Getting Back On Course
I’m still standin’
Z-axis Marketing was incorporated in 1990. It has been my primary business since then and was profitable enough to help put a daughter through college as well as put food on the table, a roof over head and an SUV in the driveway.
That is still the case.
Divorced, downsized and dedicated
Other than my daughter, my consulting practice has been the single on-going relationship in my life. Yes, clients have come and gone but the tenets of marketing I discovered on this journey, added to the knowledge imparted by 25 years prior in the advertising trade have stood me in good stead.
Change ain’t new
All around us people keep talking about how the rate of change is picking up.
“Disruption” is the trending word.
Buckle up Bunky. It’s about damn time you noticed.
I’m getting back on track today.
My marketing has changed over the years responding to on one hand the whims of the moment but on the other to constant monitoring of results. If I had to cite one book that put me on this path it would be Claude Hopkins’ Scientific Advertising. It provided the inspiration for this mantra:
Test, Measure, Reset…Test, Measure, Reset Ad Infinitum
Jerry Fletcher
Long ago and not so far away
From the beginning the incorporated name Z-axis Marketing has been with me as has the toy gyroscope. Here’s a postcard I used for promotion in 1990. Was I ever that young?
Notice the logotype. It hasn’t changed even though I learned along the way that if you are a consultant your name is more memorable than any made up business name. I learned the hard way that people couldn’t spell it even if they remembered it and as search engines became the norm most could not enter the URL!
Notice, too, that I identified myself as a Consultant and Speaker.
Pick one… or not
That dichotomy has been with me since 1993. That’s when I helped found the National Speakers Association chapter in Portland, Oregon. Speaking, as I now coach the consultants I work with, is a superior way to reach more prospects and get to trust more quickly than any other way I’ve found.
The key to getting booked to speak is to provide information of interest that will help audience members take skills away with them that can help build their business. Networking was what I centered my speaking on back then. Hence the Networking Ninja card shown here. After waiting 7 years to scoop it up, I owned the URL, built my Networking Ninja web site and, overtime, updated it several times.
However, my one-on-one consulting practice kept getting bigger. I reprinted the cards with the consulting identity on one side and Networking Ninja on the other.
That’s when this phrase first appeared:
“Trust-based strategic marketing that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy…on and off line.”
Confused, cross and convalescent
I was speaking internationally by now but a health problem, later diagnosed as Thyroid snuck up on me and sapped my energy. Airports, traveling to speaking engagements, became for me a version of the Bataan death march. I stopped promoting myself as a speaker and subjected myself to a battery of tests that required drawing six vials of blood. Both my oncologist and my regular doctor reached the same conclusion.
Now, I take a pill the size of a baby aspirin each day and I’m in the gym daily during the work week. It took a little over a year to get back to normal.
The name you’re known by
Over the years I had promoted myself for speaking as the Networking Ninja. Other designators came into play as I explored 30 Second Marketing TM for myself as well as clients.
- Networking Ninja
- Marketing Rainmaker
- Contact Relationship Magician
- International Professional Speaker
- Brand Poobah
Google Trends
A fellow speaker suggested I check topics on Google Trends to determine what folks were interested in these days versus the past.
I did.
It wasn’t pretty. The younger generations are not relationship oriented. For them, networking knowledge is not something they covet. Brand, particularly personal brand was trending up. That was about a year ago. I switched to identifying myself as the Brand Poobah. The story is here: http://jerryfletcher.net/2018/12/brand-anew/
SEO to success
I received my copy of the book Choose from Ryan Levesque, who is the founder of The Ask Method. I proceeded to read it and then over Independence Day here in the USA follow the advice between the covers.
My assumptions regarding the search terms that would profit me most were only partially true. The approach I had taken is here: http://jerryfletcher.net/2019/04/what-are-the-key-words-of-your-brand/
Choose lays out how to decide what your keywords should be if you want to sell education and expertise on line. The advice is straightforward and the tests easily accomplished in a day at your computer after some initial brainstorming.
