The Wilder Zone

Dare to Dream

"You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it true. " - Richard Bach

The Most Effective Marketing Strategy

Marketing is one of the biggest challenges entrepreneurs face and I frequently hear overwhelmed colleagues and clients express their confusion in knowing, of all the possible strategies they could employ, which would be most effective, which they should implement first. The sheer number of possibilities, combined with the fear that they'll choose the wrong one, or that they won't do it right keeps many of them stuck for weeks or even months. It's an easy trap to fall into.

When you get right down to it, simply put, the hands-down, most effective marketing strategy is the one you can implement today. Now. Pick one and just do it. Start that blog, write that article, book the speaking engagement you've been afraid to go after. Reach out to the colleague you'd like to collaborate with, follow-up with the potential client who inquired about your services last month. Whatever it is, do it, and do it now.

While coming up with a plan for implementing a variety of marketing strategies is great in theory, (and if you're feeling so inspired, by all means, create that plan) if  you've been going round and round trying to figure out which strategies to implement and in what order, if you've been taking program after program in search of the perfect marketing plan, and you still aren't actually implementing anything, let me save you a bit of trouble and torment. There is no such thing as the perfect marketing plan. While there are certainly guidelines, and while it can be beneficial to examine what has worked for others, the perfect marketing plan for someone else won't necessarily be perfect for you.

Let go of the pre-conceived notion that your marketing needs to be done in some precisely defined way, or that every strategy you employ should be executed flawlessly. The truth is, some of the strategies you try will work beautifully and others will be a complete flop. You'll implement some without a hitch and make mistakes with others. But the only way to truly know what will work best for you, what will be most effective for you, is to begin to implement something, anything and then carefully observe the results. If whatever you choose to implement doesn't work, or you make a mistake, you'll learn from it and adjust accordingly. But if you stay in your head, endlessly mulling over the possibilities, you'll never figure it out.

What single strategy, what one step, can you take today, right now, this moment?

May You Be Blessed

"Though not always visible, there is within everyone and everything a divine and holy spark of goodness. Whenever we bless any person, situation, or thing in our lives, we are, in essence, recognizing that goodness, acknowledging its inherent value, and in so doing, fanning the spark into a flame. Each and every time we bless another, we don't just make a difference, we heal the world.

Just imagine what would happen if everyone involved in this experiment -- all the million plus people who have viewed the movie thus far, and all those who will view in the future -- if all of us spent just 24 hours letting our lives be a blessing to others. Just imagine the changes that would occur if in each and every encounter, we offered a blessing of hope and joy and love. Imagine what would happen if in every situation, even those perceived as difficult or bad, we insisted on recognizing the good within and began to bless that good into being. Just imagine what a powerful difference that would make. In 24 hours, we could make an impact that would shake the world. One million plus blessings going out moment by moment, over and over again, hour after hour after hour. Just imagine the impact such a crescendo of blessings would have."

Kate Nowak

I hope you'll take just a few moments to watch this beautiful, inspirational movie.

Friday Fun - 10.26.06

You may have heard the buzz about the Ok Go video, but if you haven't seen it yet, crank up your speakers and check it out. Who knows? It may even inspire you to exercise. It sure does make even the treadmill look like an awful lot of fun. Ok...Go!

Creative Co-Promotion

In yesterday's post I wrote about the brilliance of the new VW marketing campaign and how focusing on a specific target market and truly knowing and understanding that market can allow you to market much more effectively.

To be fair, it's not just VW's marketing campaign. VW and First Act have teamed up for this creative co-promotion and in doing so they've created something truly unique and remarkable. It's a prime example of the power of collaboration and co-promotion. Both VW and First Act recognized the potential to work together to create something bigger, better and more remarkable than either could do alone. It's a fabulous way to create buzz, to stand out from the crowd.

Seth Godin blogged about the power of demographics and data mining recently in creating co-promotions:

Your choice of car shouldn't tell us anything about what sort of neighborhood you'd like to live in, or who you will vote for in the next election. The kind of clothing you wear should have no influence at all on the kind of wine you prefer. But it does.

I don't know which came first, the car or the townhouse, but the co-incidence of the two is unmistakeable.

