Your self-image: A review of what’s out there!

A few years ago, a certain book started a lot of discussion.  The book was title ‘The Secret’ and it was written by first time author, by Rhonda Byrne.

If you haven’t read it, I’d highly recommend it, if for no other reason than it brings together thousands of years of belief, teachings and writings from some of the greatest thinkers throughout history.

Paul Hanna wrote a very similar book titled, ‘Believe and Achieve’, a very down to earth book which suggests that we are what we focus our thoughts and belief on.  If you want to be motivated by any book on life, business and self-improvement, this is another great example.

It's funny, but once you've read a couple of these kinds of books, you start to pick up some very common threads.  It's interesting to see how the same thing can be written in a number of different ways! 

In his book titled ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, Stephen Covey also promotes self-centred leadership and becoming ‘your own first creator’. 

What Stephen suggests is that our basic human nature is to act, not be acted upon and what’s more, even under the harshest conditions, we have the choice on how and what we think about.  We have a ‘response-ability’ and can choose to take the initiative.

Another excellent author in the power of belief is Napoleon Hill.  Napoleon Hill spent 20 years of his life researching the topic of success and how the most successful people in his era had made their fortunes.  He interview and analysed people such as Henry Ford, Theodore Roosevelt, John D. Rockefeller, Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Edison. 

Hills best selling book ‘Think and Grow Rich’ sold 20 million copies when the author died in 1970 and his chapter on ‘Faith: Visualising and Believing in the Attainment of Desire’ is well worth a read, especially for any new entrepreneurs starting your long road to success.

For me, I like believing in goals that are achievable, realistic, attainable.  Discussions I’ve had with friends / colleagues on the writings of Ronda Byrne and others go along the line of, “So if I think I’ll get a Ferrari, tomorrow morning I’ll wake up to find one in my front yard?”  And how can you argue with that? 

But what is the alternative, believe that you’ll never have a Ferrari and I can guarantee you one thing, you’ll be right!

As T Harv Eker states in his very interesting book ‘Secrets of the Millionaire Mind’:

“If you’re goal is to be comfortable, chances are you’ll never get rich.  But if your goal is to be rich, chances are you’ll end up mighty comfortable.” 

I guess what I’m trying to say is to take Harv’s point, you don’t have to think you’ll be the greatest designer who ever lived, or the most prolific architect in history, but if you aim to be great and define that greatness, even if it is a big ask, you’ll get a lot closer to achieving it than if you don’t.

And I think Ronda would agree:  The law of attraction is one thing and yes, it can be argued both ways, but in business, you have two choices:

You either set a belief (call it a business mission statement, call it a business vision, call it a bottom line you need to make, whatever);

Or...

You can aim for nothing and play it by ear…I know what I’d rather do!

And just to show that it’s not just old fashioned authors who write poignant statements about aiming high and believing in yourself, here’s one from Kanye West in his song ‘Homecoming’:

“Reach for the stars so if you fall you land on a cloud.”  Corny?  Absolutely!  But like most clichés, more than a hint of truth.

So don’t be limited by your imagination, think big!  Just ensure you set a few small milestones along the way. 

After all, success breeds success, so make your dreams big, but allow yourself some reasons to celebrate along the way.

I wish you happy thinking…!

5 ways to ‘advertise’ without advertising

If you think it’s hard in an ordinary business and working out where to spend your marketing dollar, spare a thought for the lawyers, chartered accountants and architect out there. 

For these and some other professions, it is against their professional code of conduct to engage in straight out advertise! 

Buggar!!!

Right? 

Well not really, it just forces you to focus on other means of raising your profile and engaging with potential clients.

So here’s 5 ways to raise the profile of your business without actually 'advertising':

1.       Do some charity work

Whilst bad news sells, people do like to hear ‘good news stories’, it’s why the nightly news finishes each nightly broadcast with a human interest section. 

