What does lead content vehicle mean?

The lead content vehicle is simply the one you start with, which all your other content flows from. It should be the one you are most comfortable with, which usually means the one you are most adept at. This means you will be most likely to persevere with your efforts, especially at the start before you get any followers.
It should also be the one vehicle that you create yourself. This is important because your personality will come across as more authentic.

Why blogging is my chosen lead content vehicle.

Blogging is my chosen lead content vehicle because I am most comfortable with writing. It is the skill I am most proficient at; my only grade A at O-level was English Language. Although I have authored several books, the shorter format of blogs means I can explore and create around many different ideas. I can also turnover more articles in a shorter space of time, allowing me to react quicker to trends. For longer form content, I will continue to draft books. This long form content will be led by what my audience wants to read about. I will get to know about this from my audience interactions and Google Analytics.

What to do afterwards

Once you have your lead vehicle established, you can start to branch out into other vehicles. This means that you are creating daily content and you have at least some traffic/audience. I would recommend repurposing your lead content, rather than creating fresh content.
The purpose of adding additional content vehicles should be to find more traffic to send to your lead content vehicle. As you add more vehicles, this will act like the spokes of a wheel, all pointing to the hub content.

Outsourcing

As you get more successful, you can outsource some of the functions on your lead content creation system, such as editing. Remember, though, that the creation should be done by you.
You can also outsource some or all of the repurposing. For instance, you can get videos transcribed into written pieces for blogs. You can also hire a social media executive to look after those tweets and blog posts etc.

The post What’s My Lead Content Vehicle appeared first on Mike Holden Sales.

Repurposing content is an efficient way to increase your reach and potential audience. Its efficient because, instead of creating new pieces of content for each platform you use, you take then one lead piece of content and repurpose this into multiple platforms. Here’s how I am attempting to do this. 

How I repurpose content 

My lead content type is writing. It is what is natural for me, I’ve always written and it was what I excelled at, at school. I’m not a natural presenter, although I have worked at this during my career in sales. I’m laid back as well, as you will see from my YouTube channel. 

My first step is the concept. I first get an idea of what to write about. At this stage I don’t know how long the piece will be. I will produce an outline using a mind map and then transform this into a linear outline, with section headings and subheadings.  

I will then start writing in free form around this outline. At the end of this process, I will then decide what the format will be. If the piece is over 10,000 words, it will become a book. Anything below this and it will be a series of blog posts or single posts. 

This is an honest approach and gives the reader more value. If the piece is not long enough to be a book, why bother padding it out? Just give the reader the essentials. 

Books

Once I’ve decided that the piece will be a book, I then go through a different process as to that which I go through for blogs.  

First the book needs a title and subtitle. I will produce about ten titles and then whittle this down to the best one. Next, I then find a great cover. I now use Fiverr for this. You can get a professionally looking cover for a few quid. I’m not a graphic designer, so I’m not serving myself by toiling over this chore. 

My editing process is different for books compared to blogs. I will edit each chapter as it is done and then if changes are made, they are re-edited at the end. I will also make sure that each chapter flows into the next. 

Blog posts 

Books can be split down into blog series. Each blog post should already flow to the next, but it is also important to make sure that each blog post can stand alone as a separate message. The reader can then decide whether to explore the rest of the series. 

Single blog posts are easier to manage. There is one message in the text, that I need to keep in mind. The single blog post, whether standalone or part of a series, then becomes the basis of my repurposing. 

YouTube 

The single blog post, if around 700 words, is an ideal length to be repurposed into a short video of around 5 minutes. I will record myself reading out the blog post on my phone and then use Camtasia to edit this video. Camtasia also allows you to add incidental background music, annotations and splice in other video and photos.  

I go through a multi-step editing process to get these videos out. 

What I plan to do 

I’m aware that there is much more I can do around repurposing, for instance I am planning to breakdown these shortform videos into even shorter forms that can be uploaded to twitter/X or Facebook. Camtasia will allow me to do just that.  

With the text itself, this can also be repurposed. I am planning to set up a Facebook page and dedicated twitter/X account, so that individual blogs can be split into shorter soundbites and pieces. Other platforms that I use such as LinkedIn are also opportunities for me to expand my reach. 