Power in a pickle label
I generated over 50 possible keywords and proceeded to test them with the process Ryan had developed.
My selections didn’t even get through the first round unscathed. I stepped back and tried again. On the third try I put in two phrases copywriters would call “pickle labels.”
Both met the test requirements…all of them. That’s why my consulting website has been rewritten. That’s why my profile on BeBee has been updated. That’s why the ID at the bottom of the page is changing.
The moral of the story
I’m not getting any younger. I still like speaking because I can see the lights go on in solopreneur's minds when my advice hits home. I still like one-on-one consulting and I’ll continue to do it. The thing is, clients and others keep asking me to put some of my advice on line and to provide ways I can work with more folks. I can do that best by concentrating my efforts in one thing: Consultant Marketing.
And so it goes.
____________________________________________________________________
Jerry Fletcher is a sought-after International Speaker, a beBee ambassador, founder and Brand Poobah of www.BrandBrainTrust.com
His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for on and off-line Trust-based Consultant Marketing and Brand development advice that builds businesses, careers and lives of joy.
Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com
DIY Training: www.ingomu.com
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Comments
Jerry Fletcher
4 years ago #13
Jerry Fletcher
4 years ago #12
Graham, I'll do my best to pass along the things I learn. That will be my legacy.
Jerry Fletcher
4 years ago #11
Thank you Tausif. I try to comment when I can and to keep an open mind. Somewhere along the way I learned that there are many ways to accomplish a thing...perhaps as many ways as there are people.
Graham🐝 Edwards
4 years ago #10
Jerry Fletcher
4 years ago #9
Ed, Thank you for those kind words. One of the benefits of doing Consultant Marketing is that I get to work with men and women that are successful and are engaged regardless of their age. Most, not all, are older in years. All simply refuse to be put out to pasture and continue to explore new things and make new connections in their knowledge. All are marvelous observers of the changes sweeping through our lives. All , to a fault, are courteous and always willing to explain their advice. Most of all, they have reached the point where it is not all about the money. They are building a legacy, one engagement at a time. And so it goes...
Jerry Fletcher
4 years ago #8
Jim, Enjoy your summer. The beauty of age and experience in marketing is that it wins against youth and exuberance every time. But while you're kicked back let the little grey cells ponder the options. Luck? As I told a friend over dinner the other day, "I don't need luck, all I need is time." And so it goes...
Jerry Fletcher
4 years ago #7
Franci, Today, in many cases the card is replaced by a book. That, in part, is due to the expectation of more information being available driven by the availability on-line. To build a brand and maintain it one must be consistent across all the ways information about the person or company are provided on and off line. We don't trust people that are inconsistent. And so it goes.
Jim Murray
4 years ago #6
Ken Boddie
4 years ago #5
Why thank you, kind sir. I'll have a look at these over the weekend. Cheers. 👍
Jerry Fletcher
4 years ago #4
Ken, A while back I started looking at how brand is developed in a world tht doesn't have physical components (like business cards) to build awareness. that in part led to my development of 30-Second Marketing TM. Here is a blog from 2016 about that subject: http://jerryfletcher.net/2016/06/the-pitch-aint-the-title/ And a couple more if you are really interested: http://jerryfletcher.net/2018/04/3-second-branding/ http://jerryfletcher.net/2018/02/chutes-ladders-to-build-your-brand/ What you'll find is that I'm a proponent of differentiation with words if you have nothing else. Adding a visual that works with the words is a bonus. Video can be like a cherry on top. Digital and physical items that enhance perception add to your memorability. And so it goes...
Jerry Fletcher
4 years ago #3
Dr. Ali. It has been a journey both physically and in understanding. figure this is just the latest chapter and new insight await just around the bend. And so it goes...
Ken Boddie
4 years ago #2
Ali Anani
4 years ago #1