Whilst you might think your potential clients are interested in your latest building, your latest award or your latest research project, the fact is, they’d be more interested in why you grew a beard (Movember) or shaved your head (World’s Greatest Shave). 

Friends, potential clients, local newspapers, industry magazines, Facebook / Linkedin / Twitter feeds are all great sources of hearing about your philanthropy. 

You not only raise the awareness of your business name, but you help a charity at the same time.  It is a win-win and you’ll sleep better at night knowing you’re doing something worthwhile.

2.       Engage in some topical research & development

You can’t simply sit back and wait for the phone to ring.  Well, you can, but you’ll get fairly bored fairly quickly.  If you have ANY spare time between projects / jobs, spend some time on researching a topic that is topical at the moment. 

For example at The Buchan Group, we are currently researching the future of retail experience called ‘Retail 2030’. 

It is giving us something interesting to discuss with potential clients and once it’s complete, we will upload it to YouTube and post it to our other social network. 

What any one’s clients want to see is that you are abreast of the most up-to-date information and are the best consultant for them.  So show them!

3.       Enter the odd competition

Competitions in design businesses are commonplace.  When new designers are looking to raise their design profile, the best way to do it is to enter a competition.  When large design firms have spare design capacity between jobs, it is also a great opportunity to look for some competition work.

After all.....if architect Jorn Utzon hadn't entered a competition, we wouldn't have ended up with the Sydney Opera House!

If for nothing else, it keeps the mind active…at the best, you could win a potential job that you would never have had a chance to.  The competition visuals will also provide valuable imagery to use in marketing material, brochures and websites.  Even just entering the competition (let alone winning) will provide new articles to add to Facebook posts, Twitter feeds or Linkedin status updates.

4.       Sponsor your local sports team

Okay, this one may be a bit left field, but sponsoring your local sports team should allow you to incorporate your logo onto sports kits or onto boxes at the ground.  It’s all about having something fun to talk about with clients / colleagues / consultants and keep things a little different.

The support of your local sports team will also create some fresh news and give you good reason to update your other marketing channels.

5.       Establish a ‘Potential Out-reach Strategy’

There’s absolutely no point pursuing any of the above ideas without a very clear overall approach that ties together your client out-reach strategy to the rest of your marketing campaign. 

To really do well out of the above strategies, you must be honest with yourself about why you’re doing it.  If you’re not passionate about it, it will show, and that won’t impress anyone.

Final Word:

To advertise or not to advertise….that is NOT the question.  It’s not about advertising, it’s about following your passions…it’s about helping the community….it’s about trying new things and entering competitions….and it’s about researching new ideas.  And once you’ve done all that and whatever else takes your fancy, it’s about telling people about it.

So do yourself (and your business) a favour….don’t simply assume that if you can’t or don’t feel comfortable advertising that you can’t raise the profile of your business.  Get out there and give it a crack…you’ll be surprised at the conversations it will start and the doors it will open!

Which Social Network Platform is right for my business??? (Part 2 – Facebook vs Linkedin)

You’ve probably heard the saying: “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it fall, does it make a sound?” or words to that effect.   An oversimplified explanation is that objects of sense exist only when they are perceived.

The same can really be said for marketing.

There’s no point paying for advertising in magazines, newspapers or sponsoring sports teams if your clients don’t see it.  As mentioned in my previous blog titled Which Social Network Platform is right for my business??? it really is all about WHERE you advertise, what you say and how you say it.

So let’s take a look at Linkedin and Facebook as two platforms for what Catherine Parker in her book ‘301 ways to use Social Media to Boost your Marketing’ calls a way to “strengthen personal connections.”

Facebook

Facebook was born on February 2004 and since then has more than 845 million active users.  Not what I’d call a passing fad.  And for a business, especially a design business, it is a place where friends, family and general contacts can see what you’ve been doing and see your latest work.

You see, 90% of customers trust peer recommendations and only 14% trust advertisements.  So if you’re looking to promote your business through Facebook, then you’re first tier audience should be fairly supportive and understanding.  Well one would hope so anyway…!

