What makes a great network marketer different from a poor network marketer?

Network marketing can be one of the single, most effective ways to grow your business.  Personally, my membership in the local builders association and a local chapter of BNI was directly responsible for 50% of the new business development for my company in 2007.

Joining a Chamber of Commerce, a Chapter of Business Networking International, a local civic organization (Lions Club, Jaycee's) or a local builders association are just some examples of ways to start network marketing.  There are plenty of opportunities where ever you live.  If you are not using network marketing as part of your overall marketing plan, you need to start.

For some, network marketing works great.  For others...when it comes time to renew their membership, they don't renew.  Their main reason:  It didn't get me any business.

What poor network marketers often fail to understand is that a roster spot on a membership list MEANS NOTHING.  It simply comes down to what Dr. Ivan Misner from BNI calls Givers Gain.  You gain back in direct proportion to what you give.

How an exercise machine is a lot like networking 

I had an extended phone conference with Janet Kruger from Lights On, who was voted the Associate of the Year for the Minnesota River Builders Association.  Visit my blog to read Kruger's analogy of how an exercise machine is a lot like networking, and THREE SPECIFIC WAYS to maximize your membership to any networking group. 

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Chris Mitchell is the President and Founder of 25-8 Marketing, Inc, a full service advertising agency in Elk River, Minnesota. He plans and implements marketing programs for small to medium-sized businesses. Mitchell is a consultant, speaker and author and has worked with hundreds of companies. He has over 20 years of real-world advertising experience, and understands the marketing challenges of the small business owner.

You have a choice:  Urgent marketing or priority marketing

I had a great conversation today with a real estate agent about marketing and business, and she used the phrase "Tyranny of the Urgent."  I think that this phrase describes the way many of us run, and market our businesses.

"Tyranny of the Urgent" was an essay written in 1967 by Charles Hummel.  In this essay, Hummel makes a distinction between what is considered urgent...and what is considered priority.  It is a commentary, in part, about time management, and the choices we all make, as business owners, in growing our businesses.  As a cotton mill manager once told Hummel “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.”

Urgent marketing is reactive

• You create a blog because everyone else in the office has one.  Not a bad idea...but you're reacting.
• You run a newspaper ad...because the seller requests it.
• You put up a billboard on the same street as the office of your main competitors real estate office.  Yep, I've seen it done.
• You send out direct mail because it's the thing to do.

Read about proactive marketing and 6 specific things you can do to shift marketing priorities from urgent to important

Business is a series of interruptions...interrupted by more interruptions.

That's one of my favorite business quotes.  Let’s get out of the interruption trap.  We've all gone through the day, worked hard, then wondered what we really accomplished.  Work on the important stuff.  Business relationships.  Organizing your database.  Networking and referrals.  Blogging.  Don't say I don't have time for all that.  Remember, it’s not about time.  We all have the same about of time…24-hours per day, 7 days per week.  It's about the priorities.

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Chris Mitchell is the President and Founder of 25-8 Marketing, Inc, a full service advertising agency in Elk River, Minnesota. He plans and implements marketing programs for small to medium-sized businesses. Mitchell is a consultant, speaker and author and has worked with hundreds of companies. He has over 20 years of real-world advertising experience, and understands the marketing challenges of the small business owner.

In the blogging race...it's a marathon, not a sprint

I had an opportunity to attend a bloggers meetup in Minneapolis last evening.  One of the topics discussed was how blogging for business is a long term marketing proposition.

If you're thinking that creating a real estate or business blog will immediately boost traffic to your website, or garner you instant customers, it just doesn't work that way.

Run your business like you're going to stay in business

Blogging is a long term, conservative marketing investment in your business.  There is no silver bullet in blogging for business...it takes time to develop relevant content (and lots of it), and let the Google Juice find you.  It takes an investment of your time on a consistent basis too. 

Newspaper is the sprinter...blogging is the marathon runner

Newspaper advertising is a quick fix.  It's the sprinting form of marketing.  It's for people who want to "buy it now."  Blogging, on the other hand, is winning the minds of your customers before they are ready to buy. The longer you continue to blog, the better it works.

Don't just take my word for it either.  Read the blogs of the veteran AR bloggers.  They paid their dues.  They've trained their readers.  It's taken time...and I think most feel it's been worth it to blog...for the long term. 

To read some blogging tips I learned at our Business Bloggers meetup, visit Business Blogging:  It's a Marathon, not a 100M dash

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Chris Mitchell is the President and Founder of 25-8 Marketing, Inc, a full service advertising agency in Elk River, Minnesota. He plans and implements marketing programs for small to medium-sized businesses. Mitchell is a consultant, speaker and author and has worked with hundreds of companies. He has over 20 years of real-world advertising experience, and understands the marketing challenges of the small business owner.

Here it what Topix is all about:

"Topix is the world’s largest community news website. You can read, talk about -- and even edit -- the news on over 360,000 of our news pages. Whatever your interests are, we have a news page for you!

Topix is also a place for you to post your own news stories, as well as comment about stories you've seen on the Topix site. Each story and every Topix page comes with the ability to add your voice to the conversation."

How can you use Topix to gain momentum for your localism?

One challenge of promoting a blog is to get relevant backlinks.  I suggest to everyone who has a blog that's promoting real estate or business to do this.