This matters. It matters because the marketers at the townhouse ought to seriously consider a co-promotion with certain car dealers, and it matters because it opens a window for marketers. If people who buy novels also buy red wine, marketing your red wine in a bookstore might not be so dumb.

He's absolutely right. The prefrences of your market DO matter. So take a close and careful look at the demographics and preferences of your market with an eye toward the unlimited possibilities for creative co-promotion. Where do your potential clients live? Where do they spend their free time? How do they spend their time? What are their hobbies? Where do they work? What do they drive? What other services, products and programs do they purchase? I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

Next, ask yourself who provides these other services and products and how you might collaborate to create a co-promotion that will give you both a unique edge in your market. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Think outside the box, get creative, be bold, be daring, take a risk. Step outside your comfort zone and try something new.

New VW Marketing Campaign: V-dubs Rock

VW's new marketing campaign, V-dubs Rock, is sheer brilliance. They've clearly identified their market and what their market wants and they've created a multi-faceted marketing campaign that gives it to them.

They've nailed every aspect of what appeals to the hip, young, male crowd they're marketing to.  From celebs like John Mayer, Nigel, and Slash in the commercials, to the hip new nickname, "V-dub" and the use of the term "joyride" instead of test-drive on the website,  Volkswagen has created a marketing campaign like no other I've seen. The John Mayer commercial states, "Get a Volkswagen and receive a custom First Act Guitar, plug into the stereo and rock your V-dub from bumper to bumper."

If that weren't enough, when you visit the site you'll discover they've played on the popularity of the reality tv competitions and they've created one of their own, the "Uber Rock God Battle" where anyone with a guitar and  a video camera can submit their video and compete for the title of Uber Rock God to win a custom First Act Guitar. But wait....that's not all....they've also made this campaign even more interactive by providing free video guitar lessons on the site, featuring none other than Dweezil Zappa. This is a prime example of how clearly identifying a specific target market and then clearly identifying the needs and desires of your market can allow you to market to them in a way that is so much more specific, relevant and powerful.

I'd be willing to bet that the marketing genius that created this campaign has boys between the ages of 16-25, because as the mother of a guitar-playing 16 year old son, I can tell you this campaign is going to be wildly appealing to that market. I spend a good deal of time with my son and his friends and let me tell you.....many of them play electric guitar and it is the center of their world, occupying much of their free time.  They are forever dragging their amps and guitars back and forth from one house to the other. If they could have a car with a built-in amp.....well, let's just say it's a no-brainer that they'd want it....badly.

Choosing Your Niche

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

When choosing a niche (the services you specialize in offering to your target market) I see so many service professionals focusing solely on what they think the world needs, rather than on what they're passionate about doing, what makes them come alive.

The problem with this approach is that your passion for what you do is critical for your own well-being and for the well-being and ultimate success of your business. Without it, it becomes ever so much more difficult to put the time and energy into your business that's necessary for it to really thrive. Without that passion, your enthusiasm for the work you do, for the services, products and programs you offer will fade and your potential clients will know when it does. You simply can't fake passion. When you're passionate about what you do, it comes through in your every word, every action, and it's that passion that is so very attractive to your potential clients.

So ask yourself first, as Howard Thurman suggests, what makes you come alive. Then ask what the world (your target market) needs as it relates to what makes you come alive.

The LifeDev Blog & Scrybe

Two not-to-be-missed resources.....

I love Glen Stansberry's LifeDev blog. I don't recall how I happened across it a few weeks ago, but I love his writing style, the usefulness of the content and all the fabulous resources he's always directing his readers to.

Yesterday he shared the most recent gem he's come across, a new web-based calendar app called Scrybe. He included the video preview in his post and I have to tell you after watching it I feel like a 3 yr. old on Christmas Eve. Scrybe is in beta and it hasn't been released just yet, and I can just hardly stand it. It appears to be everything you could ever hope to have in a calendar. 

Pop on over to Glen's post on it and watch the preview. You'll see for yourself just what I mean. (While you're at it, take the time to browse Glen's many other articles for lots of additional goodies.) If you get as excited about this calendar as I did, then be sure to pop over to the Scrybe site to register for a beta account.

Free Hugs

A short, heart-warming movie sure to start your day on an uplifting note:

http://www.freehugscampaign.org/

"Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." - Victor Frankl Man's Search for Meaning