How My Son Increased His Band's FB Fans by 570% (Without Spending a Dime)

It's no secret I want to kill Social Media. I consider 72.3% of it a cocktail party with no end and even less of a point. Yet the remaining percentage has some viability for business. The more we experiment, the more we "throw out" the useless, and the more I see a twinkle of marketing light at the end of the tunnel.

No need to send the "But you're a caveman" argument my way; service businesses rank barely above funeral homes and municipal services in number of "likes". True. So this ain't about fixing me. It's about finding a fix for the losers who are selling YOU this current crock that Social Media is the "answer" to your marketing ills. Hardly. It is the answer to their marketing ills.

Last month's Coaching Call with Sheila Lathan (www.snappysocialmedia.com) showed a path that has worked for us and clients. In another call, we found intelligence and strategy in the approach from www.marketinghardware.com. Those traits are mystifyingly lacking in most other presentations.

Yet, as the formula continues to change, and we continue to throw money and brain cells at the answer, I mentioned we were also experimenting with:

1. Facebook ads. Yeah, I know Social Media is all about peace, love, and understanding but somebody mentioned "ad revenue" in a meeting and Zuckerberg clearly liked it. Though I would personally like to torture him for lowering the collective IQ of those addicted to FB, our ad experiment increased "likes" from 104 to 822 in 21 days. A 790% increase.
   
   Calm yourself. An upcoming Coaching Call and later SMI will cover this technique. For now, focus on this no-cost gem...
   
   
2. Bribery. Oh whatever. There are groups out there who you can pay to generate "likes". Sure, it sounds like digital prostitution to me too, so I didn't go that route. Then my son discovered a way (actually "re" discovered an old principle forged anew) to earn likes and shares, deceptively simple, and astoundingly effective.

He was doing it the "old" way that everybody tells you to do - very slowly, gaining single digit additions after each effort. He then made one change and fans went up 570%. Click to see how (plus get free music, really) ...

"What's So Valuable About THAT?"

Mood, Money, and Meaning during Christmas

To me, trampling fellow shoppers to save another $10 on a flat screen TV is not in the true spirit of Christmas. Even if the price tag has a smiley face, and the significantly over-nourished counter attendant is wearing a Santa hat.

This one scene contains the elements that Christmas forces us to ponder: mood, money and meaning. Yes, I just used the word "Christmas" instead of the very PC "Holidays". The day signifies Christ's birth, so the celebrant's name is used for the day. Same reason we call it George Washington's Birthday on - oddly enough - his birthday (although advertisers have used it to mean, "Get a great buy on bed linens!").

Since I'm not adept at rewriting history, "Christmas" it is. So let's change the mood. This time of year calls to our very core to "be of good cheer". The embittered feel that this is fakey or insincere if you don't really "feel" it. That's great if the Grinch is your hero, but most neurologists would disagree.

The scientific community (many of whom are embarrassed to be in this editorial) contend that if you do smile, if you do utter affirmatively, if youdo flood your mind with pleasant thoughts, the "pattern interrupt" redirects endorphins causing at least a tinge of euphoria. If those feelings are supported (by others, music, doing a pleasant chore) then the tinge becomes a mood. Thus giving the only credence you'll ever hear to the phrase 'Fake it til you make it'.

The corollary is also true, since bleakness fed is bleakness strengthened. Reminds me of Arthur Miller's fine comment: "Some people brighten a room when they enter it; others when they leave." So, without a hint of fakery or insincerity, I encourage and wish for you to be of good cheer. Beats the alternative.

Now for the real mood changer: money. Today this comprises 3 groups: the "haves", the "have nots", and the "haven't quite paid for the haves yet". The last two groups ain't all that happy about their money situation. Been there.

However, years ago in my earlier quest to absorb every mental stimuli known as "self help" I remember that Robert Allen and Dr. Joe Vitale both alluded to a startling, very different way to view money that changed my perspective forever.

"OU812?"

