If You Build it They Will Come

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that people are going to start knocking down the door of your business just because you have built it. I was guilty of that thought process when we first started our Martial Arts Company. I thought because we had built such an awesome place, everyone would just show up!

Obviously what I didn’t know was how to market, sell, get return clients, get referrals and on and on… We had a lot to learn and I we still learn every day!

That’s not what I’m talking about. The ‘IT’ in this scenario is relationships.

If you build relationships, people will continue to want to and to do business with you.

So how do you build a great relationship? Lots of ways. Here are 5 –

1- Send weekly emails.

You can’t imagine how many old customers and clients come back after being gone for a decade or more that still tell me that they get my emails every week. Even if they don’t read them, you are staying in front of them, and they are thinking about you even if for just a fleeting moment when they see the email come through. That alone can be huge. Then there are the people that actually open and read it! Some even reply!

If you have been with me any amount of time, you have heard me say that these are not meant to be salesy. They are meant to enter the conversation in their minds or the ones that you want in their minds. It’s meant to build a relationship! Just talk to your people like they are sitting there with you!

2 – A Monthly Printed Mailed Newsletter


I can admit that in the past year, I have sucked at this. I’ve been drawing a bit in overwhelm. We run eight businesses, and two of those are full-time jobs!

At the end of the day though, that’s just an excuse. I know a couple of things:

  1. I know that newsletters work. I know that they create return business for me whenever I am constant with them.
  2. I know that it doesn’t really take me very long if I just sit down and write it. I have the templates for all my newsletters. I just have to plug in what I want to say. It’s easy when I’m just talking to you.

3 – Random Touches

These can come in a lot of different forms. You should be doing at least 4 per year. That’s only 1 per quarter.

For the first quarter, you could do New Years, or a ‘Love Our Clients’ card for February, or a ‘Lucky to Have You’ card for March. I could go on and on.

It might be something that you find that reminds you of them. Or just a random thank you card. It could be congratulations cards or birthday cards. There are so many options for random touches.

4Go Live

Facebook and Instagram are pushing out your live videos for you. Plus you can ask your watchers to share the video if they think their friends might get something out of it as well. So you are getting in front of a lot of people, but more importantly, you are a real human. They see you in your natural habitat. They feel like they know you better like somehow you guys are friends!

5 – Actually Live

Does that say Live or Live? Who knows! Either works though. Actually live your life live! Go out where your customers are or have them attend an event with you. Let them know what events you’ll be attending and where they can find you. Give them a call. Relationship build live and in person!

If you do this, you will get in front of your customers a minimum of 70 times a year, and I bet it could easily be a lot more! What a great way to build a relationship!

The Top 3 Reasons You Need a Facebook Group

I’ve been pushing Facebook Groups a lot lately, and if you don’t already have one, let me tell you why I like them so much!

Let’s start at the beginning.  If you have a Facebook Business page (the following stuff is what currently is, FB can change it at any time), when you post on it, only between 3-6% of your audience will even see it.  So if you have a 100 likes on Facebook, about 5 of them are seeing your posts.

Things can help raise this number, for example adding a picture to the post, or doing a live video.  Also, you can do things to not make that number worse, like don’t post using an outside source (use FB’s scheduler), and don’t post links to outside pages in your post.  FB doesn’t want you to leave FB!

But more than that, let’s talk about a couple things that will really help.

Let’s start with a sidebar…

Are you sending out a weekly email?  Most people are getting at least 8-10% open rates on emails.  And with a warm list, you should be getting at least 20%.  That’s way better than 4% on FB.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t do both, what I’m saying is that you should absolutely be doing both!

Okay, now to Groups – the whole reason you started reading this article to begin with!

Let me give you the top three reasons to start a Facebook Group –

1. People always want to feel a part of something.  They want to be a part of a community.  Put VIP or Members as part of the name of your group.  Something like that to show that they are a part of something.

