1.     Alliteration attracts attention. Before sending your message off to thousands of people, ask yourself if there are smarter word choices using similar prefixes. For example, your thought might be, “Saving ideas for tomorrow is like throwing them away in the garbage.” Good. Next, let’s see if we can make that thought more concise and more alliterated: “Tomorrow is a trashcan.” See the subtraction? Much better. Just don’t overdo it. Too much alliteration makes readers feel frustrated, frazzled, frightened and freaked out. Plus it makes you look like an amateur. On what basis do you claim your reader’s attention?

2.     Always brainstorm on paper. Or a whiteboard. Or a flip chart. Whatever. The secret is to help yourself experience the symmetry, visual rhythm and shape of your message that would go otherwise unnoticed if you just spoke it. This helps if you’re composing a message with a group. Posting the words on paper allows your idea to meet each individual where they are in the most democratic way possible. What’s more, sometimes all you need is to just look at your idea on paper for few minutes. Like a Magic Eye posted, you never know what message might come out. How are you leveraging visual tools to see your message differently?

3.     Avoid adverbial garbage. Let your words speak. Don’t tell people what they’re supposed to see in your art. Don’t make your readers do your job for you. If you have to tell them, you haven’t done a good enough job with the writing itself. For example, the man you met on the bus wasn’t “extremely attractive.” He was handsome. Or chiseled. Or had a smile like Denzel Washington. And the movie you saw last night wasn’t “amazingly dull.” It was laborious. Or uninspiring. Or made you want to gouge your eyes out with a spork. See the difference? Adverbs are for amateurs. And the more you use them, the more your writing resembles a studio audience with one of those big, glowing sign that reads, “Laughter!” or “Applause.” Is your writing doing too much work?

4.     Be more musical. In George Carlin’s On Comedy album, he discussed the power of rhythm in delivering messages. “If you sing while you’re speaking, they’ll hang on your every word,” he suggested. Lesson learned: If you can put your words to music, you’ve got yourself a message. Practice reciting them out loud. Snap your fingers or tap your foot as you edit. You might even turn some music on while you’re writing to keep the beat. The bottom line is: Musical is memorable. Is your message is singable, playable and foot-tap-able?

5.     Be specific or don’t use it. Unspecified attribution is the hallmark of dishonest communication. It’s also my biggest pet peeve. Seriously, next time I read a book that says, “Studies show…” I’m going to tear the page out and slowly paper cut each of my genitals until the living room rug is completely stained in red. If your writing contains any of the following phrases, you are lying to your readers: Research proves. Scientists say. Psychologists report. Experts believe. They say. There’s an old story that says. I’ve heard. Most people agree. It is said that. Critics say. Statistics show. Somebody once said. The reviews say. No, they don’t. They never did, never have and never will. Honesty comes from specificity. If you can’t back it up, shut up. Is your attribution specified?

6.     Be symmetrical. Verbal similarity is easy on the eyes, easy on the brain and easy on the tongue. Notice the geometric beauty of the following messages: “No labels, no limits,” “Ideas are free, execution is priceless,” “Get noticed, get remembered and get business,” and “Nobody notices normal, nobody buys boring.” Your challenge is to start looking for the mathematical attributes of words, sentences, phrases and ideas. You can do this anytime, anywhere, just for fun. Soon, you’ll develop an internal filter that changes thoughts into messages instantly by simply asking yourself, “How could this be more symmetrical?” People’s brains will thank you. Are you willing to become a mathematical linguist?

7.     Befriend simplicity. Simplicity is currency – we live in hyperspeed, A.D.D., instant gratification culture. Simplicity is approachability – complexity creates conflict, which creates avoidance. And simplicity is eloquence – it’s more listenable, more readable and more digestible. The challenge is that simplicity is hard. It requires more energy, more brainpower and more courage that complexity. My suggestion: Stop getting fancy. Trying to appeal to everyone inevitably fails. Simplicity, on the other hand, is a fashion that never goes out of style. Fight for every inch of it. Next, stop making things bigger than they need to be. Be courageous enough to go with something simple and focused. Your message will have the best chance of getting through (and sticking TO) people. And finally, stop complicating your message. It’s like admitting to your customers that you haven’t reflected upon or extended concern for them. Simplicity, on the other hand, helps customers feel in control. Remember: You have their attention for an instant. And people will not use up their valuable time trying to figure out what you mean. Are you creating riddles that take too long for impatient customers to solve?

8.     Break your writing down into speakable units. Compactness is a virtue. Scannability is a talent. And the kind of writing readers love the MOST is flowing, breathable and easy to speak. That’s why it’s always helpful to read your work aloud during editing, sculpting and incubation periods. It’s amazing how many sentences – that look great on paper – are unspeakable when articulated orally. So, this process helps you try out, switch up and rework your sentences into a more rhythmic, melodious and musical style. “You have to sing your words to your audience,” suggested George Carlin during a 2007 interview with Jon Stewart. How speakable is your writing?

