LOVE IT or HATE it: MARKETING NEEDS TO BE DONE!

Fantasising about our personal, big, fat dream is one thing!
Doing something about it is a totally different matter altogether.
Let's pretend we kissed our own excuses and demons goodbye;
we started out on our journey of self- fulfilment!
What else is there to do?  
We need to let the world know about our wonderful product or service!

And this involves marketing!
Personally, l have a love /hate relationship with this subject!
My straight talking, no-nonsense German soul doesn't grasp the concept effective marketing involves telling a sob story, having a rags-to-riches story or, I have subscribed to the wrong kind of marketers on the Internet.

My current experts are telling me I need a  cheesy, emotionally filled sob story to relate to my future customers or readers. And I dislike cheesy, emotionally charged stories. ( Told ya' I don't get it).

I am looking for easy, elegant, no-nonsense ways to convey my Motherpreneur message to the world!
So I un-subscribed from my marketers and booked myself into the

Canadian Marketing Summit

 At 
The Airport Sheraton, 7551 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, BC V6X 1A3

I need help and I am ready to receive it!
The event organisers got me with this line:
Learn the cutting edge and advance marketing techniques from 18 marketing wizards and industry experts from around the world .

Ever since Harry Potter I have a soft spot for wizards. And ever since Harry defeated Lord Voldemort, I believe in their magic.

The speaker line-up looks fantastic enough (mainly Canadian and European) and if theses wizards can't help me, nobody can.

Ok, Ok, I love my eye candy! Here is the real reason I am going:

:
CEO of Jon Benson Fitness, Inc., Fitology, Inc., and 3X Formulas, Inc.
Jon is the creator of the Video Sales Letter everybody is using currently.

Thankfully my kids and husband know how to entertain themselves without their mother and wife around. A big kiss for them for letting me go to learn the inside outs of effective, non-cheesy marketing!

If you have the opportunity to come along during the event, please join me and hundreds of other participants to learn about the nuts and bolts of the industry.
If you do, I have a surprise for you!  I was able to score us a goodie:

The event is normally $297 and by going to the website and choosing the 'Early Bird Pass - General 3 day Pass' option with Promo Code  Motherpreneur you'll get it only for$97.

I am so excited to hear about the different ways to market myself, the Motherpreneur way! Yeepee!

 Here is another reason why I am going. The promoters are using my all time, favourite word ever:

Get the tools, techniques and connections to raise your bottom line and become extraordinary at marketing your business today!

I look forward to seeing you there!

 

 

THIS AIRLINE DOES IT RIGHT

The Human Resource Department of WestJet Airlines must be reading my book VERRY BERRY EXTRA-ORDINARY. How else did they find out about "my secrets"?
Secret No.1 It doesn't matter WHAT you sell, it matters HOW you sell it!
Secret No. 2: It doesn't need to cost money to become extra-ordinary.
Secret No.3: Just be creative!
Secret N.4: You only need to concentrate on one item only to make you special!
http://www.amazon.com/VERRY-BERRY-EXTRA-ORDINARY-Recipies/dp/1460203690/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360543398&sr=1-3-fkmr2&keywords=very+berry+extra-ordinary

When I flew home this morning, the ground crew plus flight attendants of WestJet had us passengers all smiling; from the first boarding call to their final farewell on the plane.

What did they do to make us all laugh? They didn't wear silly uniforms, they didn't dance, they didn't hand out little presents, all they did was...changed their tone of voice during their announcements and added some sparkly bits and pieces to their presentations!

Would you like to read an example?

Instead of the usual, monotone boarding announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen, please come to get ...bla,bla,bla.
This lady dressed up her announcement like this (you need to read the following with attitude and FUN in your voice):

"Ladies and Gentlemen, flight No 234 to Abbotsford has a new check - in gate. Please come to gate B. B for Bruno, Beatrix, Bernice. Do you see the lady in her bright yellow vest, - the one waving at you- yes that me. If you want to get to Abbotsford you need to come and see me!"
"Do we have any little WestJetters whose parents want to get on board first? Kids, grab your parents and come on up!'


Inside the cabin it went something like this:
"Hello Ladies and gentlemen, we are flying to Abbotsford and we are taking you with us. This is flight No....

"We would be very surprised if you actually paid attention to our safety demonstration, but if you do, we would very much appreciate that."
'This comfortable Boing 737 has fashionable floor stripes which will illuminate in case of an emergency."
When the flight attendant demonstrated the oxygen mask we heard this :'" You too can look this beautiful if you pull the straps to tighten the mask""Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! By slightly changing their tone of voice, by adding a few silly words, the whole plane was listening!


It doesn't cost anything to stand out from the crowd! Good job West Jet Airline.
(I wonder how many books they bought...)

Home Sweet Home, It is great to be back on top of our rock.
See ya tomorrow!

There Is No Such Thing as a Boring JOB -

It is you who is boring!

