Shameless Self Promotion
The one thing most business owners and entrepreneurs are timid about is self-promotion. But this is where the real money is. First off, we as entrepreneurs need to get rid of our beliefs on what “life should be like” and start seeing how “life really is”, and what’s “really happening.”
We need to understand to be ultra-successful does NOT require you to have the best product or service. That’s a fulfilment issue, not a marketing issue. Your success or failure comes down to promotion. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got the best product when your competition out-blitzes you on promotion. In this case you’ll still starve whether your product is the best or worst, it makes no difference.
And no, I’m NOT saying to sell crap. What I’m saying is having the best product doesn’t give you an automatic advantage in the market place. In some cases when your product represents far more perceived quality than the rest, it may give you some advantage in your marketing; that’s a given. But in many cases, it CAN be a disadvantage, especially if your product is more expensive than your competitors’.
What really gives you the advantage is your ability to promote…
to tell your story in a compelling, emotionally-charged
and entertaining way!
And many times, the most promote-able asset in a business is the person, not the product. (Donald Trump comes to mind.) As the late and great Gary Halbert once said to Dan Kennedy: “We are all in the self-aggrandisement business.” If you can get your head around this your income will soar. But for many, this is hard. They can’t fully grasp the idea of self-promotion. It seems so “common” as if in some way it’s beneath them.
My advice if this is you? Snap out of it and loosen up a bit will ya!
You’ve got to get over this fear and become a shameless self-promoter. And it doesn’t matter what business you’re in. Take accountants for example. Let’s picture an accountant named Tom Smith. If Tom is smart, and practices our kind of marketing, he would be in the “marketing of accounting services” business. This way he’s a marketer of the thing (accounting services) NOT a doer of the thing (accountant) and this is where the BIG breakthroughs start to happen… when you shift from “doer” to “marketer.”
But this Tom Smith character has another very important business… he’s also in the…
Tom Smith Promotional Business!
Get this: Your prospects are more interested in “people” than in business. By branding yourself, by becoming a promote-able asset, you are in effect promoting your business.
There are two parts to this strategy…
• Personal Promotion: Getting out there and promoting yourself and creating excitement about what you offer.
• Expert Positioning: Staking a position in your market as the expert in a particular field. There are two effective ways to do this. You can niche want you do. With the accountant above he could specialise in certain kinds of businesses. And two, he could re-position his business from accounting to asset protection and so on.
This is a great way to shortcut the USP process. Here’s the key: Most ordinary business owners promote the business. Our Inner Sanctum Members promote themselves to promote their business. BIG difference. Remember, your prospects are far more interested in people than in businesses. They’re interested in the guy or gal behind the business. Your job is to get out there and show them who you are… and do it in an entertaining way!
P.S. If you want to fast-track the implementation of your sales and marketing and get more sales enquiries within the next 42 Days call now 1300 887 865 (int +61 7 5630 1155) or email: customers@crocodilemarketing.com) and ask about the Crocodile Implementation Club.
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