USA Create
Creating new ways of looking at the USA and marketing in America is a part of the mission of USACreate and they have been doing a fine job of it, redefining how we look at promotion.
We will be focusing on helping experts and those facilitating experts, to connect with the needs created by the Pandemic.
Unless you’re suffering from depression or related, sometimes you’re going to get sad. In many cases the sadness has to do with something that you desire to achieve but have been unable to do so. Therefore it is a good idea to start working toward something by changing the strategy you have been using to accomplish your goal.
One way to get what you want is through putting together a website that is dedicated to making what you want, happen. Why ins some cases is this a good idea? It is because is a method of crystalizing what feel you need and how to take the pursuit to the next level.
Through all of this you may feel your sadness dissipate. This is because we tend to have a more positive outlook when we are engaged in doing something.
Okay. Let’s face it. It’s a bit weird, but because of the Coronavirus, for the last two month we have stayed in our apartment and not gone outside. This has certainly caused me to rethink my work plans for the future. Thankfully, being someone who is in the web arts means that my livelihood has not been destroyed and in fact is even thriving. So for me drawing a picture of my future is easier technically than for a lot of folks. I am very grateful for this.
I am determined to make a difference in the lives of those who have lost so much during these uncertain times. The way I think I can help is in working with businesses who have been hit by COVID-19 in a negative way and help them design digital alternatives to some of the steps they take to run their business and make a profit.
Time is one thing we have more of which allows for thinking through and implementing new plans. USA is creating but not in the way this website “USA Create” was formed to be for. We all need to come together in this challenging period and use what we uniquely can create to help others.
Personal Phones Can Be Big Traffic Generators
We describe our aim in terms of helping you with promotions as “Marketing Empowerment Through Entertainment with a Mobile Phone Focus.” Optimizing for mobile phones has never been more important since studies point toward the fact that 80% internet traffic is by people using their personal phones! New organizations like DIYdigi are jumping on the wireless band wagon because it’s not just the future it’s NOW!
Become You Own Marketer
So let’s say you want to “Become Famous Online,” this means that today more than ever you need to become a marketer yourself who markets you! Empowerment in marketing through entertainment is how “How to Get New Customers” can help you. They are great when it comes to mobile promotions.
Consider Starting a Blog
Thanks to blogging, social media and DIYdigi (Do It Yourself Digital) tools you now have an open pathway to getting the fame you need. We say fame you need is because there is a practical aspect to achieving this.
Becoming a Search Engine Pull Down is Your First Step
One you’re name or company is on a search engine pull down then you are ready to take the next steps. In this article we’re going to be focusing on what you need to do to get to the pull down point in your career or business.
Beyond Social Media
Social media isn’t going to get you there. It can help, and certainly its ability to allow you to engage with your audience is wonderful. In many ways the benefit of search engines is that you can organically grow your online presence with diverse media sources. In other words, search engines tend to like a lot of different manifestations of you including social media, search engine searches, newsletters and your website, etc.
How’s Your Website Doing for You?
This means not just social media but doing guest appearances on other folks’ blogs. This is done with all roads leading to your website. How is your website working out for you by the way? And do you even have a website? If not, or if you need a do-over, How to Get New Customers can help.
Create a Diverse Media Mix Online
Although having a website is a good first move, just having one doesn’t mean you are actively pursuing the journey to “Become Famous Online.” To achieve phase one of this, which is to be on search engine pull downs, you will need to create a diverse media mix about yourself. DIYdigi (Do It Yourself Digital) can help you with this.
The Social Media Pathway
Social media is probably the easiest way to become famous online, but remember, all it achieves for you is to engage others and help fill out your search engine result pages. Blogs are another matter. The best way to get covered by other people’s blogs is to have a blog yourself so you can be on their blog and possibly they can be on yours.
The Frustration of Approaching Other Blogs
Co-promotions can become frustrating. Because the more famous a blog you seek is, generally the harder it is to achieve a cross promotion. This is one of the reasons we helped form the Blogger Coalition, which consists of over 35 blogs, some of which are for clients and the others for in house projects.
Setting Up a Newsletter
Do you have an email newsletter? Properly setting this up can be a bit of a challenge even for those well versed in marketing. The reason is that you need to provide an incentive to someone to sign up for your newsletter in the form of a PDF eBook that is on a topic that people want.
Engaging Your Audience
It can’t be all about you (or sometimes it can) but is more likely to succeed if somehow this eBook was a solution to a problem in the industry for which you desire to become famous online.