Some of you will recognize the above as the 8^th album by Van Halen released 1988. I offer my own version of 8's and bulges below, starting with everyone's favorite food-induced coma day...

8 Things of Thanks

1. I'm thankful that after eating lethal quantities of oyster dressing that my belly button didn't actually shoot off of my personhood and hit someone. That would be hard to explain, but would reduce the number of family members I'd have to talk to next year.
   
   
2. I'm thankful that I took an extra day off before Thanksgiving, though I couldn't quite figure out what to do with that time slot known as "nothing". I'm a failure at relaxing.
   
   
3. I'm thankful that it never, ever, ever crossed my mind to "occupy" a city in protest of greed. I do oppose greed, as most do. Yet others help disempower it through charity, works, example andnot focusing on it. Second point here and I'll shut up: If greed is amassing unearned bounty, how is demanding equally unearned bounty supposed to offset it? Sorry. Maybe it's the Oyster Dressing talking.
   
   
4. I'm thankful that my daughter is involved in looking at college choices. And getting a scholarship. At her age, I have a fleeting recollection that when the first college accepted me, I was on the way there before they recalculated admission standards.

And if you can stand anymore, here are 4 more,

which includes at least one rather embarrassing admission. Hide your children's eyes...

Tree Dude, Part 2

I had no idea that Part 1 would trigger such response. In fact, there wasn't going to be a Part 2 until my inbox filled with responses, questions, comments from curious readers.

Let me start with this, and if any reporters take this out of context, may sandspurs invade your undergarments. I do not hold any hostility nor consider the arborist trade much different than much of the service world. (And the respondents in that trade were positively, the exception to any characterization, as evidenced by reading SMI!)

My experiences are the "other side of the trucks" to help all trades see through another's eyes. The difference here: I'm on your side too.

I had a pretty humorous (and startlingly similar) story from reader Tom Fore of Roanoke, VA who shared an exact quote from his Tree Dude after excessive tardiness. See 'Theater of the Absurd' in this issue. You can insert "carpet cleaner", "sheetrocker", "roofer" and virtually any trade you want... that phrase is being openly acted out for frustrated homeowners across America. Honesty points go to Johnny who actually said it.

Interestingly, one of the most thoughtful responses came from one Patrick George of Heartwood Tree Service in NC. After reading his email, I wish he'd make a 450 mile house call. Patrick is definitely NOT 'Tree Dude' but a certified arborist, yet admitted...

"Tree dude fits about 85% of the guys in my industry." That is important for any tradesperson to know because a reasonably-held standard rockets you past nearly 90% of the crowd. Good observation, yet Patrick had a question that was echoed by several others:

"Why did you pick this guy?"

People felt I surely was "connected" enough to get good referrals, or that I could choose someone with an IQ higher than that of wilted lettuce. Yet here's the truth of why I picked him, plus a sales number you have NEVER seen before...

Tree Dude

We scheduled the tree dude to come out to look at - guess what - trees. That's what tree dudes do. He arrived at the agreed upon 9 O'clock, but exactly 4 days past the one we originally scheduled. His excuse, and I quote: "I was busy." Shockingly, I wasn't shocked.

Please make note of the "expectation" level in your trade, and how to summarily trounce it. In tree dude's case, "showing up" equates to a Nordstrum level of service.

And yes, in case you wondered, he was in a decade-old white GMC work truck, with the faded logo of the former company who had it. Transmission fluid leaked at a transfusion-like rate on our brick pavers. Whatever. It'll save me on Round-Up for my between-brick weeds, but what if I actually didn't want Trans-Medic flowing down my driveway?

He points at the 80 year-old pine tree leaning precariously over my house, which prompted the call. "That's a big 'un." I had noticed that too. He rubs his stubbled chin, paces around the base of the tree, looks at its neighboring trees, then re-surveys the driveway. "How we gonna get that outa here?" he says to no one in particular. He paces back toward the truck, leans against it, looking upward and mutters, "I can't take that down unless you get approval from the ARB."

Oh my. The dreaded ARB.