The one thing I am clear on, however, is that I will concentrate on maximising one platform at a time before I add a new one. There is too much to learn, to start trying to do everything at once. That is why I am concentrating on building up this blog first. 

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Marketing of your coaching or therapy business needs to be consistent. It is not something you do once or twice. It should be a regular part of your working day. In this short post I give you an overview on how to market your coaching or therapy businss at the very start. See my series on selling.

Off-line marketing

Be Remarkable

This means people will remark on you. Have you thought of how much you will charge? Plan to charge as high as you can. You will then attract the type of client who is serious about personal change and development.

A few don’ts

Don’t do leaflet drops or newspaper ads or shop windows, unless you want to attract the type of client who responds to those types of marketing.

Where to market yourself

Be where the people are going to be looking for your services. So who are your ideal clients going to be and where do they congregate? Make it your mission to get into these places. Remember, it’s always easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.

Freebees

Giving away freebees can be a good way to gain some client testimonials in the very beginning. However, do have a plan to start charging as soon as you can. From then on, only give free sessions as a volunteer, rather than as a marketing exercise.

Finally, whatever offline marketing you choose do it professionally and stay consistent.

On line marketing

Websites

Choose a URL, which is easy to remember and type.

Website terminology is similar to the old printing press terms. For instance, you will have a first fold. This is the top of your home page, which is visible in a browser without needed to scroll down. This acts like the top of a page of a broadsheet newspaper folded over.

You only get seconds to make an impact to someone visiting your site. So cut to the chase and put in a Call to Action – like “Click here to start today”.  Start to collect a list of email addresses, which you can send marketing emails. You could give away something free in exchange for a visitor to give you their details.

Always have an about me page. It is essential that people visiting your site know that you are a real caring person. Put a good quality picture of you here.

Also on your About Me page you can list the benefits that clients will get if they work with you. Less is more here. Maybe you will want to specialise in one or two areas.

Don’t bother putting all your qualifications here, just one or two relevant ones. Remember people are only interested in what they will get.

Use emotional words in your copy. This makes you a real person and people like to deal with other people.

Pay per click – Google AdWords

Google AdWords can be a great way to generate traffic to your website in the beginning. Here you pay google every time someone clicks a link in an advert, to go to your site. You can determine where these adverts go and, for instance, they can be on the search page on the right-hand side or on other people’s sites that have opted for Google AdSense.

However, there are a few words of warning. Your website needs to have a professional appearance and optimised around a good Call to Action, otherwise people will be enticed to your site and once they get there, they will just bounce right off.

Secondly when you need to be very careful to budget for what price you are willing to pay and how many clicks per day, otherwise it can get very expensive.

Facebook ads

In a similar way to google AdWords, you can pay for Facebook ads that will show up in people’s newsfeeds. Facebook ads are better than google AdWords, in a sense, because you can really target your desired market. You can target by geography, interests, gender, age etc. the list is almost endless.

Offline Marketing

Networking Events

One the first things new business entrepreneurs do is get their business cards printed. Don’t let this be the first job you do as people rarely follow up on business card swaps. The way to stand out from the crowd, especially at networking events is to swap business cards, but you do the follow-up. Assume the other person won’t follow up.

Cold Calling

Good old fashioned selling – getting on the phone and making things happen is the most effective way to get your business off the ground. It may be useful in the beginning to target companies for your coaching and therapy business. There are advantages to this. Firstly, you can charge more, but also once you have a corporate client you can use them as a great testimonial.

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In this post, I go through Pat Flynn’s points on how to set up a sustainable online profitable business.

There are firstly two things that all businesses must fulfil in order to find prospective customers and to convert them into buying customers. Those two essentials are:

1. The business must provide value or a service that people want or need.
2. Secondly you must find a group of people and find out what is causing them pain.

Here are Pat’s four business models that you can adopt, which I will go into detail about.

1. Arbitrage
2. Share a message.
3. No ideas/no business/no audience
4. Static website/niche site

1. Arbitrage

Arbitrage is buying low and selling high, simple as that. It is not strictly passive because you have to actively look for buying opportunities and then ensure when you sell, it is at a profit. Although it isn’t passive, it is a good start for the budding online entrepreneur.

Here are a few examples of arbitrage.

Location arbitrage

Location arbitrage is when the prices of a certain product are higher in some locations compared with others. For instance there might be a physical shop which sells goods at a discount near to you. You could buy these goods bulk and then sell them online at amazon or eBay, to people in areas where the prices are higher. They get a discount and you can get some profits.