Just do me one favour, and this is really important:

DO NOT SELL ON FACEBOOK!!

Now I’m not going to nit-pick, but there’s a fine line between informing your contacts and those who ‘like’ your business or service….and offering cheap renovation designs.  If you’re going to be on Facebook, you need to use it to raise the profile of your business and activity, NOT to directly engage in touting weekly specials.  That is the surest way to lose business contacts and friends!

If we go right back to the beginning, Facebook is about ‘strengthening’ your personal contacts.  Your strategy for what you put on Facebook should be clear and simple.  You are there to inform those interested in you and your business, this can include informing them of such things as:

·         Any new projects you may be working on, may have recently won, or may have completed;

·         Any charity work you may be engaged in;

·         Any awards / accollades that your company may have achieved;

·         Any events that might be of interest to your contacts; and

·         Any news articles / web-links associated with your industry that might be of interest.

Just be sure when placing these pieces of information that you also cross-reference your other social media platforms.  Send people to your blog or your Linkedin profile or to your website.  Your social network should link seemlessly so you capture as much traffic from one news story as possible.  Remember…if a tree falls in the forest…

Facebook has a number of advantages over other social networking sites.  Firstly, it lets you set up ‘page’ which can be seen by anyone, even those not registered on Facebook.  You can also add your company name as part of your URL, ingraining it in the minds of your customers and increasing the ‘visibility’ of your business in search engines like Google and Bing. 

Setting up a Facebook ‘page’ and then incentivizing your contacts to ‘Like’ it, will ensure every update goes into your contacts ‘News’ section.  So the key is to keep your page fairly fresh.  Don’t leave it weeks and weeks before posting updates, people will lose interest.  Once a week is probably the minimum you’d want to post updates to Facebook.  But at the same time, make your posts interesting and engaging.  No one cares what you had for breakfast or that you’re not having a good day.  Suck it up, think about what might actually interest your customer base, and give them something useful.

The final word I’ll leave you with on Facebook is to be clear about your business first.  Before setting up a page or your profile, ensure that your client base will engaged with your posts, ensure the look and feel of you Facebook page is in alignment with the rest of your media / marketing strategy and ensure you can devote a little time each week to keeping it interesting.  If you can answer yes to all of the above, then Facebook…here you come!!

Linkedin

I set up my Linkedin profile about 3 years ago and devoted quite  bit of time in making it as informative as it can be and learning some of the ways to promote my company in a responsible way.  As with Facebook, Linkedin is a social network where you can ‘link’ with existing contacts, but it also enables users to engage in networking groups, attract potential employees and allows people to find your business easily on line.

If there is one main different between Linkedin and Facebook, it is probably that Linkedin tends to favour professionals somewhat.  The reason for this probably goes right back to the birth of Facebook in a US college versus the more professional appearance of Linkedin.  It is simply a slightly more rational, work focused, personal attribute focused network platform.  But that's not to say it is better or worst than Facebook, there's definitely a place for both in your business.

So what’s good about Linkedin I hear you ask?

Well, Linkedin is like a professional resume right there on the internet.  You only put the information you want people to see and you can chose who sees what, but typically you would note where you studied, where you worked, some unique selling points about you and some contact details. 

Unlike Facebook which uses the ‘Like’, you can also ask for ‘Recommendations’ from your contacts on Linkedin which goes onto you profile page.  Remember that stat that 90% of people trust a personal recommendation, so why not have a few kind words about you right there for people to see!?

To give you a personal example of how well this can work.  Prior to joining The Buchan Group in September last year, I asked for a few recommendations from some previous companies I had worked for in the Middle East.  One such recommendation came from a manager whom a Director of The Buchan Group knew personally. 

So the Buchan Group director called my previous manager who had written some favourable words on Linkedin and enquired after me.  Obviously he had nice things to say (I think he did anyway!) and without even needing to send a nicely worded cover letter or forward a written reference, I had a potential employer receiving positive feedback from their own trusted source.  Bingo!

