By Andrew Golden
www.MarketingMediation.com

How’s this for marketing touches. This past Sunday afternoon while reading my Weekend Edition of the Wall Street Journal I was engrossed in the Weekend Interview with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. In case you don’t know he’s the 22 year-old college student that started the social networking website Facebook three years ago. Today Facebook has reportedly more than 16 Million members and has received buyout offers north of $1Billion USD. But….that’s not what caught my attention.

Just as I was thinking to myself how I’d much I like to read the paper but hate wearing the ink on my hands, I got a FeedBlitz email letting me know that Andy Kessler’s blog  just published the same article I was reading and I could now read it online. Hence no ink and more importantly, two impressions from the same publisher. The Wall Street Journal tagged [touched] me twice, with two different mediums inside of about 5 minutes.

Translation
Marketing is a contact sport and a proactive one at that. The situation I’ve described above is significant because the Wall Street Journal was able to reach me two times through two different mediums; first in print, then online. What are the odds? I’d bet pretty good which is why I am encouraging you to think about the different combinations of touches that you can leverage to reach your prospects and clients for multiple impressions. They don’t have to be the exact same article or advertisement like my WSJ experience, instead see if you can adjust the timing of your marketing and advertising for multiple impressions on the same target. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Into Practice
Here’s my two-step mediation marketing formula:

(Pi) + (Di) x t 

Where
Pi = Print Impressions
Di = Digital Impressions
t = time

Our goal is to combine multiple impressions in different mediums all with the same common denominator of time.

Do you publish a blog? Try combining it with an email of the post via FeedBurner or FeedBlitz you can even increase your online advertising to hit at the same time as your posts.

Do you have print ads in circulation with a local publication? Try combining these with an email campaign or newsletter delivered within the same timeframe as your ad running.

Do you have upcoming speaking events or conferences planned? How about personal invitations to your A-list of clients? Perhaps they could receive a personalized invite in conjunction with reading your latest newsletter or see one of your Google ads?

These combinations can take a lot of different forms as well.

• Branded Coffee Mug + Branded Coaster
• Branded Pen in my hand + Branded Newsletter
• Any of the above + any digital impression

These are just a few ideas off the cuff. The combinations are nearly infinite and I encourage you to brainstorm some ideas on your own. What I am talking about here isn’t new. In fact, far from it. Advertising and Media directors have been tracking multiple impressions for years. They know the probability of sales increases every time they can hit you with multiple impressions for the same product or service in short order.

Putting it All Together
This isn’t rocket science. It’s simple math. What we’re talking about here is called ‘Mindshare’ and our clients know we’ve been saying it for years. At some point, your prospects are going to need the type of mediation services you provide. Your task in marketing your mediation practice is to increase your mindshare by encouraging them to keep you and your firm in the front of their brain so that when the time DOES come and they realize they need a mediator, they think of you first; thus increasing the probability that you’re going to be the one receiving the first phone call, not your competition.

Summary:
The next time you’re planning a campaign or new round of marketing and advertising, try and think of your touches as being three-dimensional. One print, one digital and both combined with time. The next time you plan out your marketing plans for promoting your mediation practice, see if you can systematically schedule and combine multiple touches at different times for multiple impressions. If you’re having trouble thinking through your plan, create a matrix of different marketing touches and set dates for distribution. This is a good place to get the ball rolling and I think once you’re able to map things out, it will be natural for you to start thinking of marketing your mediation practice in two steps.
About the Author:

Andrew Golden is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Golden Media, a marketing and consulting firm dedicated to promoting the resolution industry.  He speaks internationally on business development and the successful marketing strategies of the conflict resolution industry. More ADR Practice Development articles and information about Golden Media can be found at www.MarketingMediation.com.

By Natalie J. Armstrong,
www.MarketingMediation.com

These 10 traps & mistakes are common to many entrepreneurs and small business owners:

1. Getting Wedded To an Idea And Sticking With It Too Long.
Don’t marry a single idea. Remember, ideas are the currency of entrepreneurs. Play with many ideas and see which ones bring money and success

2. No Marketing Plan.
A marketing plan creates the kind of attention you need to get in front of the right types of people, companies, etc. It is what attracts people to you! There may be as many as 25 ways to market your business at no or low cost. A good marketing plan implemented effectively, efficiently, elegantly and consistently, will eliminate the need for “cold calls!” (See below for how to create a results driven marketing plan).

3. Not Knowing Your Customers.
Changes in your customers’ preferences and your competitors’ products and services can leave you in the dust unless you get to know your customers well, what they want now and will likely want in the future, what their buying patterns are, and how you can be a resource for them even if you don’t have the right products or services for them now! (See below for low cost techniques to gather facts about your customers and the people you’d like to have for customers).

4. Ignoring Your Cash Position.
The world (aka customers) doesn’t respond to even superior products in the timeframe that you think they should. You’ll need plenty of cash to sustain yourself in the meantime. (See below for how to forecast your cash needs and protect yourself from cash crisis situations).

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