Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D.

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Branding Myth #5: Video is fun but doesn’t build your brand

growmoneyBranding Myth #5: Video? Fun but doesn’t do a thing for your brand.

Of course you can build your brand with video! Online marketing places new emphasis on the visual, which means that videos can be a powerful way to communicate who you are and what you do. Videos can be especially helpful for service business owners because viewers will hear your voice and get a sense of who you are as a three-dimensional personality.

copywriting tip for the new yearDon’t forget to leave a comment after you’ve viewed the video! See the form below.

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Branding Myth #4: “Your brand is like a luggage tag.”

luggagetag

Branding Myth #4: Your brand is like a luggage tag. It goes on EVERYthing: your get-acquainted calls, membership levels and workshop modules.

 This video explodes the myth that you have to brand EVERYthing, including steps in your coaching program and levels of your membership sites. For instance, what do you call your discovery sessions and get-acquainted calls? How do you name modules of your signature program and workshops?  Coaches and consultants (as well as other solo-preneurs and independent professionals) actually get SO hung up in these fine points of content strategy that they delay implementing programs … sometimes for months.  

copywriting tip for the new yearDon’t forget to leave a comment after you’ve viewed the video! Scroll down below the video and you’ll see a comment box.

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Daniel Pink – To Sell Is Human

Last night I braved the arctic weather to hear a talk by Daniel Pink, best selling author of Drive, A Whole New Mind and now his latest,
To Sell Is Human .

Pink is a really good speaker; he does repeat phrases at times and he plays to the crowd. Well;, it was cold and late in the day and people were looking for a laugh; this guy has the timing of a stand-up comic. If you get a chance to hear him, it’s worth the trip. He managed to cite research and keep the audience riveted (admittedly, we were a self-selected group of bibliophiles).

His first point isn’t surprising, yet few of us have considered it. In the old days (pre 1980, say) sellers had power. For instance, if you wanted to buy a car, you’d go to the showroom. The sales rep would quote you a price. You (and possibly the sales rep) would never see the manufaacturer’s invoice price of the car.

Today, he says, we walk in with price lists from every dealer in the area (and maybe outside the area). We know if there’s a glitch that’s worth bargaining over. “Even my 80-year-old mother,” he said, “can find the invoice price of a car.” So now the playing field is level, with the customer possibly holding the upper hand.

Here are some takeaways –

– More people are in sales jobs than in ALL branches of US government including local, national and military. Fifteen million Americans work in sales. And nearly everyone else has some element of sales – defined as getting others to do what we want them to do – in their jobs or businesses.

– Ambiverts are more successful in sales than introverts OR extroverts; in fact, extreme introverts or extroverts are nearly equally effective.

– Our challenge now isn’t problem-solving, but problem-finding.

– Success depends on creating a pitch that engages your audience, improvising to recognize and respond to offers, and serving customers well.

– Effective selling depends on perspective-taking, which is not the same as empathy.

As I look over my notes (yes, I was scribbling away) I was surprised how much substance he delivered…yet he got everybody eager to read the whole thing.

The line was long and the night was frigid but I’ve got the book on order…and thought I’d pass this info to you, too. When you click on the cover image, you can buy directly from Amazon via my associates account.

Enjoy!

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Marketing Tips From A Dating Service Veteran

keyboardlove

Data analyst Amy Webb was looking for a mate. A Jewish husband, to be precise. She was searching JDate and Match.com, but as she writes “What followed was a series of bad dates worthy of a romantic comedy.”

Enough was enough! Amy decided to apply her data analysis skills. In other words, she began thinking like a professional marketer. She analyzed the most popular profiles which are easy to identify because they come up earlier in the search. Here are some of her conclusions:

copywriting with Lorrie Morgan-FerreroPopular women don’t wait to be asked. They reach out with informal short messages: “Hey, there …”

copywriting with Lorrie Morgan-FerreroLead with your hobbies – but skip the black belt in aikido and others that are hard to explain.

copywriting with Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero Being funny can backfire. You can come off sounding sarcastic and obnoxious.

copywriting with Lorrie Morgan-FerreroMost revealing were the tips on writing profiles. Shorter is better – about 500 words. The most popular profiles are “easygoing, youthful and spontaneous.”

While some advice doesn’t translate readily (curly-haired women are at a disadvantage), and some would be ill-advised to follow (lie about your height), I found some surprising similarities with writing copy, especially “About” pages.

copywriting with Lorrie Morgan-FerreroA surprisingly wide range of people like an informal, breezy style of communication. Amy calls the style “youthful,” which will make some of us want to hurl the newspaper across the room. I would prefer to say “energetic,” “lively,” and “fresh rather than jaded.”

What can we take away from Amy’s story?

arrow8Professionals like me have a hard time getting used to being informal. As Amy noticed, she had become “too stuffy and professional.” Today the word “professional” doesn’t mean stuffy, aloof or impersonal.

arrow8Reaching out to your market via social media can be very effective when you’re looking for clients and jv partners.

arrow8Instead of using “resume-speak,” paint word pictures. Amy describes herself as “an outgoing and social world traveler, who’s eqully comfortable in blue jeans and little black dresses.”

What impressed me most was Amy’s ability to recognize the importance of writing to sell. Many people recoil at the word “marketing,” yet we engage in these activities in so many areas of our lives. It’s refreshing to get a perspective on writing promotional copy from an entirely new and (for some of us) unexpected source.

Marketing works! Amy’s photo shows her with her husband, Brian. Success!

By the way, if you’re ready to get serious about promoting yourself to your ideal target market, I’d suggest you consider an Espresso consultation –