9.     Combine playful and professional. The term “thought leader” has reached the end of its product life cycle. As such, when I write and speak about the topic, I preach the message of becoming a Smokin’ Hot Piece of Brain Candy. Much more fun. Much more creative. Much more memorable. And yet, it still drives home the value of thought leadership without being too cliché or too cute. How many messages have you silenced because you weren’t willing to have a little fun?

10.  Dance with language. This makes your message more inviting to look at. Here are a few examples: First, intentionally spell words wrong to prove your point: “Don’t be a know it all.  Dare to be dumm.” Second, intentionally overuse periods.  “This. Slow. Readers. Down.” Third, use single hyphens and extra vowels for some authentic sounding dialogue. “Mary, that steak was dee-licious!” And finally, make words up: “Getting called back is a function of being call-back-able.” Remember: Your English teacher isn’t around. Ask language to cut the rug with you. What linguistic rules are you willing to break?

11.  Elephantitus of the sentence is deadly. Concise comes from the Latin concisus, which means, “Cut off.” And the definition of the word concise is, “Removal of all that is superfluous.” Lesson learned: Compress the most words in the smallest ideas. Here’s how. First, keep a running list of words to delete, i.e., “some,” “should,” “that” and “very.” Second, constantly ask yourself questions. “How can I make this sentence shorter?” or “Is there a quicker way of saying this?” Third, give your sentences word quotas. Fourth, use Twitter to practicing trimming your ideas down to bite-sized chunks. Fifth, become a brilliant boiler. Practice extracting the essence of ideas into compact form. And sixth, silence your passive voice. Remove “-ing” from your verbs. Now, one caveat on this example: Don’t make the idea so short that it fails to convey the message. People are lazy and busy. The last thing you want is to make your readers, listeners and audience members do your job for you. Too concise isn’t nice. For anybody. Be pithy and be sticky. Compactness is a virtue. What do you need to remove from your thought to make it a message?

12.  Find a testing ground. As a writer and speaker, turning thoughts into messages is my job. It’s what I do all day. And test them out – in real time – on Twitter, Facebook and my blog every day. This is the perfect strategy for soliciting feedback, inviting new dimensions and gauging response. For example, if I post a dozen tweets in an hour, I look to see which ones get retweeted the most. This validates which messages have the strongest legs. After all, your success is determined by how far your ideas travel. And what people remember about you is what your message is. Do your ideas get retweeted or deleted?

13.  Hit people in the wallet quicker. The smartest marketing move I made – from a messaging standpoint – was to connect my books and speeches to the bottom line immediately. This increased my bookability by a factor of ten. For example, instead of just saying, “This book is about the power of approachability,” I started messaging, “This book teaches you how to convert approachability into profitability.” Instead of saying, “Everybody needs to know your name,” I started messaging, “Anonymity is bankruptcy.” Instead of saying, “You’re nobody until somebody hates you,” I started messaging, “If you’re not polarizing, you’re not monetizing.” And instead of saying, “Leaders need to be approachable,” I started messaging, “How much money is being unapproachable costing you?” Remember: Money gets attention. How long does it take for your message to connect to monetize?

14.  Meaningful concrete immediacy. Timely. Relevant. Practical. The “How.” Stuff people can use TODAY. That’s what your clients want. That’s what the media wants. That’s what your audiences want. When they’re listening to your words, they need to be thinking to themselves, “I believe it, I can do it and I’d like to try it.” Here’s how: First, make sure your message appeals to the aforementioned self-interest of the audience (meaningful). That means no talking about you. That means no telling stories. Second, give people the meat (concrete). That means no sixty-second dissertations. And finally, be actionable (immediacy). That means reach through the page, screen or airwaves, grab them by the lapel, and tell them exactly what you want them to do. How much MCI do your message contain?

15.  Never insult your audience’s intelligence. The amount of corporate drivel that passes as internal communication is astounding. I’m amazed that more employees don’t take offense to language like: Outside the box. Empower. Synergy. Paradigm shift. Integrated solution. Commoditize. Take it to the next level. Deliverables. Break through the clutter. At the end of the day. Get on the same page. Core competency. Benchmark. The big picture. Client-focused. Customer-driven. Emerging technologies. Put that one to bed. Service offerings. Vision statement. Really? Seriously? Do you WANT to make your employees tune you out? Those words are instant eye rollers. If your internal communications contain any of them, it’s not a message – it’s a mess. And nobody is going to listen to it. Whose intelligence are you insulting with the trite language of your message?

16.  Notice things and give them names. Everyone has heard everything before. And if there is nothing new under the sun, what do you say? Here’s your first clue: Create names, designations, acronyms and titles for the things you notice.  Make them original, creative and consistent with the branding of your philosophy. These names are your content, your products, your branding, your expertise, your marketing, your technology, your philosophies and your differentiators. As messenger Seth Godin says, “Part of the challenge in breaking through is finding a niche you can overwhelm.” Remember: When you name something, you can do something about that something. You can begin exploration and working with that something. You can help people talk about that something. You can change people’s thinking about that something. What are you naming?

