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The Marketing Mix
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Greetings from my laundroffice
Very early into self-employment, I realized that I needed a separate space for work. I had been living in Ireland, working at the kitchen table, and just couldn’t seem to...
Content Marketing on Steroids
At HOW Marketing Live today, I am giving a brand new presentation about the "best" marketing strategy for creative professionals. It's called, "How To Reach Your Dream Clients With Content Marketing,"...
Ever wanted to give a TEDx talk?
There isn’t an expert, an author, or entrepreneur I know who wouldn’t love to give a TEDx talk. Or to do more speaking in general. The problem isn’t opportunity (events...
[Podcast] Do Designers & Marketers Speak the Sa...
How can designers & marketers work better together? That's the question behind the white paper, The Intersection of Design & Marketing, (download it here) that Paul Foulkes-Arellano and I (and...
[Podcast] #342 Corey Poirier on the Business of...
My most effective marketing tool is content marketing. And my most effective content marketing tool, hands down, is speaking. I have been speaking to groups of creatives since 1993, when...
Copywriters: Don't Confuse Your Hourly Rate wit...
Your Hourly Rate Isn’t Your Price Sometimes it may seem like hourly pricing is the only option because the client will ask you, “What’s your hourly rate?” And if they...
[Free download] The Intersection of Design + Ma...
Have you noticed that the lines between marketing and the creative services (design, copywriting and more) are very blurry? Your clients come to you for help, and whether you provide...
Data is the future -- does it scare you? [QTMM ...
How many times a day do you say, "I'm sorry" or "thank you?" To whom do you say it most often? And what triggers it? If you counted, you would certainly...
The best digital marketing tools for designers
There are so many marketing tools to choose from. That's why (and how) I manage to create a new marketing plan for creative professionals every year. Someone has to narrow...
How to Get Creative Work in the Gig Economy
I was recently interviewed by Hal Conick of the American Marketing Association for their Marketing News column. We talked about the entrepreneur mindset, how creatives can market their business and...
[Podcast] #341 A Highly Accountable & Trackable...
In the latest episode of the MarketingMentorPodcast.com, Chris Leone of Web Strategies Inc. shares the details of the "highly accountable and highly trackable" marketing system his digital agency uses to generate...
Is WordPress right for ecommerce?
Let’s say you already have a WordPress site… And you want to start selling something—whether it’s a product, service or subscription. Do you need to use a different platform for ecommerce? Heck...
Special Discount on HOW Design Live in Boston, ...
I can’t believe it. HOW Design Live is once again right around the corner, April 30-May 3 in Boston. And the Early Bird deadline is tomorrow, Thursday, March 15.http://howdesignlive.com/ There...
Pricing Hourly: When It Makes Sense
When it comes to pricing your creative services, the process is never as black and white as you might like it to be. After all, you don’t work in a...
Need a sample agreement for your creative servi...
Today's blog post is short and sweet and very rich, in more ways than one! If you don't have a simple client agreement, you know what happens. (Read this to...
How I handled scope creep (including what I said)
I took on a red flag project. I knew it, considered it, and decided to anyway. The red flags: The timeline was insane, the project sounded disorganized, and there were...
How I handle the unpredictable nature of self e...
The nature of self employment (maybe of life too) is up and down. Things come in waves. You’ll get 5 new projects at a time or 3 proposals all due...
[Podcast] #340 Carl Smith on Agency Business Mo...
In the latest episode of the MarketingMentorPodcast.com, I chatted with Carl Smith, former co-founder of nGen Works, about the various business models his agency tried, including the 4-person partnership that...
Life’s too short to write proposals
At the end of my client intake phone calls, I say: When we get off the phone I’m going to send you a detailed estimate of everything we discussed today....
Do People Follow Up Anymore? [QTMM 2/24/18]
I connect with some people, and not at all with others. You too, right? And I want to work with the people I connect with, don't you?But how do you cultivate...
[Podcast] #339 Michael Solomon on the real curr...
In my latest podcast interview for the HOW Design Live podcast, I interview Michael Solomon. Today’s topic is the most important currency being exchanged in today’s economy (it’s not money)...
STARTS TODAY: Free Online Event -- Creative Con...
I've been surprised lately to see how many creative professionals feel insecure and are asking for material about how to build confidence.So if that's you, you're not alone. That's why...
If your content marketing isn't working....[QTM...
I know why your content marketing isn't working... Finding the right prospects is the biggest marketing challenge you have, right? We all know that you just can't afford to be...
[Podcast] #338 Managing Your Money as a Creativ...
It’s almost tax time... So in this episode of the Marketing Mentor Podcast, time lapse filmmaker, Michael e. Stern of BuildaBetterPhotograph.com, and Marketing Mentor, Ilise Benun, talk big picture about...
[NEW] Excellent Examples of Email Marketing Con...