Time arbitrage

This is when the price of something varies over time. It is as simple as buying when the price is low and selling when it is high. Here you capitalise on the fact that some people will buy when the price is high, just because they need the products now.

Knowledge arbitrage

Here you buy products, which you are knowledgeable about from somewhere where there is no information given by the seller. For instance it could be from a seller on eBay who has listed the item with a basic description and poor quality photos.

You would then re-list that product at a higher price with a detailed description which would help prospective buyers to make a decision.

2. Share a Message

Then next of Pat’s models is where you share a message and become an authority figure on a certain topic. The objective is to build a tribe of loyal followers, who are interested in your topic. You create a brand that the tribe can relate to. Usually this is done around your own website/blog. You would then collect their email details, so you can message your tribe with more in-depth information. This builds trust in the mind of the customer. Occasionally you will also then market your products, services and consultation to your tribe.

This model takes a lot of time and is an ongoing process. You can speed the process up by piggybacking on to other blogs and platforms. Your objective here is to get them back to your site.

The key with this model is patience and consistency. The rewards will come after a time and will be longer lived.

This methodology would be that espoused in 1,000 True Fans .

3. No ideas/no business/no audience

This model intrigued me. How could you possibly start a business with no ideas, no previous business and no audience? Pat explains this model thus:

First you call a small local business up or meet up with them at a networking event. You ask them this question: What do you do that you hate in your business, or that you need help with? When they give you the answer, ask them why this is a problem. Then ask if they would be willing to pay to solve this problem. How much?

When you have the answer, you simply go away and develop an app, product or information product to help them.  Once you have developed the product, you have a proven market already.

4. Static Website or Niche Site

The saying goes that the Riches are in the Niches (which doesn’t rhyme when I say it). This is different to your authority site, where you build up a tribe of loyal followers. A static or Niche website has a finite amount of information in it, to allow the reader to reach a certain goal. And that’s it, nothing more. This site will be have a define focus on one problem.

The logic here is that it is easier to specialise than to generalise.

Here are a couple of methods to choose your niche site:

a) Pick a Market

Pick a market you are interested in or have some affinity for. Have a look on Amazon.com and look up this category of products. For example Photography. Then pick a subcategory. Then keep defining the sub categories to smaller and small categories as per your preferences. Keep dividing down until you get to a specific need, that you could be an expert in.

So a photography category might niche down to Studio lighting for photographers on a budget. Cars might go down to mini-vans for families with more than two children. Pets could go down to breeding Betta Fish.

This method starts with your interests and works down to a need.

b) Keyword Search

This method is the opposite of the niching down method. It is the use of keyword research. Here you use a keyword research tool. (There are many of these such as Google’s Keyword Research Tool). You research the search terms that people are typing into Google. You are looking for The Longer Long Tail . These are very specific terms or phrases that people will search Google for. The more specific the search term is, the more the searcher is willing to spend money on it. For instance the search term TV is so monstrously broad that it is next to useless. However your long tail search might come up with Samsung TV. Now this is better, but still very broad. So next you put Samsung TV into the Research Tool. Then it might come up with Samsung HD Smart TV. This is getting very specific. Finally you are lead to Samsung UE55K5500 55-inch 1080p Full HD Smart TV. This is so specific that it can only have been searched for by someone with their credit card in hand, ready to buy.

Now, what if you created a small niche website reviewing the Samsung UE55K5500 55-inch 1080p Full HD Smart TV, with an affiliate link to a site selling it? You would get very targeted traffic to your website. Your website would be small, very focussed and probably short lived. It could however be very profitable.

The post 5 STeps to Set Up a Sustainable Online Profitable Business appeared first on Mike Holden Sales.

If you have followed the steps in this book, you have learned how to trade in your passion. In the previous chapter, we discussed about having your own online presence, telling the world about your passion. Could you actually provide a service to other people, to help them in whatever your passion is? I’ve read tons of biographies of successful business people and they all have one thing in common, they learned how to provide a service. This means they learned how to become valuable to people in some way.