In our historical/hysterical neighborhood, the ARB is supposed to be the "Architectural Review Board" but was renamed "Always Ranting Badly" since they are content to debate the finish on the screw heads of your fence until the original need for the fence has dissipated. Again, note the expectation. (What is your perceived reputation? True or not, perception is a customer's reality.)

Be the customer on this job with me. Does this guy get the job? Well, the ARB didn't lose the sale. Nor did Tree Dude's "other" guesses cause it. It was because of the following sales killer that may happen in your business, daily, without your knowledge.

The Kid Who Coulda Been a Contenda

The late 20's kid seems sharp enough, but he hangs with some losers. One of whom is himself.

I met him while he was an intern at the local Porsche dealership, in their very rigorous tech-training program. Given the car's country of origin, Germans and technical obsession are like politicians and money-favors: chemically bonded.

He was eager, clean-cut, clearly gifted for the craft of byzantine engine management systems that balance the immense power and pragmatism of the Porsche brand. This is a near-heart-surgical specialty among mere physicians. To a car guy, he "spoke" the language; to a typical customer, he could tone it down for comprehension.

In other words, an ideal Tech. Except for "the sickness."

After twenty six weeks of training, that are mind-numbing enough for a near 60% drop-out rate (some of their own volition, most due to Porsche's unwavering perfectionism) this kid got his head turned in two ways at once.

His inner voice repeated what had oft been said to him, "You're really good at this. You're going to make it." That was his confidence and drive talking. Yet a dysfunctional ego added a comment he'd never heard, "... and you should now be rewarded accordingly."

Not so fast.

He "forgot" the investment and sacrifice made for him. He disregarded the hierarchy of reward that follows proven work, clearly laid out from the beginning. He was blind to other players on the team funneling work his way, and handling myriad details thereafter.

Though his hands were adept and his head ever-increasing in technical knowledge, he began questioning management (a field about which he had zero training). "Why do you charge this?" "How much did that customer pay for this service?" "Why are these parts marked up so much?"

His next step sealed his fate, just as it has for countless thousands before and since...

"Did You Say Something?"

About two years ago, a hearing test revealed my hearing was greatly diminished in the higher-pitched range, such as a young girl's voice. "Ahh, that explains it," I thought, since I could barely hear my high school daughter speak.

So I bought a hearing aid that can eavesdrop on bats in a distant cave, only to find out my daughter had quit talking to anyone fitting the definition of "her parents". The return policy on used hearing aids would not be considered lenient.

Here's a typical afternoon conversation. "How was school?" I ask.

"Good", she says.

"Any tests?"

"Nope," this was clearly one question too many, so I decide to go out with a bang.

"Did you know there was a rabid platypus going through your purse?"

"Nope."

And the one-word (or less) answers come, until I consider mild electrical shock as a conversation starter, and finally stop, exhausted.

Contrarily, she has phone service that includes 'unlimited texting', and I'm pretty sure she's on the "Unlimited Text Watch List" for nearly reaching that number. She texts constantly. While she's doing her nails, she can actually text with her teeth. It's remarkable. And disturbing.

As a marketer, I see no slow-down in clutter, alternate communication and mild disdain for "advertisers" attempting to shoe horn messages where they don't belong. DVR allows us to skip those awful advertisers (who pay for the programming by the way) and the chances of luring a frenetic facebooker in with a paid 'traditional' ad are as likely as a congressman clipping coupons.

This behavior has affected all age groups. Your ability to effectively reach them has been grossly affected:

The 'average' texter sends or receives 180 per day. Average online user visits 40 websites a day. Checks email 45 times a day. (Not a typo.) This isn't just "kids" either, since only 29% are 25-34; the fastest growth is in the 55+ age group, who are also the largest of all age groups.

And they're all buyers. All potential customers of yours. The drop in lead generation is not your imagination.

The market has changed. It has moved. It buys differently. It communicates differently. And the 'old way' is not coming back. You're either on the front edge making money or on the back edge playing catch up. Here are 4 Steps to Push You to the Front...