Tony Robbins said this! A very long time ago I heard him speaking about the connection between a positive                                                       attitude and enjoyment at work:   "We are in charge of our own job satisfaction and enjoyment at work."                                                                                                                                                                                            I believe him!  Therefore, his pearls of wisdom have been my credo for at least two decades;                                                a mantra to get me through some mind numbing tasks.                                                                                                           As you  know, fame and fortune hasn’t come by - yet!                                                                                                                 The summer job is over and I decided to fill up my bank account doing part time                                                                       work as a “Brand Ambassador”. On Sunday I represented a well-known Canadian drugs company who offers a                                                                     supplement line for women during' different stages in their lives'! Where: A well known Canadian Drugstore                                                                                                                                    Location:   Coquitlam                                                                                                                                                            Time:   Sunday morning 10-2pm                                                                                                                                        Weather condition: Rainy, cold and miserable                                                                                                               Task: To raise awareness among the female shoppers for these supplements! Equipped with my fold-up demonstration table, the store manager                                                                                         positioned me at the corner of the vitamin isle - but somehow I ended up                                                                                  stuck in between the ‘magic-touch nail dryer’ and the new line of gift stockings. I had nine products on offer and a savings initiative of adding 2000 points to the                                                        customer’s shoppers- savings card if they purchase one of the supplements.                                                                       (Canadians love their bonus points! They redeem them for ‘free ‘stuff later on!) I don’t  know if it was the weather, the time of day or the day itself, but hardly                                                                            anybody was around during my 4-hour shift.                                                                                                                        Especially the vitamin aisle was deserted for the longest time! All in all, I feared the worse: Boredom might set in!  Four hours can be a                                                                             very long time if you have nobody to talk to.The voice of Tony became alive in                                                                      my head: “There is no such thing as a boring job. It is up to you to make it interesting!" I  memorized nine different instruction lists, the main ingredient lists and                                                                          benefits of these nine supplement bottles.  I was so focused and so keen to put my                                                                  knowledge to the test that the first question of the day totally caught me off guard:                                                                   “Where do I find the umbrellas please?” My product line is designed to help women to get through the first                                                                                        signs of menopause, helps to relieve symptoms of PMS, enhances sexual desire,                                                                   promotes healthy hair, skin & nails to name a few.                                                                                                               That meant, any men wandering down the aisle were rendered ‘unsuitable’ due to their gender alone. The few teenage girls I saw were still too young to worry about                                                                                             “abnormal cell growth in their breasts”. The ladies of desirable age let me knew that                                                                                                                          ‘they were swallowing way too many pills already’. Or, they knew exactly                                                                               which brand they were looking for and didn’t want to switch                                                                                                  from the known to the unknown. If I didn’t want to experience job boredom and render to the                                                                                                     fact that I am boring, I had to come up with a rescue plan:                                                                                                          I changed my approached and abandoned my post at the                                                                                        vitamin/supplement aisle and moved to the front of the store.                                                                                                Positioned at the corner of 'Beauty' and 'Parfumerie' I handed                                                                                            every 'suitable 'woman a flyer  ("Ï know how to keep a job interesting, I am Not boring”)! I started moving around, changing my position and finally, time went by much faster.                                                                                                                                                                                       And thank God for the elderly gentleman who needed my help to find the                                                                           chips in the long container’. Or the girl who was desperate                                                                                                          to locate digestive cookies, covered in    chocolate.                                                                                                                                                                                        It took all my imagination, creativity, sense of humour                                                                                                      and good attitude to make something extra-ordinary out of this somewhat dire situation!                                                                                                                                                                                      I fought for four hours – and I lost.  But sometimes,                                                                                                                    a woman needs to listen to herself and render to her own judgement:                                                                                         I did my best, I had a good enough time, but still, it was boring!                                                                                             Over the years I discovered that yes, sometimes tasks we are performing are boring!                                                         This is a simple fact of life!                                                                                                                                                   And, it has nothing to do with our attitude towards the job.                                                                                                            Boring is boring!  But I also discovered,                                                                                                                                     'doing a job can be boring, but that doesn't mean I am boring!'

There is a Sucker Born every Second

My book has arrived for its first proof read- slowly but surely I am moving towards publication date! It is exciting and very scary indeed. For the previous five months I have been bombarded (I really MEAN bombarded) by US based marketers with their free telesiminars, video calls, and free subscriptions, free listen –ins etc. All in the name of book promotion to the masses! Three hundred million people across the border are reasons enough to listen to the tips and tricks of these master marketers.  I have to know what makes American tick!                                                                                   This is what I learned: By far the most important, single item on the list is to have a good sob-story to share.                                                                                                                              Oh these Americans, they still LOVE the old fashioned “From Rags to Riches” tale.  If you want to connect, to really connect and gain credibility in the American market you should have risen like a phoenix from the ashes – e.g..

Escaped a destructive husband and marriage.

Survived a near fatal car crash.

One should have been broke, bankrupt or nearly broke with maxed out credit cards.

One should have experienced the death of a loved one.

Other good topics are being evicted from the house, become unemployed, lived on the street, being a single parent...

Now I begin to panic:  What happens if you Don’t have a story to tell? What about if your story is about ‘the deep desire to follow your heart', and your only life motto is “to JUST DO IT” (Nike, I love you for this slogan).

Very soon I will find out if  "Only a sad story is a good story” Or if I will stand a chance in the US market with my "happily married, three children, fun life story".  One thing is still for sure, none of these ‘suckers’ will get my money!

My husband is deeply concerned that I will eventually break down and will part with my money to get the help they promised. As I said in blog " Ïmpulsive Decisions, write a book & shrink my waist, I don’t believe in short cuts. In order to reach the No.1 spot on Amazon .com I actually want people around the world to read my book and recommended it to their friends- i.e. the old fashioned way. It may take much longer than any tried and tested road map from Mr. Marketer, but at least it is honest and much cheaper.

On this note I will raise my glass to every wonderful, unique individual out there who prefers to explore the path of the unknown without the help of an expensive guru! The road ahead may be more bumpy, but at least it is your own!

Prost to being extra-ordinary!