Category Archives: Marketing

You don’t create a blog or a web site or participate in social networking or whatever and hope your clients will come – especially your CEOs or CFOs. Most consultants are making this mistake over and over and are still waiting for the phone to ring! You drive the value to your customers and prospects by creating amazing products and services, publishing great stuff, shamelessly promoting it, and leveraging every component of marketing gravity you can and guided by your Internet strategy.

Let me also suggest (and I am ok if you all hate me for this) that quite a few of consultants’ web sites out there are quite weak (to put it very mildly), with minimal or zero perceived value. Many want to become world-class consultants, yet their web sites and intellectual property make them look like amateurs.

Blogs are only one component of your overall Internet strategy and Internet marketing gravity. Here is one example of how you may leverage your blog to target CEOs and CFOs (I am inserting in the quote here):

“Dear Bob, (Name of your fictitious CEO or CFO – you pick the real one)

I have assembled a brand new and exciting collection of special reports, podcasts and videos to help CEOs and CFOs. This collection is my creation and innovation of a repository of powerful and unique ideas to help my clients with issues they are bringing to my attention. Issues such as: [list areas of your clients' challenges and where you can help them raise the bar]

I am updating this repository area quite often and I am also planning on bringing some fascinating thought leaders as guest contributors. Names such as: [List some great names you are planning on bringing as guest contributors] This area is becoming “the place” for CEOs and CFOs to hang out, get the answers they are looking for and participate in a like-minded community.

To preview this new place, simply click on this link www.ChadGrowthIdeas.com (you probably should use your own name)

I am also attaching my latest special report: “Top 10 mistakes successful CEOs avoid making”
And please checkout next Thursday my upcoming video: “Thriving in tough economic times.”

I will be in touch with you shortly to share some new exciting ideas.

Best,

Chad”

I realize this takes courage, creativity, investment and hard work. But heck the good news is that there are only a few successful thought leaders out there. The rest simply follow or not.

So what do you think? Please post your comment below.

© Chad Barr 2009. All rights reserved.

Charge or retreat, it’s a matter of choice.  

I hear people complaining about the strength of the dollar weakening in comparison to other world currencies especially when the media is reaching for our attention with the stories and news of recession. So how do you leverage these economic challenges to benefit your company?

1. Expand your market – We get more inquiries and new business than ever before from place such as Canada, Europe, Australia, South Africa and Asia. I do not know if this is because of the exciting work we do and our marketing gravity, perhaps serendipity or the weak dollar. What is apparent to me is the fact that organizations and entrepreneurs outside the US are reaching out for help and expertise and a way to get better return from their own currency. Seize these opportunities, branch out and go global.
2. Help change your customers’ perception – In his blog entry Marketing in a recession, author Seth Godin writes about how in good times people buy because they feel they deserve it or just want it. Yet in tougher times they buy from a defensive position to avoid trouble or seize the opportunity. Change your marketing message to help your customers better understand why they need your products and services now.
3. Better use of technologies – Whether you are a large organization or a single entrepreneur, smartly using technologies enables you to deliver your expertise to your clients to help their business, build stronger relationships while allowing technologies to perform the work they should. So instead of receiving orders via phone, fax or a non-integrated web site and having to manually key them into your computer system, why not completely integrate them with your system through the Internet to automatically receive them in your warehouse or your receivable department? Instead of shipping hard copy books and CDs why not send them digitally as eBooks or an MP3 downloads. Instead of having to travel and visit your clients for meeting and training, why not use the Internet to conduct online live meetings and even archive them for future views?
4. Improve your web site – In his blog entry Progression in a recession, Dr. Alan Weiss talks about the importance of changing your web site to broadly describe your services and the importance of technology to reach out overseas prospects and partners.

Your web site and the Internet are both critical tools in helping you market your company, announce new products and services, deliver new offerings and reach global customers. So rather than listen to the negative news (how else would they get your attention) and act scared and indecisive, why not make a bold move, seize the great opportunities around you and make a positive difference for you and your customers’ success.