Part 4 Business is Different for You: Rattle the Cages!

So, in just three days of this series on how business is different for you, you have:

1.) Recognized that you’re hiding out in mediocrity and that it’s beneath you to continue doing so;

2.) Taken yourself onto the dry, cracked soil of your business and life and, fist raised to the skies, generated your own Scarlett O’Hara moment, declaring, “As God is my witness, I will never ___________ again!” You have decided to do things differently.

And 3.) Recognized that the reason to be different is so you can be seen and heard in this marketing-crazed world—but that you have been taking business advice not meant for you. You need to stand out in a way that is worthy of you and that works.

So, what works in this day and age?

Well, anything that appeals, attracts and stands out.

And what does that? Whatever lingers. Almost nothing lingers anymore.

So, what lingers?

Ideas and statements that interrupt long-held patterns and world-views. 

When something crashes through the ceiling of what we know, shattering what we believe with new insight, new information, it captures our brain’s attention.

The BRAIN attends immediately to 3 things—what is: relevant, novel and emotional.

BrainAttends

So, interrupting a pattern inserts something very new into your prospect’s environment. You’ve had the experience of a new and contrarian point of view coming out of left field. The brain cannot look away because the idea is novel.

And interrupting a pattern also evokes emotion. Often it upsets you. But sometimes it evokes awe, or excitement, or fear–but whatever it is, because it tapped an emotions, it burrows under your skin and you can’t get rid of it. Think of one right now. Maybe it was a new religious perspective you discovered when you were sixteen. Maybe it was a new scientific viewpoint you heard just last week that has uprooted everything you’ve believed to that point.

These new ideas that infiltrated your bubble of awareness interrupted a long-held pattern and world-view of yours and hit you emotionally–and so you remembered it. It lasted. Because the brain is wired to attend to what is emotional.

That’s lingering. And it’s rare.

New, provocative information that “breaks the schema”—the current understanding of your prospects–grabs their attention. It appeals, attracts and stands out–and literally lays down new pathways in their brains that were not there before your message.

I am going to say that again: Because you are activating the brain’s attention with relevancy, novelty and emotion—you are creating a hairline neuronal pathway in their brain.

That. Was. Not. There. Before. Your. Message.

How cool is THAT??

THAT is the power you can yield—in your marketing. In your branding.

And it is not some lofty goal. It is a requirement.

This is what I meant, at the end of yesterday’s post, when I said that leadership would differentiate you—not all of the typical and superficial branding solutions out there.

A leader has this kind of message; this kind of impact.

But you won’t be just any leader.

You need to be a thought leader, defined as:

Someone who wakes people out of denial, who breaks the ceiling of conditioned thinking, shakes people out of blind acceptance and ultimately, shatters paradigms.

It is the thought leader who interrupts long-held patterns; breaks “schemas.”

Thought leaders see what everyone else can’t—the myths and Kool-Aid peddlers—and as a visionary, they see new landscapes.

But just doing that is not enough. You cannot rattle cages and hope to influence. You must be able to inspire those within those cages to dare to fly.

That’s where the inspired leader comes in: Someone who, in words and deeds, causes others to aspire to something inspiregreater in themselves, and greater than themselves, than they ever imagined possible, igniting a change.

If your work is to empower people, I’ve said, you are a different breed of entrepreneur—and you are a natural inspired leader. Know that. Own that. But that’s not really enough, either.

To have a powerful impact on your prospects in your book, TED talk, 1-1 presentations, YouTube videos, blog posts (i.e. your marketing), you must be a blend of both a thought leader and an inspired leader.

Someone on public platforms who disrupts the status quo with a serious wake up call and a vision of a new vista—and then inspires folks to dare to travel there.

I ask my live audiences, are you an inspired thought leader?

Everyone raises their hands.

Then, I ask: Are you an inspired thought leader in your marketing?

The hands plummet.

And I tell them that they’re not alone; that almost no one is delivering this kind of message, this kind of leadership. That’s because most everyone crowds together in the middle-of-the-curve.

But not you.

Not you.

You can and must do it differently. To honor yourself, and the Impulse that brought you to this work of empowering humanity, it is required that you leave the pack and dare to shatter paradigms.

That’s what changes lives.

And that is an invaluable result in today’s world—and I dare say, what you were born for.

So, are you an Inspired Thought Leader?

In your marketing?

I’ve got you covered.

Click here to read the end of this series, where I explain the 5 pillars of an ITL message and what makes it so incredibly different from anything else out there–and from what you are doing now.  A change, it is a comin’!!

Disruption-without-interuption

Words That Impact and Influence

The other day, a talk radio guest was speaking about inmates and said starkly that “having a portion of our population in cages” impacts all of us deeply. I’ve heard the term “prison,” “jail,” “correctional facility,” and “cell” to describe where our inmates live, but never the term “cage.” It is a word that brings a vivid picture to mind that I have not been able to forget—an image that none of the other words (some could call them euphemisms)—have ever painted for me, and therefore, have had little to no emotional impact on me. The word “cages” sparked an outrage and an awakening in me.