Unique Event takes Contractors to the “Next Level”

A stalling economy is not the only time contractors ask, “How can I get to the next level in my business?” But in a time of economic uncertainly, that question needs direct answers. That’s what the Next Level Contractor event provides for the dozens of contractors who’ve already signed up – and they’ve recently made room for others (up to 550) to join this online contractor conference too.

Hudson Ink, a creative marketing firm for contractors, and The ACHR News, one of the contracting industry’s premier trade publications, have joined forces to offer The Next Level Contractor event, a series of four weekly online training courses, beginning October 6, on the primary methods for generating income:

• Course #1 High Performance Marketing in the New Economy: Get more leads online and offline using blistering strategies formed in the ‘new economy’.
• Course #2 Your Next Million Dollars in Maintenance Agreements: See how hundreds of contractors are making millions with no more effort than a simple service call.
• Course #3 World Class Customer Service: Leap frog “average” contractors and become “World Class” with simple strategies.
• Course #4 Your Step-by-step 90 Day “Next Level” Blueprint: A full course synopsis, plus a unique “90 Day Next Level Blueprint” for success that contains the exact steps to move forward.

The courses are all online – meaning no travel, no hotels, no lost work time. They’re delivered in weekly structured doses by top U.S. trainers, for about 60 to 90 minutes each week.

In addition to the content that takes contractors to the next level, each course also comes with fully archived, no-cost replay; no-cost workbooks; no-cost downloads; and no-cost exclusive follow-up training. Participants will also receive emails between each session that provide a:

Brief summary of the previous session, plus links to bonus materials offered.

“Sneak peek” at the next session. May include workbook and other information to accelerate learning.

Contractors can get a free training video and learn more about the Next Level Contractor event at www.contractorprofit.com.

Marketing Changes to Embrace

Recently I did a 2 part editorial on "How the New Economy Has Changed Everything". Got more responses than in many years, perhaps ever. (Request a copy at the end if you like.)

Basically, we're part of a very changing economic/business landscape. History will detail the following, but I don't believe it's ever "going back" to how it used to be.

Reasons within three big changes:

1) The seismic shift in information exchange (internet, consumer as 'voice', social viralism)

2) Declining/stagnant real estate values (often south of the mortgage owed, making foreclosure a strategy instead of involuntary hardship) and

3) Consumerism conflict: how we "value" vendors and "justify" purchases. The rules have dramatically shifted.

Evidence supporting #1 above: news media now sees their role to gain audience in the "24/7/365 News Orgy" as out-sensationalizing everyone else.

This means "News" headlines today shift more often than Charlie Sheen during a mudslide. In the news last WEEK were, "Economic Confidence Boosts Retail Outlook" followed by "Consumers Holding Back Citing 'No Confidence".

You wonder if they are TRYING to turn us into paranoid schizophrenics, or if that's just a bonus.

The shifts in communication and commerce have caused reactions in marketing and selling. Big ones.

Once "sensational" marketing has been diluted, lost. You can't out-scream everyone. "High-pressure selling" is the business equivalent to having a sexually-transmitted disease. And "waiting for the phone to ring" is the Old-School admission that you're somewhere between geriatric and irrelevant.

Back to my original treatise: The 'old' ain't coming back. Leaving you with one question -

Will you LEAD amid these changes, or WATCH as the leaders use the changes to win?

And You Think Your Trade is a Commodity?

I was, as usual, running late for my airport departure. I'm rarely giddy about cavity searches, peanuts disguised as a meal and sitting next to people who consider deodorant optional.

Yet, I'd made arrangement with the nice girl in the lobby for a cab at 2:20. "He'll be here," she assured. At 2:15, I give her an expectant glance. "He's already out front," she motions towards a black car. Not just any black car either.

It was the shiniest black car in all of DC, where shiny black cars compete at a different level. Next to it was a man in business casual, holding a black and white umbrella with a gold cab company logo on it. Soon as he saw me heading toward him, he popped the trunk.

