10 Marketing Truths

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Tell Me the Truth. Does Marketing Really Work?

1. MARKETING IS A CONTACT SPORT
Marketing is ALWAYS about "making contact." When your marketing is effective it connects to the right people, the best way and with results that make business better. Sometimes it feels like a sport. And sometimes, not so much! Contact someone today – it is the first step in building relationships that produce results.

2. A STRONG FOUNDATION WEATHERS THE WOLF
Remember the Three Little Pigs’ and the house built of straw? So often marketing is created with no foundation to build on, no strategy to follow and no goals to pursue. Don’t be foolish. A strong house has a plan for its foundation. Does your business? A great business demands a strong foundation.

3. IF YOU CAN VISUALIZE IT, YOU CAN PLAN IT
Visualization – a scientific process – is a way of seeing your desired future. It’s the strongest and smartest way to know where you’re going and how you want to get there. This guided meditation allows your dreams to become  goals that can be realized with a clear step-by-step plan. Close your eyes, get comfortable, let's begin ...

4. FOLLOW-UP IS NOT OPTIONAL
Competition for your audience's attention is relentless. Without a smart and effective follow-up strategy you are wasting time trying to do what you love for a living. Strong follow-up gets the attention of past, present and future clients. Don’t get lost in the crowds – create attention-getting, engaging follow-up to keep your message front and center. Be seen. Be remembered. Be bought. Follow-up.

5. WORD OF MOUTH IS NOT MAGIC
Ah, word-of-mouth – it’s like magic. Only it’s not. You put words into the mouths of others. It happens when others see you, work with you or hear about you from someone else. It always demands that you put yourself out in the world for it to begin. So help word-of-mouth work for you. Do smart marketing. It gives people words for their mouths.

6. HONEST IS SO SEXY
The truth – your truth – turns us on. It is so real, it stirs us. It resonates to our truth and moves us. So be honest in your work, your desires, your plans, your accomplishments, your dreams, your success and your failures. We know you even if you don’t tell us the truth – but we like you way less for it. Dig deep, be discovered, be honest. It’s so sexy.

7. GOOD ENOUGH IS NOT
When you don’t give it your best, you’re wasting time – yours and ours. Make strong plans to be more than “good enough.” Talent begins the edge, practice perfects it. We recognize extraordinary work and we also recognize when it is not. Make it worth our while. The competition is fierce. Always deliver your best.

8. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE THANK YOU
Gratitude. The grease of life. Your entire marketing program could be one of thanks. It is that powerful. It takes empathy and gives it to others. It uses little money and costs only time. No wonder we teach little children to say please and thank you as soon as they can talk. It always works when genuine.

9. PRESENTATION TRUMPS CONTENT
What’s most important when first marketing. Is it the gift or the wrapping? Until we know what the gift is, the wrap is all that matters. Done well, we reach for it, want it, desire to hold it. Done poorly, we often don’t care what’s inside. As you take your work to the world remember – your presentation is everything at the start. Engaging. Evocative. Powerful.

10. IF YOU'VE GOT GRIT, YOU CAN GET SUCCESS
Tenacity cannot be underplayed in entrepreneurial work. So much of life, career and success is about staying in the game. "Keep on keeping on" – perseverance's rally call. Grit assures you that you can tolerate the frustrations, persevere through the building of a strong business and do what it takes to reach your dreams. Ah, creative work — how it tests us.