2. You get (or more importantly they get) notifications when someone post in the group.  Very few people will see what your business page posts (unless you are paying for ads), but the entire group should be seeing what is posted on the group page.

3. It makes you the guru.  It gives you that celebrity status.  With a group you can post polls, pose questions to the group, do live videos that are exclusive for the group members, do a live Q&A, the possibilities are endless!  Running a group lends you more of that know/like/trust.  It helps you to build relationships with your tribe.

So now you are asking yourself if you even need to have a business page.  YES.  Absolutely YES.  People will still search your business on FB just like they would Google.  You need to have and be actively posting on your business page.  Plus that where you are going to run ads from.  I know it feels like more work, but trust me, it’s worth it!

One more thing, this group should be a closed group.  You don’t want anyone to be able to see what is in it.  You want it to be special.  They can always request to be added.  A closed group not only makes it more special, it gives people a safe space to ask questions and interact.

There you have it –

The Top 3 Reasons You Need a Facebook Group

How Do You Do It?!?!

I get asked that all the time. We’ve been through a lot, but I believe everyone has their own cross to bear. You never know what struggles someone else is going through. Here are some ways to keep your head in the game. To just keep swimming…

Look for the Positive – A big thing that will help is looking for the positive in situations. I’m not talking about everything happens for a reason kind of thing, but focus on the good. After James was shot, when people heard the story they would say “I guess this has really shown you how terrible people can be.” And we would reply, “actually it’s shown us how amazing people can be.” One bad person shot James, probably 100 people helped us after the fact. James chose not to be angry at the shooter because he knew that would only hurt him. That’s looking for the positives and not focusing on the negatives.

 

So how do you do it on a regular basis? How do you stay positive in spite of sometimes terrible things that come our way?

Get Inspired – Listen to things that inspire you and motivate you. I like podcasts like Entrepreneurs and Coffee, How I Built This, Tim Ferris and Tony Robbins.

Chose the right Soundtrack for your life – Listen to music that uplifts you. Sure there are songs that make me cry, that remind me of terrible times or people I’ve lost, I avoid them. I’m not saying I never mourn, but you don’t need those things to stop you in your tracks.

Feed the Beast – Eat fairly healthy. Did you know that sugar can cause depression in people? So it doesn’t help when you eat a pint of ice cream when you are having a rough day.

Thank Your Lucky Stars! – Take time to remind yourself what you are thankful for. Sometimes you do this through a gratitude journal, sometimes you can just talk it out. Here’s a challenge for you – for the rest of the month, post every day on Facebook something that you are thankful for.

Supplement Your Life – Take supplements. Take a B vitamin, Take D especially in the winter, if things are extra bad maybe take some St. Johns Wort.

Like Bruce LeeRoy, I Got the Glow – I Workout! Did you see Legally Blonde? ‘Exercise releases endorphins, endorphins make people happy and happy people don’t kill their husbands’, they just don’t. I’m sure I exercise more than most people and probably more than people would recommend, but it’s honestly one of my favorite things to do. It makes me feel better and it makes me feel strong and empowered and confident – that carries over to the rest of my life.

Dodododododo Breaking News! – I don’t watch the news. I know that kills some of you, but I don’t want all that negativity. It doesn’t do me a bit a good. And I ignore all the negativity on social media.

Squad Goals – Surround yourself with positive people. Was it Zig Ziglar that says you are a product of the 5 people you spend the most time with? I believe that. Make sure that the people that you spend your time with and that you let influence you are positive people. You can’t be afraid to clean house. I’ve had to do it several times in my life. I heard it once like I’m climbing up the mountain and I’ll take you with me, but as soon as you start tugging on the rope and trying to bring me down, I’m going to cut it.

Be Creative – Take time to do creative things, whether that’s crafting or cooking or for me, marketing! I always call it my adult form of coloring. Maybe it’s building something, woodworking, painting, building websites, making videos. I think creating something is good for the soul and I think it’s what we as humans are meant to do. Creating things is how we grow and expand our minds!

