From Guest Blogger, Ann Convery: How to Be The Answer to Your Client’s Prayer


October 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Elizabeth was an expert teacher and healer.

Potential clients saw her as a great help.

Elizabeth wanted future clients to see her, 
not as “great help,” but as  essential to their well-being.
But clients often don’t see you as essential 
unless you directly impact the bottom line.

“How can I stop being seen as the “help” – as in 
“I help men and women heal from cancer and chronic illness?”

Elizabeth sighed.  “People just don’t get what I do!”

If you provide a service where money is not the bottom line,
 how do you position yourself as a Trusted Advisor?
Or maybe even… the answer to their prayers?

You let your future clients know within the first
 two minutes that you impact their emotional or physical
 bottom line.

Their what?!

We all have several bottom lines.

If you need to lose weight, you’re very clear on
 your physical bottom line – it’s about 20 lbs lighter.

If you want to find your soul mate, you’re very clear on
your emotional bottom line – it’s called “Happily Ever After.”

If you are critically or chronically ill, you’re very clear
 on your health bottom line – it’s pain-free long life.

The closer you are to your client’s personal 
bottom line, the more valuable you are to them.

Here’s how Susan, Jackie, and Jeff, all experts in their field, were presenting themselves:

SUSAN SAYS:  “I help my clients lose weight and get in the best shape of their lives.”

YOU THINK:     “Go away so I can sneak another Danish.”

JACKIE SAYS:  “I help women find the relationship of their dreams.”

YOU THINK:     “Gosh, I’ve never heard that one before.”

JEFF SAYS:      “I help my clients heal from cancer and chronic illness.”

YOU THINK :    “Great.  You’re probably too ‘New Age’ for me.”

The problem for Susan, Jackie and Jeff was…

  1. Potential clients didn’t see their expertise as critical to their lives.
  2.  They gave their audience no clue that they were the answer to a client’s prayer.
  3.  They were therefore perceived as “Helpful” service providers.
  4.   All three experts even used the verb – “I help.”

Here’s how Susan, Jackie and Jeff repositioned themselves as
 Trusted Advisors, or, the answer to a client’s prayer:

SUSAN:  “I just worked with Jennifer, who went from a size 10 to a 4.  
The new man in her life asked her if she was a model.  95% of my 
clients achieve their ideal weight in 6 to 18 months.”

JACKIE: “85% of my clients are in a committed relationship in 12 months.  
I’m invited to so many weddings I can’t go to them all.”

JEFF:    “When I met Joan, the doctors had given up on her.  She was too 
weak to get out of bed.  1 month later she was walking.  12 months later 
she opened her own business, and now she’s training for her first marathon.”

When your clients look at you…
do they see a Helper?  Or the answer to their prayers?

You either add to their personal bottom line, or you don’t.
That’s how clients see it.

So if you want to be seen as a Trusted Advisor…
(and I’ve never met a professional who didn’t)
let your potential clients know within the first two minutes 
how you add to their personal bottom line.

Don’t be one of the crowd.

Be the answer to their prayer.
 Try it!  It works!

Copyright © Ann Convery 2011

Filed under business, Marketing, Networking, sales, Your Message Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Six (More) Insider Tips to Pitching the Media

October 6, 2010 1 Comment

In a previous article I listed five secrets to pitching the media.  Those work.  Give them a try.  But there are a variety of different ways to interest producers and editors.  Remember your job is to meet the media’s needs; to give them stories that talk directly to their readers, listeners or viewers.

When pitching, put yourself in the place of the editor or producer you’re pitching.  Before you pitch a story to Vogue, the Wall Street Journal, the Today Show or the local media, figure out what stories they’re looking for as opposed to simply concentrating on the stories you want to pitch.  Remember they are looking for new and unique angles that will interest their audience.

Develop your primary story:  Your basic story may well stay somewhat the same, but you need to modify the pitch to meet the needs of each magazine, newspaper, radio show and TV outlet.  Develop a number of secondary pitch ideas

If you work it right, you can position it so that they need you and your story ideas as much as you need you need them.  When crafting your media pitch don’t limit yourself to one angle or approach.  Develop a mix of story ideas.  Some of your pitches might be serious; others might be fun or lighthearted.  The following are six more PR secrets to placing stories in the media.

1) Position yourself as an expert.  For example, if you’re an attorney and a legal case is in the news, you can position yourself as an expert to discuss the case or the issues. You don’t have to be one of the attorneys directly involved in the case. What you need to do is present yourself as an expert who can address the topic.

2) Find a strong local, human interest-oriented angle to your story. When pitching the local media, keep the emphasis on the word “local.” If you’re a hometown gal or guy that has created a new product or service, talk about your roots to the city or the community. Bring the local angle and flavor to your story.

