Want to discover the simple secrets to making a six or seven figure income this year and working less?

Monday is the start of our TeleSummit on Outsourcing and Delegating your way to a six or seven figure income.

It’s FREE to register and listen to the calls – if you sign up today >>

Find out the fastest way to grow your business in this economy from the top experts. Don’t miss this event.

… Join me for this TeleSummit as the experts reveal the simple formula for making more while working less, by tapping the virtual workforce.

Right now, go to this page and register:

http://www.marketingforsuccess.com/outsourcing.html

Talk to you on the TeleSummit!

- Charlie

P.S. To register for free you need to be one of the first 196 to sign up so make sure to register right away at:

http://www.marketingforsuccess.com/outsourcing.html

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

I love getting success stories from readers like you.

But sometimes I cry big, fat elephant tears when I learn about missed opportunities, or how people who generated fabulous publicity didn’t follow up.

Sue Lowery of Chattanooga, Tennessee saw a short news item on one of her local TV stations about how the Bliss spa in Dallas, Texas pampered an elephant the day before it was making its Dallas debut at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus.

She said the news clip showed a spa worker giving the elephant a facial by slathering mashed avocado all over its face.  The worker also used an oversized nail file to give the elephant a pedicure.

Curious, Sue started searching for the story online and found a shortened video clip online. She sent me the link.

I watched it this morning, and got all excited that I had stumbled upon a great story.  I Googled the Dallas Bliss, found the website, but saw that the only phone number listed was the one to call for reservations. I was hoping to reach the manager and ask her how the story originated and then congratulate her on a brilliant publicity coup.

Silly me.

I reached what sounded like an answering service, or perhaps the woman who takes reservations for the entire Bliss chain of spas. She said there was no way to reach the manager, and the only thing she could do was send her an email on my behalf.

When I asked for the manager’s email address, she wouldn’t give it to me. So I patiently dictated the message. She asked me to wait while she proofread it.

This is called making somebody jump through hoops to give you publicity. Had I been a working journalist, I would have given up long before then. I patiently explained to the woman who answered the phone that I send this newsletter to more than 30,000 people, and this was a chance for the spa to get even more publicity. She didn’t seem impressed.

What can you learn from this lesson?

• Make sure your front-line employees understand the importance of media inquiries.  Give them an emergency telephone number they can use if the media call on deadline. Better yet, include the emergency number at your website.

• When you get a fabulous media hit, include it at your website. Most local and network news people will gladly let you use the clip. I found nothing at the Dallas Bliss site–not even a mention.

• The Bliss Press Room included several press releases which I didn’t have time to open. I couldn’t find the name or phone number of a media contact anywhere on the site. Put contact information – including a shipping address, phone number and email address–in an easy-to-find place on your homepage.

• I got callbacks from Vollmer PR, the local firm in Dallas, which pitched the idea, and from the Bliss national PR person who told me they won’t put the media contact phone number on the homepage because they get “flooded with calls.”  (I thought lots of calls were a good thing, not a bad thing.)  Besides, she said, the national media all know how to contact them, which I find difficult to believe.

She asked if I wanted to be added to their media list. Uh, no thanks.

- Joan

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Marketing is often compared to war, and there is much pretentious talk about strategy, conquests, territory and so forth.

That is one reason why I have spent years reading about great generals. IT has taught me a lot.

Many people think the Duke of Marlborough – an ancestor of Winston Churchill –  was England’s greatest ever general.

He was obsessed with minutiae. Before his greatest-ever victory, Blenheim, he made sure all his men had fresh boots and a meal of bread and soup.

The victor of the battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington, when asked for the secret of his success, replied, “Attention to detail.”

As for Napoleon, in Tolstoy wrote in War and Peace that his defeated opponents at Austerlitz relied on “the new science of strategy.” But Napoleon was most influenced by a book called An Essay on Tactics by the Comte de Guibert.

This brings me to just about the most basic tactic in marketing strategy: replying to customers.

The plain fact is that many firms are either not very good or completely useless at it.  This means many of the billions thrown at marketing has had little effect. In fact it may even do damage

Majestic sloth and incompetence

In a U.K. survey a while ago 100 mail order firms in 10 market sectors were asked via email for their printed catalogue or brochure.