How to Provide a Service

Think about what your passion is. What do you enjoy doing the most? If you won the lottery tomorrow what would you spend your time doing? What are you good at? What do other people tell you that you are good at? Still stuck? What do people come to you to help them with? Fixing computer glitches? Putting flat-pack furniture together?
Could you Coach someone in your passion. E.g. Do you love gardening? You could have a little side-line buying and selling in garden utensils, then, have a website up and running giving tips for gardeners. Then you could provide a service to people, mowing their lawn or weeding their garden???
Or, are you passionate about personal development? Then you could buy and sell self-help books. Your website could show people how to get what they want in life. Then, you could become a life coach?

2 minute marketing tips

How do you go about telling the world about your business. Here are three ways that can get you up and running.

Your Website: You should already have your site up and running and remember I said to put a method of visitors to contact you, well why not tell them you offer a service doing xyz?
Word of mouth marketing: It should go without saying that because this is your passion, you will give exceptional service. Because of this, your customers will become your fanatics. They will sell your services for you.
Social media: Tell the world what you are up to and people will come.
Once you have paying customers, you could use some of your profits to buy pay-per-click ads on Google or Social Media. Check out Bluehost for more on setting up your website.

Advertising

The list of methods for advertising your services is massive but here are a few cheap ones. (Remember though, you pay for what you get.

Ads in local shop. I had a quick look in my local Newsagent yesterday and you can put up a small notice in the shop window for £3.50 a month. Just think how many people might notice it?
Leaflet drop – print off your own or maybe pay on online printer. One tip I learned is to do three leaflet drops, one per month. Statistically people only take notice of leaflets the third time they see it.
Ads in local newspaper – for a few quid, this old style marketing method still works wonders.

There are only so many hours in the day and there is only so much service you can give, so why not turn your service into a proper business? That’s the next step: Scaling Up Your Business.

The post Provide a Service appeared first on Mike Holden Sales.

Proper and accurate information is required before you put your sales plan together. Market Intelligence should also be an ongoing process. The information could come from the ‘field’ ie the Sales Team and so a good Sales Manager would put together a system of reporting, so he or she can detect changes in the market. The sales strategy can then be adjusted accordingly.

Environmental factors.

This is anything external to the business and can include corporate changes, such as Head Office directives. Another example of an environment factor could be competitor information. For example, have they produced new a product line? SWOT analysis can be very useful in this exercise. There may be new Legislation coming out which should be taken in account in your sales strategy. Next what about factors in the economy in general? Will there be a squeeze on Capital expenditure this year?

Data/Information sources.

Information should come from your own people in your business, such as other departments, higher management or the salesforce. With experience, a sales person will get a feel for the market, what will sell well and what won’t. This too needs to be taken into account. Information can also come from your customers. What are their challenges or requirements? More in-depth information can be derived from market research studies.

Analysis

The final task in the gathering of information is to analyse the data. The objective to this is to decide on which sub markets and products to target based on their attractiveness, but also to take advantage of opportunities or eliminate threats.
Once you have completed your first Sales Strategy you start prospecting. You will find that ‘out in the field’ your initial basic assumptions will be proved correct or false. Either way, strategy then becomes cyclical and is not something you do just once.

Who Are Your Target Market?

For you to know exactly where to sell, you have to analyse your product first. For you to do that, answer these 10 simple questions:
Who are the direct beneficiaries of the product or service you are selling?
Are there any indirect beneficiaries? If so, who are they?
Who can afford these products? What’s the income bracket of the persons who are willing to buy them?

Would these people prefer to buy them in cash or through other payment methods, like credit card or check? Do they have to sign a loan or an installment plan agreement prior to purchasing?
Where will your market use these products? Will it be at home, in schools or at work?
Who are the people that are most likely to buy? Are they male or female, married or single, young or old?

Is the product a necessity? Alternatively, is it just a luxury?
Is the demand for the product seasonal or is it the same all year round?
Are potential customers already aware of this product, or is it something new and innovative?
Do these people have to gather decision-making data or would they be capable to buy at the spur of the moment?

These 10 straightforward questions would effectively take you right in front of the people where a big chunk of revenues will be coming from. After listing all the definite answers to the questions, you should have a clear idea where your potential markets are. You should then be able to have a good idea as to what method of attack you should use for your every target market.

