Monique Q Caradine

Here's a little media/publicity industry "insider" secret for you:

Summer is the absolute BEST time to get publicity–especially if you are a “publicity virgin.”

So, if you’ve been thinking lately about becoming more visible, building a brand and sharing your powerful

If you are not visible, your are invisible.

message with the world, NOW is the time to get in position.

When I did publicity for clients, Summer would be a busy time of year for us.  They would get MAJOR media opportunities this time of year that catapulted some of them to a whole new level.

Here are 3 reasons why Summer is such a great season for getting publicity:

1.) Many of the big-name power players and celebrities (who are typically the center of attention) go off to their fancy summer homes for extended vacays starting in June–therefore, they are often unavailable for interviews. This leaves the door open for YOU!

2.) Like anything, newsrooms have a natural “ebb and flow” that typically slows down in summer.  Producers and reporters tend to have a little extra time to talk through story ideas and test the waters with newer, lesser-known experts.  Again, this opens the door for YOU to leverage the media and get VISIBLE!

3.) Summer usually gives us all permission to deal with “lighter” topics like fashion, personal development, fitness and family life.

So if you’re a coach or expert in one of these fantastic areas, I highly encourage you to take advantage of Summer and get some publicity!

It’s time for a reality check when it comes to your marketing tactics.

There are a few questions you need to answer—seven to be exact—that will either make you feel really good about your marketing or they’ll confirm some harsh truths you may finally need to face.

Here are my questions.  Answer them honestly, then get ready for a breakthrough: 

1.) Have you ever had days, weeks or months go by in your business when there is no foot traffic, no new inquiries and no revenue coming in and you can’t understand why?

2.) Does a chunk of your customer base seem to be disappearing?

3.) Have you spent hours per month at networking events, handing out cards and following up with complete strangers to no avail?

4.) Do you advertise in the media but only get mediocre results?

5.) Are you putting in hours each week trying to market your business to your customers through email or direct mail marketing only to get a very small response?

6.) Are you the BEST at what you do but still it seems as though the people you market to just aren’t as excited about your service or expertise as you are?

7.) Are you frustrated by people constantly beating you down on price and always trying to talk you into discounts, deals, bartering or the “hook-up?”

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then something BIG is about to change in your business right now.  That’s because you may have just tapped into this reality:

Are you reaching the right market?

The market that you’re marketing to might be telling  you they’re really NOT your market.

Look at your product or service then take a very close look at the people you’re marketing to.  Have you effectively conveyed how you can make their lives easier or better?  Have you effectively shown them how you can solve their problems?  If so, and your audience is still not responding, THEY ARE NOT YOUR MARKET. 

If you know your prices are competitive yet you have to constantly explain why you “charge so much,” THEY ARE NOT YOUR MARKET!

Sure they may NEED you but they don’t want or value you…THEY ARE NOT YOUR MARKET!

How I came to this reality in my business

A few years ago, I started using the internet to expand my market and grow my brand.  Being rooted in Chicago my whole life, it was kind of scary to spread my wings.  Yet, almost immediately I noticed that my message of “publicity power” was resonating with people all over the world.  I was attracting clients from as far away as Australia and the UK. 

They didn’t haggle with me on pricing.  It wasn’t difficult to do business with them.  They valued and wanted what I had and I gave it to them.  Win-win situation.

This experience opened up a whole new world for me.  It told me that while I may have been comfortable marketing to a certain group (because they look like me or have things in common with me), that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are truly my market.

Let me give you a perfect example: 

My VISIBILITY Bootcamp is one of the most powerful and practical business development events in Chicago.  I give participants resources, tools, scripts, templates and a whole new understanding of the unlimited potential of their business during a 1-day collaborative mastermind workshop.

Super early-bird pricing was $199.  Then early-bird pricing went up to $399.  Now the event is at $599.  Now, past participants have valued this event at $2,000 because it provides you with an immediate and dramatic shortcut to success.

Yet, I get feedback like this posted to my blog:

Tony said:  $399?  I got bills to pay!