Before I could say anything he asked, "Are you well rested for your flight, or are you hoping to rest during the flight?" He beamed this friendly question - later becoming important - and I answered, "Depends on who I'm sitting next to." He laughed, and in an instant, had carefully placed my bags into the immaculate trunk, motioning me to the rear seat.

As I turned toward the car, he whisked the door open. His manners were so different, I scanned for the hidden camera in case this was a big joke. Once in the car, my shock factor increased notably.

First, it didn't reek like the Sherwood Forest cocktail most cabbies use to disguise their lack of automotive hygiene. It was just clean. There was no debris, no crumbs, and wait... what is that...

Magazines. There were several magazines in the seat backs, including that day's Washington Post. "Take your pick," said Mr. Woods, whose name was on a professional sign preceded by, "Your Travel Host". This was a far cry from the normal hand-scrawled legal requirement duct taped to the seat back with a mug shot. "Travel Host". Nice touch.

He caught my glance in the rearview mirror, "I must ask you to please refrain from smoking since I'm allergic." I told him I was too, so not a problem. (Yet note his request with justification.) He confirmed the airline and airport, and we merged into traffic.

Just to make this scene even more eerie and hidden camera-ish, he said the unthinkable -

CLICK to see what Mr. Woods actually asked, and how your company can copy this.

The Coming Marketing Meltdown

And there he went. Just like that, my son was in my rearview mirror, standing by the curb next to his 'new' dorm, as we drove back home from planting him at college. Things were quiet in the car. If you listened closely though, you could hear the faint flipping of mental images working backwards.

• The prom pictures where I was taken aback that he looked so much like a man.
• The early driving days when he looked like a child who'd stolen his parents' car.
• The baseball years where the glove was so big his fingers didn't reach past the palm, and the helmet could actually be spun while still on his head.
• The diaper years (which we really need to figure out how to eliminate, no pun intended), the cuteness of baby cheeks, missing teeth, and little fat baby joints that could go in almost any direction.

Then I snap back into the present: a young man at college. A father questions much. This is a quick poem, which doesn't have a blooming thing to do with marketing, but if you're a parent, it may hold a grain of value. Click for 'A Father Questions'.

As a business owner, worker, parent, we all want to have made our presence known somehow. Two things we all wonder:

Are we doing enough to make a difference?

Are we leaving the place better than we found it?

If 'yes' to both, congratulations, for you have done your job well. Yet there's a guilt epidemic floating amongst the "going to's" that never quite get done. We're "going to" start saving more, earning more, vacationing more, stressing out less ... one day. And just like depositing a child at college, that day comes, inevitably and you wonder if you did enough.

In a marketing perspective, there is a meltdown happening now that will separate winners from losers. The prepared vs. the "how did this happen?" The outcome is greatly affected by the convergence of: a) Economic recession, b) Major lead shift from Yellow Pages to online, c) Mass "Distractionism". Your Marketing Meltdown Warning here.

The #1 Myth of Getting More Leads

I hear it all the time. And it is flat-out wrong. It comes out in coaching calls here. I see it posted on FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and nearly every Contractor Discussion board.

Contractors, understandably wringing their hands, want to know something like, "Hey, do postcards work?" Or, "Is your website getting you leads?" Or, "Anyone tried radio?"

They focus on the thing that "costs", that is, the media. They've been brainwashed by the media salespeople who all claim "theirs" is best, cheapest, fastest, blah blah. It's all a crock of crack.

What "sells" is the message. Always has been, always will be. A rotten message in any media you choose is still a rotten message. According to Clayton Makepeace, America's highest paid copywriter and marketing strategist:

"The media doesn't make the sale. The message does.
Therefore, the way you persuade people to buy never changes."

You can drive thousands to your website using sophisticated SEO strategies, or rise to the top through Google paid listings. Yet if your message is poor, the traffic comes and is gone, leaving you with one very expensive revolving door on your website. Same with 10,000 letters, a dozen billboards, and the glitziest TV ad ever shot.

It's not the media, it's the message.

