Attention Is The Motherfucking Currency. OWN IT.

IN: Marketing

Yo.

Just wrote an update to my Behind Closed Doors group, and thought it might be useful to share with you here, too. (Behind Closed Doors is my insider group where several times a week I put out quick-hit emails like the one below, sharing the deets on my own marketing + sales strategies for TMFproject, as well as share insights and useful information that I’m teaching my One Night Stand clients, and other advice that you can use to help your small biz rock and roll.)

Lots of fucks included.

I’m sure you’ll love it.

Hugs and a slap on the ass,

Ash
@TMFproject

What’s Happening Today

I’m in Maine. It’s fucking cold and rainy here. But I’m having fun, anyway. I’m with the guy, and he’s insisting on taking me out for a lobster dinner tonight. Except one problem–I don’t like lobster. (I know.) They remind me of big cockroaches. Actually, they’re related to cockroaches. So now we’re going to have the conversation where he, like everyone else and their mom, attempts to convince me that I just haven’t had MAINE lobster {or insert fish of choice}, and that I MUST try this particular one. Except I have had Maine lobster. And every other fucking fish. And guess what? I HATE FISH. That includes shell fish. FACT. So his ploy to somehow convert me into a shellfish lover will go awry. I don’t know what it is–but people always make it their own personal mission to be the person who converts me to a fish lover. I’m not sure if it’s because they like fish that much, or they just really don’t want to crack open giant cockroaches and wear that stupid bib on their own. Either way, this may be my greatest pet peeve.

So..there’s that.

Now! Business!

I just did a One Night Stand call this morning, and finished up some other One Night Stand jazz for someone else. I’ve been doing a lot of these with people who have local clients, and not so much remote based. And we’ve been discussing ways to get the attention of their local clients. A lot of people want to try and send the standard sales letter. And I keep encouraging them away from sending a standard sales letter, and really trying to think outside the box a little here. The phrases, “standard sales letter” and “attention-grabbing” should never go in the same sentence together. It’s just an oxymoron.

Here’s an excerpt from what I wrote in the final marketing document, and today I want you to think of what it is that you’re doing to get people’s attention. Are you? And if you aren’t, how can you really make yourself GET NOTICED? Bottom line: You’re running a business here, and this is no fucking joke. Clients aren’t going to show up at your god damn doorstep. You’ve got to hustle. You’ve got to DO something to be noticed. As much as you think your skills will market themselves, they won’t. It’s naive to think they will. Sure, you have to have skills to back up your talk, and continue getting business down the road, but if you can’t get someone’s attention, then you have no chance on earth at getting the contract to show off your skills. Attention is the motherfucking currency. OWN IT.

EXCERPT:

I’d encourage you to remember what happens when you get unsolicited mail—a lot of times, you throw it out, or leave it sit around and not bother with it. Now take that and multiply it by 20 and you’ve got what happens when an executive gets his or her mail. With that in mind, I encourage all clients to think outside the box when sending mail—what can you do so they have to open what you’ve sent? So that they just can’t resist?

You need something that gets their attention.

You need to demonstrate and prove that you aren’t like every other bullshit business trying to get their attention.

Even with individuals, who are being marketed to every single second of every single day.

So while I’m including the makings of a letter you can include, per your request, definitely consider some creative ways you could get their attention. For example, I think relevancy would work really well here: If you’re targeting a number of different non-profits, they all support different causes. Can you come up with something—an object, for example—that relates to their cause…and put your letter inside of it? Or with it? Or in a way that somehow complements it in a creative fashion?

A great tool that I tell people to use all the time when it comes to this is Twitter. Twitter. Twitter. You have access to these executives’ interests via Twitter, if they’re on it, and you can gather really, really fucking fantastic intelligence on them with regards to their interests and projects. This is INSANELY VALUABLE. More people need to use it. If I could have had Twitter when I did outside sales, my god, I would have blown things up even more.

You come across someone’s Twitter stream that you’re interested in talking to, and they’ve got a whole bunch of tweets about, say, the Boston Red Sox, you absolutely, 100%, need to be sending over a Boston Red Sox tee-shirt with your letter. THAT’S something they’ll open. And naturally they’ll want to know who the fuck sent it, so they’ll read your letter.

Yes, there’s a cost involved. That’s why it’s better to narrowly target your top 10 clients, for example, and work on making an impression, rather than just sent out a bunch of letters that’ll never get opened to 100 randoms.

That said, the cost will be returned to you in your ROI. Get a few of these big contracts, and you’ll see how worth it it really is. And even if they don’t need your services, you can bet your ass they’re going to tell everyone they know about the chick who sent the X, for example, because it’s a delightful surprise. And anytime anyone else in the industry needs your services, who will they remember? Bingo.

Hope you’re having a good weekend.

Fucking lobsters. Here I come. 😉

Ash

@TMFproject