Last August, my guy and I were in Jasper, British Columbia and saw the most astonishing sight—not a moose and not a bear, both of which we truly were
hoping to see—but a species of a whole other kind, one that exists no where else in North America: police cars with Peace Officers painted on the sides.
And guess what? The label has—like all labels do—trickled down into their very behavior.

I was double-parked in the town one afternoon and one pulled up alongside me. I was immediately awash with guilt (conditioning) and fully expecting him
to scold me. I waved that I was sorry and was about to move. He smiled broadly and waved back, as if to say, “No worries. I was just checking in to see if you were all right.” A Peace Officer indeed. Words are powerful things.

There isn’t a place in our lives—not even in the privacy of our own minds— where words do not exist. They are our lives. They inform our behavior, our choices, our reactions. Words matter because words affect. They either affect nothing because they’re lame–or they influence; they “spark”—revolutions, awakenings, action, transformation, as evidenced by my two examples above.

As a business owner, words are your business. You don’t have a business without words: you’ve gathered words to help you think about what you do,
and summoned words to describe what you do. You speak words in networking events, presentations and videos–and you write words, on websites, blogs and social media. And they either cause no effect—or they influence.

Washington spends millions of dollars hiring political consultants to form the right words to convey the ideas they seek to promulgate. A change was made years ago to change the label for Democrats from “liberal” to “progressive.”
Words shift and shape entire world views and, again, millions of dollars is spent on word architects to do that job because leaders have infinite respect for the art and science of persuasive language, for the truth that there are cold words and warm words; clinical words and emotional words; abstract words and vivid words—and they know if they get it wrong, they lose the race.

Same with you: if you get your word-choice wrong in presenting your business, you lose the race. There’s simply no way around it. It’s not smart to be in denial about that. Words matter. At the same time, it can also be hugely liberating to know that the most likely reason you’re struggling at all is because you’re choosing the wrong words.

wordscostyou

 

I have studied the microscopic subtleties of language and written prolifically
my whole life, starting with my first short-story in first grade, then moving into
poetry, then onto copywriting on Madison Avenue, then onto novel writing,
then non-fiction writing, then back into copywriting for my business and my
clients.

If there’s one thing I know, it’s words. And my passion—my crazy, soul-bursting
passion—is language that influences. Because I want to change this world
and words are the things that do it.

Words that “spark.”

Words

Last week, I led a Linked-In
discussion
and spotted instantly
words that said nothing and
therefore did nothing
. Here’s
an example.

 

One woman wrote in her elevator pitch: I work with women who struggle with
what I call the [
I’ve changed this name to protect her privacy] “Marie Antoinette
Syndrome:” successful career women who have difficulties with their interpersonal
relationships. I help them develop empowering solutions that transform their situation
or circumstances.”

Here’s what I wrote her (after a few kind words):

XX, there are some unclear words that you want to define: “difficulties”
and “transform.” (I’m wondering if you meant “transform”? Even if you
did, that would need to be better clarified.)

Here’s a tip I give often: You want your words to bring clear pictures to
mind. But not just ANY picture, the SAME picture–to 1,000 people. If your
words mean something different to all 1,000 people, you will get puzzled
looks and worse, polite phrases like, “I’ll think about it.”

So, the problem is that the world “difficulties” will mean something
different to 1,000 people. You want to mean the SAME thing to all 1,000,
which will begin to happen if you define the types of difficulties. “Difficulty
expressing love
” perhaps or “Difficulty keeping friendships.” These bring
pictures to mind–and while 1,000 people may imagine these two types
of difficulties slightly differently, it’s far clearer than before.

And then, you want to add an explanation for why they’re having that
difficulty (i.e. expressing love): “because ____” (because they grew up
in a motherless household
), which further spotlights who your market is,
which is essential.

And as for the word “transform”–it doesn’t mean anything at without a
qualifier. So, insert the word “by ____” and explain how you help them
transform: “by examining their fear of intimacy” for instance. This would
highlight your specialty.

What words are you putting out there—into the public—that just don’t do the job
of influencing? It’s scary to think about, given how constant the flow of words are
in business. Are you getting it right?

To see if a free class is available at this time, click here..
WordsThatSparkBlue

 

This free class will illuminate for you, by way of example, words that spark people
to act and to BUY—and words that do NOT! If you want to bring your best articulation
to the table for a chance under my scalpel, I’ll be opening the lines for that.

Let me leave you with these words.

“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are
no exceptions to this rule.”

Stephen King

“As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds
of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts.”

Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind

And I will add: “Words can repel, bore, confuse and distract. To succeed,
you’ve got to get them right!”

Session #5/8 with 2 Financial Coaches: Marketing Their Seminar!

By the end of the 5th session, M&M no doubt feel a little
like this guy. One of them says to me, “I can hardly wait
for the next session!” with a little more than a touch of
sarcasm. I can be highly creative, but I can also be meti-
culously analytical, and this is the session where that side
of me comes out in spades! I lead them step-by-step through
a detailed discussion of how to market their signature portal
seminar.

