Face to face

People like to work with those they know and trust.

If you get a chance to meet your customer face to face, don’t pass it up. People enjoy some one-on-one time.

Diane Mettler, editor & writer
Spilled Ink Marketing

Mom

Give your marketing message the “Mom Test”. In other words, can the average non-techy person both easily use and see the value in a product. If not, it’s time to rethink the message.

Diane Mettler, editor & writer
Spilled Ink Marketing

This brings home a simple point — promotion starts with you. Lots of people become nervous when self-promoting and feel like it’s pushy. So they play themselves down.

It’s important to relax and let it show that you’re “genuinely” excited about your product whether is a book or a bobsled.

Pushy v. Excited
People can tell the difference between “pushing a sale” and “genuine excitement”. That’s good because being pushy is uncomfortable and being excited is fun. Next time you’re talking to someone about your project just be yourself.

• Smile.
• Open up about yourself and your project (maybe tell them a detail you think is interesting or funny)
• Think of it as making a friend, not making a sale.
• Let them see that it would be fun to work  and/or do business with you.

Pretty simple. Be enthusiastic!

Diane Mettler, Writer & Editor
Spilled Ink Marketing

Painting by Sharman Owings

If you’re the artistic type, it’s often hard to think about marketing until after the book, the sculpture, the painting, etc., is complete.

It’s important though to start thinking about promotion during the process. Here are a few questions you can start asking yourself are:

• How can I type this into an upcoming event?
• What kind of promotional things would get people talking about my work?
• Are there people out there who might provide good review/blurbs/quotes about my work?

While you’re working today, take a moment to consider future marketing.

Diane
www.spilledinkmarketing.com

To ensure you keep yours healthy and strong, take time to add  new addresses (with their permission) from individuals who have purchased products from you. Those individuals are much more likely to be your purchasers of the future.

Note: When emailing, check the greeting. No one wants to get an email addressed to “Dear  Put Name Here”.

Diane
Spilled Ink Marketing

Take the example of an Investigation Company that wanted to reach more lawyers. The owner placed the cards in law books in his local library. Lawyers, associates and paralegals came across the cards and made the assumption that law firms were using the company. Instant credibility and recognition.

Where might your cards do you some good?

Common Speaking Engagements
Here are a few common speaking engagement to consider:
• Presentations to professional or community groups
• Becoming a keynote speaker
• Putting on a class, workshop or seminar
• Events

You don’t have to wait for an invitation — although those are always nice, and sometimes paid gigs.  You can also call and offer your services. For example, maybe your local Rotary Club is looking for speaker.

Once you start looking for opportunities, you’ll be surprised what you find. It’s just important to SPEAK UP!

Diane Mettler
www.spillededinkmarketing.com

You can use the same technique. Imagine you’ve got 30 minutes to pitch what your company has to offer to 20,000 people. What could say in 30 seconds to convince them that your company is the only choice and they’d be crazy not to build a relationship with you? What if you only had 15 seconds?

Give it a shot. Develop your pitch.

If not, you might consider adding a tagline to home page. The tagline not only lets people know not only who you are, but what makes you unique from your competitors.

For example, here’s Ritchie Brothers tagline. It’s both simple and straight forward:

Ritchie Bros. is the world’s largest auctioneer of used and unused equipment.

Take a look at your website with fresh eyes today. Can a potential customer immediately understand what you do and what sets you apart. In not, develop a solid and enticing tagline that will attract those new customers.

Diane Mettler, Writer & Editor
Spilled Ink Marketing

Before I’ve even started the design process, a client will say “I’ve got this really cool font. It’s called yahoodoozy. I’d like you to use it on all my stuff.”

Never mind that Yahoodoozy is a free font that doesn’t include apostrophes, commas and other useless punctuation marks. It is, after all, really cool.

Design is like cooking
Design is a lot like cooking. You take several ingredients (message, tone, images, type etc.) and combine them into a pleasing mix that elicits the appropriate reaction (not puking). If your message is elegant, high-end exclusivity, don’t use a blocky industrial font. I know this seems simple, but I’m amazed at how often this simple precept is ignored.

Stick with the basics
Garamond, Times, Goudy are all good, extremely readable fonts that are great for body text (in print). Arial, Helvetica, Futura etc. are modern, clean looking fonts that in print are less readable, but on the web, more readable as body copy.

For titles and display type it’s okay to go crazy and use a decorative font, but make sure it’s still readable and relates to your message and tone. Big, blocky collegiate fonts don’t say “elegant wedding” and scripty, light fonts don’t scream “mixed martial arts”.

Don’t put cayenne pepper in your chocolate cake and don’t use Yahoodoozy semi-bold on your corporate brochure.

Chris Bivins, graphic artist and web desiner
Spilled Ink Marketing