A Marketing Secret Revealed

You might expect a former poet laureate to specialize in melancholy—not to be as funny as a stand-up comedian, but Billy Collins is a funny man who writes poems that appeal even to those who proclaim they don’t like poetry. He may be the only poet whose appearances regularly fill auditoriums.

What Collins has done (wittingly or otherwise) is to employ a powerful marketing tool that for want of a better name I’ll call Just Show Up.

Actually, there is a little more to it than that; let’s call it  Just Show Up With Your Best Self in Tow. Letting people know the person behind your logo is the intention here.

One night when I was channel surfing and stumbled upon a program called Chihuly Over Venice. I knew nothing about Dale Chihuly and even less about how glass art is produced, but by the end of the program I was determined to see as much of his work in person as I possibly could.

Since then, I have made Chihuly pilgrimages to Tacoma, Seattle, Las Vegas, London, Madison, San Francisco and Minneapolis. He, too, makes frequent appearances on public television and at openings of showings of his art.

A born teacher, Chihuly also understands that creativity is creativity, wherever it shows up. He says, “A lot of creativity has to do with energy, confidence and focus. These are the elements for making creative things. It’s probably the same thing whether you’re making a movie, whether you’re an entrepreneur doing business, whether you’re an artist, or whether you’re a gardener or a cook. These are all the same qualities that it takes.”

Susan Harrow is a media coach and public relations specialist who tells aspiring authors, “The most important thing to a publisher is your presence. Good writing can be bought, but publishers want the truth of you connecting to people.”

I’m guessing that many are surprised to hear that an author’s presence gets such high marks, but I had two publishers make offers after attending one of my seminars in New York and determining that I was media ready.

If you understand how important this is, you’ll waste no time hiding out. In fact, you’ll look for ways to make it easy for people to find you.

“Somewhere someone is looking for exactly what you have to offer,” says Louise Hay. Our presence—showing up and being seen—is a marketing tool that should not be overlooked.

You’re a singular production and what you bring to your business will be uniquely and utterly yours alone. Knowing that will give you the added bonus of having more empathy and curiosity for other people.

Reveling in their uniqueness is how successful artists approach their art and how artistic entrepreneurs approach their business.

Or as Julia Cameron so eloquently reminds us, “ Since each of us is one-of-a-kind, the market, for all its supposed predictability, is actually vulnerable to falling in love with any of us at any time.”

But first you’ve got to show up.

Getting Noticed

When I opened my Gmailbox the other evening, there were a dozen or so messages waiting for me. One of them had a subject line that read, “Your Brilliant Book.”

Which one do you think I opened first?

What this writer employed was something I learned about in the public speaking class that I took my first year of college. One of the first lessons Dr. Meisel taught us was to open a talk with an attention-getting device.

For a speaker, that could mean starting off with a story, a joke or a startling statistic. None of this, “Thank you for inviting me here today,” stuff would do in Dr. Meisel’s class.

For a writer, the title is the first attention-getting device.

There was a fine example of that in a post from Copyblogger the other day. It said, “Do you think that Freakonomics would have been a New York Times Bestseller with the title Aberrational Behavior and the Causal Effect of Incentives?”

Children, of course, are masters at using negative means to get attention. It sometimes appears that they don’t outgrow it when they become adults. They may not throw public temper tantrums anymore, but have no qualms about shouting from our tv screens about the wonders of Oxiclean.

Fortunately, you don’t have to scream or wear clothing adorned with meat in order to get attention for your business. Here are some simple ways to add attention-getting devices to your marketing efforts.

Color. Different hues subtly or dramatically suggest the nature of your business. Some companies even make a big deal out of their signature color. (What can Brown do for you?)

Your Website, packaging and even your business vehicle are all canvases for your signature color.

Name. Business names absolutely fascinate me. A good one gets noticed, suggests a bit about the function of the business, but isn’t obviously cute or clever.

Sometimes your own name is the best title for your business, but if that’s not appropriate, coming up with a perfect name is worth the effort.

If you’re stumped, throw an Idea Party and gather a few creative friends for a brainstorming session.

I’m still pondering the name I saw on a business in Britain—Jolly’s Funeral Services. I can only assume that Jolly is a family name.

Tagline. Slogans and taglines are also unique ways to grab attention. One of my favorites came from the Saigon Cafe in Minneapolis. The owner proudly declared, “I did not come 5,000 miles to cook mediocre food for you.”

In the early days of the Geek Squad, I delighted in watching this spunky little startup employ attention-getting devices in every corner of their business. They used taglines brilliantly, including the tongue-in-cheek proclamation, “Making the world safe for technology.”

When I would see one of the Geekmobiles driving down the freeway in Minneapolis, I automatically would think, “There goes the Geek Squad making the world safe for technology.”

In fact, before they were absorbed by Best Buy, the Geek Squad was masterful in their use of  attention-getting devices. Tiny details that all delivered a consistent message added up to outstanding success for them.

Those same unique touches will work for your business, too. Notice what you notice, what grabs your attention.

Best of all, you can continue to create new attention-getters as your business grows.

