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Would Improved Marketing Skills Help You?

The Success Margin

Thursday, October 4, 2007

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Recently a friend who is a best-selling author sent
his 21-year-old daughter to one of my marketing
seminars in Las Vegas. (For privacy purposes let's
call her Stephanie.)

But unlike most enthusiastic, highly motivated
attendees, Stephanie left before my presentation
ended. Reason? To attend a party!

While the marketing training fascinated and
interested Stephanie (it opened up a whole new
world for her), she simply felt the principles
of marketing I was teaching were strictly to
generate sales. Therefore, she felt they did not
apply to her life or current career. With her view
of what marketing is about, she unsurprisingly
opted to return to the party.

Of course, lots of people erroneously feel marketing
is only about selling products.

But her loving father disagreed with his daughter on
this point. He felt Stephanie had missed a huge
opportunity to learn some valuable, even life
changing, ideas. Her dad suggested I comment in
The Success Margin about the many important uses
of marketing in life. He wrote me a letter which
inspired this writing. I thought it was a great idea
from which my subscribers would benefit.

Let's first look more closely at what marketing
really is. It might be defined this way:

A process that includes communication seeking a
specific result. It always involves selling oneself.

If you accept this definition, some of the crucially
important potential examples of direct marketing
would include:

- A resume that attracts job offers from
employers

- A speech about any topic. A speaker is always
marketing two things
(1) Himself/herself
(2) Ideas

- A communication with a prospective
employer when seeking a job. This could be
delivered in a letter or in person

- A letter to a university when applying for
acceptance

- An apology to a friend

- A love letter or talk with a romantic partner

- A letter to a relative with the goal of re-
establishing a broken relationship

- A letter of heart-felt appreciation to a parent
or loved one

- A proposal to publishers to get a book
published

- A letter to a former customer in an attempt to
win them back

- A letter to a creditor such as a mortgage or
credit card company asking for more time to
pay an outstanding debt

Please notice, dear reader, that everything you
write is a form of direct mail. This is a major
component of marketing and communication skills.
That's why I focus so much upon it on these pages.

If you really want to help your friends and loved
ones, here's an idea that costs you nothing. And you
also might help make the world a better place.
Simply suggest they, too, become a subscriber to
The Success Margin.

Your correspondent,

Ted Nicholas

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© Copyright 2007 Ted Nicholas

About Ted Nicholas