KaChing: How to Run an Online Business that Pays and Pays (33 page)
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Authors: Joel Comm,Mark Victor Hansen
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This is a press release aimed at a much more general audience. It’s entertaining rather than sales-y, and it could be picked up by anyone. Any publication looking for a funny story would be interested in running it. It touches on the Internet, on the range of goods available on eBay ... and it’s ridiculous.
Although it’s meant to be funny, look at how I’m portrayed in the press release. I still come across as an expert. The press release describes me as an author, a speaker, and someone whom people will bid for in order to win half an hour’s coaching. It’s a light, attention-grabbing story. But the impression is serious.
It’s a different way of writing press releases. The format remains the same. There are quotes that show reporters they’ll be getting usable sound bites. There’s still a headline, and I still include a bio at the end so that reporters know whom they’ll be talking to. But the subject is meant to appeal to anyone, not just to people who already know me or my subject. That will spread my name even further—and help with my branding.
You can use both of these kinds of press releases. Whenever you want to win publicity, you can write one press release that’s filled with basic information for the blogs and web sites in your field. And you can write a more general release—one that’s entertaining, informative, or fun—pitched to a wider audience. If you get both releases right, you could pick up publicity in both channels.
Distributing the press releases has changed, too. Once you had to program a long list of numbers into a fax machine. Then you could use a computer-based fax program to do the same thing. Many reporters still like to receive their press releases by fax, but it’s perfectly appropriate to send e-mails to them if you have their details—or use a distribution service. I like PRWeb (
www.prweb.com
) and Expert Click (
www.ExpertClick.com
). PRWeb prices start around $80 per press release, but Expert Click allows you to send 52 releases for approximately $800. Both can be very effective, and they are easy to use.
www.prweb.com
) and Expert Click (
www.ExpertClick.com
). PRWeb prices start around $80 per press release, but Expert Click allows you to send 52 releases for approximately $800. Both can be very effective, and they are easy to use.
Figure 7.3
This is
speaking.joelcomm.com
, the web site that I use to promote my public speaking work. Note how I use my press appearances to build my branding and reinforce the impression of expertise. If
Fortune,
CNN, and
BusinessWeek
want to speak to me, then I must know what I’m talking about, right? Once you’ve won publicity a few times with press releases, you might well find that the media view you as a trusted source and come back to you regularly.
This is
speaking.joelcomm.com
, the web site that I use to promote my public speaking work. Note how I use my press appearances to build my branding and reinforce the impression of expertise. If
Fortune,
CNN, and
BusinessWeek
want to speak to me, then I must know what I’m talking about, right? Once you’ve won publicity a few times with press releases, you might well find that the media view you as a trusted source and come back to you regularly.
You should be using press releases as part of your business strategy. The more often you appear in the media, the more you’ll drive home the idea that you’re an expert. You’ll be able to add the logo of the outlet to your web site, thus building your credibility. Other reporters will see that you’ve been interviewed, know who you are, and feel easier about contacting you for interviews.
Whenever you bring out a new product, you should send out a press release. Whenever you launch a new coaching workshop, you should send out a press release. Whenever you do anything, you should send out a press release and use that opportunity to build your brand as an expert across a wide audience (
Figure 7.3
).
Figure 7.3
).
When you see a well-known speaker take to the stage, it’s easy to feel that you’ll never be doing that. You might not. Not everyone feels comfortable sharing their knowledge on the stage. But if it is something you want to do, then it is something you can do. Coaches—even the biggest names—aren’t superhuman individuals capable of leaping a 50-foot stage in a single bound. They’re just regular entrepreneurs—like you—who have built up their knowledge and want to share it. They’ve managed to build their brand and spread it to such an extent that they’re now invited to address conferences, put on workshops, and guide other entrepreneurs toward their dreams. They sell coaching kits that cost thousands of dollars, and when it comes to personal consulting, the sky’s the limit.
Yet none of them started out that way. All of the biggest coaches you can think of started small, teaching their skills to small groups of people who were keen to learn.
It’s a process that relies on your own skills and your own effort. You won’t need to depend on receiving an invitation from a conference organizer, and you won’t be left hoping that people will turn up so that you won’t be addressing an empty room.
Organizing your own coaching events and selling your own consulting services might be hard work. It might even involve a little financial risk (although it doesn’t have to). But the immediate returns can be enormous, and it’s the best way to get your feet wet and build experience. You don’t want your very first coaching session to be with someone who has paid a giant sum for the privilege of being a guinea pig. After all, your coaching fees won’t just reflect the value of your knowledge; they’ll also reflect the ease with which you transfer that knowledge to your clients.
A low-end coaching program—the kind best suited to someone just starting out as a coach—can consist of a number of different packages. The most basic is telephone coaching. The meat of the package will be a number of monthly telephone calls. These can last anywhere from half an hour to an hour and might take place once a week or three times a month. You can also toss in a few valuable information products, such as an e-book laying out your ideas, a free assessment of where the business stands at the moment, and a personalized action plan that can act as a guide for the client’s development over the course of the program. You might also want to make yourself available for e-mail correspondence in between phone calls.
The rate for a program like that could easily be around $400 to $500 a month, with a six-month minimum commitment. Considering that the total amount of time actually spent working with the client might be only an hour on the phone, an hour preparing for the call, and the odd 10 minutes here and there to write an e-mail, it’s easy to see that even this simple formula can deliver great hourly rates.