Selenia said: Let me know when you have something cheaper…

Cheaper?!?  Their statements made two things clear:

 1.) They’re not my market

 2.) They will be right where they are now, come this time next year because they don’t see value in investing in themselves and their businesses.

I know you may feel like rescuing these people from themselves–I’ve spent countless years doing this– but you can’t. Stop trying to be their hero.  If you keep trying to save a market that doesn’t value your brilliance, you will go broke.  

The only way you can help them is if they have a mindset shift.  Once they have that, they’ll come and find you.

So if you know your product or service is phenomenal and you know you’re positioning yourself well but your business has yet to breakthrough, it may be time to get honest with yourself and re-examine your market.

So how do your solve this problem?

Take a real close look at your strategy.  If you’re doing the right things to position yourself in the marketplace and you’re not getting great results, you need to re-assess who you’re marketing to.  This is also an opportunity to tighten up YOUR game.  Invest in some expert insight from a marketing strategist.  Get some recommendations on what you can do differently or better.  

You should also consider upgrading your product, service (and overall vision) and start targeting new potential markets with:

1.)    higher incomes

2.)    different zipcodes – in different communities, cities, states, countries

3.)    within a certain age range exclusively

4.)    within a specific gender

5.)    a certain lifestyle

6.)    certain aspirations

 In other words, find the people who are looking for you.  Don’t keep beating your head against the wall with a market that doesn’t appreciate what you have to offer.

The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over while expecting different results.  That saying applies to your business.  If you keep marketing to a deadbeat market your current situation will NOT change.

So today, what are you willing to do differently to get a dramatically different result?  Could it be time to change your market?

I have been putting in some serious overtime getting the word out about the VISIBLITY Bootcamp.  Back and forth

The value of VISIBILITY

across town at events, radio commercials and of course email and social media marketing.

The reaction I get from most people when they hear about the event is great interest.  However a few have responded by saying, “well, what if I’m not really interested in being visible?” 

In fact, just the other day, an entrepreneur said, “the word ‘visibility’ doesn’t really resonate with me…”

When entrepreneurs call the value of VISIBILITY into question, it baffles me because my thinking is this:

“If you’re in business and your survival and growth depends on customers knowing who you are, where to find you and how you solve their most pressing problems…why wouldn’t you want to be visible?”

So here’s today’s paradigm shift:  If you think you don’t need VISIBILITY, think again. 

This powerful concept of getting visibility can start with the simple act of making a bold statement about something you know or believe in and sharing that statement with the media or with your personal network.  Say the right thing and it could lead to you becoming more well known within your market or being quoted on a popular blog.  The ripple effects this could have for your business and brand are endless.

But let’s be clear.  I don’t believe in getting visibility or publicity just for the fun of it.  I promote what I call “Purpose-driven Publicity.”  This is where the motive behind ALL of your visibility and publicity efforts is a desire to help, empower, inspire, educate and enlighten more people around the world with your unique message. 

Should you benefit from this financially?  Yes and I love teaching people how to do that. However, the main goal is always to leverage various media platforms so that you transform the lives of others, first. 

I’ll have more on Purpose-driven Publicity in an upcoming blog.  For now, here are 3 ways getting visibility can fire up your business and grow your brand:

1.)    VISIBILITY helps you attract global clientele.  I’ve done business with clients internationally thanks to articles I’ve written that raised my visibility.  My clients saw that I was an expert so they signed up to work with me, sight unseen.

2.)    VISIBILITY helps you establish credibility.  When people see that you’re visible in the media marketplace and you’ve been quoted in magazines or featured on news segments, your “respect quotient” goes up exponentially.  A former client of mine generated $75,000 in new businesses shortly after he appeared on local news station.  How’s that for a return on his investment in my expertise?

3.)    Lastly, in the spirit of my “ Purpose-driven Publicity” philosophy, VISIBILITY gives you a broader platform allowing you to empower and inspire more people.

I could go on for days about the value of VISIBILITY but here’s the bottomline: if you’re not VISIBLE, then you’re invisible and that is never a good thing.