17.  Oddly or ironically juxtapose words. “Nametags are alarm clocks.” Those two words don’t belong together at all. And that’s one of the messages I share with my audiences when I teach them about pattern breaking in the marketing process. Interestingly, they always remember it. Another example is, “Monopolize the listening.” This comes from my program about becoming an approachable leader. And although it seems counterintuitive, people remember it. Better yet, they practice it. Are you willing to upset the natural flow of your sentence to attract attention?

18.  Online tools are nudges. First, use the dictionary for official definitions for better understanding of your concepts. Second, research the etymology of words to pinpoint their linguistic and cultural history. Third, befriend the thesaurus to locate stronger, more muscular words to substitute for poor word choices. Finally, check out my latest discovery (the very awesome) Word By Letter. It’s your source for alliteration, rhyming and other language-dancing applications. What online tools are you willing to help your thoughts become messages?

19.  Package truth as nuggets. Thanks to the evil overlords at CNN & USA Today, we live in a sound bite society. And people are dying for someone to cut out the crap and just give them the meat. They’re too busy, too self-involved and too inundated with information to remember anything beyond eight words. Lesson learned: Don’t waste people’s time. Just give them all keepers, no fluff. Practice thinking and speaking in nuggets. People won’t change the channel on you. Is the packaging of your words reflecting the cultural reality of the world?

20.  Run the Bodily Reaction Test. One way to gauge if your idea is a thought or message is to listen to your body. It will never lie to you. For example, when my friend Dixie recently told me, “Money isn’t the target – money is what you get for hitting the target,” my stomach dropped. Her message sliced right into me. So, when you’re trying out your potential message on friends, customers or coworkers – don’t watch for opinions, watch for reactions. If they laugh, squirm, drop their jaw or nod their head, it’s a message. If they stare at you motionless like you’re speaking Cantonese, it’s just a thought. Remember: Emotion is the final arbiter of the effectiveness of your message. Are you watching for it?

21.  Seek self-containment. Unarguable. Self-evident. No further explanation needed. That’s the secret of a digestible, memorable and repeatable message. I learned this a few years ago on the Las Vegas Strip. Coolest t-shirt of all time. A teenager was wearing it.  The front was emblazoned with the New York Yankees logo. Right below it in big, bold letters, it said: Do the math. Friggin Yankees. Even if you don’t like them, you have to respect them. Not to mention their marketing department. Nice message, boys. Are you self-evident?

22.  Take the chotchkie test. Make sure your message is mug, bumper sticker, keychain or t-shirt worthy. That’s the acid test. Not only to see if your message would fit on such a small surface – but also to imagine whether or not people would actually keep one in their office and show it to their friends. For example, my office is filled with trinkets I’ve collected from my travels as an international speaker. And any time a client or mentee stops, I make it a point to share those items. Who’s doing that for your message?

23.  Use stopper words. Certain words almost always command people’s eyeballs, demand people’s eardrums and backhand people’s cheeks. They almost vibrate on the page. And it all depends on context, content, and whom your message is directed to. The secret is to think to yourself, “What unexpected word could I insert here that would make people stop what they’re doing and pay attention?” For example, a few formulas I’ve found to have amazing stopping power are, “…for losers,” “…for amateurs” and “…is overrated.” I wonder what you could do to make your message stoppable?

REMEMBER: If nothing seems to get through to people, don’t blame them.

 

People make mental notes.

Notes that indicate whether or not they like you.
Notes that indicate whether or not they should do business with you.
Notes that indicate whether or not they should refer their friends to you.

And if you read Blink by Malcom Gladwell, you learned that people make these mental notes quickly. Like, within a few seconds.

(Yikes!)

These ‘people,’ represent a certain pool of individuals.

Customers, prospects and strangers who are exposed to you, your brand and your values…

Who are just WAITING to check you OFF.

Or, check you ON.

Your challenge, then, as my mentor Jeffrey Gitomer says, ‘Is to be yourself so you become non-checkoffable.’

Become non-checkoffable. THAT is the critical key to making an UNFORGETTABLE first impression.

See, because they’re based on instinct and emotion; and because they’re usually correct, the first impressions people form about you will probably stay in their minds forever.

WHY? Because people put pressure on themselves to behave consistently with their own existing commitments.

This is known as the primacy effect. Meaning, the information people see or learn about you is more powerful than what is learned later.

FOR EXAMPLE: You meet someone at a conference. He says something that sort of rubs you the wrong way. Then, somewhere in the back of your mind you think, ‘OK brain, I’ve just decided that I don’t like this new guy Steve. Make a mental note to check him off.’

And that’s it. In your mind, he’s a gonner. Adios Esteban!

You’ve checked him off.
On the other hand, if you don’t want to end up like Steve, consider these three suggestions to avoid getting checked off:

1. Consistency. Between your words and actions. Between your values and vocation. Between your emails, phone calls and conversations. Because consistency is far better than rare moments of greatness.

2. Commitment. To service. To approachability. To delivering value. And most importantly, visually reminding people that you’re committed to them.

3. Coolness. Just relax. Don’t get caught up in the potential frenzy of first impressions. If you’re on a sales call, about to attend a conference or meet a prospect for lunch, try a few breathing exercises first. Whatever it takes to calm down and stay cool.

