Facebook Now Uses Hashtags – what does that mean for the business owner?

Morning All

Some of you may already be aware, but about 18 hours ago Facebook announced that they are allowing for hashtags in Facebook to be clickable!  But what does this mean? What are hashtags?  and how can we use this to benefit our businesses and specifically in our marketing?

Better get used to #hashtagging folks… it is going to change the way we Facebook

Although Facebook is known to have popularised the method of tagging content, which basically means adding an “@” in front of a name or a group to give them a “shout out” almost, it was Twitter that really went above and beyond through the creation of hashtagging.  Using a “#” in front of a word or saying is a simple way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic and to begin a conversation.  For example, if you search #Arrow (or #arrow – it’s not case sensitive), you’ll get a list of tweets related to the TV show… but you won’t get tweets that say “I shot an arrow today” because “arrow” wasn’t preceded by the hashtag.

So why is it so important and such a game changer that Facebook has now allowed for clickable hashtags within their own social media?  Simple.. the hashtag has proven to be a handy system for social networking users to search, join and participate in online conversations as events unfold in real-time, such as political debates, television shows and sports.  It also becomes an easy way for advertisers to reach specific demographics and audiences.

It has been long thought that Facebook was behind the game where hashtags are involved, many marketers use the hashtag functionality in Twitter to launch products and services… and now the mind boggles as to what we can do with hashtags on a site with a greater reach of 1 billion+ users in comparison to Twitter’s 200 million active users.

Marketers and business owners are going to need to be smart about how they use hashtags in an marketing campaigns so that they don’t amount to wasted time and money – or worse, harm the brand.  This is because “Every day, hundreds of millions of people use Facebook to share their thoughts on big moments happening all around them,” says Facebook’s Greg Lindley. “Whether it’s talking about a favorite television show, cheering on a hometown sports team or engaging with friends during a breaking news event—people on Facebook connect with their friends about what’s taking place all over the world.”

When you click on a hashtag in Facebook it will create a new page – and you will be taken to a results page that looks like this:

#sanfrancisco

**courtesy of webpronews

So as you can see – it literally clumps all conversations about San Francisco together, making it really easy to join a conversation.

This is going to be a relatively easy leap for business owners and marketers to use Facebook hashtagging as part of their campaigns… as they are already doing it for Twitter – but the main difference is that it will hit a much larger audience giving your chosen topic a lot more airtime.  Which means that it will allow campaigns to flourish across multiple social networks.

There are a couple of hashtag strategies that you can implement – branding being the most popular.. for example if I was to run a branding hashtag strategy for nexus I would simply use #nexus, but say I wanted to promote my content around Facebook hashtagging I could sponsor the hashtag #facebookhashtag as a trending topic and then my tweets or now Facebook statuses would be seen first amongst my peers.  You can also use hashtagging for crowdsourcing – which literally means your fans share content, or even gaining follows and link backs with hashtag competitions.

When I take a look at the way these clickable hashtags are going to work in Facebook, one advantage that is screaming out to me, is that they are almost creating a website for you.  You will literally be able to use tagging and hashtags together to really boost your marketing.

A word of caution though – if you do decide to use hashtagging as a campaign, be aware that users can “hijack the brand” – they can turn what you think is a great campaign into a deep dark chasm of negativity around a brand.  I am sure we can all think of some tweets and hashtag comments that have gone very wrong.

Facebook says this is the very first step in a broader “public conversations” initiative.  I as a marketer, am very excited at this prospect, but I will definitely be doing my homework and due diligence to ensure that I can take full advantage of the huge reach that Facebook mow offers all business owners and marketers.

Good luck folks – this is set to change the way we reach people! #excited!

Cheers

Naomi

How to grow my small business?

Hi All

There has been one question that has been haunting me over the last couple of weeks… am I a “plumber with a leaky tap?” – and no… I am not actually a plumber – but the CEO of a marketing and advertising agency in Melbourne, Nexus CG.

do I let it continue to “leak” or should I do something about it?!

You see… what has prompted this question is a little bit of “self evaluation” – I am 31 years old… and am I where I thought I would be 3 and a half years ago when I started this business with my business partner… and mother… Sheila?

In order to answer this question I have to take you back to those days and what was happening, what is happening now – and try to figure out – have I reached my goals – or do I know theoretically what I “should” be doing and just not “getting around to it” – or is there a deeper problem?

Why am I doing this in a blog that is open for speculation, criticism and even cynicism? Simple… it is how I started this business – open and honest to the public in order to hold myself accountable – plain and simple – and if anyone can learn from my challenges then even better.

So what has led me to the “self evaluation”?

Well I have just come out of hospital for the same operation that I had 3 and a half years ago – that prompted me to start this business.  I wanted a fresh start – to be able to build something for myself and my family that we can have an element of freedom of choice and the ability to leave a legacy.  In order to do that I needed to rid myself of some very toxic things in my life…

• an ex-boyfriend, that I probably should never have been with in the first place
• living in Canberra in a role that I probably should never have accepted in the first place
• some friends that just wanted to go out and get drunk… who I probably should never have fallen in with in the first place
• A work situation - which I probably shouldn’t have let get as far as I did….. in the first place.

…. seeing a pattern here?  I was making some very bad decisions based on some very bad reasoning… I was unhappy.  It was time to create a life that made me innately happy being me.

So I did… the creation of “Nexus Coaching Group” – as it was known then was created – whilst lying in that hospital bed over three and a half years ago.  So no wonder I was starting to “evaluate” matters whilst lying in that very same bed for the very same operation all these years later…. here is what I have discovered so far:

• my love life is the best it has EVER been.  I have met the love of my life and I am “different” with him – I am kind, I am warm, I am open… and most importantly – I have found “that bliss” that people talked about, that I never understood.  It wasn’t always this way – we have had to work hard at our relationship, but everything we do we do as a team, and I am excited about what this team can and will create.  Mushy I know! (but notice… I am not apologising for it… more change)
• I am not living in Canberra… I am living in Melbourne.  Up until this operation I was living with the best gal pal ever… Kim… in Elwood – but since then we have both decided to move out.  She has moved in with her boyfriend who she met one week later than I met mine… after going online dating together – weird huh? I am living with mum, until mine and Krish’s place is ready to move into… exciting!
• friends…. hmmm… ok, not nailing this one so far… but working on it… will shed more light shortly.
• I love my work! BUT…. it isn’t growing in the fashion I thought it would.  Surprise, surprise… all of the “formulas” that I have followed have only gotten me so far…. herein, lies my challenge!

So the two things that are not working “as well as I would like” is the “friends” component and the growth of Nexus.  Maybe I can look at them both in the same light.

In one particular friendship I have… I am trying really hard.  I am doing everything a friend should do… I am texting, I am calling, I am Facebooking… and I am constantly getting the same responses… nothing, or one word short replies. As hurtful as this is, I thought… come on Naomi… make this work – don’t give up…. so I continued – I was doing the same thing over an over again and hoping for a new outcome?! definition of insanity right there. I then looked at one of my other friendships… Kim… we are always there for each other, there is no drama, we miss each other, and we genuinely want to hang out… but I don’t feel that I need to follow “certain rules” to have this friendship… it is easy and successful – I just went about it in my own unique way.

So how can this help the growth of Nexus?  Well no surprise here, but when I got into business I bought very heavily into “modelling others’ success” and I have to admit – it got me further than the average business starter…. but not as far as I want it to go.  So I kept doing the same thing over and over again – hoping and believing all would change… that was what the “formula” said… but it wasn’t… it’s NOT working.  I am working with the same sort of customers time and time again… but we want more… we want that freedom that we once dreamt about – and in order to achieve this I believe we need to look into a new pool of customers, look at a new way of doing things… and ultimately looking BIGGER at the things that we are doing.

I was told about a conversation recently about a new business starter that was speaking to a friend of mine… she told him that she has started a new business and instead of handing out business cards, she is going to hand out her own book.  Great! I thought… this is the start of a very well known formula…. when my friend asked this business starter to give him a 30 sec run down of why her business was better than others (as he doesn’t have time to read the book), she walked away… the formula is floored, as are so many others….