Lend a Helping Hand – Help others. It’s important to be part of a rising tide that raises all ships. Volunteer, help a friend, give someone guidance, be a shoulder to cry on. Just do something for others.

Doing these things are a big part of what will keep you positive and keep you moving in the right direction. Now you just have to know what direction that is…

Let’s talk about the good is good enough philosophy.

This one is going to hurt your soul a little.  As the head honcho, you want everything to be perfect in your business.  You constantly strive for excellence and too often things don’t get done, because they just aren’t perfect.

Please, don’t misunderstand.  I’m not telling you to send out a crappy product or terrible marketing piece, but what I am telling you is that the marketing piece that makes it into your customer or prospective customer’s hand will make you a lot more money than the one that is still sitting on your desk, or still in your computer.

Try this –

Here’s my suggestion to you.  Give yourself an allotted time to write a marketing piece for example – I’ll have this done in the next two hours.  Write it to the best of your ability and print (or email) and mail the damn thing.  If it’s not “perfect” set a time in a week or so to re-write it or make changes to it and then send out the new “better” one to a second list.  This not only helps you speed to the money (which is what we all want), but it also gives you a split test.  Who knows, maybe the one that you didn’t see as perfect will really be the one that makes you the most money.

This may seem like a quick easy lesson, but if you take it to heart, you will make so much more money!

Make this your motto for the next 30 days –

Get it done and get it out! Good it Good Enough!

It’s not just a year on the calendar, it’s your life.

Ah Social Media, we have a love hate relationship for sure. I always feel like a do a pretty good job of ignoring the negative on the Book of Faces, but one thing I’ve seen a lot of over the past month is how people just can’t wait for 2016 to be over.

The problem I see with that is that you are wishing a year of your life away! Plus turning the calendar won’t make everything suddenly better. If you want life to be better you have to work your tail off and you have to focus on the positive.

It’s true that what we focus on multiplies and it’s important for you to focus on the positive. You don’t hear a boxing coach tell the boxer to not to put his hands down, he tells the boxer to keep his hands up. The tight ropewalker doesn’t say to not look down, they say to look forward. It’s like if I tell you not to picture a pink elephant…just the words make you picture a pink elephant. The point is, don’t spend your time trying not to think negative thoughts. Spend your time thinking positively.

You can be positive about what the future may hold, but don’t wish your life away. Don’t say that you can’t wait for this year to be over. Be thankful for every year that you have, they go by too fast as it is! The days may be long, but the years are so short. One day you are going to look back and wish you had each year back.

One more thing, don’t pre-hate months. Don’t go into January saying how much you hate January. Do things to make January great! Do things to make January your favorite month! The same goes for Mondays. Don’t hate a 7th of your week every week. That’s almost like hating two full months of the year! Think about your favorite things and try to do some of them on Mondays. Make Monday’s great again!

The choice is yours. You choose how you react to your life, whether it’s a day of the week, a month of the year, or an entire year. It’s your choice. Why would you choose to be unhappy?

It’s not just a year on the calendar; it’s your life.

What You Don’t Know, Can Hurt You

What you don’t know, can hurt you.

They say ignorance is bliss, but I know that when I didn’t know how to market my business, bliss was hard to come by. It’s hard to be truly happy when you don’t know how you are going to pay your bills, or how you are going to keep the doors open to your business.

I speak with brand new business owners all the time that have the ‘If I build it, they will come’ mentality. I understand. That’s what I thought too, but that kind of thinking will put you out of business and in debt.