To join my group of 10 brilliant, visionary entrepreneurs, executives and experts for the upcoming VISIBILITY Bootcamp, just click here.

The vast majority of small businesses that I come into contact with do not have a solid marketing strategy or publicity plan.

About 90%  of those I meet use what I call the “hope and pray” marketing strategy.  Actually, If I’m honest, that number may be significantly higher.

For those who do have some kind of strategy in place, I often find that it is one or more of the following:

 □        Hap-hazzard.  I don’t get the unsystematic method some small business owners use to promote and market their stuff.  They’ll send a generic eblast out now and then and hope for a miracle.  Well, in today’s crowded marketplace–where choices are many–to those folks I say, keep hoping.

 □        Outdated.  Why are people still advertising in the yellow pages (or any other “pages”) thinking that’s going to get them tons of business?  This is not 1974!

 □        Untargeted.  I long for the day when entrepreneurs stop trying to market to EVERYBODY and start marketing to the people they can best serve. Everybody does NOT need to like you.  The only people who need to like you are the specific ones whose problems you solve.  Period.  Focus on them and you’ll uncover a goldmine.

□        Unprofessional.  If one more person hands me a business card they made at home with computer paper from the local office store I swear I’m going to scream!  If I get one more eBlast from someone I don’t know blatantly saying buy this, that and the other thing, I promise you, the West Englewood girl in me will come out!!  

□        Unleveraged. There’s a ton of free publicity opportunities in local media that go untapped because entrepreneurs don’t know how easy it is to leverage the media.  Why not try to get a slot on ABC7’s midday newscast if it means thousands of your potential clients will see you?  Is there no value in that?

So here are 3 easy ways to turn this dismal situation around.  They all have to do with positioning yourself for media visibility.  With these simple media VISIBILITY strategies, you can catapult your business to a new level within 30 – 60 days.

1.) Start showing yourself wise by writing simple how-to articles.  If you’re not a writer, don’t flee in panic.  How-to articles are not the research papers you dreaded in high school.  All they require is that you share what you know in simple steps.  If you downloaded my Publicity Virgins e-book, you’ll see how I take my media and publicity knowledge and just break it down into steps to help you apply the strategies.  BENEFIT: Articles position you as an expert.  As you do more articles, your audience will come to like and trust you and potentially even hire you.  Because of an article I wrote and posted on EzineArticles.com a few years ago, a client hired me for a small $3,000 contract.  It wasn’t much but it certainly helps the bottomline. Also, as you put yourself out there, the media will come to respect you and eventually seek you out for your expertise.

2.) Start studying the media outlets you want to be in so you can “fit in.”  I can’t tell you how many people claim they want to be on my shows but have never heard or watched me in their life.  WTH?  If you want to be featured in MONEY magazine, you better know what the writers in MONEY are talking, writing and blogging about.  In fact, as you get to know their angle, start communicating with them.  Start building a relationship with them.  Compliment their brilliant work.  Then offer your own expert angle.  Pick your outlet and start doing that today.  Do it well and it could lead to a regular feature = free publicity = more valuable visibility for you.

3.) Get to the point! Crystalize your message with a call to action.  Whether on your blog, facebook, twitter, YouTube or on successfully leveraging traditional media, your message should always be crystal clear and always have a specific call to action. I show people how to do this in a manner that is gracious without being salesy, slimy or overly promotional.

I once heard marketing genius Dan Kennedy say “people are like sheep and need to be herded.”  Once I got over being slightly offended by that statement, I said, “you know, he’s right.”  Most people need clear, specific direction.  Give them one specific thing to do to connect to you.  Invite them into your world elegantly and in the spirit of giving and the long-term benefits of that relationship will be mutual. 

Eventually, your audience will become as eager to invest in your products and services as you are to invest in them by sharing high-quality knowledge and solutions to their problems.

I’ll be teaching these strategies AND handing you my signature 5-step VISIBILITY Blueprint at the upcoming 2-day VISIBILITY Bootcamp.  10 spaces are available only for the most visionary, action-oriented entrepreneurs.  Grab your space at http://VisibilityBootcamp.com