So… no more formulas for me… I am going to work with my business partner in a whole new way – we are going to look BIGGER than ever before, and there are going to be some massive changes, and some risks that we are going to go through together… that’s my promise to myself, my business partner and our employees… I am ditching the formulas that are holding us back and I am going to create our own unique way…

As for my friend… who knows… but that formula of doing all of the work is now ending as well.  It breaks my heart that this could be the end of “a beautiful friendship” that I held so dear to my heart – but I cannot and will not flog a dead horse for any longer… that’s my promise to me!

let’s hope this is the case….

I am not sure if this blog is going to be of any use to anyone…. but I hope it is… self evaluation will stop me being the plumber with a leaky tap – and ensure I know how to grow this small business… our way!

Cheers

N

 

 

Marketing and advertising agencies love internships, but are they a complete rort?

Afternoon gang…

I hope you are all well – getting ready for the lead up to Christmas and enjoying the party season… I certainly am

This time of year is also big for another reason. It is the time when new creatives are graduating from uni, or simply finishing up for the year and looking for some real life, hands on experience in the marketing and advertising industry… so they go out and search for internships.

Graduates keen for an internship… do they know what they are getting in to?

Internships are a great way for these new, fresh and excited minds to gain some much needed experience (if the program is run well), and it also allows them to get their foot in the door at some really great companies. Well that’s how the internships are sold to these young minds anyway…

In reality, most companies are using and abusing young interns for free labour, and the labour that they are doing won’t even be considered as real work experience to help them get a role in the future. Why? Because they spend their time making coffee, stuffing envelopes and running errands.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone needs to do these sorts of activities once in a while (they’re character building and all that jazz) but I don’t think it’s appropriate for an intern to do them. Why? Simple. Here in Australia we are currently experiencing a massive skills shortage and on top of that there are very few roles available in this industry. This means that only highly skilled people are getting the roles and these newly educated people are missing out due to “a lack of experience”. So isn’t it our duty as leaders in this industry to skill these people up and get them job ready? And not just use them as dogs bodies?!

I believe that there is so much talent out there going to waste. They are being put up on the shelf due to a lack of experience, but what people fail to recognise is that these are the people that are going to shape the future of this industry. They are the ones that are going to come up with the innovative ideas. They are going to keep our legacy going and take it to new lofty heights… but they won’t reach their full potential and industry standards here in Australia unless they are given the room to learn, work and develop.

Personally, I am so passionate about the internship program at Nexus CG- we have had graphic design interns, multimedia interns and marketing interns. Out of the recent eight internships we have offered, we have awarded five of them a role so far. That is because they never once made coffee, they never once stuffed envelopes (unless it was a marketing campaign) and never once were treated like dog bodies. I personally spend as much time with each of them as I possibly can, to mentor them and to ensure they are constantly learning. We train them to work in an agency – and preferably our own.

Over the last six months our interns have:

• created cartoons;
• written marketing strategies;
• developed launches for brands and businesses;
• built websites;
• designed building signage;
• created brochures for the likes of large multinational organisations;
• and have been fully integrated into the Nexus family.

We even run competitions that allow the interns to win some great prizes, and also give them an opportunity to showcase their work at the end of their internship. Our internships promote learning, real life experience and a sense of working in the real world. Without the internship program I am happy to say that Nexus would not be where we are today.

So folks… to put it bluntly, stop the free labour and treating your interns like crap! Give them some credit, trust them a little and they might just surprise you. You might discover the next leader in this industry – and you might even help this industry reach its full potential.

Say “NO” to douche-bag internships!

Cheers

N

Teleworking and creatives… do they mix?

Afternoon All.

It looks very appealing, but is “teleworking” really workable?

Is ‘teleworking’ the way of the world going forward? The lonely figure sitting in a cafe working remotely from her team, her office, her collaborative influence?

That’s what the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is after.  She recently announced that she will commit 12% of Australian Public Servants to a teleworking arrangement… what does this mean?  They will basically have the flexibility of working remotely, from their homes, their favourite cafes, from the Great Ocean Road…. basically wherever they want.

The cynic inside me wonders is there a hidden agenda here for the Gillard Government, is it to justify the enormous cost of the NBN to the tax payers by giving them a new “shiny thing” and new “buzz word” to focus on?  ”Working from home”, as we all know it, is nothing new. Large and small companies alike have been doing it for years… so why the new name and the new focus on TELEWORKING?  I would hate to assume the worst but it is hard to ignore.

Teleworking has worked really well in a lot of organisations. In fact, I am doing it right now whilst writing this blog.  I am sitting in my local cafe sipping on lattes and getting my creative juices flowing.  But will this always work?

In the industry that Nexus CG and myself belongs to, Marketing and Advertising, it’s all about being creative. And whilst I can be creative by myself sitting in a cafe writing a blog, if I was to develop a new marketing launch for a new product for example, would I really do as good a job by myself as I would with my esteemed work mates?  I doubt it.

You see what I’ve noticed about running a team of creatives is that they quite literally feed off each other.  They get more and more creative based on the people, the environment, the mood, the activity and the conversation around them.  They will always create something quite magical with their teammates in comparison to creating something on their own.  So for Nexus CG, I can’t see teleworking being a workable system for the majority of time.

This isn’t to say I wouldn’t be open to it. On some occasions I totally get the need to get away from the office to get a whole load of work completed. I do that every Wednesday; it means an uninterrupted day of work. But can I trust my staff to do the same thing?  Absolutely.  For me, teleworking can only work if you trust your staff - and if you don’t need that collaboration time.

What a lot of people seem to forget is that most businesses are started from home, or “the coffice” (cafe office)- and Nexus CG was no different. I started it from my mother’s house and it was a great way to keep costs low.  One thing that many people don’t realise is that you can become very lonely working by yourself. And that loneliness is almost catastrophic to the creative juices because you start focusing on the loneliness and not the creativity.

So maybe teleworking is for some industries and not others…. maybe teleworking is for some people and not others… and maybe we as employers need to look at each person’s situation individually and create a teleworking policy for them… not the company.

For me I would need to work through many considerations in order to either agree or disagree to the individual teleworking policy. These are:

• How much work experience does the individual have? The less experience the more likely they are to feel lost in a teleworking scenario.
• What kind of work is the employee doing?  Do they need to be around peers to do the best job possible?
• Insurance, where will they be working and will I need to “sight the premises” in order for my insurance company not to “crack the sads”?
• What are the implications of taking customer’s IP out of the office? Will our customers be ok with this?
• Will our customers see this teleworking policy as almost like “outsourcing overseas” and therefore lose that element of control and human interaction?  The whole notion of outsourcing their marketing is challenging enough for most of our customers.
• What kind of person is the employee? Do they create better work surrounded by a team and in a positive environment?
• What kind of environment will they be working in and is it “workable”? For example, a busy pub in Richmond is probably not ideal to hold customer teleconferences re their branding.
• There is obviously a massive cost saving for teleworking but is the money a good enough reason to potentially sacrifice the quality of work through creative collaboration?  I think not.

Thank you Julia Gillard for the “Shiny new buzz word” and thank you for trying to deflect from the real issue of the cost of the NBN. However for me and for Nexus CG, we will work on an individual teleworking policy… and not offer a blanket “12% of workers will be teleworking” because of that 12% who knows if it will actually be the making or breaking of their careers?

I care about my staff and their development too much to just simply add a metric to their careers in order to hide an agenda… surely we should be focusing on developing these people for sustainable growth in a workforce that is seriously struggling with skill shortages.  How will these people learn from experienced peers I ask?

Here are a couple of pics of Team Nexus CG. I would hate to lose this kind of collaboration and integration:

Would love your opinion on this one….

Cheers

N

Small Business and Marketing

HI All

“If people don’t know you are in business… how can you expect to STAY in business?”

Little ole me

I am sitting in my office having an amazing realisation today… you see 3 years ago I started Nexus CG with the help of my Co-Director Sheila – and up until about 18 months ago, I worked out of Sheila’s house, never drew a wage and we were quite literally doing everything from stuffing envelopes, to finding new business and creating operations manuals…and everything in between.

However, today, we both sit on the second storey of our beautiful office, and we can hear the creative discussions going on downstairs between our staff members – today we have 5 others in – and they are creating some magical stuff.  So it is really a great opportunity for us to sit back and take stock of what we have achieved in such a short time.