The first step:  You simply apply to become a Topix editor.  Topix frequently asked questions are here.  Here is an example of how this can work for real estate blog promotion...

1. Blog on AR localism like you normally do.
2. Become a local editor for your town on Topix.
3. After you're approved, post your relevant local blogs to Topix.
4. You'll get a link on Topix directly to your blog.  More people searching your town will find you...and your blog.
5. Click here to see an example of how I did this today:  Elk River Minnesota Blog

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Chris Mitchell is the President and Founder of 25-8 Marketing, Inc, a full service advertising agency in Elk River, Minnesota. He plans and implements marketing programs for small to medium-sized businesses. Mitchell is a consultant, speaker and author and has worked with hundreds of companies. He has over 20 years of real-world advertising experience, and understands the marketing challenges of the small business owner.

The Chinese Proverb about planting trees goes something like this:

The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago.  The second best time is today.

This saying applies to so many realms of our lives, our businesses, and our marketing.  If you had planted a tree 20 years ago, you’d be enjoying the shade and fruits of your labor.  But what if you didn’t plant a tree 20 years ago?  Wouldn’t the second best time be today?

Plant your marketing seeds today

So many of the clients whom I meet with plan their marketing in a reactionary mode.  Need sales…react with marketing.  They are so busy working in their business…that they forget to work on their business.

What I try to explain is that by planting marketing seedlings now, you might see fruit (sales) in as little as three months.  If you persist in your marketing seedlings, your current-month-mode can work toward a great-year-mode.

What SEVEN marketing seeds can you plant today?  Finish this blog here.

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Chris Mitchell is the President and Founder of 25-8 Marketing, Inc, a full service advertising agency in Elk River, Minnesota. He plans and implements marketing programs for small to medium-sized businesses. Mitchell is a consultant, speaker and author and has worked with hundreds of companies. He has over 20 years of real-world advertising experience, and understands the marketing challenges of the small business owner.

Be prepared for what you are about to see.  I was looking online through the local real estate listings tonight, and was amazed at the poor quality of photos.  Check these out sad, but actual listing photos:

Preaching to the choir here at Active Rain, but would someone please explain why there is not a minimum standard when it comes to publishing MLS photos? Why is this tolerated?

I think agents would agree that photos are one of the most important pieces of information found online about a property.  Online listings with poorly-taken, grainy photos do little to show what a home looks like. Let alone what is special about the listing.

Thanks for letting me vent. 

Now, I'll quit bitchin' and share four ideas on how to take better real estate photos, courtesy of a couple of pro photographers in an article from Real Estate Journal.com:

For exterior shots, shoot in the middle of the day when the sun is shining and the sky is blue.  When shooting inside, turn on all the lights and use a flash.

Remove clutter from an area before photographing it. Clear counter space and remove fridge magnets, children's toys, and dirty dishes.  For outside shots, put away garbage cans and take the car out of the driveway.  Try not to include telephone polls, wires and other homes in the scene.

Quality counts when taking photos, and cell-phone cameras don't cut it. A camera with a wide angle lens is ideal, but "point and shoot" digital cameras can also do the job.

For a clear photo, place digital cameras on a tripod.  Set the camera on its highest resolution. If you decide to just use the photos online, you can always decrease the resolution.  Never use less than 72 dots per inch for online photos.

Edit. If you didn't get a good shot, you can fix it with basic photo editing software. Crop out ceilings or unnecessary background, and adjust the brightness and contrast or edit in a sunny sky.

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Chris Mitchell is the President and Founder of 25-8 Marketing, Inc, a full service advertising agency in Elk River, Minnesota. He plans and implements marketing programs for small to medium-sized businesses. Mitchell is a consultant, speaker and author and has worked with hundreds of companies. He has over 20 years of real-world advertising experience, and understands the marketing challenges of the small business owner.

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Chris Mitchell is the President and Founder of 25-8 Marketing, Inc, a full service advertising agency in Elk River, Minnesota. He plans and implements marketing programs for small to medium-sized businesses. Mitchell is a consultant, speaker and author and has worked with hundreds of companies. He has over 20 years of real-world advertising experience, and understands the marketing challenges of the small business owner.

This comes under the category of "I wish I had invented it"

Did you know that there are over one billion of the marshmallow Peeps produced each year?  Unbelievable.  49.6 million is sales in 2007.  What can we learn about marketing from this company?  Two things:

1)  Be unique.  There is only one company that makes Peeps...and they've gained market share because they are known for doing something well.

2)  Be consistent.  Peeps customers know exactly what they are getting everytime they open a package of this marshmallow treat.

Peeps facts:

Ingredients:   Mostly sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin, same as most other marshmallow candies. They do have trace amounts of flavoring, coloring, wax, unpronounceable preservatives and such.

Calories:  About 32 per Peep (and can anyone eat just one?)

Colors:  Yellow was the original. Since Peep Season 1998, Peeps are available in yellow, white, pink, violet, and blue. Blue was added for the 1998 season. Violet first appeared in the 1997 season.

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Chris Mitchell is the President and Founder of 25-8 Marketing, Inc, a full service advertising agency in Elk River, Minnesota. He plans and implements marketing programs for small to medium-sized businesses. Mitchell is a consultant, speaker and author and has worked with hundreds of companies. He has over 20 years of real-world advertising experience, and understands the marketing challenges of the small business owner.