KEEP IN MIND: some people (about 10%), no matter how hard you try to convince otherwise, WILL check you off.

Don’t sweat it. They probably check everybody off. Which is why they probably have no friends.

Forget about the 10 and focus on the 90.

Practice consistency, commitment and coolness, and the majority of people you meet will check you ON.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What makes YOU check someone off?

Are you good, great or awesome?

One of the early lessons I learned about speaking (and business as a whole) was from Lou Heckler.

Man, talk about a great last name for a humorist, huh?

Anyway, here’s what Lou told me in 2003. I never forgot it:

There are three kinds of speakers in the world.

First, there’s a GOOD speaker. After he’s done with his talk, audience members come up to him, shake his hand and say, ‘Good speech. Thanks a lot!’

Then, there’s a GREAT speaker. After he’s done with his talk, audience members come up to him, shake is hand and say, ‘Great speech! That story about that guy you met on the bus really hit a nerve. Thanks a lot!’

Then, there’s an AWESOME speaker. After he’s done with his talk, audience members come up to him; but instead of shaking his hand, they give him a business card and say, ‘I want you to do that for my company.’

Wow.

And this isn’t just about giving speeches, either.

This is about value.

This is about perception.

FOR EXAMPLE: a prospect comes to your website. He has a look around. And then he emails you with one of the following responses:

1. Dear You: I just stumbled across your site, and I’ve got to say – it’s really good. Thanks a lot. Sincerely, Mike.

2. Dear You: I just stumbled across your site, and I’ve got to say – it’s really great! Love those articles and video testimonials! Sincerely, Mike.

3. Dear You: I just stumbled across your site, and I want to hire you. Call me this afternoon. Sincerely, Mike.

Which email would you want?

THE BOTTOM LINE: this is about excelling at doing what you do … particularly in front of people who can buy from you NOW.

Good.
Great.
Awesome.

Take your pick.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you good, great or awesome?

Are you worried about The Competition?

That someone else is going to come along and steal away all your business?

HERE’S THE GOOD NEWS: for entrepreneurs, competition doesn’t have to exist.

Not if you don’t want it to.

See, if your brand is uniquely positioned in a way that’s un-comparable, un-duplicatable and un-like anything else in the market – you won’t have any competition!

EXAMPLE: let’s say you’re a marketing consultant. But you’re the ONLY marketing consultant who works solely with paint shops.

You’re ‘thee,’ consultant for paint shops, not merely ‘a’ consultant in general.

You’re FIRST and FOCUSED.

Now, if a paint shop was hoping to hire an outside advisor like yourself, here’s what would happen:

1. The two owners of the paint shop would hop onto Google.

2. They’d find your website and think, ‘OK, these guys look great. But before we hire them, shouldn’t we at least check out a few of the other paint shop marketing consultants?’

3. But after a few minutes they’d realize, ‘Huh. Well, it looks like there ARE no other paint shop consultants. Guess we better hire these guys!’

Cha-ching!

Bye-bye competition, hello new customers!

So, if you want to eliminate the competition, remember these three keys:

1. Be ‘thee,’ not ‘a.’ Pick a lane. Go where others aren’t. Narrow the focus of your expertise and you will broaden your appeal.

2. Be the only one. That’s the true definition of unique – the only one. You need to be able to finish the following sentence, ‘We’re the only company who…’ or ‘Our website is the only one that…’

3. Be bold. Eliminating the competition isn’t for the timid. You MUST stick yourself (and your brand) out there. Don’t just be memorable; be unforgettable! Because if you get noticed, you get remembered. And if you get remembered, you get business.

Ultimately, if you practice those three keys here’s what will happen:

When your customer is seeking to hire someone like yourself, you won’t ‘be at the top of their list…’

But you’ll be so unique, so narrowly focused, so valuable and SO original, that your customer won’t even have a list!

Just have a big fat sticky note that says, ‘Get that guy!’

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Do you have any competition?

The cashier swiped my credit card.

She looked closely at the name.

‘HELLO, my name is Scott…?’ she said, ‘What is that?’

‘Oh, that’s the name of my company,’ I smiled.

‘Really? So what do you do?’

‘I wear a nametag all the time.’

She furrowed her brow and tilted her head.

‘Are you serious?’ she chuckled.

‘Yep! And I write books, speeches and training materials on approachability.’

‘Ohhhhh,’ she nodded. ‘I get it – that is so cool!’

She handed the card back to me. I thanked Susie for her help and headed out to my car.

And by the time I got back to the office, the lesson was obvious: cool names work!

Not cute. Cool.

Smart. Fun. Eye catching. EAR catching.

HERE’S WHY: In a world of infinite choice, it’s impossible for customers to keep all those company names straight.

That’s why you need to try extra hard.

Because acronyms suck.
Because nobody notices normal.
Because the world is crying for uniqueness.

SO, HERE’S YOUR CHALLENGE: when naming your company, make it cool.

And make it unconfusable.