It, obviously, hasn’t all been tea and biscuits… or champers and nachos… it has been 3 years of working out what works and what doesn’t work- and being flexible and honest enough with ourselves to make the necessary changes in order to be successful.

This isn’t the same story for a lot of my contemporaries.. did you know that there are 100,000 new businesses in Australia every year, and of that 100,000 80% of them won’t survive.  I could almost put money on the fact that those 80% of failed businesses never had or implemented a:

• Business plan
• Sales Strategy
• Marketing strategy
• Marketing calendar of activities

… and they simply lay all of their hopes, dreams, wishes and money on the belief that ‘If I build it, then they will come”.  I would like to say one thing to this attitude…”Grow the f*** up!”  Why should people help you in your business, if you are not willing to put in the effort to help yourself?

Marketing and sales are not the easiest of activities… granted… but you have to do it in order to stay in business – no matter if you are an online business, a coach, a printing company or even a football club… no matter what you do, or who you are marketing and selling needs to be core of what you do until you reach a point where you can hire people to do this.  Another thing I would like to add… a couple of facebook status updates, does not a marketing strategy make!

So folks – try something different, stand out from the crowd of new businesses out there – don’t be one of the 80% who fail simply because you can’t be bothered to create some marketing – or get advice as to how to go about it.

We don’t get it right all of the time… but we are always trying new things to be different… here is just one of the things that we are implementing to “get noticed” by some new people…

So go on… give it a go… after all:

“If people don’t know you are in business… how can you expect to STAY in business?”

Cheers

N

Has Google Made Us Arrogant In Business?

Afternoon All…

I am not sure if you are all aware, but some of the staff and clients from Nexus CG, my housemate Kim, and I are training for this year’s Run Melbourne Marathon… I am specifically running the half marathon – which is a bit of a challenging slog I can tell you!

Anyway – this challenge has me up and running about 3 times a week, and this morning was no different. I got up, got dressed and started my run. About 3kms into the run I started to notice a little niggle in my right calf muscle, but as I have loads of problems with my legs, I chose to ignore it – as “it will go away”… but it didn’t – in fact, I had to suddenly stop as I was in agony! I thought.. “oh crap – what do I do now? I know… I remember a search on Google recently told me to RICE – Rest Ice Compress and Elevate – that’s what i will do” – Google, and therefore I, know everything.

As the day has gone on – my predicament has got me thinking.. what has created this arrogance that I believe that I can self diagnose through a search engine rather than go and see a doctor and get a team of experts around me to aid me in my plight to be better by the weekend so I don’t miss any runs? This got me thinking even further….

This is what I see business owners do all of the time. Now I am still a new business owner, only 3 years young, but there is something that really bothers me… When someone suddenly becomes a business owner, it’s like they become an overnight expert in ALL things business. They are suddenly a marketing expert, a sales god, a CPA or even an IT wizz – they believe that because they have downloaded a few special reports or YouTube clips that they know how to do all of these aspects of business better than the “real experts”.

Now this is the part that confuses me… suddenly they realise that their “calf muscle” isn’t getting better as quickly as they thought, or their business isn’t generating as much revenue as quickly as they thought so they finally go and see a doctor.. or a “real expert”, but when they sit with that expert they start to tell them what’s what, and what they are not prepared to do and what they are to prepared to spend.

Reality is that in Australia there are over 100,000 new business each year, and of those 80% of them won’t last five years. The businesses that don’t survive fail for many reasons – one of them is not surrounding themselves with a support crew of experts that know their SME better than the business owner does. Being successful in business doesn’t have to be lonely – it can mean bringing in people who do it better than you do, that are smarter than you… and who understand elements of business better than you do.

How do stand out from the crowd of 100,000 new businesses every year – you try something different, you protect your investment dollars by spending money on the support crew that will create a return for you – one thing I say to my customers all of the time is “just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come” – so creating a reason why they should come is important – and Google will only get you so far.

So gang… Google needs to be your back up – your disaster plan, not the support crew that is going to get you and your business raking in the cash, seen by thousands of potential customers, or the clever little bugger that will maximise your tax return. If you have already spent thousands of dollars starting up your business – don’t you think that you should find that little bit extra cask to secure your return – and not base your success on the whim of a search engine?

Oh… and one final thing… it’s all well and good going to the doctor, but listening to them and taking their advice is a whole new ball game. This is the same thing for when you start to pull together your support crew… listen to them, hear what they are saying, and most importantly… take their advice – they have done more than watched a YouTube clip or two ..

This approach may just make you turn from:

 

 

 

 

Into……………………………….

 

 

 

 

Just saying

Cheers

Naomi

Scrambled eggs with no toast is like marketing with no selling!

 

Morning All…

As I went for my morning walk with my housemate Kim this morning… we were talking about a whole array of tough political, game changing, worldly topics.  One of the topics was “scrambled eggs should never be served sans toast”... come on it was 6am after all! What did you expect?

Our theory on scrambled eggs with no toast is that it may do what it needs to do initially, but with out a doubt an hour and a half later you are absolutely ravenous again… at which point we gorge on food that possibly isn’t the best for us… see pic!

So by simply adding a slice (or two) of toast with our morning scrambled eggs… we can go through to lunch and not feel the need to binge on high sugar, high fat yet delicious and scrumptious snacks… At this point I felt the need to take it that step further and compare it to marketing without selling….

You see, I come across so many well meaning, enthusiastic business leaders and owners who are determined to get their bodies (I mean businesses) into shape through marketing… and unfortunately I am seeing that they are starting to gorge themselves silly on non effective, pricey, and unproved marketing activities instead of simply adding a “sales” activity.

Like scrambled eggs and toast… marketing and sales should never be separated – they should and need to start working together if your ROMI (return on marketing investment) is truly going to be seen.  If you are going to create a brochure… great… and whats the objective for that brochure and how is it going to make you money?  Create an online campaign… great…. what are you going to do in the follow up sales activities that is going to give you a return that you never thought possible.  Do a letter drop… ooh wait…. never do a letter drop – period!

So how can you add a simple equation of selling to your marketing?  All you need to do is everytime you create a marketing activity ask yourself these questions:

1. After the marketing activity is complete… now what? (TIP: the answer is NEVER another marketing activity)
2. Has my marketing activity driven any revenue?…. if the answer is NO – then you have yet to sell!
3. Have you earned the right?  What I mean by this is that sure you have done a great marketing activity… have you in fact managed to build great rapport with your customer to the point where they are begging to buy from you – and you don’t need to ask?  If not… INSERT SALES ACTIVITY.

So don’t be stingy on the toast… yes you will get some short term benefits – try to start thinking of the long term gain though, and that does not include spending copious amounts of money on sugary, fatty marketing delights!

Would love to hear your thoughts…

Cheers
N

Young Female Professionals Entering The Lion’s Den

Afternoon All

Today’s blog is by special request… from my wonderful right hand gal, Christie.  It was sparked by a meeting we had yesterday where we, Team Nexus, were facilitating a board room meeting with a high performing sales team.  When I asked her why she has requested this specific blog she replied with “when walking into a boardroom of men who are experienced in both age and career, it is almost like walking into a lion’s den – and I am not sure how to handle it – but you seem to do it with ease…. so I want to know the secret and I’m sure others do as well”.

I have to admit – when I sat down to write this blog I found it really challenging as I was unsure which “secrets” she was referring to – I simply “get in there and get on with it”… but was I always this way?  It was an eye opening experience to think back to the days when I didnt “get in there and get on with it”… I started to remember the nerves, the feeling of inadequacy the dread of stuffing up, of not being heard and most importantly – letting my team down and not delivering on what I had promised.

So I taught myself the art of dealing with the lion’s den… or more specifically, the art of being a young female professional walking into a board room of experienced and professional men.  Here is how I do it…

1. the 5 Ps…. “Preperation prevents a piss poor performance”… if you are going to walk into a board room meeting with people that can possibly intimidate you, the best weapon is to be prepared at all times – know your “stuff” better than they do, have an agenda, an objective and know your specific outcomes for the meeting.

2. When you walk in, go to every single person in that room, shake hands (firmly) whilst looking them in the eye – let them know you are there, you mean business and you are not afraid to be the expert.

