The easiest way to waste your business time is by starting
completely afresh every time you need something new -
whether it's a sales letter, presentation script or content
for your website.
Don't try to reinvent things and make them completely new
every time.
To get the best return on the time and money you invest in
marketing, you need to leverage all your activities in as
many ways as possible.
Leverage is where we make a big impact by applying a small
force. For example, the jack which you use to lift your
car up to change the tire applies a small force to lift a
very heavy piece of metal.
In marketing, leverage is taking a relatively small action
that adds significant extra power to your marketing
efforts. To achieve this, you need to make as much use as
possible of the marketing activity you are already doing.
And you should reuse your existing material as much as
possible.
Here's an example of how you can leverage one small
activity into a major marketing success with a little extra
work.
Suppose you are giving a talk to the local Chamber of
Commerce, here are 12 steps you can take to get maximum
leverage for the work you will put in to creating it:
1. Invite your contacts to attend: Asking prospects and
customers to your talk is a great way to let them
experience you in an informal way.
2. Use your talk as a pretext for research: People are
often quite willing to give you their time to answer
questions and quite often will take an interest in what you
are working on.
3. Issue a press release announcing your talk: The media
may even show up and interview you on the spot, or they may
contact you afterwards. Even if they only put the release
on file for future reference, it's still a great
opportunity to promote your message.
4. Follow up with those who attended your talk: People who
attended your talk are also in a great position to suggest
your name to others. So let them know you are available to
do the talk again.
5. Issue handouts, notes or a summary of your talk:
Remember to include your contact information on anything
you hand out.
6. Publish the transcript on your website: If necessary,
you can rework the text slight for use on your website or
on other peoples' sites - and don't forget to offer it to
the organization hosting the talk.
7. Use the talk as the basis of a magazine or newsletter
article: Many organizations which you speak for will be
delighted to publish your talk in their newsletters, which
benefits their readership with valuable content and gets
you additional exposure to their audience.
8. Use the talk content as the basis for a workshop: The
content can easily be developed as a workshop - perhaps
even as a follow-up for some of the people who attended
your talk. You can charge a fee or just use it as an
opportunity to get to know them better.
9. Customize the talk to other audiences: Once you have
given the talk once, you can make small changes to make it
work with different organizations.
10. Make reprints of your talk: Issue these to people who
attended or include them in promotional packs for your
business.
11. Issue a press release after your talk: This can be
issued after your talk with details of what you said -
another opportunity for the media to contact you.
12. Collaborate with a client or business partner: You can
do this either in the talk or in the way you develop the
content afterwards. This provides a great opportunity to
strengthen your relationship with them.
Using this as an example, consider how you can get more
leverage from your existing activities.
You don't have to find 12 ways but two or three additional
activities - even just one - still gives you something you
don't have already for relatively little additional work.
----------------------------------------------------
Robert Greenshields is a marketing success coach who helps
business owners and independent professionals who are
frustrated that they're working too many hours for too
little reward. Sign up for his free tips on earning more
and working less at http://www.MindPowerMarketing.com
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