Because creativity is magnetic.
Because monograms are NOT brands.
Because generic names generate generic business.

Also, remember this:

Acronyms are worthless.
Acronyms are nothing.
Acronyms say nothing.
Acronyms aren’t rational.
Acronyms aren’t creative.

And what you’ll discover (especially in conversations) is that cool company names tend to follow a three-step pattern of dialogue:

FIRST, someone says, ‘Huh?’

But wait, this is good! Because of your cool company name:

1. You’ve surprised them.
2. You’ve broken their patterns.
3. You’ve attracted their attention.

And the best way to capture someone’s attention is to B-R-E-A-K their patterns.

What’s more, you’ve created a hint of anxiety in the air. And this is the best time to give someone new ideas.

SECOND, you articulate your company’s value.

Your USP. Your value statement. Your positioning statement.

Make sure it’s clear, concise and emotional. No more than ten words. Leave no doubt in the other person’s mind what you do and how your company delivers value.

Consider the formula described in John Jansch’s Duct Tape Marketing:

Action Verb (what you actually do)
+
Noun (target market you do it for)
+
Benefit (the result of what you do)

For example, ‘I teach nurse practitioners how to provide more empathetic patient care.’

JUST REMEMBER: Surprise attracts attention, but only interest keeps attention.

THIRDLY, you await the ‘Aha!’

At this point in your conversation, you’ve already attracted someone’s attention. You’ve already delivered your value statement.

Now comes the best part.

You’ve heard of the ‘Aha moment,’ right?

Well, the challenge is framing your conversation in a way that supports it.

See, the only reason the ‘Aha!’ is effective is because you FIRST got the person to say, ‘Huh?’

That’s the magic of these three steps, when used properly. Huh?, then value, then Aha!

THE BEST PART: when you sandwich these two emotions (Huh? And Aha!) around your value statement, three things happen to your conversation partner:

1. You become awfully hard for her to resist.
2. You become awfully hard for her to forget.
3. You becomes awfully hard for her (not) to tell other people about.

AND LET’S FACE IT: the only time companies are successful is when people are actively and positively talking about them.

SO REMEMBER:

If you break patterns, you get noticed.
If you get noticed, you get remembered.
If you get remembered, you get business.

Do yourself a favor. Get a cool company name.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What’s the coolest company name you’ve ever seen?

It all started in Portland. I moved there after college because 1) I didn’t know anybody, 2) I didn’t have a job and 3) I’d never been there before.

All good reasons to go, right?

Anyway, I got a job slingin’ couches at a discount furniture store (more on how much I hated this job later). Now, because it was retail, I knew the days would be long, stressful and trying on my patience. So I decided to start ‘prepping’ myself mentally.

Across the street from my apartment on NW Irving was a place called Coffee Time. Every morning at about 7 AM, I grabbed a cup, found a comfortable chair and got myself situated. Then, for the next hour, I did a combination of the following things:

• Journaling my thoughts
• Reading positive, inspirational books
• Reviewing my goals and personal mission statement
• Meditating through breathing exercises
• Praying on the day, my concerns, etc.
• Emptying my mind of all things negative
• Practicing positive self-talk to develop a great attitude

By the time I finished my appointment, I felt revitalized, energetic, positive, enthusiastic, happy and ready to take on the day. I was mentally prepared to handle anything the world threw at me because.

That appointment laid the foundation.

I became addicted. I never missed a day. Even on the weekends. And no matter how busy, tired or stressed I was; there was nothing more critical to achieving daily success than my Daily Appointment. As a result, I developed an amazing attitude that began to attract success, happiness and yes, even money, into my life.

Then one day I overslept.

I think it was a Tuesday. I was running late and didn’t have time for my Daily Appointment.

So I skipped it.

BIG mistake.

I missed my bus, forgot to bring my iPod for the commute and ended up rushing to work about 20 minutes late.

I had a terrible day. First one in months. Everything went wrong. I screwed up orders. I snapped at customers. I was annoyed, upset, tired, frustrated and therefore, didn’t sell many couches.

Nine hours later I returned home from a day that felt like it would never end. And as I lay on my bed, I knew exactly where I went wrong.

Since then, I’ve only missed about a dozen daily appointments in five years.

That’s how powerful this habit is. It’s amazing. And I promise, if you start practicing it every single day:

o You will become less stressed
o You will have fewer bad days
o You will develop a more positive & attractive attitude

So, now that you’ve got that extra hour (providing you read the last chapter) here are a few guidelines for setting up your own Daily Appointment. Feel free to modify them to best fit your needs:

1. Solitude. No conversations. No distractions. You need alone time. If you choose to make your appointment at home, tell everyone else in the house that you’re not to be bothered. Treat it like a real appointment with someone very important. Turn off that damn cell phone.

2. Atmosphere. Music helps drown out the outside world and enables you to focus on clearing your mind. I suggest calm, soothing sounds. Headphones work best to really pump the tunes into your mind and help you focus.

3. Supplies. Depending on your routine, you’ll need journals, goal sheets, personal mission statements, positive reading material, headphones, pens, coffee and anything else you need to make this appointment the most comfortable.

