Be Someone People Want to Buy From

 A review of  Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port

Buy it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Yourself-Solid-Reliable-Marketing/dp/0471783935

Follow Michael Port:
Web Site: http://www.michaelport.com/

Blog: http://www.bookyourselfsolid.com/blog/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormichaelport

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/michaelport

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/EricLow

Quick Review

Excellent sales book geared for service professionals. He outlines a strategy of building trust with clients over time by enticing them to gradually take next steps towards a sale. Mr. Port is not a mass contact, cold calling, hard closing sales person, but rather he suggests establishing a premium brand for yourself and creating a sales process whereby the prospect naturally makes moves towards doing business with you and referring others.

Part One – Your Foundation

Your foundation is your brand and how you communicate your value proposition. It includes the basics of what you do, who you do it for, how you do it, and the reason people work with you. For example, my elevator pitch is that, “I help digital publishers and advertisers (who) generate more revenue (what) by providing them with high impact, premium ad units (how). This increases the ROI of lead generation and branding which leads to increased sales (value).”

My biggest takeaway was to include the why you do it. I now finish with, “because advertising is cool and display ads are boring.” I established a mission and a purpose. It is also the way that I really feel. I am all about good business and running things by the numbers, but also I really do like a well put together ad that people can interact with. I like something different and something that stands out. Good advertising many times is better than the content and I believe good advertising is a rare commodity.

If I can lay out my vision and connect with people who feel the same way then I have a better chance at a sale. This is part of recognizing the who I want to do business with. I still back up my business case with numbers but if I reach common ground with a client/prospect about creating new and cool advertising then I have a better chance to work collaboratively in achieving that goal.

Part 2 – Building Trust and Credibility

This covers the basics of acting in the best manner possible at all times. From the look and feel of your business card and web site, to being responsive and professional in your communications, to promoting your knowledge and credentials within your ares of expertise, everything along the line matters.

The Book Yourself Solid Sales Cycle Process works when you know:

1 – Who your target customers are

2 – What they are looking for

3 – Where they look for you

4 – When they look for you

5 – Why they should choose you

6 – How you want them to engage with you

Part 3 – The 7 Core Self-Promotion Strategies

This part of the book deals with outreach and finding the people that you want to work with. Mr. Port's approach matches perfectly with my belief that people love to buy but hate to be sold. His strategies for outreach are centered around positioning yourself in a way that makes people want to buy from you.

Synopsis

Good book. Pretty quick read. Nothing ground breaking for sales pros who have read many other sales books but it does give some great reminders and direction in how to be someone that people want to buy from.

The Future Of Advertising

Commentary on the book, “The Future of Advertising: New Media, New Clients, New Consumers in the Post-Television Age” by Joe Cappo (http://www.amazon.com/Future-Advertising-Clients-Consumers-Post-Television/dp/0071403159)

Author's own commentary on iMedia Connection: http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/2918.imc

This book was written in 2004 and Mr. Cappo's direction as to the Future of Advertising have continued to prove true. The basic premise is that advertising and the entire industry is splintering and more highly fragmented with less big players and more, smaller specialists.

In the Beginning there was Mad Men

Mr. Cappo describes the advertising business in the early 1970's as one centered around few agencies and few channels. Basically, TV was the big buy and the best and only way for brands to achieve the reach they needed to promote their products. Agencies were an end to end shop for all of the advertiser's needs and they provided services beyond the television media buy for free due to the huge margins from the TV sale. The additional services and channels did not amount to much reach or impact an advertiser’s results as much so they turned out to be a throw in.

The change in advertising has come from the fragmenting of audiences and specifically the fragmenting of attention within and away from television into many different mediums. With more channels on television media buying became more complex. Since big time advertisers require reach for their campaigns this also forced them to explore additional channels each requiring their own specialists. Big name ad shops were not going to position themselves as specialists in niche channels since this would devalue their importance in the big bread winner of television.

A Vicious Cycle of Reach vs Niche

Internet advertising accelerated this shift and continues to do so. Gone are the days of media sales being the “Mad Men” three martini lunch. Today media sales are based on audience and performance data. More and more technology vendors are providing audience data to advertisers who are then demanding more and more of it for highly targeted campaigns. The more targeted the campaign, the less reach each buy has. This forces the shift from media buying being simply buying ad spots on one of the three major networks to media buying trading desks with real time bidding. To compete for these ad buys publishers are talking or selling inventory to a new type of buyer and are forced to shift from the emphasis on their brand to audience data. Advertisers care less about where their ad is shown (brand) and more about who their ad is shown to (audience).

If the medium is the message, new campaigns need to be constructed for each targeted audience on each platform. An ad targeting 18 - 34 year old males that used to be able to be run during a football game now has a new message and creative for television, web, social media, mobile and Internet video. Also, across each of these platforms messaging may be adjusted on factors such as in market consumers or product branding / awareness.

Each of these are individual and smaller buys and the publisher or media outlet needs to justify the ad spend for each campaign across each platform. Where media sellers used to spend money on extravagant parties and entertaining media buyers selling the value of the context where an ad is placed, those dollars are now better spent on audience data, private exchanges and real time bidding systems. That is the new and only way to sell to ad agency’s trading desks.

Conclusion

The future of advertising is smaller agencies, smaller and more highly targeted buys, more niche and highly targeted channels, and much more specialization in matching the message with the medium.

Give And You Shall Receive - Commentary on Power of Mid-Roll

Give And You Shall Receive - Commentary on Power of Mid-Roll on @adotas & @mediapost – http://www.adotas.com/2011/05/freewheel-broadcasts-the-power-of-mid-roll/

The most popular ad format in the video advertising space to date has been the Pre-Roll but is it really just another form of interruption marketing? Are the publisher and advertiser trying to force their commerce down the throat of the viewer in order to achieve their reach at the expense of what really matters which is the desired response from viewers? Making a viewer watch a 15 or 30 second ad before they get to view the content may seem like an equitable trade to the publisher/advertiser but may not be with the viewer.

Statistics like higher completion rates for Mid-Rolls show that by giving to the viewer first, video content publishers engage them and viewers pay them back by watching and responding to ads. A Pre-Roll gives the viewer the viewer the second chance to opt out of the unspoken trade of advertisement for content. During a Pre-Roll the viewer asks themselves if they really want to spend their time watching the ad in exchange for the unknown value of the content. By providing the content first, the publisher gives to the viewer and makes a charitable first step in the transaction. The higher completion rate of the Mid-Roll shows that viewers are really good hearted people and will reciprocate. 

Notice the performance numbers listed by MediaPost on Mid-Roll performance:  

On a Mid-Roll: The Pause That Performs

 

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=151064

Action Item to Consider

If you are a publisher with video content, consider eliminating the Pre-Roll and instead scheduling Mid-Rolls earlier and more often within the content. Experiment with giving more first, engaging the viewer and you may receive more in the trade.