3) Always keep in mind that you don’t want to pitch your product or service to the media; you want to pitch the outcome and the benefits. For example, if you’re a physician, don’t pitch your expertise, pitch a patient story that the media can follow.  Give them a story.

4) Develop an underdog story, one where you beat the odds and won.  Everyone roots for the underdog and those types of stories have a great narrative.  You’re able to tell a full story complete with the problem, the journey and the ultimate overcoming-the-odds conclusion.

5) Disagree with a popular point of view.  Embrace controversy.  Explain why all the experts are wrong.

6) Use opposites:  men versus women, teenager versus adults, Midwesterners vs. west coasters, suburbanites vs. city dwellers, etc.

Have fun with your pitch ideas.  Be creative and remember, if you meet the media’s needs – you’ll always meet yours.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

Filed under business, Business Strategy, Marketing, Media, Media Coverage, Media Relations, PR, PR Campaign, small business Public Relations, Your Message Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Your Business Message Working?

June 30, 2010 3 Comments

There are myriad ways to get your marketing message out there.  You can try traditional advertising, direct mail, traditional PR, develop a dynamite website, email marketing, social media, blogging; Pay per Click, the list goes on.

If you’re in business, chances are good you’ve tried some or all of these avenues.  If not, you should start.  If you have and they haven’t worked, don’t be too quick to shoot the messenger, because that’s exactly what these different approaches are, messengers.

The important thing to realize is that all of the above are basically content delivery methods.  They are vehicles that we can use to send out our message to prospective customers.  But before you start your delivery, make sure you know exactly who you’re delivering your message to and, even before that, make sure that you’ve developed a strong, timely, targeted, effective message.  You may have developed the perfect marketing campaign for you and your business, but you’ll never be successful if the messageyou’re delivering is the wrong one.

This is a tricky one, you need to make sure your message is the right one and then look at how you’re delivering it, when and to whom.  Every business has a message unique to it and its customers.  Two similar businesses could have two very different messages; one could focus on quality, another on cost.  To develop a strong effective message, think the way your customers and clients think.  What do they need?  How does your product or service meet their needs?  Craft a short succinct messagethat is about them, not about you. It’s tempting to build your message around how wonderful you, your product or your service is, but avoid that trap.  Focus on how your business solves your customer’s problems, meets their needs, saves them time, makes them money, etc.  Craft your message around your client’s needs and your message will work.

That’s step one, you’ve developed an effective message.  Next define your target market.  Who is you perfect customer?  Your next step is to discover what media they watch read or listen to.  What sites or social media do they use?  Once you’ve definedyour message and target market, you have the information you need to decide on your most effective message delivery systems. You’re now positioned to create an effective marketing machine that will work.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

Filed under Build Your Business, business, Media, message, Your Message Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Regardless of the Medium, The Story is the Message

March 28, 2009 Leave a comment

 

“The medium is the message” is a phrase by Marshall McLuhan.  In his book, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964, he explained that the medium influences how the message is perceived.  So, what does that mean for the present?  Today, when all of the established mediums are basically crumbling around us and the overwhelming medium of choice is the Internet, what does that say about the message itself?  How can we now successfully convey a message through this relatively new medium? 

 

Although more people are able to deliver their message than ever before, the number of mediums is being reduced to one.  Whereas in the past people would choose to read a newspaper, watch TV, or listen to the radio, all of those mediums are funneling themselves into the Internet.  So how does the medium translate as the message?  The way we perceive the medium is as important as how we perceive the message. So, where is this new road taking us?  

 

Is it one comprised primarily of opinion-based information? 

 

Is peer review going to take the place of editorial review? 

 

Is vetted and fact-checked news now less important than on-the-scene, personalized, immediate coverage?

 

And, apart from information and news, how is this medium affecting the ways companies promote and market themselves?  How is advertising and public relations affected?  According to studies, at present, advertising is waning on the Internet.  The one-to-one correlations to print ad and TV commercials do not seem to be there.  How to monetize the Internet is still a question in search of an answer.   But, amid all of this change and flux, there does remain one constant, what people relate to are stories.  From the beginning of recorded history to the present time, our species is one that learns and communicates through storytelling.  So, amid all of the changes, the story remains supreme and those individuals and companies that understand this and focus on how to successfully articulate their stories, regardless of the medium, those will be the ones who will not only survive, but thrive. 

 

Copyright © Anthony Mora

 

 

Filed under advertising vs. public relations, business, Entrepreneur PR, Media, Media Relations, Public Relations, public relations expert, public relations services, public relations specialist, small business Public Relations, Your Message, Your Target Market

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