34% never even replied, and of those that did, average response time was nearly 4.5 days.  Only 18% bothered to personalize the reply.

Don’t you find that terrifying? It implies that over a third of all direct response advertising is wasted.

It’s actually even worse. You are better off not advertising at all than advertising, then not replying. At least if you do nothing you are not angering people.

Failing to personalise lowers your likely conversion rate; and every day you delay replying cuts your eventual conversion rate.

As direct marketing – online or off – has become more accepted (it’s far bigger now than advertising) it has drifted away from practicality.

In earlier days, either you got sales – or you got fired. Now there are scores of courses, diplomas and so forth – but far too many idle quasi-intellectual plonkers taking them.

Try this little experiment

You might imagine that with the growing pervasiveness of the internet, where everything can be measured, things would improve. Far from it, as you will find if you conduct a little experiment .

Take any ten websites at random. Go on them and see if you immediately see an offer of something helpful. If not, they are missing tricks. Then see what they send you.  Well, is it helpful – or just sales waffle?

Then wait and see how they follow up, and for how long. They should keep at you until you either buy or unsubscribe

Unfortunately the people who do these things best are the rogue internet “You’ll be rich in three weeks” scamsters. Most ordinary marketers are utterly useless

Returning to the Duke of Wellington: when he was reviewing new recruits in the Peninsular War he said to one of his aides, “I don’t know what they’ll do to the enemy, but by God, they terrify me.”

Of course, in those days the army recruited drunks and criminals from the gutters. But at least they were very good at killing people.

- Drayton

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Have you seen the preview for the new NBC comedy show called “Outsourced?”

The opening shot is of the marketing manager showing up for his first day at work only to find that the rest of his team was laid off the previous day. He’s now in charge of a team located in India. And I’m sure you’re all to familiar with the members of his team, people who speak broken English and are likely to break his marketing efforts.

It’s coming this fall, it’s funny and I can’t wait to watch it.

If you haven’t seen it, watch the trailer here

So what’s wrong with “Outsourced?”

It’s about OFFSHORING not OUTSOURCING.

Wait a minute!  What’s the difference?

Outsourcing involves contracting out a business or other to function as an external provider, something you are probably already doing. For example, your accountant, your lawyer, your printer; or at home your dry cleaner, even your garbage service, they’re all outsourced tasks.

And you’ve probably already figured out outsourcing makes sense but what most small business owners and entrepreneurs haven’t figured out is how to leverage the virtual workforce, to make more and work less without it going as wrong as it does on the NBC show “Outsourced.”

Which is why next week, I’ll be revealing along with a team of 10 experts the truth about how to ramp up your revenue with outsourcing.

Still wondering about offshoring, hiring someone from India, Bangladesh, or the Philippines for a fraction of what you’d pay someone in your own country?

Sounds like a great way to save money except that it doesn’t always work out that way. Offshoring results in an over 50% failure, at least for IT projects and in my experience an even higher failure rate for copywriting, web design and more culturally sensitive tasks.

Want to get the truth about outsourcing for small business?

The registration page for the Outsourcing and Delegation TeleSummit goes live this Thursday the 29^th – so check your email and sign up right away for one of the 196 spots on the calls.

Did I mention it’s free to register?

- Charlie

P.S. Most small business owners can easily save a minimum of 10 hours per week and increase profits by 30% by outsourcing. You’ll find out how when you register for the Outsourcing and Delegation TeleSummit on Thursday.

Have a question or comment about outsourcing or offshoring? Leave a comment and let me know.

P.P.S. If you’re a big fan of offshoring of small business functions – prove me wrong. Other than Tim Feriss I can’t find any small business owners recommending offshoring and the people who’ve tried the services Tim recommends pan them.

I’ve spent endless hours chasing the elusive and low cost offshoring solution and have yet to make it work. So let me and every other small business owner I know in on the secret. Share with me some great examples of how entrepreneurs and small business owners are using offshoring to handle basic business functions to grow their businesses.

