Dots and Mirrors
This past weekend, a client of mine ran an event they’d never thought of running before.
By all accounts, it was a huge success.
Without giving away too many numbers, there were about twice as many registrations for this event than any previous event the client had run.
(At one point, it looked like the room booked wouldn’t hold everyone expected to attend – so there were a few frantic moments chatting with event staff, and shuffling chairs.)
What’s interesting about this event what led to registrations doubling…
The marketing for this event wasn’t too different to what they had previously been doing already. It just took a few tiny tweaks to the format and promotions – and suddenly event registrations doubled!
I once had the pleasure having a very clever Chicago-based salesmanship expert as a coaching client – Steve Yastrow.
In a discussion about how it’s always harder to do marketing and sales for yourself (compared with other people) Steve made a comment that I’ve referred to regularly ever since:
“It’s marketing in the mirror – everything looks backwards.”
He’s right.
Marketing your own personal brand, or your own personal company, is totally different to marketing a company you work for.
We struggle with things that seem easy when we’re doing them for others.
We overlook things in our blind-spots that might seem obvious to others.
Or we fall victim to our own inexperience when we (inevitably) face a new problem we haven’t seen before.
Marketing is simple. Get noticed, start conversations, make sales. But it’s not always easy.
The best performing marketers have others who can help them to join the dots.
When you have someone to help join the dots between where you are now – and where you could be – things get easier. Faster. Better.