They want to penetrate a local, not national, market, so we
explore an entirely local strategy—yet this session will
stimulate your marketing juices, even if you are doing on-
line marketing. So the question we answer in this session
is, “What are all the ways you’re going to reach your
market?”

We list all Touch-Point 1 venues again–churches, Rotary Clubs
and other affinity groups, schools and referral partners, and then
(and this is where it got painstakingly detailed), we moved through
every step in the communication process with each venue.
What does the initial outreach look like for most of them? Usually,
it’s calling to ask what form of contact they prefer: letter, brief face-
to-face appointment, phone call, email? They would do this with
referral partners and the places where they would actually give
their seminar. Then, we look at every communication piece
they will need, from letters of introduction, to a phone script, to
leave-behinds such as fliers or postcards. They’ll need something
for their referral partners (marriage counselors) to hand out to their
clients about the signature program, and they’d need something
to hand churches, schools and affinity groups that would describe
the event
and its benefit to them.

This may all seem common sense, but I tell you, very few people
subject their marketing to such microscopic analysis until it’s
right upon them, and then they become overwhelmed. M&M may
feel blown away with all the initial footwork and planning that’s
entailed in formulating all of the promotional communication,
but it’s better to be overwhelmed with lots of time on your hands
than with very little–which is the case for most.

We also talk about networking options for them, such as NAWBO,
BNI and Meet-Ups, and the communication pieces that are require
for those scenarios. I tell them the secret that helped me stand
out
at networking events: handing out a postcard–not a flier and
not a business card–that described my 2-hour live event and acted
as a “ticket,” elevating its status above typical leave-behinds at
networking events.

And we discuss publicity options such as, of course, the required
press release, but also the idea of M&M, as that “older and wiser”
couple, videotaping themselves interviewing younger couples
on the street, as a way to get some local publicity and also as
a way to move them onto the internet, by putting those videos
on their blog.

Finally, one of the “M”s asks me, “What key phrases tend to get
people to take action; that would have them want to come hear
this?” And I told them one of the Brain-Sticky tricks of marketing
communication: humans hate to not know something; to re-
alize there is information they don’t have. We can’t stand it. That’s
why the 5:00 news trailers always say something like, “What is
the dangerous bug that could be hiding out in YOUR child’s stuffed
animal? Tune in to find out.” Are you going to watch? Heck, yes!
I’ve even DVR’d a local news segment because they “got me” with
one of these. We cannot stand not knowing information—if it is
relevant and important to us
.

So I tell M&M that they want to employ this in their marketing
copy, namely teasing couples with the fact (and it is a fact) that
they are embroiled in a secret cycle that is causing their financial
problems. Because it’s stimulating the brain’s “need to know,” and
it is extremely relevant to their couples, they will want to attend
the seminar just to find out what that secret cycle is.

So, detailed, methodical and not exactly sexy, but the topic of
this session was, as M&M both concluded, the “kick in the pants
they needed to get all of this started.” Maybe it is for you, too?
Here’s an action-item for you
: write down all of your Touch-
Point 1 venues (where you’ll reach your market). Then next to each,
determine the first point of communication—what is it? And what
communication piece will it require? Then, what other communi-
cation pieces will you need as you deepen your relationship with
each venue?

TOMORROW you can see the first promotional video about
the 8 CD-Set, which will be available on Wednesday! Come back
here to find out where to go, or get on my list (above) to get
the information sent to your email. Session #5 is tomorrow, so
stay tuned for what I do next with M&M!

Can You Become A Blogging Maniac?

I interviewed Bea Fields, the brilliant
teacher of “Become a Blogging Maniac,”
a killer 12-week,  on-line course that
delivers BIG! I attributed my first blog
post to Bea because without question,  
this blog would not be here if not for her!
I have a lot to integrate, but thankfully
I have all of her materials to refer to!

So, in this interview, Bea answers many of my questions. See
which ones interest you, then be sure to listen in to this
45-minute interview where she answers:

1. Is blogging on its way out?
2. Why is blogging better than a static website?
3. Should you abandon your website for a blog?
4. Should everyone blog?
5. How do you stand out in the saturated “blogosphere”?
6. How do you start blogging?
7. What must you think of FIRST, before you begin?
8. How can you add blogging to your already *very* full plate?

PLUS…A little-known fact about Walt Disney
…Musings on “stepping into the spotlight” and taking risks
…And a FANTASTIC tip for writing your first 20 blogposts!!
I am taking that one to heart!!!!

Bea is a special expert in the world. I encourage you to take this
“steal” of a course (it’s like $120 or something insane like that!!) 
When I asked Bea for this interview, I thought her blogging course
had already begun, so I never intended to actually be able to send
people to it; I just wanted to interview her because she knows SO
much! So, while the interview ends with my giving a major plug for
her course, it didn’t start out as a pitch-call. I just wanted to interview
this special person!

To find out about Become  a Blogging Maniac yourself, which begins
Monday, April 26th,  just click here!

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