BUILDING YOUR MARKETING INFRASTRUCTURE

Copyright 1995 by Marcia Yudkin. All rights reserved.

A project manager called me for help recently. "I've been working exclusively for one client for a year and a half, but that's winding up and I've got to find some prospects fast." Not only had this guy no prospects in the pipeline, he had no pipeline.

A different but equally calamitous and common obstacle was uncovered by Ilise Benun of Hoboken, New Jersey, when she started helping clients organize their offices. "Invariably at the bottom of a pile of paper I'd find some promotional opportunity they failed to respond to. They didn't have any standard way to reply, so it was just too hard and they put it off."

In both these cases -- and many others -- folks are losing business because they do not have a marketing infrastructure.

Your marketing infrastructure consists of all the structures that regularly send you prospects and enable you to respond quickly and appropriately to sign them up as customers. Its tremendous value to you consists of its ongoing power: Once you have set a component in place, it continues working for you without any further effort needed. You can then concentrate on providing the services and products for which people pay money and on dreaming up new money-making opportunities.

Here, in brief, are many of the elements of my marketing infrastructure currently in place.

I. LEADS: Vehicles for attracting a steady procession of leads

• Seminars. I teach, face to face, at least 700 prospects a year through adult education programs throughout New England. About five percent later hire my services. Because the catalogs describe my qualifications, they also help me line up consulting clients who call without even attending the seminar! I earn about $60, plus book sales, for each appearance, so this promotional vehicle is better than self-financing.
  
  
• Publicity for booklets. I have gotten much free ink in magazines, newspapers and newsletters by creating a four-page information-packed booklet and sending an alluring press release about it to the media. I also convert the press releases to articles and post them online. My booklet, "66 Ways to Make You or Your Business Newsworthy," has sold more than 3,000 copies at $2.00 each, not counting those buyers who went on to purchase other items or hire me as a consultant.
  
  
• Networking. I'm not as assiduous about business get-togethers as some other people I know, but I do participate regularly in several local groups. My daily "schmoozing" online has paid off much more handsomely, in product sales, entrepreneurial deals, radio talk show bookings, contacts with other influential business writers and being quoted in numerous magazines.
  
  
• Column. Last year, my "Getting the Word Out" column, which you're reading, appeared in close to a dozen publications and brought me many, many checks, inquiries and speaking opportunities. This year it goes international! I've also posted all of last year's articles on the online services. I write and distribute six columns at a time -- one week of effort that pays off for the other 51.

II. CONTACT AVENUES: Making it easy for prospects to get in touch

• A permanent address and telephone number. Even if I move (as I tend to do), people can reach me at this address and telephone number. A brief marketing message people hear when they reach my voice mail brings me additional sales.
  
  
• Fax number. One pet peeve I have is non-dedicated fax lines that get answered with a sleepy "hello?" during off-hours. Some offices shut down their fax machine on weekends. Mine works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
  
  
• 800-number. I distribute mine sparingly, mostly during broadcast and print publicity appearances. Using the regular phone number in other contexts lets me know that those who call are at least minimally serious leads.
  
  
• E-mail address. Online habituees tend to spring into action when they spot an E-mail address in printed materials. I've applied for a "yudkin.com" address (I'll be "marcia@yudkin.com"), which will probably have more permanence than any address with a particular service.

III. REPLY AND MAINTENANCE PARAPHERNALIA: Stuff to have on hand for sending out

• Brochure/flyer/catalog. I print 2,000 of these at a time and update the master copy as postal rates change or I create new products.
  
  
• Promotional bio and photo. I recreate my one-page faxable bio every six months or so, and order hundreds of low-cost black-and-white head shots each time I update my photo. I also keep an easily updatable formal resume in my computer, required in some consulting and seminar proposals.
  
  
• Customized Post-its. These save me an incredible amount of time. I write only four or five "real" business letters a month now; everyone else gets a pithy handwritten Post-it note attached to a flyer, my newsletter or something else.
  
  
• Mailing list. Everyone who writes or calls me for information, attends a seminar or hands me a business card at a networking event lands on one of my mailing lists. When business slows down, I therefore always have thousands of prospect names and addresses for a quick direct mail campaign. I also make extra income renting the list through a reputable broker.

Your components may vary -- for instance, you may use classified or Yellow Pages ads for leads -- but without at least a majority of the above elements, marketing may take more effort than you have.

Marcia Yudkin coaches small business owners internationally on getting media publicity and effective marketing outreach. She also publishes the bimonthly newsletter, The Creative Glow: How to Be More Original, Inspired & Productive in Your Work. Get autographed copies of her books Marketing Online and Six Steps to Free Publicity (Plume Books) for $26.90 (combined, postpaid) by calling her 24-hour message line at 617-266-1613 or sending a check or money order to her at Creative Ways, P.O. Box 1310, Boston, MA 02117. You can receive her electronic brochure in a matter of minutes by sending any E-mail message to yudkinfo@world.std.com; for a personal reply contact marcia@yudkin.com.