You wouldn’t need more than half a dozen telephone clients a month to give your income a meaningful boost and your business a loud KaChing.
Alternatively, or additionally, you could offer coaching in person. This would also provide the assessment, action plan, and any other information products you want to toss in, but mostly it would consist of meetings at the client’s office once a week or several times a month. The meetings would last longer than the telephone calls and allow you to interact with the client a little better. Fees for this kind of coaching are often three times that of telephone consultations. They have to take into account the time spent traveling to and from the client’s office as well as the extra value of having you on the premises.
Of course, personal coaching will usually be limited to people within your catchment area. As you grow your coaching business, you might well find that you’re getting requests from people farther away who will be willing to pay your travel expenses and even your hotel fees. When you’re putting in that much effort to coach someone, your fees will need to reflect the work involved. Considering the long flights and time spent away from home, you should charge enough to feel grateful when prospective clients either say no or agree to your terms.
Those are the two most basic models for coaching, but you can also break out segments of your coaching to create niche products. Business coach Suzanne Muusers, for example, offers marketing consulting services and web site and SEO consultations from her site
ProsperityCoaching.biz
(
www.prosperitycoaching.biz
). These allow her to provide focused, personalized knowledge that solves one specific problem at a time for a client.
ProsperityCoaching.biz
(
www.prosperitycoaching.biz
). These allow her to provide focused, personalized knowledge that solves one specific problem at a time for a client.
It’s possible to market coaching in a number of different ways. As you launch a new program, you should certainly be writing a press release, and you should also write a press release when one of your clients reaches his or her goals. There’s nothing the media like more than a success story, especially if it contains lessons their readers can use, too. That’s always going to be valuable branding for you.
Your web site will be helpful too, and if you link your coaching site to your main blog or web site, you should find that you receive a steady flow of readers who pass from that site and want your advice in person.
Another option though is to put on miniworkshops. This can be a great way to make yourself known to people in your area who might be willing to sign up as personal clients. Entry to the workshop would be free. The content would contain an introduction to your topic and a few tips that people can take away with them. Pitch it as a lecture on “Turning Your Knitting Hobby into a Business” from a professional knitting expert or a talk on “Why Start-Ups Fail” from an experienced entrepreneur; make it clear that you’re not selling or charging, and you should find that you can even pick up free space in libraries and community centers.
Some of the people who attend may become clients. Others may choose to order the information products that you make available at the back of the room. Either way, you get a chance to put your name in front of a targeted audience for little cost. You can even use that lecture as an introduction to a group course. This won’t be as personalized as one-on-one coaching, but if you keep the group small and emphasize that spaces are limited, you’ll create a sense of urgency that’s more likely to have people signing up.
It’s even possible to run these group sessions online and at a distance, giving you more opportunities for marketing. Dr. Gina J. Hiatt (
www.academicladder.com
), for example, is a dissertation and tenure coach who helps students write their theses and academics boost their careers. She provides a range of different coaching environments, including an Academic Writing Club, which is a four-week online course; individual coaching, consisting of 30- to 45-minute telephone sessions; and group coaching, made up of a 60-minute group telephone call and dedicated listserv. Software programs like Group Coaching Manager (
www.groupcoachingmanager.com
) make managing group coaching relatively simple.
www.academicladder.com
), for example, is a dissertation and tenure coach who helps students write their theses and academics boost their careers. She provides a range of different coaching environments, including an Academic Writing Club, which is a four-week online course; individual coaching, consisting of 30- to 45-minute telephone sessions; and group coaching, made up of a 60-minute group telephone call and dedicated listserv. Software programs like Group Coaching Manager (
www.groupcoachingmanager.com
) make managing group coaching relatively simple.
Of course, it’s also possible to sell coaching products such as online courses and DVDs. These won’t be personalized in the way that one-on-one or group coaching can be, but they should form part of your coaching revenue streams.
A basic coaching program is fairly easy to create. The packages themselves follow a familiar formula, and the fees can be very high, offering hourly rates of at least three, and sometimes four, figures—that’s a seriously loud KaChing. Your success will depend mainly on your ability to build your name as an expert and to instill confidence in potential students to sign up to receive your knowledge.
You should find that’s something that will happen naturally as you create good content and build your community.
But what do you do then? You have a number of clients whom you speak with on the phone once a week. You do a weekly group session using conference calls so that everyone can learn from everyone else’s experience. And you might even have the odd local client whom you’re teaching on an individual, in-person basis.
In addition, you’re still writing your web site content, earning from ads, and pitching your information products.
All of those things are going to deliver steady streams of cash, and if they’re done right, they’re going to deliver that cash in amounts that will surprise you. You’ll be hearing KaChing rings all around you, and they’ll be so loud you’ll think you’re working in a bell tower.
But it’s not enough.
The real benefit of putting information online and making it available to others isn’t the money it will bring you. That’s wonderful, life-changing stuff but it’s not the biggest reward.
The real thrill comes when you see other people taking that information, putting it to work, and seeing success themselves. I know that sounds a bit cheesy, and it wasn’t my main motivation when I started online marketing. I wanted to make money. But once I’d made money, and once I saw that money continued to come in regularly and abundantly, I really did start to get the biggest kick out of sharing my knowledge and seeing other people enjoy success.
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