Which Art Form or Business Type are You?
At USA Create we primarily focus on businesses of all kinds and those who are involved with art forms including being a musician, magician, actor, fine arts creator, dancer and filmmaker. We serve these art form titles as well as all jobs related to these art forms.
The “Arts” in Online Marketing Arts
This is one of the reasons why we refer to the marketing process as being “Online Marketing Arts.” Another reason is that we consider ourselves as artists doing the art form of marketing. Why? Because marketing to us is not just a science but is also an art form due to its components of creativity and psychology.
Getting Over the Hurdles
So what do we hope you will get out of this? If you want to achieve the goal to “Become Famous Online” the first hurdles you need to jump over are social media, blogs, newsletters and more. If you customize these you too can become a search engine pull down!
NOTE: the following is a marketing method used to promote a conjurer, but the basic structure of this approach could be used by someone of any profession by converting the components into ones from your Industry!
Manhattan Magician of ManhattanMagician.com is perhaps best known for his performances along with the Magic Neighbors Theater Troupe that tours various branches of the New York Public Library.
A Fun Way to Promote
Since Manhattan Magician might as well be my alter ego or imaginary brother, I wanted a fun way to promote him, possibly tied into the library and books.
A Force of Nature
One strategy is to align yourself with someone who is more famous than you are. Who then is the most famous magician of book-dom? I bet you didn’t even blink before you thought: Harry Potter. And you’d be right. Harry Potter is a force of nature. My 10 year old daughter (who is in the library magic act) recently put herself on the list at the library for one of the books, the one that has the Goblet in it.
Library Waiting List
At the time of requesting the book she was told that she is number 7 in a waiting list of 7. My daughter instantly did the calculations and surmised that it would take her more than 3 months before she would get the book. So she and my wife purchased the book instead.
Off the Shelves Quickly
Another library and Harry Potter story is the time my daughter rather magically discovered exactly the Harry Potter DVD she wanted to watch because she had just read the book and likes to see the Potter movies after taking in the book. The librarian at checkout commented that it was miraculous she got this DVD because practically the second it is on the shelves, it gets taken out again.
Two Magicians, Two Very Different Worlds
Okay, so we’ve established Harry Potter is well known. How then does a practitioner of prestidigitation align herself/himself with likes of Potter? The answer for us was in the fact that both Harry Potter and the Manhattan Magician were magicians, so the joining of the two would have to have something to do with magic tricks.
Fictional Spells into Real Tricks?
We had heard that apparently, Bloomsbury Children’s Books did a world-wide survey of the favorite Harry Potter spells. This generated an idea. What about if Harry Potter’s 10 top spells could be made into magic tricks!?
Inventing Magic Tricks
Since Manhattan Magician was writing a book about how to invent magic tricks, this seemed like a perfect tie-in. So now all that had to be done was to figure out an online publication that could feature the story.
Over 35 Websites
As most of you know I manage over 30 websites, some of which are for clients and the others are for in house projects. One of these sites is, yes you guessed it, HarryPotterFanClubNYC.com which is run by a guy named Spaceman. The connection between a “Spaceman” and “Harry Potter” has never quite been clear to me, but it didn’t matter. It was time to contact the man from the galaxy.
An Ambitious Experiment
Spaceman loved the idea of Manhattan Magician coming up with magic tricks based on the top 10 spells. We decided that Manhattan Magician would look at the list of the 10 and then would come up with ideas on the spot. But we had one hitch to the deal. Magicians are not supposed to reveal the secrets of how they perform magic, especially magicians who are members of the Society of American Magicians. You see, Manhattan Magician had taken a binding oath of not revealing secrets.
A Solution is Found
I came up with a solution. What about if Manhattan Magician did a “Magic Talk” referring to tricks and principles that only magicians could understand? That way no secrets would be revealed to the general public. The Manhattan Magician loved the idea and so did Spaceman, so all that had to happen now was to get Spaceman and Manhattan Magician in the same room.
A Lesson in How to Market a Magician
What can we learn about marketing here? For one thing it helps to be manager of the blog/website that the interview is for. Also, thinking outside of the box (or the top hat) is good. Another thing is communication between all parties involved. And speaking of parties, if you want to check out the plan in action, take a look here at the Harry Potter Fan Club NYC website post. Or if you prefer to go directly, the URL is https://harrypotterfanclubnyc.com/harry-potter-magic-tricks/.