4. Time. Before work. Before breakfast. Before working out. Before anything. Trust me, the earlier the better. You need to set the stage for your entire day.

5. Duration. There is no time requirement, although you can’t have much of a Daily Appointment in less than 15 minutes. In fact, a 1999 issue of Transactional Analysis Journal revealed that successful people spend at least 15 minutes every day thinking about how they can improve their lives. And if you think you don’t have that much time in a day, you’re wrong. You don’t have the time NOT to do this. Trust me, it’s worth every second.

6. Components. Although this part is really up to you, some key components include: reading something positive (that means NO newspapers), journaling your thoughts, reviewing goals (HUGE!), doing breathing exercises, practicing daily affirmations and of course, giving thanks. Other activities include praying, meditating, visualizing the success of your day, logging your dreams, etc. Feel free to personalize this appointment according to your needs.

Try it for a month. You WILL notice immediate changes.

Because there’s no appointment more important than the one you have with yourself. Every day.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What’s your daily ritual?

PICTURE THIS: your marketing team sits around a boardroom table.

Production on the new product is complete.
You’re prepared to take it to the marketplace.
Everyone is excited to share your cool new item with the world.

Then the VP of Marketing asks the BIG question:

‘So, what type of marketing should we use?’

Silence falls over the crowd.

And then you realize something: it’s a trick question.

See, if you can only come up with one answer to that question, you don’t understand marketing.

Marketing hinges on the concept of ‘It all depends…’

For that reason, it’s important to understand ALL forms of marketing.

For that reason, it’s essential to apply as many of them as possible to get the word out about your product.

Here’s a crash course on just about every type of marketing available. Pick the ones that best work for you and your company:

1. Affiliate Marketing. Promoting web businesses in which an affiliate is rewarded for every visitor, subscriber, customer, and/or sale provided through his/her efforts.

2. Article Marketing. A business writes short articles related to its respective industry. It makes these articles freely available. Each article contains a by-line, which becomes a filter for leads and a driver of web traffic.

3. Buzz Marketing. Viral marketing technique that attempts to make each encounter with a consumer appear to be a unique, spontaneous personal exchange of information instead of a calculated marketing pitch choreographed by a professional advertiser.

4. Catalog Marketing. Presentation of a set of items available for purchase, including description, price, and ordering information sent out to a targeted list of customers.

5. Cause Marketing. Any type of marketing effort for social and other charitable causes, including in-house marketing efforts by non-profit organizations.

6. Cell Phone Marketing. Also known as Mobile Marketing, this new phenomenon uses text messaging, pictures and videos on individual cell phone to broadcast marketing messages.

7. Chotchke Marketing. Giving away a free trinket, knick-knack or decorative souvenir to generate brand awareness and visibility.

8. Citizen Marketing. User-generated media, social networking–based, usually online viral marketing, which allows the people to be the message.

9. Community Marketing. Engaging an audience in an active, non-intrusive prospect and customer conversation. Either organic or sponsored, this type of marketing connects customers to customers; customers to companies and customers with prospects.

10. Conference Marketing. Creating a presence at a conference with via various mediums and techniques to reach a large yet targeted audience.

11. Content Marketing. Includes Article Marketing and/or any other form of free content distribution for the purpose of generating leads and driving web traffic.

12. Customer Focused Marketing. Constantly gathering information about your customers in an effort to better serve them. Improves the relationship between the marketer and its current and potential customers. Also uses existing customers to help locate new customers.

13. Database Marketing. A form of direct marketing using databases of customers or potential customers to generate personalized communications in order to promote a product or service for marketing purposes.

14. Digital Marketing. Promoting products and services using database-driven online distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner.

15. Direct Marketing. Driving purchases that can be attributed to a specific “call-to-action”. Direct marketing is distinguished from other marketing efforts by its emphasis on trackable, measurable results.

16. Drip Marketing. A deliberate, planned and sequenced system of deploying marketing messages over a period of time.

17. Duct Tape Marketing. The more layers you apply, the more your marketing sticks!

18. Ecological Marketing. Also known as Green Marketing or Environmental Marketing, this is the promotion of environmentally safe or beneficial products.

19. Email Marketing. A form of direct marketing that uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience.

20. Engagement Marketing. Also known as Experience Marketing, the provider and consumer are co-creators in product development and marketing processes.

21. Evangelism Marketing. An advanced form of word of mouth marketing in which companies develop customers who believe so strongly in a particular product or service that they freely try to convince others to buy and use it. The customers become voluntary advocates, actively spreading the word on behalf of the company.

22. Event Marketing. Promotional activities involving an event such as a sporting or social event, designed to bring a product to the attention of the public.

23. Fax Marketing. Using a fax machine, computer, or any other device to send an unsolicited advertisement or marketing message to another fax machine.

24. Forum Marketing. Bulletin and/or message board-based arenas use to facilitate discussion, build community and drive web traffic around a specific topic or market.

25. Free Stuff Marketing. Giving away free products, services or information (i.e., things of value) in order to funnel in customers who will hopefully purchase something at a later time.