There is so much that you need to know in order to be successful, but here are the three of the most important ones –

  1. Know your numbers – Know how many customers you have. Know how much money it took to acquire them. Know how many you need to pay the bills and how many you need to reach your goals.
  1. Know what your goals are – Have precise, written goals. Make sure they have a date and/or a number attached to them; ie monetary amount. Go over them on a regular basis and course correct where needed.
  1. Know the Marketer’s Trio and use it – Monthly Printed Mailed Newsletter, Weekly Ezines, and Random Touches. I teach about it at every workshop that I do. Those that know it and use it, find great success with it, and yet there are still people who don’t implement it.

It kind of reminds me of the Rob Lowe commercials – Don’t be like naïve me, and struggle for years because what I didn’t know was hurting me. Be like Million Dollar Methods me, learn everything you can and implement it.

What you don’t know, can hurt you.

Are You Networking to Stay Busy?

In the monthly marketing meetings I run, we are always stressing that it is not a networking meeting. It’s not a business card swap. It’s not the time for your elevator speech.  It’s a time to be selfish. It’s a time to work on your business instead of in it.
This isn’t because we are against networking. What we are against is wasting your time at various networking events and thinking that you are actually working.  Far too many entrepreneurs attend far to many hours a week and far too much money to be a part of networking events.

What are you learning at these events to help grow your business, to help grow your bottom line?

At our events we want you to embrace being selfish for a few hours and work on your business.  Work on improving your business so that you are more successful and more profitable.

And you know what happens?

Your business become more successful and you become more profitable and networking happens naturally.

I had a client that had decided to not attend meetings for several months. She held a large event for her company and realized that the people that we there to help and the people that were her quality customers were all people that she had met from our group. It really made her step back and realize that she had gotten so much more than she realized from being a part of our little secret society. This has prompted her to come back and rejoin us, and that decision will again catapult her success to the next level.

I’m not against networking.  I absolutely think there is a need for it, I just don’t want you to waste away your days “networking” instead of working to make your business a true success.

Be in the Know with Social Media

The problem with writing an article about Social Media is that all the information changes so quickly. What works on Facebook today, might not work tomorrow, but just in case it does, I’m sure you will find the following information useful.

Let’s start with Facebook…

On average a business page on reaches 3-6% of their audience with a post. So simple math – If you have 100 likes only 3-6 people see what you post. Those are not great numbers, especially not for how much time people are spending on Facebook. Remember that FB is a business. It wants you to spend your advertising dollars with them. If you do that, obviously your posts will reach more people, but how do you reach more people for free?

Let’s start from the initial “like” – You now have 48 hours to get that person to engage by liking a post or commenting or sharing… If they engage in those first 48 hours you are much more likely to be seen in their feed again. FB views that as them actually being interested and figures they want more of your content.

When you are posting there are a few rules that you need to live by. First and foremost, don’t post something within a half-hour of another post on your page. FB will think you are trying to spam and neither post will reach many people, if any. Always like your own posts. Pictures and videos are usually given more stock. It’s a good idea to comment with a link, but remember that if someone shares your status (which you definitely want them to do), the link want me with it. FB doesn’t’ give as much stock to scheduled posts through outside sources.

A good way to get people seeing your posts is to have a contest. With a contest make sure you are asking people to like the status, comment on it (preferably including tagging a friend or three) and to share the status. Doing all of these things will help you been seen by more people and get them engaged so that hopefully you will be seen by them again and again.

Facebook is still the most popular social media platform, but don’t discount the others. Remember that GooglePlus may not be where everyone is, but it’s owned by Google. That means posting on it, particularly links to your website, could help with your overall Google ranking.

A lot of people are on Instagram because it tends to be a happy place. It lacks a lot of the complaining and politics that go along with some of the other Social Medias. You have heard time and time again that a picture speaks a thousand words, so make sure you are picking great pictures to share with your following.

These are just a few points to make your Social Media work harder for you without you having to throw marketing money at it. Hope it helps!

The Marketer’s Trio

The Marketer’s Trio

There are many important things for a marketer to have in their toolbox and what I like to call the Marketer’s Trio is of utmost importance.

