Getting PR is a great way of establishing credibility in the market. A great deal of PR can be obtained by referral-hence FREE. This could be Newspaper articles, magazines or TV. Below is a recent interview I did for Emirates News on the UAE’s most popular station Dubai One. In my case I have to thank one of my clients James Reynolds of Incredible incorporated who is an expert in SEO and also appeared on this show previously.

It is perhaps ironic that his first question is “how can referrals help your business”? and I was on the show through referral.

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An interesting case of Word of Mouth. We were in Esposende Portugal ( Near Porto ). We had decided to go out for the night and did the classic and asked the Hotel for their recommendation. They sent us in a taxi to a place that was closed !!! Needless to say all dressed up and hungry we asked the Taxi driver if he knew anywhere. He took us to A Cabana. We were so impressed with the general atmosphere , the incredible food and their efforts to take things a little bit further, we kept going back.

Whether it was the free “local” homemade fire water or a just a dish of Weird Alien looking seafood they really took it to the next level. Checkout the video and photos and will someone please tell me what the green thing was?

www.acabana.net

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We all know that testimonials sell better than adverts.

Especially when the testimonial is from someone we know, like and trust.

It looks like facebook is getting really smart. They are now linking adverts to “LIKE”s hence the advert automatically transforms into a defacto testimonial for the product/service/event etc.

Immediately this increases the chances that you or I will also have a look.

This was a new tactic was bought to my attention by Abbas Alidina of Logicks a Dubai based social media company see here http://www.fastcompany.com/1818952/facebooks-new-ad-units-reveal-a-future-that-is-social-by-default

Please comment below with your thoughts on the subject

Have you ever noticed how the world’s tallest building is always built during economic boom and then a recession follows straight afterwards? Think of the Burj Khalifa and many other structures.

Economic trends are cyclical. Hence, tough times and boom times will continue forever.

During the good times companies do not tend to invest in marketing because they don’t need to – sales are good.

In tough times, they don’t invest because they can’t afford to.

The great thing about your network is, it is not effected by market trends it is there during the good times and the bad, always working for you. Well, it is if you develop it….

Start looking for those key relationships and develop them now. There’s never a perfect time.

The best time to invest in your network is NOW

In the fall of 1908, as Hill described it, “The Hand of Destiny reached out.” He was on his way to Pittsburgh. Andrew Carnegie had granted him an interview.

They spent 3 days together and Hill was invited back into the office:

“You now have my idea of a new philosophy”, Carnegie said, “and I wish to ask you a question in connection with it, which I want you to answer by a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

“If I give you the opportunity to organize the world’s first philosophy of individual achievement, and introduce you to men who can and will collaborate with you in its organization, do you want the opportunity, and will you follow through with it if it is given to you?”

Hill stammered for a few seconds and then blurted out with characteristic enthusiasm, “Yes! I’ll undertake the job – and I’ll finish it.”

Carnegie drew out a stop-watch and told Hill that it had taken him exactly 29 seconds to respond to the question, and he had been giving him a maximum of 60 seconds to reach his decision. If he had gone over that time, the opportunity would have been withdrawn: “It has been my experience that a man who cannot reach a decision promptly cannot be depended upon to carry through any decision he may make. I have also discovered that men who reach decisions promptly usually have the capacity to move with definiteness of purpose in other circumstances.”

I love this story
what are you procrastinating about that could change your life? Remember success lies just outside your comfort zone.

what was the last quick decision you took once presented with the facts that paid off?
Phil

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An irresistible USP!
(Unique Selling point)

I recently spoke to a web design company that was selling websites but didn’t have one themselves!

This seems strange on so many levels. Yet it made me think. I started to look at companies that help people to get new business, for example advertising agencies, web design companies, SEO and social media specialists, internet marketers and sales training companies.

What I found out astonished me! The majority (of those who tracked where new business came from- so many don’t) don’t actually get much new business through the medium they are selling to their clients. How can that be?*@!

Can you believe…

• Many advertising agencies don’t advertise their own services through the means they propose to their clients.

• The majority get on average 70-90% of new business by ______________? Yes, you guessed it – referral (word-of-mouth).

This I realized is a really cool USP for any referral / networking trainer because it means that we can work with any other business development company. If they get most of their business through word-of-mouth/referral marketing, we can help them to generate more of that business and show them how to make it predictable rather than by chance.

The challenge is… we just need to find one that will value such a system! My experience, unfortunately, is the opposite. Most of these companies blindly refuse to accept or believe in referral marketing. More often than not, they haven’t even thought about it and sometimes feel threatened by referral marketing companies, thinking that we are their competitor.

If only they realized… a company you see as your “competitor” can end up being your best referral source. Let’s face it – we all need advertising, websites, social media, etc. in order to be successful. But if your company gets 60% and above via word-of-mouth, doesn’t it make sense to add word-of-mouth /referral marketing to your marketing mix??

How sad that very few companies are allocating their marketing spend according to the methods that bring them the most business.

What do you think? I would love to hear your feedback.

I was at a networking event recently and someone asked for my opinion.

It was an interesting scenario. The individual was being sent bulk e mailers ( through Linked in ) They were basically started by “Hi”. There was no use of his name.

His issue was that:

Firstly, the mailers were so often that it was now annoying.
Secondly, the subjects were not of interest to him

While I thought to myself this is something I have heard a thousand times.People being put on lists and spammed relentlessly. What surprised me was the following:

He had originally asked to be included in this” linked in” group because he had known the person ( for about 29 years) but now he was looking to remove himself from the connection! In fact, what also became an issue was that they new each other so well, that he at least expected for his name to be used. He felt their relationship had been devalued.

He had also started to question the individual and his companies ability to do what they promised as a service which was to brand and market companies/people using the internet as a medium. This based on his own frustrations and experiences.

What are your thoughts? Are blanket emails ok? Do they effect your reputation? Would you have been annoyed in this situation? Was he over reacting?

Mike gives us his second tip from our trip on the mountain bike trail

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