Experts are sought after, are well known, command higher fees and get more business with less effort. The media calls experts to get quotes for articles. Associations call them to speak at their events. People remember them.

Becoming an expert is no accident - it takes hard work that follows strategic planning and ongoing effort, but it is a crucial part of your marketing if you want to customers to seek YOU out. Get known as the go-to guy or gal in your field. The more well you are known, the more prospects will trust you. You become part of their world and will be invited to be other people’s center of influence.

Here are a few things that can help you to position yourself as an expert:

• Write articles for industry magazines and online directories.
• Start a blog and update it regularly.
• Write a book.
• Begin podcasting to your audience.
• Ask for customer testimonials to include with your marketing materials.
• Become a public speaker.
• Give radio interviews.
• Send press releases to your local media.

Remember, the first step is to believe in your own expertise. People will perceive you in alignment with the way that you present yourself. But, it starts in your own mind. When you believe in yourself as a capable, valuable provider of a service, your audience will also perceive you as an expert. Are you confident in your own values and abilities? If not, what can you do to grow your skills?

Make sure you are walking the walk of an expert. Everything you do should reflect your expertise. Make sure you dress well. Don’t show up to at a meeting late. Make sure all of your marketing materials are professionally designed. Be professional in the way you act with prospects and customers - provide excellent customer service always. If you have employees, they are also an extension of your expertise, so make sure everyone and everything that represents you and your company shines.

When you speak to your prospects, remember you are not “selling” them. Instead, you are offering them a solution to their problems. Ask plenty of questions to make sure you understand what your client needs and speak back to them in a manner that expresses your understanding of their issues. Keep the focus on your prospect or customer. Be honest, show integrity, and express a sincere desire to help them. If you are not authentic, this will come across to your audience.

ACTION ITEM: Have you positioned yourself as an expert in your industry? What will help you do this? WHat can you do in the next year to acclerate your learning? What events can you attend? What new information do you want to attain?

Okay, so you now know that it’s important to position yourself as the expert. But, you’re frustrated because your marketing doesn’t get you enough customers? It’s time to get yourself a copy of the Maven Marketing Home Study System! It’s everything you need to know to attract the best customers for your business. You’ll learn how to describe what makes your business remarkable, how to get new customers calling YOU, and lots of other valuable strategies to help you fill your sales pipeline quickly. (Why struggle with your marketing anymore?)

Hugs and success,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

Twitter Love Me! 

I wrote a little Christmas poem for our Kinesis holiday card this year and I would like to share it with you:

Twas the night before deadline
And all through our house,
Our designers were busy
All clicking their mouse.

We make our designs
For each client with care.
In the hopes that you’ll love
Your new look with flair.

Twitter Love Me! 

The boring subject lines win out by HUGE numbers…interesting, eh?

Study of Best and Worst Open Rates

People who are new to email marketing often ask us, “How should I write my subject lines so that more recipients will open my emails?” In order to answer that question, we recently analyzed over 40 million emails sent from customers through MailChimp, and found the ones with the highest open rates and the ones with the lowest open rates. Then we pulled 20 from each pile and put their subject lines in a side-by-side comparison. The “highest” open rates were in the range of 60%-87%, while the “lowest” performers fell in the dismal 1%-14% range. Do you see a pattern below?

Best Open Rates (60%-87%)

Worst Open Rates (1%-14%)

[COMPANYNAME] Sales & Marketing Newsletter Eye on the [COMPANYNAME] Update (Oct 31 - Nov 4) [COMPANYNAME] Staff Shirts & Photos [COMPANYNAME] May 2005 News Bulletin! [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - February 2006 [COMPANYNAME] Newsletter - January 2006 [ *|FNAME|* *|LNAME|* ] [COMPANYNAME] and [COMPANYNAME] Invites You! Happy Holidays from [COMPANYNAME] ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] Staff! ATTENTION [COMPANYNAME] West Staff!! Invitation from [COMPANYNAME] [COMPANYNAME] Jan/Feb 2006 Newsletter Website news - Issue 3 Upcoming Events at [COMPANYNAME] [COMPANYNAME] Councils: Letter of Interest [COMPANYNAME] Coffee Exchange - Post-Katrina Update We’re Throwing a Party October 2005 Newsletter [COMPANYNAME]: 02.10.06 [COMPANYNAME] Racing Newsletter

Last Minute Gift - We Have The Answer Valentines - Shop Early & Save 10% Give a Gift Certificate this Holiday Valentine’s Day Salon and Spa Specials! Gift Certificates - Easy & Elegant Giving - Let Them Choose Need More Advertising Value From Your Marketing Partner? [COMPANYNAME] Pioneers in Banana Technology [COMPANYNAME] Moves You Home for the Holidays Renewal Technology Company Works with [COMPANYNAME] on Bananas Efforts [COMPANYNAME] Update - A Summary of Security and Emergency Preparedness News Now Offering Banana Services! It’s still summer in Tahoe! [COMPANYNAME] endorses [COMPANYNAME] as successor [COMPANYNAME] Holiday Sales Event The Future of International Trade [COMPANYNAME] for your next dream home. True automation of your Banana Research [COMPANYNAME] Resort - Spring into May Savings You Asked For More…

* Study only included campaigns sent to at least 100 recipients.

---

Observations
On the “best” side, you’ll notice the subject lines are pretty straightforward. They’re not very “salesy” or “pushy” at all. Heck, some people might even say they’re “boring.” On the “worst” side however, notice how the subject lines read like headlines from advertisements you’d see in the Sunday paper. They might look more “creative,” but their open rates are horrible. It’s as if those email marketers assumed that subject lines have to jump off the screen and “GRAB THE READER’S ATTENTION!” or something. Unfortunately, most people get so much junk mail in their inbox, anything that even hints of spam gets thrown away immediately.