It’s pretty simple and consists of 3 basic points of contact with your customer or prospect.

The Monthly Newsletter –

Every business would see benefits from putting out a monthly newsletter to their customers and prospects. I’ve seen it work for Martial Arts Schools, Contractors, Coffee Shops, Auto Repair Shops and many many other businesses. I guarantee if you put it into place in your business you would see the difference.

To give you a quick example – Since the first month I learned about newsletters I put it into effect in my martial arts school. I put one out every month, and I saw results from it, but for some reason, I never implemented it into my tournament business. It wasn’t until years later that I decided I should give it ago. After sending out our very first one our business increased 66%!!! With even an option of an increase that great, shouldn’t you give it a go?

Weekly Emails or Ezines –

This is a way to constantly stay in front of your customers and prospects! But Marketer beware! This is not an opportunity for you to sell to them. This is the time to enter the conversation in their minds. Talk to them, make them feel like you know them and help them get to know you and your business. Make sure there is personality in your messages. And make it interesting! Give them a reason to not only open

and read it, but to look forward to it, and best case scenario – pass it along to their friends and family or other business owners they know!

Random Touches –

Let’s be honest, even if you say you don’t like surprises, everyone loves surprises, at least the good kind! Your customers and prospects should look forward to your weekly emails and monthly newsletters, but shake it up and bit and send them something random! Maybe it’s for their birthday, or for Thanksgiving or St. Patty’s day, or maybe you were just out and saw something that just screamed their name!

Some of my favorite random touches that I have gotten are a little glass pig to remind me that nothing is impossible and a little toy speed boat to remind me to speed to implementation!

There you have it! What I call the Marketer’s Trio!

Here’s to Your Best Year Yet!
AJ Clingerman

Everything is Marketing!

Everything is Marketing!

Usually you look at the things you mail out or your adwords or some coupon you ran in a discount book as being your only form of marketing, but the big lesson this month is that everything is marketing.  Every piece of your business that the consumer comes in contact with is marketing. 

 

 

Think about it –

 

 

Website –

 

If you get on a website that is hard to navigate, doesn’t give you what you want and gives you no reason to stay or leave any information – that’s bad marketing.  A good website gives you exactly what you are looking for, is simple to navigate and asks for your contact information right off the bat!  In fact, good marketing would offer something in return for that contact info. 

 

 

Phone –

 

What if people call your business?  Is your phone answered properly?  Heck, is it even answered?  Most people are not going to leave a message, so if you or your staff miss a call, it is likely you are also missing a sale.  Is your staff properly trained to stay in charge of the conversation? 

 

 

On Site –

 

Do people come in to your place of business?  Are you appealing to all five of their senses?  How does the place look?  Is it a mess?  How does it smell?  Do you have something to offer them to drink?  Is it a comfortable temperature?  Are you playing music that is inappropriate?  Seriously, you have to think off all of these things.  Every part of it is marketing. 

 

 

Packaging –

 

If you send out products – what kind of packaging are they in?  Is it something that impresses them, that they want to show their friends?  Did you send something extra?  Did you go above and beyond?

 

 

Marketer’s Trio – Specifically the Newsletter

 

Do you send out a newsletter?  Do you send it even to people who have raised their hand, but never actually bought from you?  Think about it – staying in front of them, keeping them up to date on your company as well as entertaining them…who do you think they will call first when they are ready to buy?

 

 Everything is Marketing!

 

Referrals –

 

Do you reward referrals or do you just hope and pray that people will talk about you, your company, your services, or your products? 

 

 

You –

 

How are you doing to market yourself?  Are you representing yourself and your product well?  Call it vanity or call it marketing, but you are part of your brand and you need to look the part.

 

 

You have to do all of it and you have to look at all of it as marketing!  It’s all marketing because it is either leading a person to the sell, or it is driving them away.

 

 

Think outside the box of what marketing is. 

 

Come up with some other ways that –

Everything is Marketing!