Posted by: Troy White
January 1, 2008
Issue #322

Starting Off the New Year
Like a Rock Star

In this issue:

• Did you get your Christmas present?
• An unexpected tongue wagging rock star that changed my Christmas, and will for you too …
• 8 powerful ways to make more money this year with your existing business …
• 4 proven strategies to make 2008 the breakthrough year in your business …
• And Much More! 

Fellow business builder,

Hard to believe it’s now 2008! Not only did I get the honor of writing you the Christmas edition, but I also get the New Years edition … thank you.  If you did not pick up your free gift from the Christmas edition, please visit http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/troy-white/special-wishes-and-gifts-
from-troy.html to pick up your copy of the 2008 Marketing and Promotional Calendar (no opt-ins required to get your gift).

For this week, it seems only pertinent that we focus on a few things to start your year with a bang.

Have you noticed that many entrepreneurs and small business owners suffer from some form of ADD?

The constant desire to move on to something else, something new.  There are good reasons we are like this – and many good reasons why this affliction helps us achieve the levels of success that we do.

But, falling victim to the constant need to move on is costing you and I money!

One of the best exercises you can do at this time of year is a serious analysis of what happened in your business over the past 12 months. 

• low-hanging fruit
• awards or accolades
• new testimonials
• most profitable campaigns run
• best lead generator

Give yourself some credit for all that you accomplished in 2007!

One of my ‘accomplishments’
over the Christmas season
was reading Gene Simmons’ book Sex, Money, Kiss
– an incredible book
by a phenomenal marketer.

Many people judge Gene by the image he portrays in his old KISS costume, with makeup, platform boots and tongue sticking out. If that is all you know about Gene, you will be astounded to learn how successful he has become marketing himself, his brand, and his many companies.

Seriously, Gene is a marketing genius and his book gives you some incredible insights into the way he thinks, acts and grows his businesses (a warning though: if you are easily offended and unable to see past some of the points he makes, you will not enjoy this book. If you have thick skin, this is packed solid with marketing lessons).

I thought it would be a perfect start to the New Year to go through a battle plan of how I would start, or re-start a business using some of the strategies Gene Simmons shares, combined with some timeless information that would almost guarantee the success of the new launch.

1. Make it a cool and catchy name.  Many of the major successes in business are centered around products and businesses whose names are memorable. Also, Gene is big into the designs and packaging of the name you use.  While this, to me, is not as important as how you are selling it, you cannot deny the success he has achieved with this strategy.  Make the name into a catchy logo, and, the real key, make the logo attractive enough that you would wear it on a t-shirt, or baseball cap, or on a poster, etc. Gene has created a multi-million dollar empire out of merchandisable clothing, posters, stickers, electronic gear, etc …. all with a very catchy logo and designs.
2. Think through each and every area that you can generate revenues from your business and offerings. 
1. Your main product or service offering – price it at the high end (trying to win the low price game is not something I would ever recommend).  Prices at the high end may attract fewer buyers (sometimes it attracts more buyers), but the profits are higher, and the effort required to close a high end sale is typically as easy as selling the cheapest on the market.
2. Find ways to incorporate a membership program into your business. This is a BIG money maker if done properly. You can price your membership program monthly or yearly, definitely worthy of testing both options. With a membership, they should get some form of discount of future purchases, they should have special member-only days, they should be eligible for contests, points for purchases – redeemable for additional goods, or impressed clothing or hats.

   [Side note: I have been watching closely all the different places that use memberships lately, and they are, typically, one of the leaders in their market, usually VERY busy with paying customers, and usually very unique, in that their competitors are too scared to implement membership programs.]

3. What is your conversation piece?  When someone talks about you and your business, what one thing are they likely to bring up in the conversation?  If you don’t have that, yet, start thinking it through.

   It could be the bizarre things you do in your It could be the bizarre things you do in your ‘off-time’ (think Richard Branson) – it could be who you regularly write about in your newsletters (I used to write about my twin daughters extensively in my newsletters, as they taught me much about life and business.  I got away from it and people stopped asking about them – which was my personal connection with them).

   Find something, anything that can position you as highly unique Find something, anything that can position you as highly unique –

4. Have annual customer appreciation events (more frequent is even better). People LOVE a good party – give them one.  Make it free for all customers – you can combine the free event with an extra paid event, but do it at a separate time and make the paid event highly valuable. 
5. Is there any way you can license your brand, your products, your services, even your marketing process?  Create something unique in your business and how it is perceived by others, then approach others in unrelated markets (even competitors in non-competitive areas). Sell rights to use your licensed goods in their business. For them, it gives them more to sell to their clients, for you it provides additional income streams to further grow your business and bank account.

