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  • How to Select the Right Marketing Strategy for Your Business

    How to Select the Right Marketing Strategy for Your Business

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    I’ve probably had more conversations about this topic with clients than any other: What marketing strategies should I use to market my professional services?

    These days, there are more options to market yourself than ever before. And you may have a tendency to look for something quick and easy that will generate a never-ending stream of new prospective clients.

    I wish that solution existed. Some of the newer methods of marketing, such as YouTube videos, are very powerful, but extremely difficult for the average person to pull off successfully.

    Over the years, I’ve had tremendous success with three primary marketing activities. And I’ve also helped a whole lot of clients implement these strategies successfully as well. Nevertheless, for all of them it can take a tremendous amount of time and energy to get consistent results.

    Here are the pros and cons of each strategy and my overall recommendations about how to integrate each one into your overall marketing plan.

    Networking and Direct Outreach

    This strategy about building relationships with others in your field who can connect you to prospective clients. This means having conversations, attending meetings (individually or in groups), and doing follow-up. Sometimes it means reaching out directly to those in your network (including LinkedIn), being proactive, and exploring possibilities for projects.

    Pros: Networking is the most concentrated, focused, personal kind of marketing. And if you do it well and consistently it can be extremely effective in building strong relationships and trust with your business associates and prospects.

    Cons: The downside of networking is that it can drain your energy. This is a particular issue for introverts like me. And networking only enables you to reach a limited number of people.

    Recommendation: Start marketing your professional services by meeting as many people as you possibly can – face to face. Join organizations and associations and then learn how to use LinkedIn to connect with new prospects.

    Speaking (Live and Webinars)

    If you want to gain a reputation as an expert, nothing is better than speaking. And it combines the best of networking and writing, in that you are connecting with people directly and also sharing your valuable expertise.

    Pros: Speaking can quickly establish you as an expert. And you can immediately follow up with those in your audience.

    Cons: The downside of speaking is that, for many people, it comes with a high fear factor, therefore a lot of people avoid it.

    Recommendation: As your network expands, start to find audiences to present your ideas through professional associations, chambers of commerce, and other groups both offline and online. Learn the skills of giving a great presentation and of following up with your audience members.

    Writing

    Publishing articles and books have always been a good way to market professional services. It establishes your credibility. And with the expansion of various platforms on the Internet, such as Medium, and tools such as WordPress, it’s easier than ever to put your ideas out there.

    Pros: There is no better way to get your ideas out into the world and in front of a large number of people quickly and at virtually no cost.

    Cons: The downside of writing is the sheer volume of online material. There are so many articles published online these days and sent out by email that it can be hard to break through. And yes, writing is a lot of work and takes lots of time.

    Recommendations: You should publish an online newsletter and blog as soon as possible. Work at growing your list and you’ll expand both your reach and credibility. Note that this can take years, so you need to be patient.

    This is the fifth of five articles about the 5 Pillars of Marketing, my marketing model that helps get your marketing on track. 5 Pillars article here.

    Social Media (supplemental strategy)

    For independent professionals, social media is a fast and easy way to communicate about what you’re up to in your business. It’s worth the time to set up LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

    Pros: It’s easy to set up social media accounts and start posting and linking almost immediately.

    Cons: It can take a long time to gain traction that results in any new business. And it can also eat up a huge amount of time.

    Recommendation: Think of social media as a supplement to networking, speaking, and writing. It can increase your visibility and credibility among those you already know.

    All of these marketing strategies take time to master and don’t yield immediate results, but in my experience, the time and effort you put into them will reward your investment many times over.

    Perhaps the biggest mistake you can make in marketing your professional services is implementing these activities randomly and superficially. For success, you need to do all of them regularly and frequently. And for that you need a solid, step-by-step plan.

    Cheers, Robert

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    Source by Robert Middleton

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  • The Five Pillars of Marketing Success

    The Five Pillars of Marketing Success

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    Does the following give a pretty good picture of your current marketing activity?

    You have a website but you’re not really satisfied with it. You go to networking events once in awhile. If someone asks you to give a talk, you’re happy to do it. You post on Facebook and/or LinkedIn semi-regularly. When you find the time, you send an article to those on your relatively small email list. You occasionally set up meetings with colleagues to explore opportunities.