26. Global Marketing. Also known as International Marketing, a company applies its assets, experience and products to develop and maintain marketing strategies on a global scale.

27. Grassroots Marketing. Delivering key organizational messages to key audiences where they live, work and play.

28. Guerilla Marketing. An unconventional way of performing creative promotional activities on a very low budget.

29. Mobile Marketing. Marketing via a mobile device, i.e., a huge hot dog, in order to bring together companies and customers.

30. Network Marketing. Also known as Multi-Level Marketing, a person recruits salespeople to sell a product and offer additional sales commissions based on the sales of people recruited into their own downline.

31. Newsletter Marketing. A combination of permission marketing and direct email marketing, this content/value driven technology allows marketers to regularly publish information to their target audience.

32. Peer-to-Peer Marketing. Changing the source of the message by involving your clients in the process of converting leads to clients.

33. Permission Marketing. Marketers will ask permission before they send advertisements to prospective customers. It requires that people first “opt-in”, rather than allowing people to “opt-out” only after the advertisements have been sent.

34. Personal Marketing. People and their careers are marketed as brands. Also known as Personal Branding, this suggests that success comes from self-packaging.

35. Piggyback Marketing. Arrangement in which one firm distributes a second firm’s product or service.

36. Reality Marketing. A form of Permission marketing that blends many types of interactive advertising techniques into a Reality television show format.

37. Referral Marketing. A form of Affiliate exchanging. Referrals are normally redeemed for cash, goods or services.

38. Relationships Marketing. Emphasizing on building longer term relationships with customers rather than on individual transactions.

39. Reverse Marketing. Encouraging potential customers seek you out instead of the other way around. Accomplished by delivering value first.

40. Search Engine Marketing. Online marketing methods to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages.

41. Social Marketing. The systematic application of marketing alongside other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good.

42. Target Marketing. Market segment to which a particular product is marketed, defined by age, gender, geography, and/or socio-economic grouping often define it.

43. Testimonial Marketing. Using third party endorsements to build credibility for a product or service.

44. Trade Show Marketing. A combination of various marketing forms used at a trade show to create visibility in and target a specific industry.

45. Viral Marketing. Using pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes.

46. Word of Mouth Marketing. Activities that companies undertake to generate personal recommendations as well as referrals for brand names, products and services.

So, what type of marketing should YOU use?

THE ANSWER: all of the above.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What type of marketing was NOT on this list?

It’s not luck.
It’s not chance.
It’s not accidental.

It’s not even serendipity. (Not completely, that is.)

‘Strategic’ Serendipity means attending an event, conference or other networking-rich venue with an attitude of expectation.

That something great is going to happen.

That opportunity is going fall right into your lap.

That you’re going to meet that one person who changes everything.

Here are 8 keys to practicing Strategic Serendipity:

1. Detach from outcomes. Sure, you have goals. Maybe to sell. Maybe to get in front of the right buyers. However, also try to focus less on the outcome and more on the big picture. Free yourself from agendas. Develop a no-entitlement attitude. And focus on having fun, delivering value and creating a memorable (er, unforgettable) presence.

2. Prepare yourself mentally. Before walking in the front door, spend 15 minutes affirming to yourself, ‘Today is going to be a great day! I’m going to meet cool people and give them value. Opportunities are going to come my way. I will attract success.’

3. Come prepared. Have every marketing material, business card and any other part of your networking arsenal easily accessible. Wear army pants and bring a backpack if you have to! Expectation attracts; but only if it’s supported with action.

4. Grow bigger ears. Listen to what the world is trying to tell you. Be on the lookout for people, situations and locations that seem to be begging you to approach them. Especially the unusual, unexpected ones.

For example, I once walked by massage booth at conference. The massage therapist saw my nametag and said, ‘Scott, would you like a massage?’ I thought about it for a moment, said yes, sat down and enjoyed my massage. A few minutes later when I rose out of my chair, the woman who was next to me in line turned out to be a reporter for a major newspaper. We struck up a conversation that ended in a 30-minute interview and a 2-page article!

LESSON LEARNED: say yes more.

5. Evaluate your surroundings. If you’re attending an event, conference or trade show, be prudent about geography. Ask yourself the following questions:

a. Where will I be the most visible?
b. What landmark are people constantly walking by?
c. Where are people most likely to engage with me?
d. Who can I meet that is likely to tell his friends about me?
e. Who else is this room could be that ONE guy that changes everything?

6. Stick yourself out there. Don’t plan so darn much. Just show up and be prepared to let new people and situations unfold by themselves. Put out your raft and ride the current. It will take you where you’re supposed to go.

7. Extend every encounter. When talking with someone new, ask if they’d like to continue the conversation over lunch or coffee. Keep the interaction alive. The longer you spend with someone, the more likely you are to discover how you can help each other. Also, find out if there are other events, happy hour or post-conference parties you could attend together.