Segregating Your Market

Still referring to the answers you have for the questions above, you may notice that you have a rather diverse group of buyers. It is possible that your product caters to a big group of people, young and old, male or female. Segregating your market is essential so that you will be able to cater to their individual needs. According to several researches, doing that will take you closer to your prospective buyers and eventually, to sales and profit.
To segregate your market successfully, there are the things that you have to remember:

Determine the distinctive needs of each group of people

Male executives buying your product will have different reasons from single mothers who will be buying it. Although you are selling the same goods to these two sets of people, the presence of their individual needs and benefit remains. This is something that you have to think about as you plan your sales pitch.

Conduct research

You won’t effectively know your target market if you are just guessing what their needs and wants might be. You have to know for sure and should not settle for the if’s, but’s and maybe’s. Send out a survey. Consult with the experts. Read about these people and be properly informed. Know how your competitors do it. Alternatively, if your budget allows it, hire a company to do all of these for you. Then test your market. Assure yourself that you are following the right strategy.

Speak your market’s language

You have to speak the particular group’s language. If you intend to sell to teenagers, you have to talk like one of them and not like strict parents asking them to do this and do that. Speak as if you are a teenager yourself. Know what their heart’s desires are, and give those to them exactly. You should talk like a member of their group, and not an outsider wanting to be a part of it. Your target market will most likely detect a hoax when they smell one. The effects of that are rather unappealing.

The post Market Intelligence appeared first on Mike Holden Sales.

Today, there are a lot of sales tools to make yourself known and reach as many customers as you can. These tools are essential in your business because they can help propel you to success.

The Telephone

The telephone is a very important business tool. In fact, it is widely used right now by both small-scale businesses to large corporate empires. Call centers are set up everywhere, even carried offshore to maximise cost and efficiency. Why? It’s because the telephone is very powerful. You can inquire a product through phone, place and confirm orders, and collect payment through this device. As a salesperson, you can reach your possible customers without leaving your home or office. You can talk to them at their most convenient time. You don’t need to worry about traveling, what to wear or where to meet. All you have to do is to press a few numbers on the keypad, wait for the person to answer on the other end of the line, and you have a deal brewing right under your nose. I will go into more detail on telephone prospecting later.

Local Community Groups

To realise your goal much faster than expected, you have to first reach the local groups with which they belong. It is advisable that you become known in the local community you would like to penetrate first. You have to build your reputation well, so to speak. You will benefit most if you use the power of the word of mouth. If everything goes well, you might not have to go to your customer at all. They would be coming to you instead.

Advertising and Publicity

Publicity will take you miles closer to your targets. Publicity includes the tri-media, as it is more known today. The newspapers and other printed materials, the television stations, and the radio airwaves are the things that corresponds to publicity. Spots for these may not come free, but it is worth the investment, especially if you get to make your product or service known to the masses. If you are lucky, you might just come across some of them at no cost at all. Whichever the case, you have to make sure that you choose the one that reaches your most probable customers. Don’t be too overeager and buy a television commercial spot right away only to find out that you’ve place your ads for car paints on a fashion TV show, which does not jive at all.

Direct Mail

There had been a time when direct mail is a breakthrough in mass marketing. Direct mail straightforwardly informs your customers of your sales activities and promotional offers that come with it. Direct mail connects you to the very people you want to contact. It fixes in a very personal level what your customer cannot easily resist.

Sales Promotional Materials

These are your massively produced paraphernalia, usually paperwork. Your brochures, leaflets, and inserts are what compose this category. If you want to reach as many audiences as possible without caring so much for pre-qualifying, this is the way to go. Print out thousands of leaflets and scatter them all over town. Call the local newspaper dealer and strike a deal with them, putting your inserts to all periodicals for a certain fee.
Of the three, brochures are quite different. Some brochures are printed on glossy paper and usually come colored. You don’t want to put these to waste by just giving it to somebody who is not at all interested. In essence, you have to give this only to the people who are opting to buy or are most likely to buy.

The Internet

Currently, there is no marketing tool that is as powerful as the Internet. The Internet is an avenue for everything. It is so popular even kids know how to use it. The Internet is where everybody virtually meets. If you want to market your products to the rest of the world, you can use the Internet. It is the most inexpensive way to do it. Today, everything can be done online. You can advertise, sell your product, and receive payment, all without leaving the comforts of your home or office. All you need is some knowledge of how e-commerce and internet marketing works, and get ready to be swept away by voluminous orders.

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