Any attention-getters you’re already using? I’d love to hear about them. Post a comment and share.

What’s Your Sign?

Last week I went hunting for a new entrepreneur who had disappeared from Twitter. I discovered that she hadn’t closed her account, but hadn’t participated for months. She had posted some interesting things so I wondered why she’d gone quiet. I sent her a message inquiring into her whereabouts and got a quick, but terse, reply saying, “Decided Twitter’s not for me.”

She’s not the first person I’ve heard voice such an opinion, of course. Another more seasoned entrepreneur, who is currently struggling, refuses to even consider social networking, blogging or any of the handy free tools at her disposal that could ultimately open new avenues of opportunity for her. In fact, she’s never understood the concept of e-mail as a form of conversation.

At the same time, almost everyone agrees that the best marketing–even in our sophisticated high tech world–is word of mouth. As Gary Vaynerchuk, host of Wine Library TV, told CNN, “Twitter is word of mouth on steriods.”  Why wouldn’t you want to take the time to be part of that?  At the very least, it’s an opportunity to promote other joyfully jobless folks. In fact, many social networkers enjoy giving support as much as they enjoy receiving it. (Not surprisingly, they’re the same ones getting lots of support in return, I’ve noticed.)

New entrepreneurs, especially those who are nervous about marketing, tend to hide out behind conventional forms of advertising, keeping a distance as it were. What they fail to realize is that all of us like to do business with people we know and like. And we can’t like you if you don’t let us get to know you.

When it comes to marketing, to creating visibility, to expanding your reach, what’s your sign? I’m not talking about billboards or astrology here. I’m talking about the subtle signs that convey your attitude.

Alas, I see a lot of Do Not Disturb signs, almost daring anyone to come close. That is not the path to healthy longevity in business. If you’re going to succeed, you’ll find a Welcome Mat is far more effective. Connect, collaborate, welcome newcommers into your life. You never know when you’re the answer to somebody’s prayer.

Man without a smiling face must not open a shop. ~ Chinese proverb

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If you’d like to add to your marketing toolkit, join me for Cheap Tricks: Marketing on a Shoestring. I’ll be sharing dozens of free and inexpensive ways to put out the Welcome Mat in Madison, WI on June 18th. I’ll also be teaching Cheap Tricks in other locations this fall. 

Five Tips for Better Storytelling

So what does it take to be a great storyteller? The fundamentals are pretty simple.

° Curiosity. Bernice Fitz-Gibbon, who not only produced innovative ad copy, but also trained many successful copywriters, wrote, “I have never known anyone who bounced out of bed in the morning, delighted and astonished by the world in which he found himself, who was not a success. A vibrantly alive curiosity  will put you right up there with the best of them. This intense interest in people and things—this sense of wonder—can be acquired.” 

Without curiosity, you’ll miss all the good stories happening around you that might be put to work on your behalf.

 ° Attention. TV  journalist Steve Hartman  created a popular feature on CBS called “Everyone Has a Story.” He began looking for his subject by throwing a dart at a map. Then he’d go to wherever the dart landed, open the local phone book and pick a name at random. Some of the stories were funny, some poignant, some  buried deep, but he never came away empty-handed. 

Hartman’s premise is that stories exist everywhere, but only storytellers seem to be paying attention. Follow their lead. Listen for inspiration. Listen for evidence. Listen for material. When someone says, “Your teleclass was so exciting that I was awake until 3 AM with all these new ideas,” use it.

 ° Edit.  Editing is critical in all forms of storytelling. The difference between a boring and an enthralling storyteller is in the editing. We all know people who start telling a story and then wander off to side stories about the characters or unrelated events or random thoughts.

So what does an editor really do? According to Sarah Tieck, the job of an editor is to ruthlessly look for what’s relevant and then eliminate the rest. In many ways, editing uses the same skills as are needed to identify priorities in the goal-setting process. 

°  Bring it alive.  Don’t you just marvel at all the ways chef Jamie Oliver describes food? That’s what a great storyteller does. Passion and a good vocabulary are the fuel.

Except for Prairie Home Companion, there’s not much storytelling in radio anymore. If you listen to Garrison Keillor—a master storyteller—you’ll hear how he adds just enough detail so we can imagine the scene. 

In marketing, part of the storyteller’s job is to help the audience of potential customers imagine how products or services will be useful to them. Storytelling can do that more vividly than just listing benefits.

°  Watch your audience. Bores do not notice their listeners fidgeting in their seats or gazing around the room looking for an escape. Alas, the self-absorbed among us are oblivious to this. A good storyteller, on the other hand, understands body language and looks for clues. After all, storytelling always involves at least two people: the teller and the listener. Both are important. 

Polishing your storytelling skills can be as good for your business as it is for your social life. If  you’re ready to make your marketing creative, fun and memorable by becoming a better storyteller, join me and Alice Barry at our upcoming Compelling Storytelling event on December 2-4 in Las Vegas. Special Early Bird pricing ends on October 25th.


Marketing is the act of telling stories about the things we make—stories that sell and stories that spread. ~ Seth Godin