    Now there’s nothing wrong with any of those marketing activities. And usually, they will result in landing some new clients.

    But this is not the approach that works to get a steady, predictable stream of new clients.

    Please don’t tune me out here, thinking, “Well, I really can’t do more than this. I’m already stretched thin. If you give me too much to do I’ll get overwhelmed.”

    I agree. It’s not that you need to do more marketing, it’s that you need to shift your marketing paradigm from one of “Randomness” to one that is “Focused.”

    Random marketing is just that; it’s all over the place. You do a little bit here and a little bit there on an inconsistent basis. You are trying to keep your face, name, and message in front of your prospective clients but the results are unpredictable.

    The Random marketing paradigm is not very effective because it doesn’t gain a lot of momentum. You don’t do enough of one marketing activity to grab the attention of your prospective clients and move them to take action.

    The Focused Marketing Paradigm is very different. It’s based on repeatedly communicating very directly to your target market with a very definite end in mind. It gets the attention of your prospective clients and they ultimately take action.

    The Focused Marketing Paradigm has Five Pillars

    Understand and implement these five pillars and I promise you’ll see a shift in your marketing results.

    Pillar One: Focused Goals

    A Random goal is saying something like, “I’d like to attract a few more clients to my business.” Not very compelling is it?

    A Focused goal is much more specific. “My goal is to land 3 new clients in the high-tech plastics business in the Houston area with an average project size of $30,000 each by the end of the year.”

    The more detail, depth, and specificity about the goal, the better. You’ve really thought through what you want to achieve and also have confidence that you could deliver if you did reach your goal. It’s so real to you that you can taste it.

    What is the Focused Goal for your marketing?

    Pillar Two: Focused Program or Service

    Random programs or services are generalized consulting, coaching or training programs. “I offer management consulting and training to corporations.” Kind of vague, right? But this is what I hear all the time.

    A Focused Program or Service is more tangible. “I offer the high-tech plastics industry Management Acceleration Programs for emerging leaders in the industry.”

    In my business, I’ve always offered programs: The Marketing Mastery Program, the Marketing Action Group, and the More Clients Club. And each program has very specific parameters, deliverables, and objectives. It sure makes intangible services easier to market and sell.

    What is the Focused Program or Service you’re offering?

    Pillar Three: Focused Target Market

    In the above example, the target was the “high-tech plastics industry.” But it’s more common to hear things like, “I work with large companies who want to increase productivity.” This is too general and it makes it hard for clients to know if you understand them and can help them.

    A Focused target market is where you are absolutely clear what kinds of people or companies can most benefit from your expertise. And then you articulate that clearly.

    I worked with a financial planning company last year that targeted middle class families in the Buffalo New York area. Guess who they attracted to their practice? When people read about who they worked with on their website, they said, “That’s Us!” and called them.

    Who exactly is your Focused Target Market?

    Pillar Four: Focused Message and Value Proposition

    A Random message or value proposition tends to be too general and can be hard to pin down. It avoids making a promise that is meaningful to the prospective client.

    Messages such as, “We offer the best service in the industry,” or “Smart insights into great management,” are meaningless to your prospective clients. The value is not immediately obvious.

    A Focused message or value proposition zeros in on exactly what your clients get and what it means to them. I admit that this can be the marketing pillar that is hardest to pin down. Ultimately you have to test a number of different things.

    For the re-launch of the More Clients Club, my current value proposition is: “Everything Self-Employed Professionals Need in One Place to Attract More Clients.” And now, of course, I’m bending over backward to deliver on that promise.

    And a marketing message or value proposition is much more than a sound bite. Your message must permeate every aspect of your marketing, from your website to the emails you send out. Your prospects need to be constantly reminded of the value you offer.

    What is your Focused Message or Value Proposition?

    Pillar Five: Focused Marketing Strategy

    A Random marketing strategy is much like the collection of marketing activities I outlined at the top of the article. You’re just all over the place, throwing something at the wall, hoping it will stick, with no organized system or plan.

    A Focused marketing strategy is more like a putting on a theatrical production. You have the script, the actors, rehearsals, and opening night, all executed on a strict timeline.

    Two examples:

    For my Marketing Mastery Program, I held a series of introductory teleconferences, invited those interested to apply for the program, interviewed each applicant, and then converted 50% into participants. Over a 6-week period, I filled my business for a full year – four years in a row.