3. If you are running the meeting, set the agenda with certainty… don’t look for approval…. no one cares!

4. If you are participating, then participate – if you don’t feel confident – no one cares… and they will smell your fear – the lions will circle!

5. In your introduction, give them some background info on yourself – this is your elevator pitch and gives you the opportunity to show them why they need to listen to you…. establish your own credibility.

6. Expect to be tested every step of the way… strong alpha men like to ensure you know who’s boss – I ensure that they know I know… but then I also allow them to see that they have an equal in the room that needs to be respected.  If they talk over me, I call them on it, if they don’t listen to what I have to say – I call them on it… in short – don’t let them get away with their “crap”.  (note, there maybe more than one alpha male or “resistant” male…make sure you cover them all off – don’t let them get away with it, or you will lose the test)

7.  Keep on topic…. another way they will try to manipulate the situation is by talking about topics that are unrelated – this is ok to a point i.e building relationships, however, you are there to do a job – so keep them on track my favourite line here is “I’m conscious of your time gents, lets keep moving” – this allows their egos to be stroked while maintaining control.

8. Summarise and give actions – Another way to show your knowldge and credibility is to show your ability to accurately summarise the meeting and to give actions.  it sounds simple, but it shows that you are in control and you are assuming accountability and responsibility – showing you as the natural leader we all know you can be.  Make sure you follow up on all actions and ensure everyone is completing them.

9.  Finally, as you leave, again shake hands and thank them for their time.

When walking into a board room meeting, it is so important to establish yourself as someone who is in control and for this to happen there is no room for fear or lack of confidence.  Even if you have to fake up to a certain point – until you start believing in your own abilitities…. then do it!

Take a deep breath and enter that den…. chances are its full of hot air and shite anyway!

Cheers

N

Natural Selection and Marketing… will your business survive?

Afternoon All…

Hope you are having a super week.

I was recently chatting to my housemate about the theory around Darwin’s Natural Selection… where basically only the “strong survive”… this can be in reference to the animal kingdom, fuana and flora, human evolution…. and I was referencing dating – crazy but it does actually work.

You see, both myself and my housemate are single – and as you know I have recently been embarking on the online dating “thing”… so many conversations have been had about “what a man wants?” vs “what are we?”  So I started thinking that Darwin’s theory can be likened to dating… only the strong will survive and make it through… because you need a lot of perseverance in the dating game.  Is this the same for small business? absolutely….

As a small business owner, you are constantly up against the “big guys”… think of your local green grocer and Coles or Woolworths… it’s an ongoing battle that will never die down.  Why?  Simple… Coles and Woolworths have found the secret formula that ensures that their strength will always float to the top in the minds of consumers – but does this mean that the small green grocer should give up?  Absolutely not!

Many small businesses almost wear a “badge of honour” stating that they are proud of the fact that they don’t do any marketing, that they are a “referral only business”… I hear all the time “I feel that we are doing a better job because we are growing organically – people know us by reputation and therefore we don’t need to market!”.  Reality is, that is one whopping big cop out for someone not wanting to understand marketing and possibly a little fearful of failing in the subject.

If the “big guys” still feel they need to market – then what on earth makes you think that you can compete with them with absolutely no marketing at all – and only run a business off referrals… that would be like dating only in your circle of friends… the pool gets kinda small that way (and a little incestuous)!

If you are ready to be one of the strong who survives… and survives well… then you need to be able to put your best foot forward – be part of the evolution, not the history of evolution!

I am more than confident that simply acknowledging that your business needs to grow in a way that is proactive makes you part of the strong… then acting on that acknowledgement will make you and your business BE the strong.  It’s time to stand up to the “big guys”… show how fearless you can be and create something magical.

Have a great week all.

oh… and my housemate and I have decided that we will BE the strong in the dating game… and we definitely won’t die out!

Cheers

N

There is more to running a business than just marketing….

Morning All…

Beware… a rant may be coming!

As a marketing expert I know the above heading may seem a little odd… but hang on in there with me whilst I explain what I mean.

Often I see business owners and organisations coming to me to “build their business”… and they are absolutely right… marketing can help build your business – but what often happens is they think that because their marketing is being taken care of, that they can sit back and relax… WRONG!  Let me show you why…

Firstly, if you are not turning over $1Mil in your business per year, then you need to be spending 80% of your time on marketing AND SALES.  Without the selling component marketing becomes redundant and vice versa… if you don’t have the marketing how are you going to find the people to sell to.

Here is the system we work with at Nexus….

Sales Cycle

1. Notice – this is where are potential customer is noticing that they have a need and they are starting to see all of the suppliers who offer that solution – aka MARKETING

2. Identify – it is here that a potential customer sees that you specificall may have the solution that they are after – aka MARKETING

3. Qualify – you have your first meeting, and you qualify whether or not you are the right fit for the potential customer  - aka SALES

4. Refine – after qualifying that you and the potential customer are the right match – you start to refine their needs – aka SALES

5. Solution – here you provide a solution based on the customers requirements and budget – aka SALES

6. Negotiate – if needed, you start negotiating – aka SALES

7. Close – you finally close the deal – aka SALES.

8. Reverse market – keep marketing to this customer to build a long lasting relationship – aka MARKETING.

No matter what you sell, whether it is a service, product or a coffee and a muffin – you go through this sales cycle, it may take you 30 seconds, or it may take you 18 months, either way this sales cycle happens whenever you are trying to sell something i.e your business.

If you look at the sales cycle, marketing only occurs at the beginning and at the end – without the additional commitment of selling you will never get the kind of customers and revenue that will help you turn over $1M in a year.

So what I am saying is this… stop being lazy about selling.  Stop relying on marketing to save your business…. marketing will help – but nothing will help your business more than YOURSELF and your commitment to SELL.

This is almost a love triangle that should never be broken… YOUR COMMITMENT: MARKETING: SALES.  The three should never be parted.

oh… and yes, I am aware that in most multi-million dollar organisations the sales and marketing teams are working to separate goals and separate visions… that doesn’t make it right!  I would put a lot of money on they fact that when these organisations were just starting up… that they too had a love triangle going on!

Anyway.. that feels better lol

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Cheers

N

Vulnerability… the new sexy in marketing.

Morning All…

Something that has been on my mind over the last week or so is vulnerability… I am constantly noticing that as soon as someone is able to be vulnerable not only with themselves, but also those around them their success rate increases as does their ability to relate to people.  What do I mean by this?

Whether it is in your business, worklife or love life I can’t help but notice that if you give yourself permission to slip in a bit of vulnerability then you are suddenly open to a whole rafter of new possibilities…. new customers, new opportunities and maybe even new love.  Why is this?  I believe it is because you are finally allowing people in to see what you are all about, offering them an insight and the ability to get to know you.  Don’t get me wrong, I also understand how challenging this can be – especially when it comes to letting people see the inner most workings of your business or heart, but what if… what if… this may simply be the key to success?

This got me thinking about whether or not I could be a little “ambidextrous” with my vulnerability and bring it also into my marketing both for my business and the marketing for our clients.  I think that this has merit simply because of the “theory of same”… if you constantly see the same dreary stale marketing campaigns then how effective will they and can they be?  If you had some emotion, some vulnerability and an aspect of “realness” I firmly believe that your target market will not only sit up and pay attention, but may also get a little vulnerable with you – and perhaps start to build a long lasting rapport that is mutually beneficial.

Now I am not saying “go out there and start hugging your clients” or anything… unless you can get away with it – but being open to sharing some commonalities through marketing could be the key that you are missing in your marketing strategy…

just saying!

Cheers

N

To the “Nay Sayers”…. We Say No!

Morning All..

On Monday I had a really great conversation with someone who I would have to say is probably of the same “mindset” as I am… ambitious, driven, goal orientated and not willing to let anyone tell them “it isn’t possible”.  When I asked him what his “dream job” was he came back without hesitation and said “CEO”.. referring to the large company he works for.  This excited me and made me look at him with respect… unfortunately this isn’t always the case with people.

More often than not, if you tell people a goal you have, a dream, an aspiration that they believe is “lofty” they will do one of two things… they will either a) laugh as though you have made the funniest joke ever, or b) say “come on really… be realistic” – these people are those that I refer to as “Nay Sayers”.  They are the people who have boundaries blocking them from thinking big, from dreaming what they want to dream and they are the people who are responsible for “tall poppy syndrome”.

