Let’s talk specifically about how to open your marketing mind. I am going to give you some action steps that you can take that will result in you achieving your marketing goals. So, let us jump right into it.
First, I need to tell you a little story. Many, many years ago, I was leading a marketing workshop and we had great attendance because we always gave the most cutting-edge information. It was very exciting because the information that we gave was no- to low-cost. Many of our marketing techniques needed $0 in order for them to work or a very minimum 
amount of money, and we were always able to give people more and more to put in their tool boxes.
So we were having a marketing workshop with a jam-packed room and somewhere in that marketing workshop, I said, “If you do not market, you will die.” Now, that is the short version; the longer version is, “If you do not market in your business, your business is going to die.”
Now we need to identify what marketing is. Marketing certainly is the traditional sense of marketing, it is sending out post cards, it is producing and publishing television commercials and radio commercials and the standard stuff that we have all been used to, but I will propose a question to you right now. Is your yellow page ad doing what it once did? Is your television commercial getting the calls it once got? Is the radio ad doing what it once did? So, yes marketing does include the traditional forums, but marketing includes a lot more than that.
Now, those of you who understand grassroots or guerrilla marketing (or as we call it, Go MAD marketing, Go Make a Difference marketing), understand what it means to collect lives, or what most businesses call leads; collecting leads, that is another form of marketing. So you have got that traditional stuff and then you have got the collecting lives stuff or collecting leads, where you are going out to your community and you are collecting needs, you are having some sort of drawing and you are giving something away on a regular basis and you are collecting leads.
Be aware though that marketing also includes exposure, getting your business exposed, getting your market exposed to your business’ message, so that exposure is included in marketing. Keep in mind that marketing is picking up the phone and making phone calls. Marketing is booking appointments, marketing is networking and depending upon the company that you are in, marketing could be the dollars that you invest in cleanliness. That is what McDonalds would tell you. McDonalds would tell you that their clean bathrooms are part of their further marketing plan. Disney World would tell you that the cleanliness of their parks and the experience that you have, the atmosphere of the park is all marketing. So, let us just be aware that marketing covers a vast realm of different aspects and different forms and different techniques, all the things that I have mentioned and then some.
Now, the day and age in which we live is kind of rolled to back to the day and age in which we used to live and that is that businesses are cooperating and collaborating like they used to. Well that is pretty much because we, as human beings, love to collaborate and we love to cooperate, we love to work together. And now what is happening is we are seeing our businesses come together and work together just like we used to.
What I propose to you in order for you to get the most bang for your marketing effort, meaning 100 lives a week, meaning that people are out there on Facebook and Twitter and visiting your website, and they are responding to you just because you are there, meaning that you are out there speaking about something that you want to do, meaning that other businesses are just knocking down your door to work with you. And I am going to be sharing with you exactly how you can make this happen.
You need to know two things: you are not just marketing your wares and that is one of the biggest mistakes people make in marketing. We think we are marketing our service or our product, and while indeed we are marketing our service or our product or the benefit of that service or product, you need to remember you are also marketing you. You are marketing you and what the business offers, the opportunity to be involved with you, to be involved with the business.
When another business in your community is involved with you, you can help them get to their goal, help increase their business, offer a discount to your customers for patronizing their business. You could go to work for them, offering them some form of your expertise in their business, or just helping them with what they do in collecting lives while you are there.
You could allow them to put up a kiosk or a table in your business and that generates income for you. You could then go do that in their business, and you could do that as a trade; depending upon what they offer, they could offer a class in your facility, you could offer them something to their customers as well. Getting involved with you is the opportunity for them to be connected to someone that you are connected to and vice versa. It allows you to be connected to someone they are connected to, so now a joint venture of sorts could be created. Even a product or a program could be created with that joint venture in mind.
I want you to start opening your mind and see the opportunities everywhere because they are, in fact, everywhere. Pay attention when you are driving to work, pay attention to the billboards, those are people that are investing in advertising. They are investing in advertising because they want to do one thing; they want to generate business for themselves.
Start writing down all those billboards that you see because those are potential co-ops, with just a few of the things I have already mentioned: helping them get to their goal, working out a discount with them, going and collecting lives at their business, working for them, they can put a class in your facility, you can put a class in their facility, getting connected to somebody through you, you getting connected to somebody else through them, and a slew of other things that we are going to get to later. Just be aware there are opportunities everywhere.
So, on your way to work, pay attention to those billboards. In your daily function, when you are going to lunch, when you are having meetings with the media, pay attention to what is going on around you, what is occurring in your community. Stay tuned to your community organization calendar on your public broadcasting system, your local television channels, radio channels, newspapers, the websites for your local community… they all have community organizational calendars. Pay attention to what is going on. Those are people that want to get their word out.
Reach out to them and say, “Hey, I would love to help you get your word out; let’s co-op on some things. Pay attention to the newspaper, what is going on for the weekend, but also who is advertising. Pay attention to who is putting forth advertising dollars on your television, in your radio stations, in your newspapers. Pay attention to who has blogs locally in your area, because they are wanting to get their message out. When you get connected with folks who want to get their message out, I assure you, you will have an endless supply of people you can market with.
Pay attention to the direct mails you receive. Pay attention to the chit-chat that goes on at the events you attend. Pay attention to church bulletins, charity newsletters, any newsletter for that matter. Pay attention to the concerts that are going on, the ball games that are going on. Anybody. The point I am trying to drive home is the folks who want to get information out about their business, about their events, about their charity, those are folks you want to get connected to.
The key with making the connection is to give a number. Say, “Here is the number of people that I could help you get connected to. Here is the number of people who are or who have been involved in my business, and I would like to help you get connected to this number of people.” See the opportunities everywhere, because the opportunities are, in fact, everywhere. Open up your marketing mind.