In the (awesome) book Free Agent Nation, author Daniel Pink cites a 2001 survey conducted by The Washington Post that indicates the following:

“Self-employed businesspeople spend an average of 43 minutes a day marketing themselves.”

MY GUT REACTION: “43 minutes? Are you kidding me?”

That’s 8%.

Which leads to my next question:

“What are you doing for the other 437 minutes?

ANSWER: The wrong things.

As a self-employed businessperson, marketing is everything. Period. Bad economy or not.

The biggest mistake you could make is to tell yourself one of the following:

o “As soon as the summer hits, it’s marketing time!”
o “I really need to be doing some marketing this week…”
o “This month all my attention is focused on marketing!”
o “I’ll get around to doing some marketing when I get back in town.”

False.

Marketing is something you do all day.

ALL day.

The challenge is to find a way to transform everything you do into some form of marketing.

Everything.

Here are few examples:

1. Every email. Ask yourself:

o Does your signature promote anything?
o Does your “from” line reinforce your brand?
o Does your actual email address stimulate curiosity or interest?

2. Every blog post. Ask yourself:

o How many links did you include in your post?
o Was there a Call To Action or Response Mechanism at the end of it?
o Did you send the URL to all of the people you referenced or highlighted in the post?
o How many prospects, customers and colleagues did you personally invite to read your post because it was right up their alley?

3. Every phone call. Ask yourself:

o Was your greeting memorable, unexpected and consistent with your brand?
o Did you send the other person a copy of the notes you took during the conversation to reinforce your listening ability?
o When the operator asked, “May I ask who’s calling?” did you leverage your answer as a brand moment, or just state your name?”

4. Every conversation. Ask yourself:

o Did you give this person a copy of your Philosophy Card?
o What free sample or giveaway did you leave behind to leave your mark?
o Did you incorporate your Trademark Answering Style and ask questions that your competitors didn’t?

5. Every spare moment. Ask yourself.

o Did you read Seth Godin’ blog or watch a repeat of Law & Order?
o Did you hit the snooze button nine times or get up early and write your next blog post?
o Did you stand in line at the Post Office and complain about it or use that extra five minutes to post something inspiring on Twitter?

6. Every networking event. Ask yourself:

o Did you nail your Networking Intro?
o Did you create Points of Dissonance?
o Were you The Observer or The Observed?

7. Every new idea you have. Ask yourself:

o Did you write it down?
o Did you buy the domain name?
o Did you do initial market research by googling the hell out of it?

All day.

REMEMBER: People and companies who only do marketing “here and there,” will only get new business … here and there.

43 minutes?

For your sake, I sure hope it’s a lot more than that.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…
How much time do you spend on marketing each day?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “46 Marketing Mistakes Your Company Is (Probably) Making,” send an email to me, and I’ll send you the list for free!

* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Coach, Entrepreneur
[email protected]

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