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

So you’ve decided to hire a copywriter.  You’ve looked at their portfolio, and they’re not a “swipe file superstar”.  You’ve asked them about how much time they spend researching a new promotion and they passed with flying colors. But there are a few more questions you need to ask before you hand over your hard-earned cash.

I’ll show you how to use those 3 critical questions to make sure you get maximum value for your money.

Question 1: Do they have real-world sales experience?

As Dan Kennedy likes to point out, the best copywriters often have a strong background in real-world selling.  But not just any type of sales.  In fact, there are two specific types of sales experience that help a writer crank out home-run copy effortlessly.

You see, the best copywriters tend to have experience in the cutthroat world of face-to-face, commission-only selling.  And that’s important, because there’s a world of difference between salespeople who are paid a salary plus commission and salespeople who only are paid when they sell something.

That’s because the commission-only salesperson is forced to sell to survive.  If they don’t make a sale, they don’t eat.  It’s that simple.

The high-pressure world of commission-only selling forces you to either get good…or get out.  That’s why so many salespeople burn out or quit within the first 12 months.  Most of the ones who survive those first 12 months will make an “OK” living.  But a select few will master the art of selling.

And of course, the same skills a successful salesperson uses every day translate perfectly into copywriting.

For instance, if a salesperson doesn’t know how to create excitement about whatever it is they’re selling, they get nothing for their time and energy.  If they don’t know how to clearly present the benefits of their product, they lose out. And if they’re not willing to ask for the order, they won’t make a penny.

Likewise, good copy uses emotional language to get the prospect excited.  It clearly presents the benefits in a way the prospect can understand.  And it always asks for the order—usually more than once.

After all, what is copywriting but “salesmanship in print”?  The same skills that make a face-to-face sale are what makes for great copy.  So if the copywriter you’re talking to has zero experience in face-to-face, commission-only selling, think twice about hiring them.  Unless they can show you a portfolio of proven home-run promotions, they may cost you far more money than you’ll ever get in return.

That’s it for today.  In my next article, I’ll tell you about the second most important question you must ask before you hire a copywriter.  The answer to that question may surprise you. It will blow one of the biggest copywriting myths out of the water. And it will certainly upset many of the “gurus” in the copywriting world.

But that’s OK by me.  My goal with these articles is to dispel the myths around copywriting.  I want to give you the tools you need to make the right choices.  And if that upsets a few of my fellow copywriters along the way, so be it.

See you next time!

- Paul

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Sitemaps can be helpful both for your human visitors and for search engine optimization (SEO) – the art and science of improving the visibility of a website in search engine listings. Learn about sitemaps and how they can help your business website get noticed.

What is a sitemap?

There are two kinds of sitemaps – the first is an HTML page on your website that contains a list of links to all of the pages on your site, often organized graphically to show relationships between pages. It’s a navigation tool to help human visitors find what they’re looking for easily. Here’s an example from Google.

The second type is an XML file that’s used by search engines to understand the structure of your website – it’s not seen by human visitors. The sitemap helps web crawlers like Googlebot find and correctly index more pages on your site. It provides the crawler with information such as what pages are on your site and how often they’re updated.

Which is better?

XML sitemaps can be important if you have a site where content is hard to reach, such as on older site with a lot of archived pages that may not be linked together very well. If your site was built in a search engine-friendly way with good navigation, the XML sitemap matters less.

On the other hand, a well-built HTML sitemap does double-duty – it’s great for your human visitors as it can help them find exactly what they’re looking for with one click. And links that lead to every page (or nearly every page) allow web crawlers to easily find more of your site to index.

How do I create an HTML sitemap?

If your site’s not too large and you’re familiar with HTML, you can create a new HTML page in the editor of your choice and manually create a list of categorized links.

You can also use online tools to quickly generate an HTML sitemap, which can be efficient for large sites. One example is http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/, but be warned you will have some significant HTML and CSS formatting to do if you use it.

How do I create an XML sitemap?

You can use online tools to create an XML sitemap, too. The same tool (http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/) will also create this type of file. Once the generator runs, you’ll be able to download the XML file that you need to add to the root of your website (you’ll have to upload this file using FTP or your website’s control panel file manager).

What if my website’s using a content management system (CMS)?