    A career coach in one of my programs recently filled her practice in three months with a focused campaign of personalized emails designed to get appointments with her ideal clients. Then she converted a large percentage into paying clients.

    That’s the power of a focused marketing strategy.

    You need to identify the right marketing strategy for your business, but even more important is the way you organize and implement the strategy.

    Developing a focused strategy is the most complex and challenging of the Five Pillars. You can’t just put together something haphazardly and hope you get the equivalent of a professional Shakespearian production.

    What is your Focused Marketing Strategy?

    If you work to build a focused plan with these five solid pillars, your marketing will work better and faster, attracting more of your ideal clients, usually at a higher rate.

    I recommend you work on one pillar at a time. Write them out and fine-tune them until you feel confident and excited about them. Yes, you will need to do some research and study to make sure your plan is viable. But this is certainly better than spinning your wheels with a random strategy that is going nowhere.

    Cheers, Robert

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    Source by Robert Middleton

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  • Updated WHO Information Note: Ensuring continuity of TB services during the COVID-19 pandemic

    Updated WHO Information Note: Ensuring continuity of TB services during the COVID-19 pandemic

    Geneva. The World Health Organization (WHO) Global TB Programme, along with WHO regional and country offices, has developed an updated information note, in collaboration with stakeholders. This note is intended to assist national TB programmes and health personnel to urgently maintain continuity of essential services for people affected with TB during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by innovative people-centred approaches, as well as maximizing joint support to tackle both diseases. It is important that the progress made in TB prevention and care is not reversed by the COVID19 pandemic. Finding and treating people with TB remain the fundamental pillars of TB prevention and care and those would require maintained attention. This updated note has additional details on clinical management considerations to manage TB and COVID-19, as well as new information on testing.

    Updated WHO Information Note: Ensuring continuity of TB services during the COVID-19 pandemic
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    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/04-04-2020-updated-who-information-note-ensuring-continuity-of-tb-services-during-the-covid-19-pandemic

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  • Presidential Order Not Enforceable Without Legal Backing! By Femi Falana

    Presidential Order Not Enforceable Without Legal Backing! By Femi Falana

    Presidential Order Not Enforceable Without Legal Backing! By Femi Falana 1

    Presidential Order Not Enforceable Without Legal Backing! By Femi Falana 2


    Following the national broadcast of President Muhammadu Buhari on the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday, some lawyers have questioned the constitutional validity of the restriction of locomotion of people in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states. No doubt, the President is empowered to adopt any measures deemed fit to combat the dangerous disease but such measures have to be spelt out in a Regulation made pursuant to section 305 of the constitution or under the Quarantine Act. Otherwise the presidential order on restriction of movement in the affected areas cannot be enforced by the police. 

    Even though civil rule was restored in the country 21 years ago the psyche of the political class has not been demilitarised. Hence, decisions taken by rulers are required to be obeyed “with immediate effect” without any legal backing. But in Okafor v Governor of Lagos State (2016) LPELR-41066 (CA) the Court of Appeal called on all authorities to appreciate the need to govern the country under the rule of law. Thus, the directive of the Governor of Lagos State restricting the movement of citizens and residents during the state’s monthly environmental sanitation exercise was struck down because of its unconstitutionality. It was the unanimous view of their lordships that the arrest of appellant for flouting the order or directive of the governor was completely  illegal. According to Georgewill , J.C.A. 

    “It is my view, that democracy thrives more on obeying and promoting the rule of law rather than the whims and caprices of the leaders against the lead. I find the conduct of the Respondent in not only persecuting the Appellant, yes that is what in my view it amounts to when a free citizen of this great country such as Citizen Faith Okafor, is put through the rigours of criminal process for an offence not prescribed in any written law but merely on the directive of the governor of the Lagos State. An action which if allowed to thrive in a democracy such as ours could confer on such office holders infinite, absolute and autocratic powers contrary to the clear provisions of the constitution of the land, to which both the leaders and the led are subject. I  refuse to allow such autocratic, absolute and infinite powers to fester upon our nascent democracy.”