A Question
Have I bitten off more than I can chew? I don’t know. I hope not. Sometimes doing the Online Marketing Arts project seems to be too large, with too many moving parts. If the rule “keep it simple” was to be applied here, it would flunk out. The basic idea is easy enough to understand though, but the doing it seems overly challenging.
What is It?
I’m talking about an eBook that is starting out as a 200 plus PowerPoint slide show. In slide form, it will be the curriculum for an all day seminar I plan to teach (as an aspiring adjunct professor now that I have my Master’s), but the eBook is another thing. If I was just creating some nice images and then called it a day, that would be fine. The problem is in the “system” that surrounds and promotes the eBook.
A Little More Clarity
To give you a clearer idea of what I’m talking about, let’s just say that the endeavor is to put together an eBook then promote and sell it. Doable, right? In fact the eBook itself has an attainable idea. The short version of the title (lol) is “How to Get New Customers: The Easy 6 Step Method.” And doing the 6 step method is easy, you just follow the steps in the eBook and if done correctly you will get end up at least getting some leads for customers, clients or even fans.
19 is the Number
But that’s just part of the title. The full title is “How to Get New Customers: The Easy 6 Step Method Plus Special Bonus Outline of the Simple 19 Step Technique.” So now you see it. It’s the 19 step aspect of the book, that bonus part, that’s not as simple to do as I would like. I am my own guinea pig and will NEVER put on the market something that I have not done myself. Interestingly enough the 19 step is made up of 5 or 6 chunks that individually done are easy peasy lemon squeezy. These are chunks I have used that lead me to achieve some success.
A Temporarily Overly Worried Moment
But stitched together like a Frankenstein monster, they aren’t so EPLS. They are OVERWHELMING!
Breath
But writing this has been therapeutic. Thanks guys. As I jot down the problems I am coming up with solutions. The truth of the matter is that once I’ve tested and gone through the project phases, helping someone else do it is going to be a lot easier than doing it myself. And the key is breaking it into sub chunks of the chunks, as well as even sub chunks of the chunks which in turn have sub chunks of the chunks. Hey I got through getting a Master’s in Arts Administration at age 57 by taking thing slowly. And the irony in the end was that getting that degree ultimately felt a lot quicker than I had anticipated.
Ruminations
So there you have it. A bunch of ruminations of the USAcreate.com process and action plan in action. “But,” you may ask “how close are you so far to completion of the 19 step version of “How to Get New Customers” methodology?” Good question. Let’s put it this way. The night before last I got up at 3:00AM and worked feverishly for 5 hours on the undertaking so I could then attend to other responsibilities. As I am writing this I have about 45 days to go until the end of August. It would be great to have this done by September 1! Although that is pretty close, let’s plan on it happening by then and have an online celebration. A web release party as it were.
You
But what about you? Are you okay with getting through large projects? I believe that many of you probably are since this list has a lot of talented and successful people on it. But for those of us like myself, the insight or marketing tip that I have today is to break promotional projects into short and doable pieces. You don’t have to write it all down in in blueprint form, unless that’s how you are most productive. You’ll be amazed by how much you can get done in a finite amount of time!
UPDATE!
This blog post was started yesterday (Tuesday) and the official release of it is tomorrow, Thursday, both as a web entry and email newsletter. Putting my mind to the task I got up at 4AM and in 2 1/2 hours was able to pull together the 10 online pages (which is equal to 42 pages as a Word document) of content in the amount of 9,801 words.
Looking Out for Existing Subscribers
I didn’t write all 9,801 words this morning obviously, but got it set for the pre-green-light of its use as a 10 day course available to new subscribers. If you are already a subscriber and would like the content, then email and let me know and I’ll send it right over to you. Also, I’ve decided to release this post today. Please email me in the next week because things get archived.
On a Special Day
Hi everyone. It’s four days after the 4th of July, the special day celebrating our declaration of independence! It was hard to compete with the fireworks so we’re sending this email a little bit later. Though, those subscribed to our newsletter got much of the content in this blog post in their in box on the 4th. Repetition and consistency mean something. In this edition we’re going to take a look at a certain kind of mind trick you can use to get ahead in life including your business or your artistic career.
Accidental Luck
Years ago, I had a brief but profitable foray into the world of being a real estate agent. Our landlord at the time had a few NYC apartments he wanted to rent so for some reason out of the blue he offered me the job even though I didn’t ask for it nor had we every spoken about rentals. I filled all the apartments with great tenants within days! This prompted him to give me more apartments to fill.