There are plugins and add-ons for many CMS platforms that will generate both types of sitemaps for you automatically. WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and ExpressionEngine all have XML and HTML sitemap extensions that take care of the work all by themselves. Many ecommerce platforms have similar addons.

How often do I need to update my sitemap?

If you’re manually generating an XML sitemap, a few times per year should be sufficient unless you’re frequently adding a lot of new content. If you’re using a CMS with sitemap extensions, your sitemaps will be updated automatically as needed.

If you have an HTML sitemap, you’ll want to keep it up to date; when you add new pages, make it a habit to edit your sitemap too. And make sure to check that the links are all working!

———-

While sitemaps are only a small part of the overall SEO picture, they can help improve your site’s exposure, particularly if it’s hard to get to parts of your website. The best way to ensure that your site pages get found, however, is to have search engine-friendly navigation throughout your website.

- Debbie

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

When is the best time to ask a client for a referral for work done? It’s a question many of us overlook when working with a new client, but is so important in keeping the pipeline of new business opportunities flowing.

It has been my experience the best time to request a referral is just before the completion of a project. It would be presumptuous to ask for a referral in the early stages of a business relationship. Likewise, if you wait until the project is completed, your client may have emotionally moved on.

Timing is Everything

Target your referral marketing request when an assignment is 95% completed; when you still have the client fully engaged, happy with the work you’ve done (of course), and amenable to opening doors on your behalf.

At this point you also have some leverage because you haven’t quite finished the project, and the client is still invested in the project completion on time and within budget. The goodwill built thus far can be motivation for them to extend themselves on your behalf.

Get the client to refer a face-to-face meeting for the ideal scenario

The best referral scenario is when your client:

• Makes the call to a prospect on your behalf

• Introduces you and your firm

• Praises the great work you’ve done

• Explains how they too would benefit from using your firm

and perhaps most importantly . . .

• arrange a time for everyone to meet

In this scenario, the selling is basically done. All you need is close the sale. Anything less is not going to be as effective. If your client just gives you a name and number, but doesn’t make that initial call for you, it is not much different than cold calling.

Referrals = New Business

Asking for referrals is an important part of sales and can lead to lots of new business, but timing is critical. Get your client to accept the important step of making the all important introduction for you.

- Rocky

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Is outsourcing social media is even good idea?

Not so long ago, you would have been accused of being a heretic by even bringing up the idea of outsourcing your conversation with your prospects or consumers in the social media.  The naysayers argued that the concept of outsourcing is completely against the spirit of social media.

But in the space of a few months, I have noticed that those voices have been silenced.  In their place, we have witnessed the proliferation of solo entrepreneurs as well as full-on companies around the globe who are offering to manage every aspect of your social media program—from strategy to execution.

Why the change of heart?

It boils down to one four-letter word.

Time.

Companies (and individuals) already struggling with too much work who took a stab at social media realized that they simply did not have the time (and in many cases the skills) to manage an effective social media program.  A program that would bring real results.

This is my take on the issue of whether you should let someone else handle your social media.  Despite my great respect for many purists, I believe outsourcing is a perfectly sensible solution.   If you properly outsource, you can reap the following benefits:

• The establishment of a coherent social media marketing strategy
• The timely execution of all elements related to your Social Web presence
• The creation of high-quality content
• The extension of your brand into social media both in terms of look and tone and manner.
• The saving of hours and hours of precious time
• The ability to tap into someone else’s expertise while you get on with the business of running your company

Having said all that, it is imperative that when you do outsource that you don’t give up the reins of the horse altogether.  Every conversation on the Social Web which appears in your name—whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or your blog- is a reflection of you.  You need to make absolutely sure to have safeguards in place that ensure the You that appears on the Social Web is the genuine You.  Even if someone else is executing, it is imperative that your social conversations always reflect both your personality and your beliefs.

- Susan

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

You will often encounter people who are just poor decision-makers. Perhaps they’ve never learned some basic life skills and made some bad decisions. Now, they just procrastinate until they can’t wait any longer to make decisions, hence the cycle of making bad decisions continues.

