Urban Legends from Mississippi, Missouri and Montana

A three-legged woman, a Robin Hood-style hold-up by Jesse James and the supposed arrest of Ronald McDonald — we’ve got them all in our latest collection of urban legends.

This week, we continue our alphabetical state-by-state tour of the U.S. with visits to Mississippi, Missouri and Montana.

As usual, we encountered a whole stack of hauntings and UFO sightings, several of which — like Bigfoot — we’ve seen elsewhere. But there were also some unique legends to investigate, some of which, surprisingly, turned out to be true.

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©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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MARKETING: YOU GOTTA HAVE A SYSTEM

Being successful at marketing does not result from one brilliant idea. Nor does it follow from stringing together a random series of marketing activities, no matter how many different approaches you manage to use. To bring in a sustainable flow of business on a consistent basis, you gotta have a system.

With no system for marketing and sales, you have no priorities for where to focus. "What should I do first?" a new coaching client will often ask me. "I need to update my website, arrange speaking engagements, launch a Facebook page, follow up on leads I already have... I don't even know where to begin."

When you lack guidelines for managing your time and money, you can quickly overspend those precious resources. "I thought I would update just one thing on my LinkedIn profile," a colleague recently posted. "Three hours later, I was still working on it."

Without a system, you also have no framework for making choices. Does it make sense for you to hire the search engine optimization expert you just met? Or should you take that class on how to launch a blog? Or maybe you should join the networking group you were recently invited to.

One more missing element in system-less marketing is consistency, a crucial factor in successful marketing. When you don't have a blueprint to guide you, it's too easy to neglect what should be ongoing tasks, like following up on your unreturned phone calls or emails, posting to your blog or social media page, or sending broadcasts to your mailing list.

Here's what should be included in a marketing and sales system:

1. What result you wish to see. Name a number of clients, prospects, appointments, dollars, or some other quantifiable target.
2. What approaches you will use to achieve that result. Choose a spot in the marketing/sales cycle where you will focus your efforts, and identify specific strategies to employ.
3. Exactly what you will do to implement those approaches. Make a list of tasks to perform and tools you need to create or acquire.
4. When you will do those things. Specify when you will begin and when you will have projects or tools completed.
5. How often you will do those things. With activities that need to happen repeatedly -- phone calls, social media posts, or coffee dates, for example -- assign them a frequency or quantity. This could be once per week or ten times per day.
6. What you did, and what results you achieved. Be sure to track what really happened, not just what you planned for. It's the only way you'll know whether your plan is working, and if you're working the plan.

If you're already familiar with my Get Clients Now! system, you'll recognize these six components. Have you fallen off the gotta-have-a-system wagon? Perhaps it's time to climb back on.

If you're not acquainted with my system yet, I'd love it if you gave it a try. But my real point is that you need to have SOME system in order for your marketing to succeed.

We entrepreneurs can be an unruly bunch. We often resist systems and structures. After all, many of us went into business to have more independence and control over our destiny. But making use of an effective system can actually be freeing. "Once I complete the marketing tasks I've chosen," a grateful student told me, "I can stop worrying about marketing and spend the rest of my time as I like. What a relief!"

Copyright © 2014, C.J. Hayden

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New Tricks Target Small Businesses

Small businesses are a fantastic target for scammers.

Owners and employees are often too busy to check things out carefully, sometimes inexperienced in the world of commerce, and there’s a lot for crooks to go after — 28 million small firms at the last count.

So, if you own one, run one or know somebody who does, here’s a quick checklist of the latest small business scams currently doing the rounds.

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©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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Why Your Name is on the Cybercrime Hit List

Around 40 million Americans are now falling victim to identity theft every year and the total global annual cost of cybercrime could now be as high as almost $600 billion – yes, “billion."

These are just a couple of the shock statistics from security firm McAfee in a recent report on worldwide cybercrime.

And, just for the record, $600 billion is more than the value of the economies of most countries in the world — and the total number of ID records stolen worldwide could be around 800 million a year!

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©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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New Student Scams Exploit Need for Cash

Making ends meet is not easy for college-goers, which makes them a sure target for a student scam.