   Donald Trump recently discussed the fact that 15% of his revenues come from the licensing of the Trump name. People pay him significant fees to use his name, fees are payable in advance before they do anything with his name.

6. Cross promote everything that you sell, or want to sell.  Each and every part of your business needs to be selling the other parts.  You can do this through inserts in your product shipments, in your electronic newsletters, in your customer follow-up pieces, you can even create catchy cartoon or graphic logos that make for great stickers – include a bunch of stickers with each shipment (this has worked great for me and the Wild West Wealth Summit and the cowboy cartoons I have used).
7. Create systematic 1-2-3 launches for every new initiative you are undertaking this year. As you lay it out on your marketing calendar (which you can get at http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/troy-white/special-wishes-and-gifts-
   from-troy.html) you will start seeing where the majority of your time will be allocated throughout the year- and where the overlaps are on your launches, which can be powerful in the eyes of you customers – or confusing, if not explained properly.
8. Always be asking yourself how you can make more money from your existing products or services, and how you can repackage them for bigger boosts in sales. Try surveying your clients to find out what they like most, and least, about the products and services you offer now.
3. Brand yourself as the personality of your business.  Many of the world’s great business success stories (and turnaround stories) are the result of the business leader becoming the front person and personality in all their marketing.  Lee Iacocca WAS Chrysler when he turned them around.  He was front and center on the television, the voice you heard on radio, and the person people connected with when they wanted to buy a new vehicle (versus all the other ‘faceless’ corporations they had to choose from).

   Use cartoons, if appropriate. They have worked well for me … and are working well for others.  There is a major resurgence of interest in cartoons right now among adults. I don’t recall where I saw the article, but the growth in comic book sales to adults is experiencing a major spike right now – tap into it!

   How would you sell you and your company if you were a rock star?  You may not want to wear makeup and stick your tongue out (or maybe you would?) – But there is something you would do to stand out from the thousands of other rock stars out there re: What is your personality you want to portray?

4. Work harder (and smarter) than anyone else in your industry.  Despite the premise behind the 4 Hour Work Week, hard work will be the key to your success. Yes, outsourcing and systemization is critical, but if you are working half the hours as your biggest competitor – they will become the leader.  Look at Clayton, he doesn’t claim to work the fewest hours to have created the level of success that he has – he works hard, damn hard – and the results from his promotions speak for themselves.

My own business is going through a major transformation this year and I am incorporating almost all of the above techniques (membership programs, contests, annual events, premium pricing, client appreciation events, etc)

I would suggest you go through the list above, and start putting down a plan on how you will use each piece in your business this year – then do it!  Write down when it will be done, by whom, and how you will keep yourself accountable to make sure that it DOES happen. 

Ideas alone are useless until they are put into action.

Remember, you may not agree with me on the examples used and the celebrities mentioned, but you cannot dispute the success they have achieved using these exact same strategies in their empires!

And when opportunity knocks this year – open the door!

Please let me know your thoughts, and if you have any further topics on this you would like to see discussed.

To your success,

Troy White
Editor, Small Business Mastery
Supplement to THE TOTAL PACKAGE

Looking for resources related to this article? Try some of these.

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A Final Note:

If you have specific subjects you would like addressed, or have any comments on what you have seen here, please submit a comment below and I will see how I can help.

"Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”

–Napoleon Hill

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Attribution Statement: This article was first published in The Total Package. To sign-up to receive your own FREE subscription to The Total Package and claim four FREE money making e-books go to www.makepeacetotalpackage.com.

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• The Death of Great Copywriting?

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2 Comments »

1. Comment by Tynisha — January 2, 2008 @ 11:27 am

   Hi Troy,

   I totally agree about your comments on Gene Simmons\’ book. Like you I am a Dan Kennedy student and I\’m looking forward to seeing Gene at this year\’s Super Conference.

   This is an awesome list of tips to jumpstart the New Year for business owners like myself. Thanks for being so detailed and giving so much value.

   I look forward to your weekly articles as much as Clayton\’s. Also your last post on developing a marketing plan for the New Year was excellent. I\’ve already used it to map out the first six months of marketing for my business.

   Best,

   Tynisha Thompson
   The Book PR Diva
   Book Savvy Media, LLC.
   Book Marketing & Media Consulting Services
   for Entrepreneurial Authors • Publishers • Speakers • Coaches and Consultants.
   http://www.booksavvymedia.com
   \”It\’s Not Just a Book, it\’s a Business\”

2. Comment by Glen R. Kohlenberg — January 2, 2008 @ 5:45 pm

   Troy you and Clayton saved my butt last year.I am in the home improvement business in Florida and with 50% off in sales from 06 I needed all the help I can get.With Clayton being the master in print advertising we were able to still run some great ads and bring in the much needed $$$ Man I could use some related help in our industry.Special thanks Troy for your marketing calendar.