When I first started Nexus, the Nay Sayers said to me “why would you do that… why don’t you go back to a corporate job… less risk”… now those same people say to me “wow you are so lucky that your business is successful”… lucky??? no no… I gave myself the permission to think big, I had conviction of thought, I was unshakeable in my belief and ultimately I got rid of the Nay Sayers from my life.  There was no luck involved… just pure belief.

No matter how successful you get, no matter how many goals you achieve these Nay Sayers will always be around… it’s up to you whether or not you choose to have them in your life and it’s up to you to choose how to react to them.  This is what I call leadership.

I used to always think leadership was simply motivating people towards a common goal and it is… and more.  Leadership for me now is having the conviction of thought, control of emotions, an unwaivering belief in my abilities and ultimately being able to say that “oh so powerful” word NO.  NO to the Nay Sayers, NO to staff and even NO to customers.

I suppose I never got taught the art of saying NO… but it is the usage of this word that will either help you grow into that leader who inspires or simply.. not.   Saying NO to the people around you takes courage, takes strength, takes clarity of mind and most importantly it takes giving permission to yourself to think big.

If you are one of the Nay Sayers… think before you speak and judge… you may think the person in front of you will never make CEO… but that is your issue, not theirs- maybe instead of laughing or telling them to be realistic, ask them “ok, how are we going to get you there?”

Be part of the dream… not against it.

Cheers

N

Internet dating… its just like marketing – only lazy

Morning All…

Recently I embarked on the trials and tribulations of internet dating… can’t believe I am actually blogging about it … but ah well! lol – hopefully this is a judgement free zone?!?! yeah right! lol…  Anyway, I joined up at the same time as a friend of mine and so we have been “doing this thing” together which has been great.  I have started to the notice the similarities with internet dating and some approaches to marketing.

You see, I am all about conversion rates and getting the best possible outcome for your efforts… for example, the best marketing conversion rate I have seen (consistently) is our offline marketing campaigns which returns anywhere from 10-30% (big in terms of marketing)… so I spend most of my time finding ways to make these campaigns for our clients – then there are other marketing efforts… like the ones that information and internets marketers teach that convert only about 0.5-2%- ho hum!

So how does this relate to internet dating… well… when I first joined the service I was absolutely bomabarded (pretty sure all girls are… not just me) with flirts or kisses or whatever you want to call them… so then came the fine art of tactfully, and respecfully rejecting these people that clearly have not read my profile…. or that I just don’t think it will work with.  Then finally we have a list “or database” of a select group of potentials that I may see some similarities with – so starts the communication trail… first build rapport, a connection, then maybe start texting and speaking on the phone, and then maybe… when I’m are ready – I will meet with them.

During that meeting, it is obvious from the outset whether there is a connection or not… More often than not there may be a slight connection but there is something missing… and for me that thing that is missing are those moments of getting to know someone consistently – and coming together because of a common interest or goal.  The it makes me think, whether the people on internet dating sites are purely just not understanding how to market… because of hundred and thousands of people that are dating over the internet, how many are successful?  I only know of a handful.. so what that as a conversion rate I wonder?

So I do know that  internet dating can be successful (or at least I am told… haven’t discovered it myself yet) – but how is it successful – how do the handful of people I know that have made it work gone about their approach to internet dating?  You need to be on it consistantly, otherwise you rank further down than other girls, you need to communicate often (they even measure your communication rate), you need to be really really specific about what you want don’t want, and you have to be willing to take a few risks.

How is this not EXACTLY like marketing?

If you are struggling with your marketing (or finding that special someone online), then maybe have a look at how consistent your marketing efforts are, look at your target market, are you being specific enough, and most importantly are you taking calculated risks to ensure you are trying something new. If not…. that could be the problem… for both your marketing and dating efforts!

As soon as you don’t have all the elements above in your marketing (and dating) plans then you are moving into “lazy marketing”… this means that you are more than likely throwing mud up against a wall and hoping it will stick!.. very rarely will this work.

So ditch the mud throwing… and try planning consistancy… you never know what you mind find… a great new customer – or maybe even love!

Cheers

N

Are information marketers “full of it” and simply greedy?

Afternoon gang…

How has 2012 been treating you so far?  Broken any generational boundaries yet?  I certainly hope so….

One of our fave clients at Nexus sent me an email this afternoon… she wanted to show me what one of our competitors is doing to attract clients to them… and I have to say it started to make me think about how genuine some of these “self acclaimed” information marketers are…

Why do I say this?  Because some of the claims I see information marketers “create” make me cringe…  This particular one was saying that a specific industry is doing really badly and they are the only people who can help!  Is this clever marketing or is it unethical… as it is completely incorrect?

It seems to me that information marketers know how to make money through only one means…. RAMP UP THE PAIN AND INCREASE THE FEAR.  Ethical marketing and selling tells us to stay away from these tactics and utilise creative ways to capture the attention of our clients, and this, my friends, will help build long lasting relationships that will have your clients coming back to you time after time.

Now obviously not ALL information marketers are like this… there are some exceptions… not many but they do exist… how can you tell the difference?  Simple… as soon as they add a whole load of fear into the mix – walk away very quickly… as they have yet to learn the right way to sell and market and therefore what are they really going to be able to teach you?

Remember there is no “magic pill” or “quick fix” in business… hard work, clever strategies and preparation is what makes a business successful.

There are some great marketers and sales people out there – spend the time researching and separating the good from the bad, and invest wisely… these core competencies are crucial for your business, why wouldn’t you work with people who genuinely get it, and are not simply after “stuffing their pockets” with money?

of course I could be completely wrong… would love to know your thoughts!

Cheers

N

Don’t be boxed in by your generation in 2012

Morning all…

Happy New Year!

You know what I love about the beginning of a new year…. the ability to start a fresh, and this year is going to be no different.  What is going to be different, is how I am going to start a fresh for 2012…. fear not, this is NOT a blog about by new years resolutions, but more of something that I have noticed as a young entrepreneur running a business with multiple staff from different generations.

It’s interesting that up until maybe 5 years ago, the different generations didn’t have nearly as much focus as they do today – the focus on the differences in the generations has been very helpful in many ways… it’s allowed us to understand our fellow peers and it’s allowed us to be more understanding when working with different generations than ourselves, but it’s also helped us to do something else…. it’s allowed us to make excuses for bad behaviour, laziness, lack of learning, and a common disregard of basic human kindness.

What do I mean?

Simple… the more we understand about our own generation, the more it seems that we (as a whole, and yes I am generalising) have allowed these common traits to define the reasons behind us not living up to all that we can be.  ”I am a gen Y and therefore you should know I don’t want to start at the bottom, I want to be CEO by month 3 of employment, you can’t blame me for it, it’s my generation” or “I can’t help not liking the Gen Y’s, as a Gen X I believe in working hard for what you get… and the fact they don’t get it isn’t my fault… I am a Gen X after all” or even this, ” I am a babyboomer and you need me…soon you won’t have anyone with the experience that I have, therefore I am indispensable”.  No matter who you are, just because you happen to fit into a nice neat generational group, doesn’t mean you can blame your faults or lack of success, or arrogance on your generation, or the generation of others.

You see I have had examples of those who use their generational label as a “crutch”, but then I have witnessed those special few who have well and truly ignored every aspect of their label and become exceptional people in spite of the excuses they could have used.

Recently, we hired a marketing intern Christie.  She has been magnificent.  She is a 24 year old female, working hard to start her career.  She came to Nexus understanding that the 8 week summer internship was unpaid… but she recognised that she would get a load of experience, and the opportunity for a permanent paid internship at the end.  Christie was unique – the others that were interviewed all pulled out… the first few because they didn’t want to complete the interview task I had set, and the remaining few because they didn’t want to “work for free”.  Christie on the other hand, not only produced the best proposal for her set task, but now she is working for us – I don’t know what we ever did without her.  A Gen Y, willing to start at the bottom and work her way to the top… breaking all the rules!