The other great thing about Linkedin is that if you connect with someone you know, then each time you post an update or share an article, it will go directly onto their News Updates page.  The benefit here is that if you time it correctly, your potential clients, customers and contacts will see it. 

And here’s a free tip for you:

Studies have shown that the most popular time that people check their Linkedin page is between 8:30am and 9am in the morning (when they turn their computer’s on) and between 4:30pm and 5:30pm in the afternoon (when they’ve almost had enough for the day). 

So if you’re clever, you’ll post updates around those times to get the best exposure.

Linkedin is also an excellent tool at keeping track of key clients.  The problem with business cards, phone books or even on-line address sites like Plaxo are that if someone’s details change, you’ve lost their details. 

But on Linkedin, no matter where your contacts go (assuming they keep their profiles updated) you can follow their movements.  Handy huh?

But as with Facebook, and at the risk of repeating myself (but I will because it is that important):

DO NOT SELL ON LINKEDIN!

Linkedin is not a place to post weekly specials, leave that to Spreets and all those plethora of voucher sites that are probably also flooding your inbox as they are mine!  Linkedin is a site to raise the profile of your brand by engaging in group discussions, by commenting on other people’s posts, by joining on-line communities and discussing topics or simply keeping your target market informed of what you’re doing…

Oh and when you’re keeping people informed of what you’re doing, here’s another tip for you:

If you also have a Twitter account, when posting a Status Update, simply tick the little blue Twitter bird box and your Linkedin post will automatically go onto your Twitter feed.

So….(phew)..there’s a lot there…..but there’s also a lot I haven’t covered, like placing a Facebook advert, setting up a Linkedin Poll or incorporating a ‘Slideshow’ on your Linkedin page….that will have to wait for another day!

Hope you enjoyed Facebook v Linkedin, drop me a comment if you can, I’d love to hear from you and your experiences with Facebook and Linkedin for putting your Business…

Which Social Network Platform is right for my business??? (Part 1)

Are you confused about social networking and the place it has in your life or worse still your business?? 

Well fear not, you’re not alone!

In fact, studies have shown that most businesses are either not using social media platforms correctly, are using the wrong social networking site for their clients, or are missing out on crucial business leads because they have not instigated an appropriate marketing strategy for their social networking platform.

So, WHY are they missing out on business? 

Check out this 3 minute YouTube clip on the Social Media...

Here’s a few seminal stats:

1.       50% of the world’s population is under the age of 30;

2.       Social Media has overtaken pornography as the #1 activity on the Web (can you believe it!);

3.       If Facebook was a country, it would be world’s 3^rd largest country (beaten only by China and India!);

4.       95% of companies using social media for recruitment use Linkedin (that’s pretty impressive market penetration);

5.       A new member joins Linkedin every second (impressive huh?);

6.       Every minute 24 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube (that’s a lot of footage!);

7.       34% of bloggers post opinions about products and brands;

8.       90% of consumers trust peer recommendations, and only 14% trust advertisements;

9.       93% of marketers use social media for business (what does THAT tell you!) (http://www.socialnomics.com/)

It’s a worry right…….?

WRONG….!

It’s just the way social and business interaction has developed, after all, you’re either reading this blog having found it on Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook or Blogger!

“So where does all this lead and what social networking site is best for me and my business” you are probably asking yourself.

Well the answer to that question is…it depends!

Let’s forget for a minute the new age technology side and just get back to Marketing 101.  If you were to ask any marketing expert, where should you promote your profile and / or business, most would probably respond: “Promote yourself, advertise and raise the profile of your business where most of your target market will see it.”

In other words, if you're going to spend time on marketing and communication, spend it in the right area to ensure you get the best exposure and leverage for your time and effort.