I love collecting excellent examples of marketing tools that my clients are using to grow their creative businesses. Today I want to share 3 recent marketing messages from a design...
Not sure what to say when tricky things happen ...
Do you ever get tongue-tied or freeze or simply not know what to say when speaking to a client, a work colleague or your boss? If so, my new course...
Afraid of Pitching? Watch my video chat with Te...
I had a great time with my dear friends and colleagues, Terri Trespicio and Paula Rizzo, as their guest on the brand new "radio" show, Lights Camera Expert: Unleash Your Expertise,...
A Much Better Alternative to Hourly-based Retai...
Almost everyone I talk to these days wants retainer clients. You know, the type of arrangement where your client pays you $X,XXX every month, like clockwork. There's nothing better for your...
A Trick to Eliminate Negotiating [QTMM 1/25/18]
If you don't like talking money, then you probably imagine that everyone else does it better than you, especially your clients. (And if you're a drama queen, you may even...
[Podcast] How to Earn More on Every Project wit...
In this episode of the Unemployable podcast, Brian Clark and I chatted about how to do tiered pricing and why it's so much better for your business than (heaven forbid)...
[New Group] Experienced Newbies Accountability ...
Reinventing yourself mid-career is not easy! You’re too old to start over but too young to retire. You are trying to figure out what’s next for you. You’ve been around...
Excuse me? You want your deposit back?
It had never happened to me before. I didn't see it coming at all. There were no initial red flags, except that maybe the project was too good to be...
2017 by the numbers & ladies, watch this…
So, I didn’t meet my financial goal this year. I made $2779 less than last year, but you know what? I’m freaking proud of myself. Because I made 3 times as much...
[Podcast] Michael Solomon on Marketing (and more)
I can't wait to hear Michael Solomon, who literally wrote the book (Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being) on marketing, when he speaks this year at HOW Design Live's new...
Where my confidence comes from [QTMM 1/3/18]
To start off the new year, here is a very simple idea that is at the root of what I think of as my own self confidence: Life is...
[Podcast] #336 Michael e. Stern on How to Decid...
I got this message recently from a creative professional who signed up for my free mentoring session: "I've been in business for a while, I do good, creative work for...
[Podcast] How to Deal with Difficult Clients
Is it your job to make your clients happy? Lots of creative professionals seem to think so -- especially the "people pleasers" -- you know who you are! But I...
Top 5 Podcasts of 2017
Listening is the new reading! And if you listen well, you can learn a lot. So in case you missed some of the Marketing Mentor podcast episodes in 2017, here are...
[Podcast] #335 Andy Brenits on Confidence as an...
In the next installment of the Experienced Newbie series of interviews, I talked with Andy Brenits of Brenits Creative. He's a designer who has gone back and forth over the years between self employment and working...
Should you design your own website?
We live in a culture where the do-it-yourself mindset is prevalent. Just take a glance at Etsy, Pinterest and HGTV. I’m not knocking them—they are some of my faves—but they...
Join me this Wed. Dec. 20 online or in Seattle ...
Here's a special invitation for Wednesday, Dec. 20 from 9 am - 12 pm Pacific (that's 12-3 Ppm Eastern). I will be in Seattle shooting (and streaming live) my new course...
7 Worst Negotiating Mistakes
Can you commit to stop making these negotiating mistakes in 2018? In this new talk I gave at the Titanides Live event in Delray Beach, I described 7 of the...
I had to remind myself…
I spent all last week toiling with a small project. I felt like it was SO HARD. But the real truth is: I was making it painful. I was allowing...
[Podcast] #334 How to Break Down Your Services ...
Here's the thing -- when you do what you do, whether design or copywriting or any other creative service, you do it so naturally that you aren't fully aware of...
Do you have an SSL certificate?
Today’s post is more of a public service announcement. If you haven’t already, it’s time to get an SSL certificate for your website. Do not wait. The time is now....
100 Best Business Blogs (according to QuickBooks)
I'm thrilled to report that this blog, the Marketing Mix Blog, is #58 on the list of 100 Best Business Blogs recently published by Intuit's QuickBooks Resource Center (Find us...
What to say (and do) when...the client wants th...
It happens to everyone at some point, usually early in your self employed career, but sometimes later on too... You deliver what you promised to a client who showed no...
[Podcast] #333 How to Do Tiered Pricing with Ed...
Today's episode is a special treat -- my friend and colleague, Ed Gandia, recently interviewed me about tiered pricing and this conversation spawned a brand new product: The Tiered Pricing Kit: How to...
Do you know the right people?
Whether you call yourself "solopreneur," "freelancer" or small business owner, you can't run a business all by your lonesome. To be successful (not to mention prevent burnout), there are certain...
How to Present Tiered Pricing QTMM 11/15/17
Are you offering tiered pricing? It's the most profitable pricing strategy I've been using and advising my clients on lately. And sure enough, we're earning more with better projects. ...