A Marketing Recipe Book5 min read

share:

Share

Quick, what’s the best marketing thing to do right now?

No idea right?

Well, today I’m going to share a simple “recipe plan” to help you know what marketing to work on each week.

But first, a little bit about my culinary habits…

For quite some time, my wife and I have had erratic dinner habits.

Often when I emerged from my home office at about 6 pm, I discovered my wife had already eaten. Because we hadn’t agreed on dinner, we mostly ended up on our own.

So I’d go to the fridge, grab a hunk of chicken and heat it up and eat it. Vegetables, salad?! I didn’t worry about that stuff. No big deal, right?

Yes, until is was. A couple weeks ago I told my wife that I was sick of our eating habits and that I had an idea for change. I’d just found a pretty cool looking cookbook online with simple, healthy, dinner recipes for two.

She was up for it and we embarked on a new way of eating. We planned ahead and bought the ingredients we needed. And every evening we cooked one of those meals.

And boy, we’ve had some great meals. Tasty, not too filling. Just right. And now we’re both eating together every evening and feeling both virtuous and healthier.

That cookbook was a simple and powerful solution we could implement almost immediately with tangible benefits.

I thought, “Why not share some effective marketing recipes people could do just as easily and quickly?” Well, here they are:

Marketing Recipe Book for Stuck Marketers

First of all, I’m going to assume you have your basic marketing stuff together. You have a website, social media accounts and perhaps an email list, plus a marketing message that gets attention when you use it.

The problem is, you’re not getting out there. You’re sitting at your desk, meeting most clients virtually and when you have a break, you’re doing social media like playing a video game.

Kind of addictive, but it goes nowhere.

So I’m putting you on a special marketing diet that consists of one marketing recipe a day — five different ones each week.

Monday: Call a past client or associate and set up a time to talk. You can talk in person or via phone, Skype, etc. When you get on the call (it might be that week or sometime later) talk about what you’re up to now, and ask them what they are up to.

Just talking, brainstorming, and connecting like this limbers up your imagination and you’ll come up with some ideas you can use.

Tuesday: Call up a current or past client and set up a time to talk (other than your paid time with that client). When you meet you’re going to talk about referrals. You’ll say, something like: “John, I know you’ve been happy in our work together. Who do you know, someone like you, who should know about the work I’m doing? And can you connect me with them?”

You won’t bat 1,000 with this, but sooner or later you’ll make a base hit or a run.

Wednesday: Connect with someone on social media who you’ve had some exchanges with but don’t really know. Let this person know you’d like to chat with them briefly. Find a time to talk, and in this talk, just take a few minutes to find out more about what they do and tell them what you do.

And then, after you chat, see if you can give this person an idea, resource or something else of value after you talk. That’s it.

Thursday: Reach out to your network and ask for something. You could do this with a limited email blast, or a post on Facebook or Linked In. What this does is open you to being contributed to. Since people love to contribute, you’d be surprised at the response.

What you ask for should be something more than what you could easily find on Google. You have a whole week to think something up, and I expect you’ll find it pretty easy.

Friday: Sit down and write something about your business. I don’t care if it’s a couple of paragraphs or a whole article. Make it sincere and as interesting as you can make it, perhaps the kind of ideas you share with your clients. Then post it on your blog.

Look, this is how blogs start. You don’t need a huge plan. Just write something and get it posted. Don’t have a blog page yet? Well, if you have a WordPress site, a blog can be added simply, quickly and affordably by any web tech (see Thursday).

Variations on these recipes: Mix them up in any order you like. Once in awhile, skip one — but make it a different one each week.

What will happen: These are all recipes for getting out there. The first three result in conversations. And I’ve discovered that conversations lead you to places, often unexpected places. The only way you’ll know is by reaching out and having them.

The last two are about asking for a contribution and making a contribution. These are powerful exercises that flex your marketing muscles and build your marketing strength.

Don’t do any of these marketing recipes to get a specific result. Just be open to what happens.

As the telephone company used to say: Reach out and touch someone!

Cheers, Robert

Do you have a friend who’s on a lousy marketing diet? Could they use a few recipes to get them back on track? then please share this bog with them and invite them to join the More Clients eZine (and get the cool free Marketing Plan Workbook as a bonus!)  See the upper left corner of this page.

And while you’re here, you might be interested in my Complete Marketing Cookbook, the More Clients Club, with dozens of in-depth marketing recipes.

share:

Share