For example, if you were a photographer and wanted to market yourself you’d get more success out of site such as YouTube and Flickr than you would on Linkedin.  Conversely if you were a service provider like a lawyer, an accountant or a stock broker, you’d probably receive more professional contact and keep track of clients from platforms such as Linkedin and Plaxo.

Social media networks are aplenty, that’s for sure, and a strategic approach to these platforms, their communities and your involvement in them is what is really called for.  A relatively new name has been coined for this social network structure called a Social Media Architecture.  I like it, not just because it has the word ‘architecture’ in it, but rather because it insinuates a creative, organised and considered approach to raising your brand.

So the question of where to focus your social media attention really does boil down to, what sites are your potential clients on?  Does the persona and character of that social site match the persona and vision for your business?  If the answer to both of those questions is ‘yes!’ then that’s a great place to start.

“Okay,” you say, “seems like a rational sort of approach, but there are so many social networks out there and it’d be time consuming to utilise them all, so which ones are best to use and what’s the best strategy for improving MY business?”

If anyone would like a copy of a very useful and interesting article on ‘Social Media Architecture’, leave me a comment and email address and I’ll flick you a copy.

End Part 1.

In Part 2, I’ll give you my very humble experiences on the most popular social network sites: Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter…stay tuned!

LOOK WHO’S TALKING!!!

As a business owner or as a representative of a company, you are a walking, talking advertisement.

You’re an advertisement for quality work you’ve already done and a promoter for work you’d like to do.  And that means two things:

1. It sounds simple, but you need to know a few excellent examples of work you’ve done and what might appeal to people you meet;
2. You need to think about where you want your business to be and explain that succinctly and expertly to your audience.

The good thing about being prepared is that if you’re ever caught off guard, you’ve got something quick to say.  If you’re a graphic designer, you don’t have to tell people who ask what you do every logo, every re-branding exercise, and every billboard you’ve worked on.  Just focus on examples that people will be impressed by, or high profile clients that will illustrate a trust in your abilities. 

Remember, the aim is to interest your listener enough for them to either think they need your service, or at the very least, someone they know may need your service.

Michael Port in his novel ‘Book Yourself Solid’ suggests that we include 3 things when you talk about ourselves:

1.       Start by clarifying ‘who’ you help;

2.       Mention ‘how’ you help them;

3.       Explain ‘what happens’ when you help them.

To illustrate this point, let’s look at an example:  Let’s say you’re an interior designer specialising in home renovations and you’re at your next door neighbour’s enjoying a BBQ.  You’re talking to one of the guests when they ask what you do.  If you hadn’t done any preparation or if you didn’t know better, you could be excused for a response akin to: “I’m an interior designer.”

Now the person you’re talking to may have had a terrible experience with an interior designer, who had appalling taste and who had completely ripped them off.  “Oh, well…an interior designer…great….well, we used an interior designer and geez, what a disaster!  They knew nothing about interior design and they didn’t listen to a word we said, we’d never use an interior designer again!”  BANG!  You might as well say your goodbye’s and grab another glass of vino.

But imagine if we approached the response following Michael’s advice, your response might go something like this:

“Well, thanks for asking, I actually help home owners (1) improve the look and feel of their home (2) to ensure they enjoy their home life and maximise their profits (3) when selling their properties.”

The person listening might need some interior design in their home, or maybe they know someone looking to sell their home.  Who knows?!  But by focusing on a target market and focusing on how you help them achieve an outcome, you’ve opened up a potential business opportunity by explaining who you help, how you help them and what happens when you do.

So give it some time.  It’s worth spending some quality time understanding your target market, drawing on what you do and explaining the results you get.  If you can combine that with a couple of examples of where you’ve done it successfully, you’ll be on the path to opening up a myriad of opportunities.

Remember, you never know where the next business venture might come from, and the best ones are typically the ones from ‘left-field’.  Don’t sell yourself short….you are a walking, talking advertisement, so treat yourself like one and invest some time in yourself, after all, if you’re not going to sell yourself, then who the devil is???

Happy business!