We also have a babyboomer, who is breaking all of the babyboomer rules…. Lynne, our HR Manager who at the age of 53 has embarked on an adventure of a lifetime, moving to Australia from the UK to help us in the Nexus office… this is a major learning curve for her, and she has also thrown aside the “babyboomer characteristics” and is completely open to learning… and learning from her younger peers.  She has learned how to use a MAC OS, MYOB the Australian lingo and has yet to lose her mind.

I am so very proud to be surrounded by people who are choosing to “do away” with the labels of their generation and ensure that they are a success no matter what.  I personally get offended when others offer me excuses for my ambition, my drive, and my passion to succeed… “Naomi you are a typical Gen Y”…. am I?  Or am I someone who is willing to give it a go, irrelevant of my age, gender, generation, or others perceptions of me…

I wonder how many of you are as brave as Christie, or Lynne… and are willing to shed the badge of honour you call your generational gaps and try something new this year… be you… the successful version minus the excuses.

Happy 2012… generations without boundaries!

Cheers

N

 

Should Spiral Dynamics Be Used For Selling?

Afternoon All…

One of my absolute favourite topics is the theories around Spiral Dynamics and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  I was sitting with two colleagues having lunch yesterday and we got onto the topic of the difference between the two theories and how society can fit into to either one of them.  We then started to question the sales technique of using (in particular) spiral dynamics to convince people to part with their money and give it to the seller.  This got me thinking…. should something as important as understanding human dynamics and behaviour be used to manipulate people into buying – or is it simply “smart selling”?

For those of you who don’t know what Spiral Dynamics is – here is a brief overview…. Spiral dynamics argues that human nature is not fixed… and that humans are able, when forced by life conditions, to adapt to their environment by constructing new, more complex, conceptual models  of the world that allow them to handle the new problems.  Then each of these models transcends the previous model allowing them to “move up” through the levels within spiral dynamics – and these levels are based on a core value system that is sometimes referred to has vMemes – don’t get thrown by that – just see it as a value system.

So Spiral Dynamics is used to explain where culture, societies, people and even mindsets are situated –  and the only way to move up through the  7 levels – or 9 (depending who you listen to, or read about) is to learn new skills and develop your mindset.  The levels look like this:

Level 1 – Instinctive – Needs are: food , water, shelter, safety etc – i.e survival

Level 2 – Animistic – Needs are: Social, family, tribe, honour, respect elders, ancestors, spirits i.e lives for past

Level 3 – Egocentric – Needs are: Pschological, power driven, exploitative, priviledge i.e lives for now.

Level 4 – Absolutistic – Needs are: Abstract, purposeful, authoritarian, dualistic, dogmatic i.e lives for future

Level 5 – Materialistic – Needs are: Entreprenuerial, strategic, growth and success. i.e Lives for gain

Level 6 – Humanistic – Needs are: Community, harmony, liverty, equality i.e lives for cause

Level 7 – Systemic – Felxibility, spontaneity, competence, balance i.e lives for Synergy.

Levels 8 and 9 are about targeting the “greater good” and those in these levels are living entirely for others… i.e the Dalai Lama.

So how are people using this as a sales tool?  There are people in todays market place that use this theory as a way of selling products and programs… and they do it like this….

They start of by explaining Spiral Dynamics, and they talk about examples – this is a direct quote from something that was said in a room I was in once… “The average australian employee mindset is at level 3 – but if you want to be successful in business you need to be level 5, I can only see and recognise 3 level 5s in the room (this was a room of about 100 people)” this then went on futher when this person was selling from the stage and used “I don’t want to spend my time with the employee mindset or level 3s – I want to spend my time with level 5s” and this where those in the room who are desperate to have successful businesses convince themselves that the only way to get to level 5 is to buy the product or program… almost the “blue pill to level 5 thinking”!

Now I am all for using NLP, human behavioural understanding to ensure that you are able to talk about services or products in a way that you can align with your customers or potential customers… however, I am not sure how ethical it is to utilise something that is a conceptual theory to manipulate a crowd to believe that if they don’t buy something they will never progress or develop… I personally believe that anyone can work their way through the levels as every human can adapt to situations and evolve their own thinking…

I know this is a heavy blog… but would love to know your thoughts…

Should Spiral Dynamics be simplified and reduced to a common sales tool?

It’s OK to be lonely in business….

Hi All..

Wow it’s been a while since my last blog.. things have been happening here at an amazing rate of knots.. The biggest thing to hit has been the Nexus CG 2 year birthday… which is TODAY.  I am so proud of everything that we have built here at Nexus, I am equally proud of the team that make Nexus great, the clients who are always in our corner and the support we get from so many other businesses.  This ride has definitely been worth it…

Reality is though, the ride hasn’t always been smooth.  It has been bumpy, dirty, challenging and down right painful at times…. The one word that came to me as I was reflecting about Nexus, whilst in the shower this morning, was lonely.

Lonely can be such a “taboo” word to use in society.  No one EVER wants to admit they are lonely, because loneliness evokes the feelings of lack of friends or not being popular etc… but I have chosen to think about it differently.

I was lonely in business… because everytime I took a step closer to achieving my goals I started to leave more and more peers behind.  At first this really saddened me, but then I got used to being lonely, I got so much done being by myself, I had products written, CDS recorded, youtubes filmed…. and suddenly I was becoming more and more successful… not only in my business… but also in my loneliness.

I thought that this was how it was meant to be… everytime I thought of other super successful women in my industry I was always consumed by how lonely they seemed… so for me – I was almost modelling… who whacked is that?!?!

I then realised that maybe it was ok to be lonely in my business in the beginning as it allowed me to focus on what I needed to create and what I needed to achieve…. but then I needed to not be so good at being lonely anymore and start hanging out with some amazingly beautiful friends.

I have to say, the friends I have today are very different to the friends I used to have…. I think maybe it is because I gave myself time in my loneliness to get clear on not only who I wanted with me in business, but also in my circle of friends.

I think my initial loneliness is one major aspect to the success in at Nexus… and I am revealing this because I know how hard it is to be lonely when you are first setting up your business… but I also wanted to let you know that the loneliness doesn’t need to last forever… and those really super successful women in my industry are no longer modelled by me… as I choose to have a better experience in my life.

I can’t believe I am sharing all of this with you… but as its our 2nd birthday so why the hell not eh?!?

I am starting to feel a little nervous that I am the only one who has ever felt this way in business….. so please post and let me know that I am not a complete freak lol

Off to eat cake and drink champagne…..

Cheers

N

All Together Now… 1, 2, 3…. HOW!?!?!?

Morning Everyone…

I have been getting quite a few phone calls and emails about how you are all enjoying my blogs… and I am thrilled – who knew that my strong opinions would ever serve me well…

Many of you don’t know that I have the ability to speak 5 languages… English (probably my worst language), German (fluently), French, Japanese and Persian Farsi (my newest and not quite mastered yet).. language is something that I have had a long lasting relationship with.. it fascinates me, intrigues me, encapsulates me and more importantly fills me with utter enjoyment.  Simply understanding how a language is spoken… and not just what the words mean really “floats my boat” – I see it as understand the “art of the language” and not just “what word means what”.

I think this is an important distinction in most areas of life… the “how” versus the “what”… and it so neatly brings me to the 4th thing that I really wish mentors, coaches, and so called “experts” understood… Business owners want the tools of HOW to do things… not just theory (what)…

For example I could learn the word for “love” in German…. “liebe” – but if I wanted to tell someone I loved them then suddenly I would go into overwhelm as I wouldn’t know “how” to construct a sentence to be able to express myself properly… but as soon as I learned the grammar, the nuances, the tonality and where to place the emphasis I would know exactly how to tell someone I loved them…”Ich liebe dich”, or “Ich liebe Sie” (dependant on the person and the relationship)… then what happens if I turn it into past tense “Ich liebte Sie”.  So as you can see, just having the word “liebe” doesn’t get you very far.

Just like being told “go and do online marketing”, “go and sell into corporates”, “come up with a new offline marketing campaign”, “sell it from stage”… is great information – but is worth didlisquat unless you know HOW to do these things.

