Week 24 Focus – 9 Different Promotional Vehicles
Focus Question: How do you want to get the word out?

Description
Whether we are representing our organization, building our personal brand, or marketing a product or service, becoming savvier with different promotional vehicles can be of importance when building a business case, communicating it or marketing a product or service. Section 3 of both the Coaching Business Builder and Plan Do Track explores 9 different promotional vehicles.
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Now that you have your message, what are the key ways you want to get your message out? Let’s explore the 9 Promotional Vehicles a little more in-depth.

Research/Story 

Activity
Identify 2-4 different strategies to help you “get the word out” this quarter. Complete the following chart:

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Section 3 explores the different marketing approaches more in depth. Review these and the associated questions to gain further insight.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week!
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)

Week 23 Focus – What’s your message?
Focus Question: What are you doing to create a message that is clear, crisp and consistent? What is important to consider?

Description
We have spent the last few weeks exploring different marketing approaches which will have been of interest to virtual professionals and entrepreneurs. For those that are leaders and professionals internal to an organization, a reminder that positioning your message internally, and building a business case, draws on many of the marketing principles we have been talking about.

This week’s focus on “What’s your message?” is important to all virtual professionals and business owners. Being clear with your message, and its delivery is key to business success.

Across the span of a week we are constantly communicating. From formal presentations to meetings with your boss, to connecting with peers, communication happens formally and informally throughout the day.

This week’s focus is what’s your message? We’ll explore it in the light of making a presentation.

It’s often said that you have 7 seconds to make a good first impression. What’s going to capture the attention of others with your message?

Consider the following:

• Distilling your message down to 3 bullet points. Take a look at this week’s quote.
• Starting your presentation/communication with a factoid, photo or graphic to capture their attention.
• Asking a question to get people thinking about how the topic relates to them.

What’s going to make the impression you want? In today’s business context, being heard and being understood is critical.

Activity
Think about an upcoming presentation or message you need to deliver. It could the announcement of a new program or offering. Work through these questions:
What’s your core message? What is it that you really want to say? Distill it down to 3 bullet points. What’s your intent? What do you want others to do as a result of the presentation?
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Key to creating memorable messages is that it is:

• Memorable – What will make this stand out? Is there a story or image you can share?
• Clear – Review your message. What’s unclear?
• Understood – what are the terms or issues people are looking for? What are people listening for?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Using the content planners and brainstorming space found towards the back of the planner can support you with your messaging. Also consider referring to some of the tips in Section 3 (Marketing and Promotion Essentials) as well.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

​Jennifer Britton - Potentials Realized
Check out the Weekly Planning Hack Facebook Live each Wednesday or Thursday here. Be sure to like our page to be updated each week!
Author of PlanDoTrack (2019), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013)

Week 22 Focus:
Marketing–Creating Continuous Content
Focus Question: If you were to create content around different themes, what would those themes be? 

Description
Marketing can take a variety of different forms. It can be useful to look at it from different time frames including:

• Short-term
• Medium term
• Long term

What are the different types of vehicles you would use to generate buzz about your work and offering in each of these different ways?

Ongoing marketing is critical for business success. It’s easy to run out of ideas. This week’s Tip gets you thinking about Creating Continuous Content.
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Whether it’s Facebook or a blog, Instagram or Pinterest, here are some of the varying ways to get your ideas out:
1. Create a series – i.e. 31-day series around the topics of your choice;
2. Create an A- Z series (take a look at my A-Z for Virtual and Remote Team Members);
3. Do an infographic about the different steps in the process;
4. Do a 60 second sound byte around the most important topics in your area;
5. Do an in-depth step by step guide with a series of different posts for the different areas of focus;
6. Create a Top 10 list of books
7. Prepare a top 10 list of videos to check out
8. Make a list of 10 Websites to check out
9. Create a go-to guide
10. Produce a user’s guide to (insert main questions or how tos)
11. Create a Top 10 trends from the year
12. Make a list of Ted talks to explore on the topic
 
What will help to make your message more strategic and targeted?
What is of interest to your clients? What will help to focus the conversation for people?

Activity
Get in to action around one of your key priorities in marketing. Use the list of 10 series above to create a series of marketing tasks. You might:

• Host a Facebook live, or Instagram call around a topic of your choice.
• Do a podcast around your topics
• Write an
• White post
• Linked in Article on Pulse
• Create an assessment or self assessment. For example, if you are working with leaders, have them identify what are the key skills they need to be successful.

What is the one that you have not explored AT ALL?
Who can help you expand your marketing reach? We talked about use of the Top 20 list in an earlier marketing post. Who could help you expand your message?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Section 3 is dedicated to Marketing Essentials. What are your key priorities around marketing?
Use the One Page Plan (page 275/277) to create a focused plan around marketing
Use the trackers to track the outcome or impact of this activity – note visits, likes, what gets traction.
specific activities or results for each of the activities.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

Week 21 Focus – Challenges with Marketing
Focus Question: What’s the challenge for you around marketing right now?

Story
There are many challenges with marketing including:

• Not enough time dedicated
• Not being consistent enough with your efforts
• Not following through
• Not thinking about what your client/customer wants (think messaging, approaches…)
• Changing the topic too many times
• Not having a message on the channel your people are looking at (i.e. focusing on Facebook when people are looking to LinkedIn)
• Not using language that is meaningful to the group

Creating a marketing plan and strategy is important in terms of creating a focus for continued effort and actions. Writing things down so that you can see what you are doing, and track your efforts, can move you to a more strategic allocation of your time and resources.

