April 30th, 2002


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Your April 30th, 2002 YouCanDraw.com Communiqué

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In today's ezine:

Marketing primer

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Howdy all,

Let’s jump right in: marketing. We've been getting a lot of general questions about
marketing recently - which to me is a sign of some healthy entrepreneurial
activity out there in YouCanDraw.com land.

We've done several issues in the past concerning marketing - (look in
the archives, or better, open your e-book, click on the “find” button in the
tool bar (at the very top of the window) and type in “marketing” - you'll get
a bunch of responses.)

That’s such a massive topic - without specific questions, it’s hard to really
give any good focused answers, but there’s still all sorts of places you can
look to for help. And I have to be humble - I’m no marketing guru myself -
but I am learning all the time.

And the net being what it is, there’s just plain a tremendous wealth of things
you can access. So much so,  it’s overwhelming.


Getting started

About the best starting advice I can offer is look at what other people have
done and try and apply it to what you’re doing. For example:


Model other successful marketers and businesses

Try the search engines and look at what other caricaturists have done. (It’s
amazing what a crowded market it’s turned into :-) and everybody really is
doing a lot of the same kinds of advertising: “get your caricatures done here”


Your uniqueness

Of course, with all the competition out there, it can get discouraging -  but
there is an antidote: discover what makes you unique. Being able to tell people
what you do different than the next guy is a huge advantage. But what makes
you unique? (For one answer to this look in the archives or type in “Unique selling
Proposition” (USP) in the YCD “find” box, or in the Net’s search engines. Of course,
if you’re the only caricaturist in your town, that’s unique in and of itself: “AnyTown
USA’s only living caricaturist”. And you build your marketing around that. If
there’s a “new kid in town” but you're the first, then, well you're “AnyTown’s FIRST”.
Course, you want to keep your campaign positive and you can see how an
adversarial USP can start looking like a cheap political slam show.

As of late I’ve seen the brighter Internet caricature marketers at least make it
clear what geographic segment of the country they’re able to work in/drive to/fly
to. So that's a step in the direction of identifying what makes you unique. (For
examples type “Caricaturists +In the New York area”  in any search engine
and see what comes up. )


Search engines

For larger scope marketing, utilize those search engines. Do a search with
these keywords and get a grasp for all the different facets of marketing:


Search words:

small business marketing
advertising
press releases (PR)
public relations
referral programs
affiliate sites
affiliate programs
copywriting (writing ads that sell and generate interest)
closing the sale
sales letters that work
point of purchase sales
desk top publishing
writing headlines
business cards
direst response advertising
yellow pages
Jay Conrad Levinson and Guerrilla marketing
How to build a successful internet sales site
How to market your caricature business
How to market your graphic arts business
search engine strategies
ideas for businesses
building web sites for crafts and fine arts


Getting the big picture

Again, getting a feel for what marketing really is, getting the “larger picture”
clear or somewhat in focus is paramount. So what is marketing? In a nutshell?
To answer that, let’s take a step back and ask this question: what is business?


What is "business"?

Business I’ve heard said is nothing more than marketing and innovation. The
innovation is what you do, sell, the service you promote, the comfort or
enjoyment you add to other people’s lives, the security, hilarity (if you’re a
comedian or caricaturist),  whatever it is that you do, that’s the innovation. (Really
making it innovative is where the thinking cap comes - and every business or
product has some innovation).

Marketing is the aspect of business where you tell the world what you (or
your product, service, innovation) can do for them. That’s it. That’s all business is.


Successful web businesses

Here’s some very large and successful sites devoted to marketing and building
your own web-based business:

Corey Rudl’s Internet Marketing site:

http://www.marketingtips.com/


Dr. Ralph Wilson’s monstrous search site:

http://www.wilsonweb.com/marketing/

Dr. Wilson is the granddaddy of web marketing information. He’s got a web info
marketing center that just blows away everyone else's. See it to believe it, sign
up for his weekly or monthly ezines - totally free.


Jay Conrad Levinson, the inventor of the “Jolly Green Giant” - has a great
information site:

http://www.gmarketing.com/


The best marketing "mindset"

If I were to say one thing about marketing in general it’s this: if you’re looking
out for your customers best interests, and you want them to achieve their highest
goals, their most and greatest satisfaction, if all your efforts are towards their
highest goals, the way you'd want things to work out for your friends and family,
and you treat them as  friends and family, and your efforts reflect that, and you
connect them, educate, cajole them, direct them towards helping them achieve
all the activities you’re promoting (e.g. drawing faces and caricatures) you can
only grow. And you’ll feel so good about it! 

