Mistake #1 is what I call marketing resistance. Some people hear that word ‘marketing' and they just kind of pucker up. They get all tight inside.



“I can't market! Marketers are used car salesmen or people on the internet who say ‘Buy my new product today or your family will starve.'”

I don't think I've seen anything exactly like that, but some of you are laughing out there or smiling because you've seen things that are close.

That's not what I mean by marketing. Again, that definition of marketing that I titled the call with and started the call with is –

Article marketing is simply getting your expertise in front of as many eyes as possible in as many consumable forms as possible.

Another way of defining marketing is seeing it as simply letting other people know what you do. That's all it is!

Marketing is letting other people know what you do.

There are lots of ways to do that with class and integrity that can be congruent with who you are. You know the way I approach things in my programs is that not one size fits all. One of the things that I've been told I'm good at, and I think people are right, is that I'm pretty good at meeting people wherever they are in their business journey, in their internet journey – meeting them where they are and helping them move forward. So it's not one size fits all.

Mistake #2 is believing there's only one way to let people know about what you do. Some people who make that mistake get very very wed to how they see it, to how they do it, to their way, to ‘the' way.

That's understandable. People get territorial and invested in things and that's ok. I've always thought there's lots of ways to do things, so there's lots of ways to market your articles to get your expertise in front of people.

Mistake #3 is inconsistency in marketing your articles or getting your expertise out there.

Most people, when it comes to marketing anything, do what I call ‘marketing a la carte.' Marketing ala carte is waiting until things get bad, you're feeling desperate, and you just grab something from the marketing menu and do it. You throw some money at it, hoping it will work.

No, no, no, no, no.

I've got a pop quiz for you tonight. What's the most important piece of a jigsaw puzzle?

Now the answers I often get when I ask that question are things like ‘the straight pieces,' ‘the corners,' etc etc. ‘The solid colors.'

Now all of those are good answers, but they're not the best answer because the most important piece of a jigsaw puzzle is the box top, because there is the blueprint. To be consistent you need a blueprint. You need something that you can do over and over again with success.

Inconsistency is part of being human. Back in graduate school and days after when I was playing racquetball two or three times a week, we had a little saying among us. “Consistency is the key.” You could go along and play well for a few minutes, and then play horrible for a minute.

So consistency in marketing, especially in article marketing, is to write regularly. If you're going to be serious about this and really use article marketing to build your business, you want to write and submit two articles – “Oh my gosh, is he going to say a month? A week? A day? What?” – a week.

Two articles a week. That gets the fresh content out there and keeps you in the flow.