

An example of a slogan is the one I use in my practice as a business development coach: “I take clients to the next level in their business.” Wherever they are now, they will be in a better place after working with me.

A good slogan, like a good business name, is priceless because it is your first step in image advertising or branding.

– copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr

Now that you know who you are and what you offer, use the following basic questions to help you focus your marketing efforts:

Who: who is your target market? Even if you are a job seeker, it is a good idea to make a portrait of your client. Say you are looking for a job as a IT tech; it would be a good idea to use keywords in your resume that pertain to those interests. You will be writing your resume to appeal to your ideal employer (target market), use his language, make sure you write your resume to fit his expectations. A good deal of marketing depends upon an accurate portrait of the target client. You have to match your ad to the expectations of the potential client, otherwise you will have lost him before you can even get your message heard.

What: what product or service are you offering? This involves knowing yourself. Only offer what you want to do, not what you are experienced at, otherwise you will find yourself in an unhappy position. You can use your ad writing experience — or those of a professional — to phrase what you do in the most favorable light. If you know what your target wants you can figure out how to offer it to them.

Where: where are you offering it? In a retail store, on the web, on ebay, on Amazon, etc.

Why: why are people going to buy from you? Why you and not someone else? What distinguishes you? What is your brand? This is where the mission statement and your slogan or sound bite comes in handy (see next article).

How: how is your product/service different? How are you going to deliver that product/service? By email, mail, going onsite, etc.

– copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr

VISION LIFE PLAN

A tool to help you envision your life: here you identify what you want so that you can ask the universe for the support you need. Without knowing what you want, how can you achieve it? I have adapted this from the commercial world.

(Recommended: first complete the MIssion / Vision statement)

—–

Life Plan Summary
- Description of what you offer to the world

RIGHT BRAIN
–what is your dream/idea

LEFT BRAIN
–how is your dream grounded in reality
- all material aspects
- The amount of money you are looking for and what it is for.

The Dream Team
Visualize your Dream Team
Use Existing Models of People You Admire

Products or Services

RIGHT BRAIN
–what inspires you? Serving others? Teaching? This is the real energetic/emotional componet of your product/service. You should feel very clear and enthusiastic when thinking of what you want to acheive.

LEFT BRAIN
What service / product do you offer the world?
What are the benefits you bring.
- Why your product or service?

The Market

Customers (partners/allies/neighbors/extended family/tribe)
- Paint a potrait of who will buy from you

Competitors (cooperators/simbiotic partners)
- Lists their names, their strength and weaknesses.
- How your product or service differ from their of your competitors.

Strategic Planning
- Given the stated vision stated above, what are you asking for specifically and when?
- Identify the stages in your plan.
- Deadlines for these goals.
- What is the logical next step?

– copyright 2008 Aliyah Marr