Successful Blog

121: What's the Key to a Promotion Strategy?

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one2one blog post logo

A Strategic Conversation

Where we left the conversation, DAWUD MIRACLE asked me (and you),

What do you feel is necessary to create an effective strategy to promote a business?.

Wow! I’m grinning. Okay, Dawud, you’ve got me now. Strategy and promotion in one question. Hmmmm. I bet my readers will do better than I do on this one. Maybe I’d better unpack the question first.

Strategy . . . I’ve always liked the idea but forth in the book, Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant. Much of why I like it is in the title — find an uncontested space where competition is not. The idea is simple. . . . Why swim in the shark invested blood-red ocean where the fight is always on? Why not swim in the calm blue ocean where I can be a category of one?

For once in my life, maybe the fact that I’m different (you are too — right?) can be a fabulous plus if I turn it to my advantage. That’s a strategic thought!

Strategy for promotion . . . As I look back I see a two-part blue ocean-type strategy that has been a part of tpromoting the business I’ve built behind Successful-Blog.

A great product is its own promotion. I’ve created unique value my ideal customers love. The Perfect Virtual Manager — even the concept that we all deserve a personal manager as a rock star might have — has been helping entrepreneurs, small businesses, and a corporation or two take a new look. We’re working as partners to focus their business and find their ideal customers. The PVM is a one-of-a-kind business support structured around a foundational plan I’ve built during 22 years of training people who teach.

The new series, Inside-Out Thinking, in like manner, is unique in an Internet of “me too” content. It promotes itself. The series is something readers need and hasn’t been offered before. The series provides the hows and whys about building a solid business foundation and finding the ideal customers who love what we love to do. By conceiving and designing from my own experience and proven track record — yours might not be where mine is, but you have yours — I’ve created something others cannot also create. They can follow, but they can’t duplicate it.

Open Comment Night, the Virtual Conference last March, this one2one conversation that we’re sharing are all value offerings that I can create unique customer value. Soon enough as I focus my content in the areas that reflect what I’m particularly good at discussing, my competition begins to fade.

Promotion. Promotion is easiest when you ask cusomters to choose between two options:

  • A. YOU
  • B. Everyone else in the world.

Here’s my most effective promotion strategy.

Set up a choice between me and the rest of the world. Then promote the rest of the world.

And since this is a one2one conversation… to Dawud, (and you too)

How important is strategy to your business? How does your strategy get built?

If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear your answer too.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

One2One is a cross-blog conversation. You can see the entire One-2-One Conversation series on the Successful Series page.

The Key to Link Lists and 15 Focused Resource Link Lists

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About Mixing Love and Currency

Strategic Plans logo

Noticing the purpose of a list — who it serves — establishes who values it and for how much. Lists of blogs can be useful or empty. When we build one, it helps to be sure we we know our intent. Andy Sernovitz passes on a great message in his book World of Mouth Marketing, and he also said it at SOBCon07.

Mixing love and money is usually a bad idea.

The Key to Link Lists

Think about link lists. The key to offering a link list that adds value, not just noise is in its intent and usefulness to readers.

An outstanding link list offers readers

  • links the blogger has researched and visited
  • clear anchor text in the links
  • a description of each link
  • a reason for recommending the links, as appropriate
  • a compelling reasons for readers to care

Link lists that serve readers attract relationships as well as backlinks.

A Word about Link Trains Link trains and other meme lists can offer a quick jump in statistics. However, they do this by making forced links — links that didn’t happen through the natural passing on of content. Though the intent may be generous, such meme-lists often get extended without review. They can become a list of blogs compiled to gain rank and without regard to the quality of the list.

Some lists are meant to gain backlinks, page rank or authority may garnering more traffic. Yet the traffic that comes finds a content empty list. So the traffic doesn’t stay. A blogger can start building more lists to continue getting traffic. It’s about traffic not readers. Content has gone away.

15 Focused Resource Link Lists

Resource lists are organized to offer relevant and focused resources to readers. These lists require work beyond coding to exist. Most of these lists are generated by research, formed from the opinion of bloggers, result from a test or algorithm, or are the product of a group project.

Here are 15 examples organized by type.

Group Projects

Awards and Subject Lists

Top 5, 10, 25, etc. Lists

  • 100 Blogs We Love by PCWorld
    Here are our favorite stops in the blogosphere, covering everything from high tech to low comedy and all manner of pursuits in between.
  • Webware 100 – Top 100 Web Applications
    These are the best Web applications there are. We know because you told us.
  • Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs
    Scott Allen’s service is “To help you filter that infoglut down to a more manageable level, here is my list of the ten most practical blogs for entrepreneurs.”
  • Top 10 CEO Blogs
    Mario Sundar describes his list, “if you want to get a feel for some big-time thinkers espouse their company’s strategy a bit, then maybe the following ten may be worth a ride. Here goes, my Top 10 CEO blogs . . .”
  • The Top 10 Sports Blogs According to Me
    With all due respect to Ballhype and with full awareness that I’m going with my gut over, you know, actual data, I think my top-10 list holds up, even if it is just a subjective-yet-educated list based on perceived traffic, quality and notoriety.

A list of resource links with ancedotal information makes it easier for readers to find the useful bit and move on. Offering resources that make life easier is a service worth offering. Finding ways to organize the list to help readers save time is a sign of respect and service they’ll notice.