I so often see business owners who have all the theories, all the “what” the “liebe”- have been to the seminars, taken the courses but never been shown the “HOW” – they don’t have a system in place to complete all of the action items and quickly, but very surely, they enter into the state of overwhelm… where they get lost, disalusioned and quite frankly… peeved at all the money they spent on hearing more theories…. and as I have too been put in that position… I say it’s time to take a stand…..

It’s time for these mentors, coaches and so called “experts” to take a very long hard look in the mirror and stop spouting “liebe” and start educating their clients in “ich liebe dich”….

So folks… stand with me… post a comment to show these “WHAT” sayers that we are ready to hear the HOW… the art of business….

Cheers

N

NEWS FLASH: Online Marketing Doesn’t ALWAYS Work…..

Morning Folks…

I am feeling a little out of sorts today… firstly I am writing a blog on a Monday (odd) and secondly it is day 1 of a 28 day “Beta Testing Program” for weight loss that I am embarking on with my trainer.  This Beta programs includes no coffee (possibly why I am out of sorts already), no alcohol (what do i do at Happy Hour?!?!), very healthy food and a whole heap of exercise…. I suppose it seems a little daunting, but I am committed to giving this a red hot go – because I know that the food has been tailored to my needs as has the exercises…  so clearly my trainer knows me (his market) well enough that he knows the best way to get results….

That got me thinking… isn’t that what we should all be aiming for with our marketing?  This is step 3 of the things I wish Mentors, coaches and so called “experts” understood… Understand when online marketing works… and more importantly when it DOESNT!

If my trainer had said to me, “ok Naomi, we are going to work at getting you to lift some super heavy weights, because strong people live longer”… I would have probably 1) laughed, 2) ignored him and 3) walked away… because that’s not what I wanted, or how I wanted to go about my fitness regime…whether he is right or wrong… it’s not what I WANT.

You need to know your market well enough that you instinctively know that if you were to embark on the online marketing strategy whether or not your clients would respond well to it.  There are markets and industries out there that do not search for services online, they don’t use social media (shock horror) and they work entirely from an offline marketing perspective which include, networking, referrals, quirky lumpy mail, coffee meetings etc etc…  This sounds so very simple and makes sense..

So why do these mentors, coaches and so called “experts” insist that all marketing needs to be online?  It makes me wonder if they suggest online marketing simply because there are formulas out there to help you get started online marketing – which makes life really easy… offline marketing takes a lot of creativity, a sense of fun, and of course massive ACTION…  You can’t generate leads through offline marketing whilst you sleep.. so I guess it is a “harder sell” to their clientele.

Reality is, if they are not offering you leanrings and suggestions around offline marketing, and your crowd does not search online for your services, then really…. what are you paying them for… and have you EVER asked them that question?

Another question just popped into my head… do they tell you about online marketing because they 100% believe in it… or because they don’t know how to guide you into creating an offline campaign… or is it a bit of both?

Please don’t take this the wrong way… I 100% believe in online marketing, for the RIGHT markets… I simply am questioning if the coaches, mentors and so called “experts” are doing their due diligence around creating the right marketing campaigns for the RIGHT markets…

Am off to eat a tin of tuna…

Cheers

N

 

American marketing will be the death of small business in OZ

Morning everyone…

I have just got into the office after a gruelling hour in the gym with my PT.  During my torture session he was quizzing me on sales copy and marketing techniques… the techniques he was specifically referring to were tear sheets, faxes, long form sales letters and sending random emails… also known as spam.  He was asking me if they work… here’s the thing… all marketing works, as long as you target it to the RIGHT market and not the wrong market.  Sounds simple right?  Wrong….

This is the 2nd out of 7 steps that I really wish mentors, business coaches and so-called “experts” understood…“Don’t give them a whole load of rehashed american concepts that have NOT been tried and tested in this market”

The amount of times I have been to a “business workshop”, a “mastermind class” or even had a conversation with an “expert” who has tried to resell me the concepts of some of the great Frank Kern’s or Ryan Deiss’ marketing techniques has been phenomenal… and the best part is – they never change.  There is always the same formula for sales copy, there is always the process of landing page with a special report followed by autoresponders then there is the free stuff you give away… then the social proof then finally you sell something… I have to say, I get this process… most of us do… then the question that begs to be asked is… why is it not as successful as when the Americans do they same thing?

This is something I have thought about, tried and tested, and watched others in the market place do… not very successfully I might add… and the answer was staring at me in the face… for the same reason that American Sales techniques don’t work here in Australia…. we are a completely different breed.

So if this is the case, surely I am not the only one to notice that these methods are having limited success here in Australia… then why do the people we go to for expert advice keep rolling out the same rehashed version of marketing techniques….  Why can’t they come up with an awesome and rocking Australian Sales Copy formula… keep the sequence… but “Aussie it up” a bit.  Why do these “so called” experts recommend sending tear sheets out… when the Aussie market are known sceptics and “why oh why” are there people out there suggesting to their clients to send faxes to cold leads?!?!?   Seriously guys… lift your game!

Marketing to the Aussie market can be an absolute blast… all you need to do is think outside the box… have a little fun and be really comfortable and most importantly proud of what you are sending out to your list… and remember – have an open mind with different forms of marketing online, offline and social media – you will always have the best outcome when you employ all three in your marketing strategies.

So… Aussie it up folks… be proud of our quirky sense of humour, our healthy scepticsm on overall our ability to laugh at ourselves.

Cheers

N

Sick of hearing…”No… that’s not a niche!”

Happy Friday Everyone…..

I absolutely love Fridays… for it means that I can complete the admin stuff for the week, have a 5.30pm meeting with the girls at Happy Hour at the wine bar next door, and of course… take some time out to write a blog.

Last week I started talking about what some mentors, business coaches and so called “experts” are saying and doing to their business owner clients… and quite frankly, its not all good!  I also highlighted 7 areas in which I think I have discovered what the Australian Business Owner truly wants from their chosen “mentor”…  Here is a reminder…

1. Someone who is willing to understand them and their business – not create a business for them that they don’t actually feel connected to. For example…. instead of being dismissive and saying “NO…that’s not a niche”… work out how their passion could be a niche!  Sounds simple right?
2. Don’t give them a whole load of rehashed american concepts that have NOT been tried and tested in this market
3. Understand when online marketing works… and more importantly when it DOESNT!
4. They want the tools of HOW to do things… not just theory…
5. They want you!  That is why they signed to be with you, to learn from you, to find out the strategies that worked for you and most importantly they want the systems that you have… so give it to them…. That’s what you are being paid for!
6. They want you to deliver what you promise… if you promise small classroom sizes and access to you… then don’t put them in a room of 35 and give them a “bees dick” amount of time with you… they want someone who “means what they say, and says what they mean!”
7. Their business isn’t just about marketing…. they want your professional opinion on all areas of the business… this means they want you to get a little more in-depth than just “What is your ideal day”

I wanted to have a closer look at point 1… “Someone who is willing to understand them and their business – not create a business for them that they don’t actually feel connected to. For example…. instead of being dismissive and saying “NO…that’s not a niche”… work out how their passion could be a niche!  Sounds simple right?”

It is very rare that a person will wake up one morning and say “I am going to start a business today!”… normally it has been on their mind for sometime, it has been a small urge that has manifested its way through the skin until it bursts out and says “Yup… I am finally going to do it…” – which means it is also very rare, that someone doesn’t know what kind of business they want to run.  It may be a cafe, it may be a coaching service it may be a software development company… whatever it is, that person has been thinking, contemplating, dreaming and weighing up the risks about owning this business for a while – that in itself deserves respect.

I have had too many people come to me recently and say “my last mentor said…NO… that’s not a niche, find something else”… which I can understand to a point… but definitely do not endorse this disrespectful behaviour.  Sometimes business owners do get overly excited with their passion, or an idea… and forget to do their due diligence and find out if there is a market for their actual business idea or not…. Please note…. just because your idea may not have a market… doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea for a business… you may just need to tweak certain elements, talk about certain topics and pain points and hit the right markers to find the market you are after….

What I see next is the most concerning of all…. once these “mentors” have disrespected your feelings, trampled on your ideas, and squashed the passion out of you… they then recommend a few niches that you should go into to make money.  Great… go into a new business idea with no passion, no sense of belonging and no real connection to the new business…. how do you think that is going to work for you??  Not well at all…. then comes the inevitable confusion.  ”I thought I wanted to run my own business, but I don’t really like what I am doing”..”I’m not sure I really have a clear vision of what I am doing…”…”I am completely confused as to where to start” – ring a bell with anyone out there?