8. Make your memory happy. After you meet someone, WRITE DOWN (either on their business card or elsewhere) the following things:

a. What she looked like
b. What you talked about
c. A few bits of personal info you can bring up next time you talk
d. How you can help each other
e. What your CPI (Common Point of Interest) is

9. Follow up. Use the information gathered from the previous example in your second approach. Prove your listening skills. Then, deliver something valuable like a link, recommendation or article.

HERE’S THE CHALLENGE: with Strategic Serendipity, you won’t always know when it worked.

Defining the ROI of something like this is tough.

But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.

JUST KNOW THIS: when you develop an attitude of expectation, prepare yourself mentally AND physically, and when you stick yourself out there, they WILL come to you.

‘They,’ meaning people.
‘They,’ meaning opportunities.
‘They,’ meaning new business.

Because it’s not chance. It’s not luck. And it’s not accidental.

It’s Strategic Serendipity.

And it works.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How do you create serendipity?

When I started my company in 2003, I knew the competition was fierce.

I knew there were thousands of other authors, speakers and consultants out there.

And I knew that most of them were twice my age, had three times my knowledge and four times my experience.

Yikes.

Then I heard fellow author/speaker Larry Winget say, ‘You have no right to write a book on a subject unless you’ve read every other book about that subject.’

Double yikes.

Well then. Looks like I’ve got some reading to do, I thought.

So I spent the next two years doing just that.

Researching. Annotating. Learning. Pouring over hundreds (nah, probably thousands) of print and online resources to expand my expertise.

And then something cool happened.

I noticed a gap.

It appeared that all these resources on communication, networking, first impressions, connecting and the like … had left something out.

That ‘something’ was approachability.

I loved that word.

It was musical. Emotional. Visual. A little long, but still powerful.

And then another cool thing happened.

I started reading a lot of marketing books, namely, Selling the Invisible, by Harry Beckwith.

And I learned the following four truths:

1. If you do not have a focus, soon you will not have a business.
2. Rather than sacrificing opportunities, a narrow focus often creates opportunities.
3. So: to broaden your appeal, narrow your position.
4. And therefore: go where others aren’t.

And that’s what approachability was.

A new lens. A new paradigm. A new philosophy.

A new and narrower (pardon the term)…approach!

It was my PDA, as my marketing professor used to call it. My ‘Personal Differential Advantage.’

So I positioned myself NOT as a ‘communication speaker,’ or a ‘relationships guru’ or a ‘networking author,’

…but as THEE APPROACHABILITY expert.

Focused. Narrow. Where others weren’t.

AND THE BEST PART: there WAS no competition!

So then, PDA is basically the difference between A and THEE. (In a non-holy way)

For example:

Are you A time management expert?
Or are you THEE time management expert…FOR NURSES?

Are you A small business consultant?
Or are you THEE small business consultant…FOR DRY CLEANERS?

Are you A personal trainer?
Or are you THEE personal trainer…FOR WORKING MOTHERS?

Are you A financial planner?
Or are you THEE financial planner…FOR FAITH-BASED NON-PROFITS?

Pick a lane.

Hit ‘em where they ain’t.

Be THEE, not A.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Are you THEE or A?

Brands are expectations.

Which means it’s your job to prove customers right.

To confirm their suspicions about the value you deliver and the values you stand for.

It ALSO means you need to be (somewhat) predicable:

1. In person.
2. Via email.
3. On the phone.
4. Throughout your marketing efforts.

Be (somewhat) predictable.

Disney calls this ‘staying in character.’ (After all, their employees ARE called ‘cast members!’)

AND HERE’S THE THING: you’re not that different!

OK, maybe you wear a little less makeup. But the distinction is, instead of playing the role of Snow White, you’re playing the role of YOU.

SO, THE CHALLENGE IS: how do you become (somewhat) predictable?

Here’s a list of three ways to maintain brand consistency:

1. RECORD Brand Moments. Keep a log of your branding ‘moments of truth.’ For example, write down any time a customer says, ‘I figured you would do that!’ or ‘It doesn’t surprise me to see your company…’ or ‘That’s exactly what I expected your website to say!’ After all, what people remember about you is what you are.

2. REMIND Brand Moments: in your office, post a bunch of sticky notes that read, ‘Is what I’m doing RIGHT NOW consistent with my brand?’ This will keep you accountable. And if you’re ever not sure if the answer is yes, well, consider that a hint.

3. REINFORCE Brand Moments: any time you do or say something consistent with your brand’s values, tell people. For example, if you email a prospect and say, ‘Well, my consulting fees are available on my website,’ don’t forget to punctuate that sentence with, ‘…because that’s the way I do business,’ or ‘…because that’s what clients have come to expect of me.’ They’ll appreciate your integrity. And people respond to policies.

ONE FINAL NOTE: don’t seek to achieve 100% predictability. There’s nothing wrong with throwing a few curve balls here and there.

Just remember, consistency is CRUCIAL to successful branding. Because consistency is far better than rare moments of greatness.

And…

Consistency leads to familiarity.
Familiarity leads to predictability.
And predictability leads to trust.

And TRUST is foundation of all business.

Especially when it really IS a small world after all!

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What’s your most predictable brand moment?