Have you seen a remarkable link post? What sort of link posts do you appreciate? Which ones get you to click away as soon as you see them?

— ME “Liz” Strauss
Can you list the reasons to Work with Liz? Too many. It’s such a good idea.

Change the World: Listen to the Wisdom of Children

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Children Are

changetheworld8

I often say that Children were put on Earth to humble their parents.

Truth is that children have a way of humbling us all and teaching us too — if we let them. They’re authentic. Rare is the child before the age of 8 who has a hidden agenda or who has learned to be truly mean or arrogant. They know about love and showing their feelings. They know about taking joy from their accomplishments.

When we meet a grownup who can do all of that we call it wisdom.

It’s something to pay attention to in children.

Once when I taught first-grade, my class got out of hand while they were with their gym teacher. She was a new teacher, frustrated, and so she said without thinking, “You won’t have gym class for the rest of the year.”

When they returned to me, it was obvious they had a problem. We sat in a circle on the floor and had a conversation.

I said, “You know I won’t always be here to help you when things go wrong. You need to figure out how to fix this on your own.” They were six years old.

I left the room and listened at the door.

I heard a young man — yeah that’s what he was –say, “We need to find a way to get Ms. A to believe in us again.”

The wisdom of children. We could learn a lot if we listen.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

The Mic Is On: We're On a Deserted Island!

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

What Would You Take?

There’s plenty to talk about. Here’s a few ideas to get us started:

  • What music would we listen to?
  • What books would we want to read?
  • Would there be anyone else with us? Like Gilligan?
island

And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey.

Oh, and bring links about the deserted island to share!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: What Would We Take to a Deserted Island?

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Yes the Mic Will Be on Tonight

Join Us Tonight

What Would We Want if We Were Alone on Deserted Island? . . .

Think about it!

We can talk about what music we would want, what books we might take, whether Gilligan would be there, and whatever else comes up.

Oh, and bring links about desert island equipment and toys to share!

The rules are simple — be nice.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

1.2 WHY Doing What We Love Is Solid Business Thinking

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Not Self-Indulgent, Good Business

inside-out thinking

Did I really mean to say the word? Yep.

Love. Not like, enjoy, or get kick out of, but have a passion for, live for, hold in highest esteem. Every person needs a quest, a cause, and a purpose.

That’s right. One — that one simple question.

What businesslike thing do you love doing?

is critical to your business.

Why?
Because it’s how we’re wired as humans. We bring our best to whatever challenge we face. We’re better when we’re inspired by deep feeling. We’ve known that since we were kids.

Any less is inauthentic, second-best, didn’t try, plan b, was absent that day, ho-hum, phone it in, stand in right field and let that pop-fly pass us by instead of saying the game . . . we might as well be out!

There’s a reason that so many folks — on TV, in IT, in academia, in every career — say the same thing. . . . find your passion, do what you love.

They’re not promoting self-indulgence. They’re supporting solid business sense.

WHY Doing What We Love Is Solid Business Thinking

What makes loving our work solid business thinking? Why is it more critical now than before?

In his book, A Whole New Mind, Dan Pink points out that “high concept” and “high touch” values (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning) have become as important as linear thinking, detailed analysis, and spreadsheets.

On his blog, Doc Searls recently said this about how business is doing. It was part of an interview with Shel Israel.

In the original website version of Cluetrain, Chris Locke wrote, “we are not seats or eyeballs or end users or consumers and our reach exceeds your grasp. deal with it.”
Recognizing a situation and dealing with it, however are two different things. The “dealing” has barely begun.

In this Internet, global economy we deal direct — no middle man. Conversation and relationships matter as much as schedule and budget do.

In plain and simple words, thinking and doing what everyone has thought and done no longer work. Now it’s think and love what we do — That’s the only way to draw customers to us.

Think hard. Thinking alone doesn’t solve every problem. Some problems are human. Some require empathy and finesse. Some situations call for more than intelligent reasoning. Before you talk yourself out of what you love doing . . . think about the reasons we need to bring all of yourself to your business — head and heart.

7 Reasons WHY Doing What We Love is Critical

When we bring all of who we are, full engagement of head and heart, we bring 7 deeper values and higher outcomes to our work.

  1. Complete presence — focus. We’re all there — the all thinking business is no longer sufficient. Computers can’t smile. Computers can’t listen to the spaces between words. People buy what we sell.

  2. Peak performance — productivity. We invest more, do more, go further for the work we love.

  3. Tolerance — perseverance. We have more patience, time, and energy for problem solving when we directly reap the benefits.

  4. Value and Appeal — compelling story. To compete a product or service has to be useful and beautiful. Simple and elegant, for to the adult and the kid in each one of us. Bringing logic and emotion to a business outdistances the world view of logic alone.

  5. Total Differentiation — identity. The uniqueness of our being shines through in concept and execution when we start from what we love.

  6. Fully Invested and Worth Investing In — market value. Rolling all of the above values into one, nothing beats the 360 degree investment of brains, money, and dreams all in the same direction. Any VC worth his or her salt looks for that combination when funding a small business.

  7. Sense of Worth — authority. We value what we earn and what we love.

Can you see why it’s only sense that a strong business is built on doing what we love?

Got questions yet?

Next: 1.3 WHAT IF you don’t know what you love to do?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Is your business stuck? Check out the Start-up Strategy Package. Work with Liz!!

Related
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.