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Advice: Don’t Forget to Breathe
Posted on September 19th, 2009 No commentsmet a client for coffee this morning in rosslyn, va to deliver his debut cd in person – “dropping product” as i call it. i could tell that he was stressing an upcoming performance from the standpoint of “wanting it to be just right.” here’s my advice: don’t forget to breathe. fear momentarily slows or stops your breathing as it speeds up the perception of events around you, which causes a panic, which limits oxygen to your brain, which makes you function less than properly. breathing reverses the process of fear (and negative impacts like panic) and allows you to regain control of a situation. in baseball, you hear about the game slowing down for the best hitters – so much so that some claim to recognize and track the rotation of a thrown ball that’s traveling 80+ mph. here, past experiences and sound mechanics work hand in hand to simplify an event – which then make a complicated task easier to execute.
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Advice: Envision Receipt of Your Press Kit
Posted on September 19th, 2009 No commentsbelow is some advice i offered to a client today – on the subject of how you want a client to receive a press kit. backstory: client was sending a dvd that doubled as a press kit and product sample. i’m pushing a formal letter, a product dvd and website with electronic press kit (epk). here’s my advice: the key is being nimble with your initial approach. you want new contacts to touch your business in a number of different ways out of the gate. you want the voices in his/her head sounding something like this – “ok, he writes a good letter…clear and to the point…the dvd package is hot – let me pop this in…nice, this looks good….oh, I should check out his website…ok, his website looks decent…cool, things are looking good…let me put this in the “a” pile (throwing your competitors crap in the trash)…maybe i should call or have my assistant reach out to eric to set up a meeting.” the website is key. it’s what your new contact will forward to other people. it should repeat or deliver digital “originals” of the paper items that were sent.
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Advice: Focus on Common Ground
Posted on September 17th, 2009 No commentscritiques are a touchy subject for most clients. in marketing, we’re also taught that differences are what is most compelling. well, not always. i provided a critique to a young recording artist this week who writes christian rap. while i find his music promising (and the lyrics are less-traveled material), his response to my professional opinion(s) was not optimal. he’s caught up in the fact that i don’t praise jesus as he does at every turn, or refer to jesus in any way in my critique. here is what i shared with my client: I think my opinions are even more valuable to you because we don’t share the same world view. not everyone you come across will believe as you do. the world is both large and small – if you know what I mean. the internet has connected us all and it is up to us to communicate in a manner that underlines common ground or differences. the result is not the same with both approaches. when you’re in front of a sympathetic audience, then treat accordingly. when you’re not – consider how others may perceive you and what is a very personal subject matter. you can’t force it on others and you could potentially achieve the opposite of your intentions. you could isolate folks from what you’d like them to consider and/or embrace.
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