As a professional salesperson, you need to know how to recognize procrastinators and help them learn sound decision-making skills. Some of the common traits among procrastinators include changing the subject, or allowing interruptions.

When the subject is changed and the conversation is headed in every direction except toward the sale, be ready with a question to bring them back to the subject at hand. Try these words:

“I sense that you’re not really ready to make a decision today, Mary. Is that right?”

She’ll probably say something like this:  “Well, I really haven’t made up my mind yet about what I’m going to do.”

Now, Mary sees that you understand she’s not ready and thinks you will give up. But, as a pro, you’re ready to help her move forward. You say, “I understand. Can you tell me what your thoughts are thus far so I can tell if there might be some information I’ve left out of my presentation?”

Mary will very likely relax, thinking she can practically start over in the sales process, stalling the decision even further. And, you’re “taking the blame” for her indecision. You have not made her out to be a poor decision-maker.

However, while you help her to summarize her thinking, she should come to the conclusion that there’s really nothing else to discuss. If all of her questions have been answered and she admits it, there’s nothing holding her back from ownership but her signature on the paperwork.

With clients who allow interruptions during your presentation, try these words, “I understand how valuable your time is and I don’t want to take up any more of it than necessary. So, the fewer interruptions we have today, the sooner you can move on to whatever else is important to you.” Then, you would close the door, ask them to use the Do Not Disturb feature on their phone or suggest a move into a more private area to complete your presentation.

For some people, prolonging the sales process is a way of getting attention or making themselves feel important. They’re so busy. Look at all the people who need them. Look at all the plates they have spinning. Others are just very disorganized. Your goal is to help them focus, appreciate their time, interest and authority and to help them make wise decisions.

- Tom

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

You may have tried networking, Internet marketing or advertising only to come out in the end with fewer clients than you expected and yet, having more expenses. Or maybe you’ve tried to get publicity in the past only to find little or no response.

You want to attract loyal customers, increase your profits and enjoy more freedom in your life, but everyday it’s getting harder and harder to be seen. Well, PR can help.

Being able to put your best foot forward to show the public and your target market you’re the person they should be paying attention to, is what Public Relations is all about. Some people might be hesitant getting involved in Public Relations, but here’s the thing: whether you know it or not, as an expert in your field, small-business owner or entrepreneur, you’re already engaged in a public relations campaign.

PR is in everything you do: it’s how you answer the phone; it’s how you respond to emails; it’s your voice mail message; it’s in anything and everything you do where you engage with the public. If you want your business to be a fun and lively experience for your customers, but when they call, you answer the phone with an unenthusiastic “Hello,” how do you think that small little detail positions you?

Ask yourself “What is it I’m committed to helping people with, and how do I achieve this?” Then make a detailed list of all the places and platforms where you interact with the public. Be thorough and don’t leave anything out.

Comb through your website, your answering machine greeting; listen to how you or your staff interacts with callers; check to see what your automatic email signature looks like; inspect all of your website copy for spelling or grammatical errors; and anything that the public could see. All these things are part of the PR campaign you’re now knowingly engaged in. How have they positioned you thus far?

Take it step further by Googling yourself, your company and the topics surrounding your expertise and business. What do you find? Is your name and company coming up in conversations when you search those topics? What are people saying about you? Do you approve? Do you agree?

With the advent of the Internet you’re now afforded a perfect opportunity to position yourself in the way you want to be seen and start achieving what it is you’re committed to. A great way to begin is by writing by-lined articles and submitting them to free portals, which will link back to your website. These portals will help build your online presence and will position you in the way you want to be seen.

You can also create an online press kit, which will increase your online presence, as well as help keep you organized and give you a professional edge. Then keep the ball rolling by landing media placements. There are quite a few free resources out there that journalists are using to find sources for their stories, segments and interviews.

These sites like PitchRate.com allow authors, small business owners and entrepreneurs connect with the media in a way that makes the journalist’s job easier at the same time as it boosts the exposure of the source.

So take it one step at a time and begin by figuring out what you’re committed to helping people with and how you can achieve your goal. Once you have the answer, use Public Relations to position yourself for success. There’s nothing else out there that can compare and you have all the resources at your fingertips.

- Drew

©2010All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..