Get that right and the market will respond. The media is merely the delivery vehicle. So, what makes a good message? In the last 11 years of focusing on contractor sales messages and selling a few billion dollars of equipment, this is the gold list. Click for the Top 5 Messages that nearly force prospects to respond.

The Joys of Air Travel

Back when Orville and Wilbur started the first airlines (tagline: "Hope We Make It!") they were shocked people would willingly ride in a plane, much less pay for the experience.

In time, air travel advanced to a stage where hot food was served in-flight (seriously, it happened) by attractive ladies with pronounced cleavage regions. Often during this "golden age", you and your luggage arrived at the same spot simultaneously.

Back then if you were late for a plane, you could always sprint down the runway and the friendly pilot with a gleaming smile would reach out his hand and pull you aboard, apologizing for the inconvenience.

We didn't have much "Security" back then. You could basically stroll into an airport, smoking several Camel cigarettes, cleaning your nails with a machete, and as long as you had a ticket, you'd be welcomed into the plane, with an apology for the inconvenience.

The "safety message" you'd hear was, "You are required to drink Bourbon on this flight. In the event this makes you queasy, here's a baggie. If this plane goes into the water, we hope you can swim. Steaks will be served shortly, so when I come by, please unsheathe a steaknife from my pronounced cleavage region and we'll get started. Thank you."

Today, most flights are delayed up to an hour while a 'stewardperson' mumbles something about seat cushions that double as white-water rafts, then gets the 'guests' on Aisle 8 to sign a waiver that they have a) been doing work outs with an emergency door and b) if everyone perishes it's completely their fault.

One thing that IS the same today are the lap belts. No one has ever explained why cars (many of which don't travel at 25,000 feet) have lap belts, shoulder belts, 3 dozen air bags, plus a Government- mandated glove box that - in the event of an impact - will emit acres of shaving cream.

Yet in a plane, which goes 700 mph (down the runway) and has no bumpers, we still use lap belts from a 1961 DeSoto. On a side note, I have been seated between what I am certain were dual side air bags dressed in business casual. Though I felt 'safe', I was unable to fully inhale from Atlanta to Denver.

No matter, if you want to get somewhere fast, air travel still works. Oh sure, it's not as dignified as it once was, but once you've endured several dozen body cavity searches, 'dignity' is a distant memory.

Why fly?

A face-to-face meeting hasn't been supplanted by the internet; conversational sincerity can't be replaced with email. Warmth of handshake, a genuine hug, and breaking of bread still irreplaceable by any means.

Soon, 6 consultants will travel from various locations to our Nation's capital, which I hear is still in the D.C. area. We've been meeting for 3 years (written about ONLY in SMI), twice a year, in different locations to discuss consulting, contracting, the betterment of both and each other.

Here are the Top 4 Topics We're Covering and how are you affected...

"I Can't Afford That"

The following is an excerpt from a single conversation, but we hear "similar" comments regularly. If you read the 3^rd paragraph closely, you'll find a very common business fault that strangles many contractors.

"I can't afford that," sighed Carey, a 14 year contracting veteran in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. "I used to say this whenever some 'new' business thing would pop up."

"This happened fairly often. Like when we looked into a new digital copier/printer. The sales rep proved I'd save money over the old way. He'd show what I overpaid in toner, time wasted with employees having to get up and down instead of sending documents by email, the whole thing. And I'd give my standard response, 'I can't afford that'."

"Eventually, after over-spending on our old system, we replaced it. I'd have been ahead if I'd done it sooner. But nooo " ... Carey mocked himself, "I couldn't afford it."

"Same for my old clunky phone system, training my techs, or replacing my aging trucks. Nearly every time I had to replace one, I'd look back and see that repairs, rotten mileage, and lost time in the broken trucks had cost me real money. Not to mention the negative 'image' they sent customers."

"That's when I realized something that changed my business."

What Carey realized is a falsehood that hurts, even bankrupts many small businesses. The link explains this truth: Business die when small problems seem big and big problems seem small.