    Lawyers who are saying that the law should  be completely relegated to the background in combating the coronavirus pandemic reminds me of the dissenting judgment of Lord Atkins in the case of Liversidge v Anderson 1944 UKHL 1. While accusing his learned brethren of being “more executive minded than the executive”,  his Lordship said inter alia:

    “In England, amidst the clash of arms, the laws are not silent. They may be changed, but they speak the same language in war as in peace. It has always been one of the pillars of freedom, one of the principles of liberty for which on recent authority we are now fighting, that the judges are no respecters of persons, and stand between the subject and any attempted encroachments on his liberty by the executive, alert to see that any coercive action is justified in law.”

    However. while the nation’s armed forces should be commended for making their medical facilities available to members of the public in the fight against the highly dangerous virus the plan to dispatch armed soldiers to the streets to enforce the COVID-19 guidelines should be shelved because it is  illegal. For the umpteenth time, I am compelled to draw the attention of the military authorities to the case of Yussuf v Obasanjo (2005) 18 NWLR (Pt ) where Salami JCA (as he then was) held that “It is up to the police to protect our nascent democracy and not the military, otherwise the democracy might be wittingly or unwittingly militarized. This is not what the citizenry bargained for in wrestling power from the military in 1999. Conscious steps should be taken to civilianise the polity and thereby ensure the survival of and sustainance of democracy.”

    In the same vein, in the celebrated case of All Progressive Congress v Peoples Democratic Party (2015) LPELR 24349  Aboki JCA held that the President lacks the power to call on the Armed Forces to restore law and order in any part of the federation without the approval of the National Assembly as provided in sections 217(2) and 218(4) of the constitution as amended. His Lordship reminded the Federal Government of its legal obligation  “to confine the military to their demanding assignments especially in these trying times of insurgencies and encroachment into the country’s territories…”

    Finally, just last week the satanic Boko Haram force was reported to have massacred 47 Nigerian troops and 92  Chadian soldiers in two separate attacks. In view of such enormous challenge our patriotic armed forces should concentrate efforts on the counter insurgency operations being carried out in the north east region while  the police and allied security agencies are allowed to enforce the COVID-19 regulations and guidelines.

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    Femi Falana

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    Presidential Order Not Enforceable Without Legal Backing! By Femi Falana
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    http://saharareporters.com/2020/03/30/presidential-order-not-enforceable-without-legal-backing-femi-falana

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  • Global gathering of ministers determines road safety agenda to 2030

    The 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety convened 1700 delegates from around 140 countries, including more than 70 ministers and vice-ministers and heads of international agencies, civil society organizations, foundations and private companies. Hosted at the request of the UN General Assembly by the Government of Sweden in collaboration with WHO, the theme was “Achieving Global Goals 2030”, highlighting the connections between road safety and achievement of other Sustainable Development Goal targets.

    Through its 6 high-level panels and 18 parallel sessions, the Ministerial Conference addressed a range of topics, from building effective leadership for road safety to promoting sustainable cities and communities, mitigating climate change through road safety, and ensuring the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. The gathering was instrumental in reviewing progress in the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 and defining ways to accelerate action on proven strategies to save lives. Among many pre-events, the 2nd World Youth Assembly for Road Safety hosted by YOURS: Youth for Road Safety and co-hosted by WHO, brought 200 young leaders together proclaiming “Enough is enough!” and claiming their space at the decision-making table for sustainable mobility.

    The Ministerial Conference culminated in the forward-looking “Stockholm Declaration”, which calls for a new global target to reduce road traffic deaths and injuries by 50% by 2030. In addition, it invites strengthened efforts on activities in all five pillars of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action: better road safety management; safer roads, vehicles and people; and enhanced post-crash care. It also calls for speeding up the shift to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable modes of transport like walking, cycling and public transport. WHO is asked to continue to produce the series of global status reports, as a means of monitoring progress towards achievement of the 12 Global Road Safety Performance Targets.

    Today, around 1.35 million people lose their lives on the world’s roads every year, and as many as 50 million are injured. More than one quarter of those killed and injured are pedestrians and cyclists. Road traffic injuries are now the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years. Given the enormous human suffering and major economic losses for families and societies, road traffic deaths remain an unacceptable price to pay for mobility.

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    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/20-02-2020-global-gathering-of-ministers-determines-road-safety-agenda-to-2030

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