Experimentation and trying things out in small cycles helps us get important data on what people like and don’t like, value and don’t value.  Things in the marketing space change quickly so not relying on just one channel can be of use.
Being able to repurpose material is key for ongoing marketing efforts. To create new content each day can be exhausting, and repurposing allows us to leverage what we have already created.

Activity
While there are many challenges we face in marketing, there is always an opportunity to repurpose the material we have already created.

This week identify key pieces of content you have created.  Think about how it could be repurposed.

For example, the next time to you create a blog post, consider what it could look like if you were to repurpose it three times, not just once.  So, consider this…
Original Version: A blog post on five things to do before the end of the year with your team.
#1 - Repurposing – Create it as a video – 5 Things to Do Before Year End with Your Team
#2 – Repurpose - Create an audio post/podcast around it
#3 – Combination: Combine this with other posts to make a larger article or download from your website.
#4 – Magnify:  Share the link with other content providers, so they can share it with their readers/followers.

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Refer to the tools in the Content Planner Section. Take particular note of:
1. Tool – Content Tracker – For each piece of content, use the tracker to note how many views and reads it has gotten in each of the different locations.
2. Tool – Don’t Just Do it Once! Scaling Content (page 275 of PlanDoTrack and page 271 of the Coaching Business Builder)

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

Week 20 Marketing - A Different Perspective
Focus Question: What’s another way to approach marketing to get unstuck or breathe new life into your efforts?

Description
The Evil Twin - Marketing
Marketing is often seen as a “necessary evil” or To-Do in any business. To make it a little more fun, it can be useful to consider an alternative perspective,  twin or personality to take on. Perhaps you have always wanted to be a diva. What would it be like to step into that personality as you approach marketing?
One of the most important activities which coaches can undertake is that of the Sweet Spot Exercise. While I did not publish this in the Coaching Business Builder, you will find it in the digital chapter on marketing in the From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching book (do check it out at https:/www.from12many.com/downloads.html - use code 4411 to access the Marketing Chapter on Group and Team Coaching).

The sweet spot gets you to consider three questions:

1. What are you good at?
2. What are you passionate about?
3. What do your clients want, need and prefer?

If you have done this before, take a look at the opposite or negative space. Reverse it by asking:

• What’s the flipside of the Sweetspot?
• What are you NOT good at?
• What are you not interested in?
• What do your CLIENTS NOT want, need and prefer?

Reviewing these questions regularly can provide some interesting insights into where you potentially might want to focus more of your marketing efforts.
Some other questions to provoke new perspectives around marketing are:
If you were to look at this activity rather than a time sucker, what could it look like as an enabler?

If you see it as a community builder, what else might it offer?
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Thinking about things from an alternative perspective can be useful in terms of focus and application and breathing new life into areas you might have gotten stuck around.
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Over the new few weeks we’ll be exploring several of the different vehicles and approaches. Much of this will return back to these strategic questions of what are you good at, and what do your clients want.

Activity
Work through the questions posed around marketing – what do you notice about your 5 Ps?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Section 3 of both books covers nine different promotional strategies you might want to employ.
Always remember that your clients will dictate what approaches are going to be most relevant and impactful.
Take some time this week working through the 5 Ps of your business, and activities you can undertake to further clarify the 5 Ps.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track

Week 19 Focus – Marketing
Focus Question: What do you want to do to get the word out about your work or business?

Description 
Marketing is often one of the biggest question marks for new (and experienced) business owners. It’s also a significant area for virtual professionals who may be representing an organization in a specific geographic area. In this light, marketing may be referred to as advocacy, positioning or representation.

Taking time to focus regularly on marketing/advocacy communication and related tasks is key.

This aligns with the Daily Steps + Consistent Action = Momentum tagline of the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack books.

What are the daily steps and consistent actions you are currently undertaking around marketing? How is it starting to add up?

For many years as I was starting my own business, I taught marketing studies and other business subjects to post-secondary students. As different as we might think that marketing principles vary, they are quite similar across industries. Likewise, while the vehicles have changed over the years, many of the principles remain the same.
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In marketing, whether we are selling shoes, an idea, or a service, we talk about the 5 Ps. Each product, service or idea typically is shaped by these five things (all starting with P):
Product/Program -What are you offering? Be specific about what it entails.
Price - Consider what is included in the pricing. What is the market rate? Are you above the market? Below the market? At market pricing?
Place - Where are you offering this? Is this a physical or digital product?
Promotion - What promotional strategies do you want to use?
Refer to the 9 Promotional Vehicles I cover in the Coaching Business Builder and PlanDoTrack.
People - Who do you need support from in order to make this happen? What resources do you need?
Take notes around these five areas.
General questions to consider around marketing:

• What do you like to do?
• What will leverage your strengths?
• What can help you?
• Who can help you?
• What can you do consistently?
• What can you automate?
• What will resonate – articles, sources, topic?
• What vehicles will work best?
• What frequency will work best?

Connection to the Workbook and Planner
Review Section 3 of the PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder. Marketing is important for external professionals to engage with. If you are an internal professional working for an organization, marketing is often referred to as positioning. We may be building a business case for new budget or approval of a new project or program.

Take time to review section 3 of the planner, particularly the different promotional vehicles we can use to get the word out about what we offer.

Download a one-page copy of this week's 52 Weeks of Plan, Do and Track here.

Best wishes, 
Jennifer

Read and download the initial weeks of the 52 weeks of Plan, Do and Track