Jay Abraham taught me that. (I paid a whole bunch of ching to study with this guy):

http://www.abraham.com/


That may seem to go beyond just setting up a site to sell your caricatures,
but believe me if you adopt that mindset, you'll have a whole shift of attitude
and insight in business.

(E.g. if all you want to do is draw at parties, ask "what else can I do for these folks to
really make their party the funnest, zaniest, most memorable?" And maybe you
get together a list of like minded caterers, clowns, bakeries that give discounts,
DJ's and bands, special event venues, discount toy stores etc. And you post all
that information at your site so your site becomes the "one stop party info
center", along with promoting what you do, you'll reap heaps more business than
if all you said was "100 bucks an hour I'll draw at your party". And you can still
say that.)


Here are some general marketing articles (also many authored by Jay Abraham)

http://www.jvmarketer.com/articles/directmarketing.htm

and here’s a fellow Abraham student who’s got a site devoted to Mr. Abraham himself:

http://www.holman.com/jay-abraham.html

(And I have to tell you I almost flipped when I saw her address: about
5 miles from where I just moved to :-)


I find it fascinating that all these sites offer so much in the way of information
and information programs. (Which is what YouCanDraw.com offers, right?)

It was a letter I received five years ago almost to the day from these guys
that sparked the idea for YouCanDraw.com:

http://www.netrageous.com/


Here’s another site that just popped up on a search for the phrase: “how to build
a successful internet sales site”

http://www.williecrawford.com/


another Corey Rudl site - I stumbled on by accident:

http://www.promotiontoolkit.com/


and how about ideas for building a web site? Try these guys:

http://www.imagesbuilder.com/


Building your web site

As far as starting your business, getting a web site up is a great next
logical step - even if you plan on staying very local. If you have a business
card you can always put your web address on it and explain everything on
the site that you can’t on a card, or a flyer or a even a brochure  - and at
just a  fraction of the cost. (Web hosting has been dropping - and bottoming
off in cost the last 12 to 18 months along with the rest of technology business.
Get an eyeful of these sites to start your web.

And for books on building web sites that look great, try any of Robin Williams
books (the other Robin Williams) - you can find them at this site:

http://www.design-bookshelf.com/ROBIN/

These are my two favorite books  - I own both)

The Non-Designer's WEB Design Book
The Non-Designer's Design Book

(But also note - you don’t have to have a great looking site to sell and
promote - so don't let not having super duper web design skills stop you from
starting! You can always improve on it later. And remember this - what you
say is so much more important than how your site looks. Looks help sure,
but what you say that’s directed towards the better interests of your customers
is so much more important. )

“Web sites that Suck” is an irreverent, comical look at how to make great
looking, navigable and profitable web sites:

http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/



Funneling it down to your own marketing

Now those are all general marketing sites, and might seem a little off
the mark for what most of you asking questions about marketing were
looking for. But it just expands your brain so much to whet your appetite,
to educate yourself to what marketing in the larger world is all about
before funneling it down into beginning your own campaign.


Cross-pollinating

By looking at what others have done, you might get ideas about things you
can build a business about that have nothing to do with drawing or art. Everybody
has an expertise in something - you know more about your area of expertise
than a great deal of others - you don't have to be the know all, be all, you
just have to know something some one else does not. And then be able to
find them - those who don't know what you know.


More than just caricatures

If you want to write a book or info product, you have to check out this site -
Dr. Ken Evoy’s -  for all the products you’ll ever need for starting your own
info product business:


http://www.sitesell.com/
http://myss.sitesell.com/


Well, I’d love to dwell on this subject a whole bunch more (because it’s time
again to step up the marketing for YouCanDraw.com too :-) and marketing is,
well, it’s fun too!


Hope that gives you something to start on.  And don't forget to keep on drawing...


Warmly,

Jeffrey O. Kasbohm
Executive Director

(952) 920-9827
6920 Southdale Road
Minneapolis, MN  55435
http://www.YouCanDraw.com

"Once and for all  getting you drawing faces and caricatures"
mailto:comments@youcandraw.com