Wayne’s top tips include:

1. SUMMARIZE:
“Let me see if I correctly heard what you said”

2. ASK QUESTIONS:
Especially when what you have just heard felt
vague and unclear.
Get into the habit of asking open-ended questions:
• What questions – gives definition
“What are the reasons for your decision?”
• Which questions – prioritizes information
“Which one is most important to you?”
• Why questions – offer the strategy behind decision

3. VALIDATE

4. UNDERSTAND

Read the full WAIT – Why Am I Talking article.  If you’d like a PDF of the article, email us @ help (at) webmarketingtherapy (dot) com.

Learn more about Wayne Kosaka, Mediation Expert at http://pointforpoint.net/

Marketing isn’t just about advertising -  how you communicate can dictate your credibility and sellability.

Today’s Marketing RX is to read these Email Etiquette Tips for a healthy marketing reminder to present yourself in a way that is on-brand and on-purpose.

Thanks Paul for the great tips!  Here are my favorites:

-Create a concise and to the point subject line
-Do not over-use the ‘mark as important’ function
-To reply all, or not to reply all – be aware that ‘replying to all’ involves all the recipients in the entire email string.
-Say thank you, again – if someone completes a task, responds quickly, or simply ‘does their job’, a nice friendly thank-you email can go a long way for employee happy-tude.

Read the full Email Etiquette Reminders article!

If you wanna walk like a wild web woman, you gotta talk like a Wild Web Woman!  Hope this is a healthy dose of Friday comic relief (and fun insight to our behind-the-scenes marketing work lingo)

HAPPY FRIDAY! (All WMTers say that EVERY FRIDAY!!)

We received this amazing email today from one of our sparkling clients, Calla Gold, Santa Barbara Jeweler.  She hit her 100th blog post mark (way to ring in the Chinese New Year!!  Dragon marketing effort indeed!) When she shared her success with us, it melted our marketing hearts and kick-started the week on a magical foot!

The email below is a healthy example of celebrating success, having an attitude of gratitude and boosting our egos as marketing advisors, trainers and support people!!  **awwww! virtual web marketing magical moment**

Congrats to Calla on rocking the web!

Marketing Ego Boost – Golden Client Success (Email sent to WMT by Calla Gold, passionate professional and wild web marketer!!)

Hello Team,

You branded me, you made my blog in the image of my brand and attached it to my shiny new website that you made happen so I could promote my own brand and taught me how to care and feed my brand and my blog.

You saved me from spinning off in a million promotional directions. You focused my actions with the marketing plan you made for me.

You’ve done so much to increase my visibility as a business. My blog posts regularly show up on search! It’s so cool. I was nowhere online with a seven year old static website when you met me.

Happy Client,
Calla Gold

PS. And you can quote me!

Thank you Calla for your kind email and for being such a passionate professional!

Interestingly enough, my trainer’s lessons on physical fitness have a lot of similarity to the “Healthy Marketing” mantras I tout while working at Web Marketing Therapy.  Since it’s a shiny new year and lots of us make resolutions to get in shape, I wanted to share what I have learned about personal fitness to help inspire your professional fitness as well!

Want to get your marketing in shape for 2012?  Here’s how:

1. Marketing fitness starts with a solid mechanical foundation.

Instead of doing tons of cardio or weight lifting, my first training sessions involved working on optimizing the body mechanics of simple movements like squats and stretches.  I found it ironic that I was being educated about the power of having a solid mechanical foundation to work from physically because when Web Marketing Therapy starts with new clients, we say exactly the same thing!

Our marketing work needs to have a healthy foundation to launch from – mechanics make a big difference. Sometimes this means going back to basics.   It is natural to want to rush into new marketing channels vs. going back to square one, but the better the handle we have on our foundation (our core) the stronger our future efforts can be.

*Is your messaging as clear as it can be?  Is your web presence solid?

2. It is not about quantity – it is about quality.

I have been re-educated during my workouts that doing fewer exercises the RIGHT way versus a bunch of exercises the wrong way is what get results.  It’s about quality versus quantity.

What this means for our marketing is that we need to make sure that what we are using is being used to the best of it’s ability.  We don’t necessarily need to spend more on online advertising or push out lots of social media posts…we may need to go back to tip #1 and make sure that the traffic we are driving is being driven to a quality web experience.

3. There is huge value in having expert help on your side.

A few people have asked me why I hired a trainer when I could workout on my own (and save money).  I value having someone to educate me so I can improve upon what I know – we get better through education – that is what I am paying for.  I don’t plan to pay a trainer every week for the rest of my life, but for now, I choose to have the accountability, expert advice and coaching so when I do branch out on my own, I am doing workouts as intelligently as I can!

Getting into shape isn’t that difficult.  You just need to have the intention, a solid foundation to work from, do quality work and have experts to help you as needed.

Make it a meaningful 2012!  If you are interested in a marketing check-up, we’d love to support you!