Setting Expectations
So does that mean your subject lines should be really stale and un-creative to get high open rates? We don’t think so. In our study, we actually saw some campaigns that used more “creative” subject lines (like the ones on the “bad” side of our table) but they had pretty decent open rates. The difference seemed to be in the expectations that were set for the emails.For example, email “newsletters” are for “soft-selling.” They build relationships with your customers, and they’re great if your products have a very long sales cycle. Use them to slowly soften your customers for the sale, or to make them feel really good about your brand. If your recipients signed up for these kinds of emails, don’t expect them to be very enthusiastic when, out of the blue, you send an email with a subject line like, “10% Discount! Open Now!” For newsletters, keep your subject lines simple, straightforward, and consistent.

On the other hand, if your subscribers specifically opted-in to receive “special offers and promotions” from your company, there’s nothing wrong with saying there’s a “10% off e-coupon inside.” They’ll be expecting a “hard sell” from you. It’s when marketers send promotional emails to their entire “newsletter” list when things go wrong. The idea is to create a totally separate opt-in list for those who want to receive promotional emails. Furthermore, segment your promotions list into smaller, more focused groups before you send your campaign (don’t send an offer for purses and high-heel shoes to the men on your list).

The Secret Formula for Subject-Lines
So what’s our advice for email subject lines? This is going to sound “stupid simple” to a lot of people, but here goes: Your subject line should (drum roll please): Describe the subject of your email. Yep, that’s it.

Always set your subscribers’ expectations during the opt-in process about what kinds of emails they’ll be receiving. Don’t confuse newsletters with promotions. If your email is a newsletter, put the name and issue of the newsletter in your subject line. Because that’s what’s inside. If your email is a special promotion, tell them what’s inside. Either way, just don’t write your subject lines like advertisements.

When it comes to email marketing, the best subject lines tell what’s inside, and the worst subject lines sell what’s inside.

Thanks again to MailChimp for this informative study!

Hugs and succes,

Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

Twitter Love Me! 

I picked up this idea over at the Branding Strategy blog and think it’s GREAT!

Here is what they said:

Mack Collier on his marketing blog, The Viral Garden, proposes a unique idea to increase readership for marketing and branding blogs that deserve higher visibility. Essentially, post his list of recommended blogs and add to it {or edit it}. If you author a blog in this category, you are encouraged to take our list and post it to continue the cycle.

Here’s what Mark says about his strategy:

This is a PAINFULLY easy way to bring extra links and exposure to those blogs that deserve it. I would institute an ‘honor’ rule that you don’t include your own blog. The end result is that many great blogs will get a ton of extra exposure, we’ll all find some great new blogs to add to our reading list, and you’ll get mucho good karma points for helping out your fellow bloggers! And who knows some of that link-love might even come back to you!

I was happy to learn about these marketing and branding blogs and I added a few of my own. If you are a blogger, I encourage you to create your own list of marketing/branding Blogging Love!

And why not? It’s the holiday season, after all! A time of giving and sharing.

Chris Brown
Shotgun Marketing Blog
Mack
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Two Hat Marketing
The Branding Blog
The Emerging Brand
Converstations
CrapHammer
Drew’s Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
MSCO
Buzzoodle
NewsPaperGrl
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett’s Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Branding Strategy Insider
Decent Marketing
Reinvention Marketing
Wonder Branding
LipSticking
Diva Marketing Blog

Hugs and Success,Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

Twitter Love Me! 

Part of every successful business is a simple and well-defined core marketing message. When people are happy with a company, they like to talk about it. However, if customers are confused about a company’s offerings, it is much more difficult for them to spread the word.

Without a core marketing message, it is also much more challenging for YOU to talk about your business. When someone asks you, “So, what do you do?” can you tell him or her in a sentence? If not, read on…

Here are five elements to help you develop your core marketing message:

1. Target Audience: Who are the customers you serve? Describe them as fully as you can: age, gender, income, education, location, hobbies, habits, and lifestyle tendencies. The better you know your audience, the easier it becomes to market to them.

2. Meet a Need: What problem do you solve? If you want to make your marketing more effective, define your customers’ problem. Key problems may include: needing to lose weight, finding a job, facing relationship woes, and so on.

3. Solution: What results do you produce? Describe how your services or products solve the problem that you defined. For example, the Maytag website clearly defines solutions: “Saves time. Keeps clothes like new. Saves up to $185 each year.”

4. Proof: What do you have to prove it? People want to see your results. Use case studies as a talking point. You can show your portfolio, testimonials from past customers, or provide references. Proof is a powerful selling tool. Demonstrate your successes in a manner that potential customers can review as proof of your expertise. Try a dedicated page on your website or special book you put together.

5. Differentiation: What makes you special, unique, and stand apart from competitors? Make it clear that you are different. How do you provide a distinct service or product that is of value to your customers?

Once you have defined your core marketing message, distill it into one or two sentences. A message that is simple and well defined makes it easier for people to remember your services and tell others about your business. Incorporate it into your brochure, website, advertising, and other marketing materials. Use your core marketing message to describe your services at networking events and speaking engagements.

ACTION ITEM: Do your marketing materials have an easy-to-understand, consistent core marketing message? If not, begin to work through the questions above. Incorporate your message into all of your materials.

Twitter Love Me!