Sometimes the offer of easy cash can be too tempting, or what seems to be a legitimate IT message is so convincing that they walk straight into a trap.

But if you’re wise to the latest tricks, as we report in this week’s issue, you can avoid these scams and get on with the work-and-fun side of college life.

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©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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Bogus Contractors, Funeral Notice Virus & Safe Harbor for Kids

More people are wising up to bogus contractors who offer to do roof repairs or repave a driveway -- and then never return or do a shoddy job after being paid up-front.

And they're not so easily fooled either by people who claim to be from the local utility company and say they need to inspect an installation inside their home -- while planning to distract and steal from their victims.

So, inevitably, these crooks have come up with a new trick, as we explain in this week's Snippets issue.

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©Copyright Audri and Jim Lanford. All rights reserved.

Reprinted with permission.

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THE WORLD'S SIMPLEST MARKETING PLAN

A client once told me she was a "marketing idiot." What she really needed, she said, was the "world's simplest marketing plan." So we set out to create one for her. Here's what it looked like:

1. Make a list of everyone you know.
2. Tell those people about your business.
3. Ask if they'd like to find out more about it.
4. Tell the interested people more.
5. When you get to the end of the list, contact everyone again.
6. With anyone who fits your client profile, ask if they'd like to work with you.
7. With anyone who doesn't fit, tell them what the profile is, and ask if they know anyone who fits.
8. Add any new people to your list and repeat steps 2-4.
9. When you get to the end of the list, contact everyone again. Update them on your latest work or provide them with useful information.
10. With anyone who fits your client profile, ask if they are ready to work with you yet.
11. With anyone who doesn't fit, remind them what the profile is, and ask if they know anyone ELSE who knows people that fit.
12. Add any new people to your list and repeat steps 2-8.

We never got any further than step 12 in her plan, because by the time she got there, several things had happened:

• With a plan in front of her, she knew what to do, so she set aside time for it, and took action.
• Because she was taking consistent action, she was also following up with her contacts on a regular basis.
• By telling another person about her plan (me, in this case), she created accountability for herself.
• Because she was setting aside marketing time regularly, following up with contacts consistently, and reinforcing her commitments with outside accountability, she began to produce results. Enough results in the form of new clients that we never needed to continue her plan to step 13.

If you're skeptical that a marketing plan as simple as this one might work for you, consider the following:

• You may be able to add to the list of "everyone you know" from more sources than you think. Consider all your former co-workers, people you went to school with, members of your professional associations, people in your social media networks, neighbors near your office and/or home, members of clubs and activity groups you belong to, and your personal friends and relatives.
• As your list grows, you can refine it by eliminating people who are neither appropriate prospects nor likely referral sources. Just don't do this too soon, as some of your contacts may surprise you with their interest.
• Telling people about your business and asking them questions can take many different forms. You can call them, email them, write them a letter, send them a postcard, or interact with them on social media.
• Updating contacts about your latest work or providing them with useful information can take many different forms also. You can call them, email them a note, mail them a newsletter or postcard, email them an ezine (if they've agreed to subscribe), share a social media update with them, or let them know about an article, case study, blog post, podcast, video, or event.

As you can see, a simple marketing plan can become quite sophisticated, especially over time. You can begin with phone calls and emails to your inner circle, then both expand your list to include more people, and expand your range of tools for contacting and updating them.
Why not give this simple marketing plan a try? Adapt it to the size of your list and the tools you already have. Make sure you follow all the steps faithfully. For example, don't leave out the step where you "ask if they'd like to work with you."

Be sure also to set aside time to work your plan, and create some accountability for yourself. Share your plan with a friend, colleague, coach, or action group, success team, support group, or mastermind group.

As you have time, resources, and the need, add new tools for contacting and updating your contacts, such as a newsletter, blog, podcasts, videos, events, or social media channels. Just don't let the time and effort it takes to create those tools detract from faithfully working your plan with the tools you already have.

You may just find, like my client did, that this simple marketing plan is the only one you'll ever need.
Copyright © 2014, C.J. Hayden

Read more free articles by C.J. Hayden or subscribe to the GET CLIENTS NOW! E-Letter.