Yves Simon's List: Marketing

• First, consider, who is an ideal client for YOUR business. This is critical, because you cannot be all things to all people. (I know you think everyone and anyone needs your service. But that is simply NOT true. The quicker you accept that, the more successful your business will be).
• Determining who your ideal client is begins with choosing a target market. Then you can identify who within that market will get the best, long lasting results in working with you. Your ideal client is the ONE person who is truly losing sleep at night because they are struggling with the exact problem you solve. They value your expertise, are ready to invest in the solutions you offer, roll up their sleeves and get to work.
• Focusing your marketing efforts on this person does not at all mean that you can’t work with other types of people or that you say no to opportunities that come along. You are guaranteed to attract folks who don’t fit your ideal client.
• The point of creating this profile is simply to FOCUS your marketing efforts
• You market consistently to create awareness around the solutions you offer and to generate leads.
• You have a limited amount of time, money and energy to spend on marketing. So you need to spend it on the strategies that are going to get real results.
• So what target market will you choose? Make it a group of people you have solid expertise in helping, that you can offer clear solutions to and who you know are already looking for what you have to share.
• Now that you know who your target market is, get crystal clear on who your ideal client is.
• • Is it a man or a woman? (We can only be one or the other).
   
  • How old are they? (We’re only one age at a time).
   
  • What does their lifestyle look like?
   
  • What specific challenges are they facing?
   
  • What specific solutions are they looking for?
• You see, a single, professional man, aged 35, college educated, who works at a prestigious firm, is fun, outgoing, ambitious, loves his job and loves to spend time with his friends is going to show up in specific places. He’s going to attend certain events to expand his professional network. He’s going to be interested in specific social events to meet that special someone. He will contribute to certain causes he cares about. He will read particular blogs and be active on certain social networks. He has specific goals in mind both personally and professionally, and likely has the disposable income to invest in obtaining the resources he needs to achieve his goals.

• Do you see how the clarity of who this particular individual is tells you exactly how to market to him?

   

  You know what his lifestyle looks like, so you can acknowledge that in the content you write. You can show up at those professional networking events where he will be present. You can write for publications he reads. You can tell others in your network you are looking to work with folks like him and what specific phrases or challenges to listen for in their conversations.
• In order to keep your income consistent, you will need a consistent stream of leads. To maintain a consistent stream of leads, you need to market consistently to create awareness for what you offer. To get the best results with your marketing you know to focus on a particular target market and ideal client so you can speak to their needs

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• To minimize tensions while you wait for the work to come in — and then wait to get paid — set aside enough money to cover six months of expenses (a year is even better).
• Do what you know.
• Find a comfortable workspace
• Put seed money towards equipment that can help you embrace technology: laptop, iPad and smartphone. You’ll want to buy a comfortable work chair, if you don’t already have one, but there’s no need to pay top dollar for other furniture. With so many companies scaling back, there are plenty of good deals on secondhand equipment. Try auctions (live or online), going-out-of-business sales and used office furniture stores.
• Create digital footprints
• For professionals, there are a few sites that rival LinkedIn. Write your profile, join groups in your field of interest. Then chime into the discussions. Being the boss is not a job for people who are shy about blowing their own horns, but self-promotion shouldn’t be all you do. As with networking in person, helping other people is part of the game
• Present a professional image. Answer all phone calls by stating your name or the name of your business. Avoid referring to yourself as a “freelancer.” (Instead, use your company name, say you’re a consultant, self-employed, or in business for yourself.)
• Go after more work than you can handle
• Many of your marketing efforts won’t lead to business right away, and even promising “nibbles” may not pan out. So hedge your bets by pursuing many avenues at a time. Once you’ve landed an assignment, you can juggle deadlines and delegate some of the work if necessary.
• Charge what the market will bear

• Get help as you need it. By hiring subcontractors when you don’t have time to do everything yourself, and bringing in consultants if your own expertise falls short, you free yourself to go after other money-generating pursuits. Call upon extra hands (including students and hourly workers) for time-consuming chores. You can put together a virtual staff to handle everything from research to Web design.

   

  Build a support team. Exchange ideas and leads with other business owners in your area. Surround yourself with people who believe in your ability to be successful. Be prepared for the inevitable downswings: you will want to have an optimistic friend or family member around who can be your cheerleader during these times.

   

  Keep in mind that there is no preset formula for success. You may need to modify your plans – and your expectations – until you find what works best. No matter what, though, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you’re in charge. And when You & Co. does better than you ever dreamed, you’ll have yourself to thank.

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• 1. Be Clear On Your Passion

  Contrary to popular belief, your passion is what you want to spend your time doing and not some random vision written on a blackboard in the sky that you somehow need to “discover”.  Ask yourself what you love doing day in day out, because ultimately this is your passion
• 2. Align Your Passion With What You Are Good At
• If you take the time to align these two aspects effectively (your day-to-day passion and your skills) you will flat out make the rest of the process much easier.
• 3. Find A Market You Want To Work With and work out what their biggest pain is
• 4. Tailor What You Offer (your passion, product or service) to the avatar of the people you most want to work with.
• In other words, think of a character that represents the people you want to work with (your avatar) and design your offering for just that person. Give them a name, and describe every detail of their pain, their fears, their hopes, their current situation… down to even the more tangible aspects of their lives like where they shop and their educational backgrounds. This will allow you to hone what you have to offer precisely to what they want, and this will form the basis of your marketing messaging when you talk to them.
• 5. Work A Marketing Plan
• What I mean by this is simply create a plan around how you are going to connect with them.
• Note: Facebook is not a marketing plan! Even those marketers who are rocking it on Facebook only get about 20% of their sales from it. If you’re in the online world you need an email list. Period.
• Create database of people you can email (or snail mail) and build up a relationship with them. This is your audience. These are the people who are an ideal fit for your product or service and are interested in hearing your message. Make sure you have an easy way to be in touch with them so that you can communicate about your product or service before it’s even ready. Part of this plan will then be to build a relationship with your audience, getting them involved in developing the product (or service), then communicate what is available and make it really easy for them to buy.
• In fact, monetising is just a process, one you’ve worked out what you want to spend your time doing, what your natural skills are and who you want to work with.
• If you align with what you love to do every day, your natural skills AND the market you want to serve you will massively increase your chances of monetising your project effectively in the shortest possible time

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