The Secret
How did I do it? Much the same approach my brother used years later for his website. The approach was to make the prospect work for the prize. I put an ad on a real estate website and for every inquiry I got I responded with letting them know the response was overwhelming and did they want to be placed on the list?
Generating Buzz
What resulted was a feeding frenzy of folks contacting me, trying to convince me I should choose them even before they saw the apartments!
From Real Estate back into the Arts
A few months later we moved out of our apartment, changed landlords and I decided to end my real estate career because it was getting in the way of my real passion and pursuit which is digital marketing arts.
Something to At Least be Aware of
What’s the takeaway? What’s the promotional lesson here? One of the secrets of success and a good marketing tip is, don’t make it too easy for your prospects. Make them work at it in order to work with you.
In a Figurative Sense
Start a list of possible clients and make all prospects be on a list. I don’t mean literally do this of course, but in a figurative sense make them jump over walls and through hoops. The psychology of humans is weird!
P.S. This is not a one size fits all approach. Some people are very nice, and you don’t have to resort to tactics to work with them. Trust your intuition.
Magically yours and hope you had a great 4th!
John
My Brother and Fellow Marketer
My brother lives 3,000 miles away in the scientifically proven EXACT center of California. He on the West Coast and I in NYC, both basically do the same thing for a living which is websites and internet marketing.
Automated Promotions
And my brother’s running joke is that he speaks about is his desire to live a lifestyle that doesn’t require his presence! So it makes sense we often speak about marketing on autopilot – promotion that is automated and once set up works on its own.
Hard to Do
It is a somewhat intricate challenge to initially put together, but the surprising thing is that it’s actually possible. What makes it difficult is that you don’t have the benefit of being able to gauge the prospect because it is all done digitally in advance.
It Takes…Anticipation
You have to be able to anticipate the various possible outcomes of any sequence and give the person engaged in the journey the opportunity to choose which route to go at any given juncture.
A New Methodology
As hard as it is to do, it’s a lot of fun to think about and lately I’ve been making strides with it. It’s become clear to me that in order for USAcreate.com to succeed I’m going to have to figure out a way that someone who is interested in learning more about a product or service can have a pleasant user experience with this methodology. This will also mean that the the marketing funnel that the prospect will travel through will need to be digitally generated in advance!
Making it Happen
The key is to supply the future customer with various phases of a demonstration without the seller having to be physically involved in the sale. The stakes are high, especially when you consider using this robotic approach to make a purchase happen!
Being Careful
Selling promotional products and services have their own unique mountains to climb over even when not being automated and relying on the human factor instead. Selling publicity and advertising is an art and a science. So how are mere digital tools going to be able to measure up while doing the selling on their own?! The answer is…very carefully!
Hands Off
If this is a topic that interests you, feel free to contact us. My brother and I are close to realizing a dream of having a way of life that is hands off when it comes to the automated sales process.
This week’s Marketing Tip
This week’s marketing tip if applied can make a considerable difference in your career or business. Our tip is to explore marketing automation. That’s right, we recommend that you start looking into this vast area. We are suggesting this partially in order to whet your appetite for a free online course that we are going to be offering soon on the topic. In fact we are working on it right now and hopefully will have it ready in a week or two. Don’t underestimate the power of marketing on autopilot!
Your action plan is your most important document to create for your solopreneur venture, small business, or artistic career of any kind (including visual, performing etc.).
As an entrepreneur over the years, due to technological changes, I’ve had to reinvent my businesses several times. Elements like technology can impact your plan in a positive or negative way. And you always need to be one step ahead by being able to either totally redo your blueprint or at least modify it to get you better results.
A profitable strategic marketing and action plan is what we work on with our clients. It doesn’t have to be extensive or long winded, in fact shorter is usually better. At least it has been for me and my entrepreneurial undertakings. I believe you should be able to write your entire business plan on one side of a napkin.
Have you created a strategic action plan and marketing list? If yes, congratulations! You are one step ahead of much of your competition. If “no” then you might consider jumping on it now. Think of the steps you do to get clients or bookings or whatever you have to achieve that is the lifeblood of your career or business. I know this sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised the difference a brief outline can have to continually remind you of where your focus needs to be.
Therefore, our marketing tip for today is to create your action steps and marketing plan for yourself right now. Don’t put it off so that you can “wait for inspiration.” You’ll often find that the inspiration you seek is generated when you have the initiative to do something you need to do.