This is what happens when a business idea or niche gets forced onto someone.. You don’t need to be someone else in order to have a successful business.  All you need to do is work to your strengths, think about what it is you love to do, then find what the market wants as a solution and provide it….

It seems so logical and simple, yet this is something I face nearly everyday with people coming to me for help in their businesses…

I am curious, what you your opinions are on this subject?

Have a great day all

Cheers

N

Making Mastermind Groups Brilliant!

Morning all….

I have to say I have been blown away with the response and the amount of readers to my last blog about “Are mastermind groups worth the time and money?” – it is clearly a very hot and contentious topic at the moment.  We had some fantastic responses ranging from those who have had bad experiences, to those about how mastermind groups should be run…

This topic is very close to my heart, as we at Nexus run a similar concept group called Sales Club, which is why I guess, people feel comfortable coming to me and talking about their experiences with other mastermind groups… now I wouldn’t be congruent with myself if I didn’t follow up the last blog with a “what makes mastermind groups brilliant” type of post… because there are some fabulous groups out on the market and it is unfortunate that they get “over looked” simply because of their unethical, uncaring, profit hungry compatriots..

So if you have been in a mastermind group, sales club or other organisation that has really “floated your boat” and allowed you as a business owner and entrepreneur to learn, get motoivated, ensure your success then we want to hear from you…

What made your group, club or organisation absolutely brilliant?

Cheers

N

Are masterminds groups really worth the time and money?

Afternoon all……

As a small business sales and marketing expert, I am always surprised at the amount of people the come to me complaining about mastermind groups around the globe… which made me think… are “mastermind” groups really worth the time and money you spend on them?

I think in order to answer this question we need to first explore a) what a mastermind group is and the objective of being part of a group, and b) what are the complaints?

In my opinion, and from others  I have spoken to, the term “mastermind” originally started as a way to hang out with someone who’s really successful, has the key to help other to be successful, is willing to teach their success strategy as well as having the ability to around a small group of other business owners in similar circumstances.

So if this is the case… then the complaints that I am hearing are making a load of sense…”there were over 30 people in the group”, “I didn’t feel I got any of the mentor’s ‘mind space’”, “It was clearly just a money making strategy that had very little ethical standards”, “the mentor didn’t have my best interests at heart”, “the program was over sold and under delivered” and finally.. and probably the most concerning of them all “participants seem to have quick success and not necessarily sustainable success”.  These are all people who have paid upwards of $25,000 a year for the privilege.

Does this mean that business owners and entrepreneurs who are ready to take the next step and be as successful as they choose to be, are now left in the lurch as there are so many poor mastermind groups out in the market place that they are all getting a little sceptical about the concept?  Or does it mean that mastermind groups need to wise up and get a little more “ethical and user friendly” about the way they deliver these programs…. surely they are a great idea when executed properly?

Would love your thoughts…

so close to Friday champers…. woohoo!

N

100 Brands in 100 Weeks – so it begins!

Afternoon!

Hope you all have had a great weekend and looking forward to the cup just as much as I am…. I have a feeling “So you think” will come through with the goods and so that’s where my money is going.  He has been consistent, elegant, successful and has never let Bart Cummings down – wouldn’t it be great if all brands in Australia were that reliable!

We have had so much feedback about the new campaign that ist’s almost taken us all week just to get through and answer all the emails, posts, phone calls and questions coming our way – what a great sign.  It means we are all wanting the same thing…better customer service in Australia!  I have also been approached by some media outlets for interviews so this could get “interesting”.

I wanted to give you a brief outline of how this is all going to work as we are starting with our first brand NEXT WEEK!

We have decided that in order to be as fair and unbiased as possible, that we need to look at ALL areas of each brand including; telephone sales, commercial sales, corporate sales, consumer sales and even support to get a really good overall view on what is happening from an organisational culture – because we don’t want to base it all on something that one person has said once to a client…. get my drift?

We are also going to do this from a National level – we know from experience that customer service and sales differs state to state in our “land of plenty”, so it’s only fair to ensure we are capturing the full picture.

As the head of this campaign I have also made an executive decision to protect my team, no one from the Nexus team will be named whilst completing this exercise – so if there is any fall back, it will lie solely on my shoulders.  Hope you, as my readers, can understand why.

On Monday of every week I will be announcing to the Nexus team the brand in which we will be investigating, I will also divide the task up and give each member a role to play.  They will be given a “character, questions, objectives and objections to present to the brand” – and they will report on their findings.  On the Thursday of every week I will collate the details and write a blog stating who, where, how and what went down.

To be completely fair, I will also send a copy of my report to the brand themselves and give them an opportunity for “right of reply”.

If you think I have missed anything, please post or send us a comment – we are always happy to receive feedback.  Of course, we are also still accepting nominations to add to the list as well!

I am off to have lunch outside before heading to the gym….

Have a good one everyone!

Cheers

N

Why have a different terminology for sales and marketing… surely it should all just be called SALES!

Hi All

It’s been 81 days since my last blog and I was feeling strong until I recently opened a discussion on Facebook with:

“should we just get rid of the term marketing all together and just call it sales? thoughts?”

Who knew that this topic would get such a big response…. I received 21 comments within half an hour and my inbox was flooded with opinions from both sides of the argument.

So I thought I would share my thoughts and opinions with you, and maybe you can either add to the controversial statement or simply add your own views!

To do this blog justice, I wanted to have as many facts as possible – so I went to Google !  I typed in “what is marketing”, and low and behold the first link to pop up was the definitions page, so I clicked on it and the first sentence reads: “selling:  the exchange of goods for an agreed sum of money”… interesting – that the first definition is all about selling!  However, I can’t simply use that as my proof – so hear is the real definition:  ”marketing is the process by which companies decide on the right products and services to promote to their clientele, and therefore the strategy for the sales teams to use”.

Seems like a fair definition.

I wonder why it is that large organisations both here in Australia and overseas insist on having separate sales and marketing divisions, when they have clearly the same objectives – get the right message to the right client so they buy the right product or service… seems simple.

In my company we teach marketing as part of our sales training, we believe that you can’t and shouldn’t separate the two… in order to be able to market properly you need to start with the objective, the sales objective – then you work backwards until you are able to delineate exactly what it is that you need to be marketing and the message that you need to get across.  The type of marketing and sales activities may vary – but the process is always the same.

I am aware that there are many types of marketing degrees and that they even teach marketing subjects in MBAs, but is there no wonder that many people struggle with selling when there is no formal education – so the Australian market is forced to seek out privatised sales training, some of which are very good, but most… very poor.

This causes a form of an “elitist” attitude between marketing and sales, where in all honesty I believe there should be a degree called “sales and marketing” – because as previously discussed, you can’t have one without the other.   Marketeers are currently getting the best form of education and sellers are left to use their innate ability to be flexible to the environment and learn what they can on the fly.  The best sellers are high achievers, can you imagine what would happen if they received formalised training in both sales and marketing???  Would be fantastic.

It is said that if you were to place a seller into a marketing role that they will do very well, because a seller knows that the key strategy is to always understand the clients needs, where as if you put a marketeer into a sales role then they will simply hand out a brochure .  Whether this is true or not is irrelevant, what is blindingly clear is that sales skills help marketing ability and maybe all marketeers should start with sales training and experience?!?!

This leads me to believe that all marketing is is a pre sales activity… so why the need for another term.  I wonder what kind of questions you would ask a sales trainer if marketing was simply part of the process of sales – and therefore they needed to include it in everything they taught?  I think the number of sales trainers would diminish rapidly – and maybe that’s not a bad thing!

I would love your opinions on sales and marketing and where you see it all fitting in.  Are you with me in saying that marketing is simple a pre sales activity or do you believe that marketing is bigger than that.. and if that’s the case how do you go about designing your marketing strategy?

That’s it for me today… I am off to the gym, I have 300 cardio minutes to complete this week…. wish me luck!

N

Marketing and advertising agencies love internships, but are they a complete wrought?

Marketing and advertising agencies love internships, but are they a complete wrought?.