The Topos Model

Topos: Strategic position of opportunity and influence


There are so many businesses without a website or Facebook page.

Why?

In 2015, where everything is plug and play ready?


Why use Topos Consulting?

You have a story to tell.


What would it look like for me to use Topos Consulting?



I'd TELL their story. I'm a story teller. THAT is what I do. That is the hinge point of great marketing. The technical stuff we can outsource if need be. I can ask them questions, gather pictures, history, absorb the data, and then tell their story. I can put that together in a basic web page. Help them get onto Facebook and Google Place. Help them create some easy hand out / tip sheet for adding value to their customer's and gathering email addresses.

I'd use Blogger, Google Place, and Facebook as the trifecta of start up online presence (optionally twitter and pintrest).

I'd also teach Etsy as an online market place for Creatives.

I'd have a list of resources for people who do what I don't do. Comprehensive web design, more aggressive social marketing, etc.


Tools:

Blogger
Domain.com
Facebook
Google Place
MailChimp
Gumroad or another way to store and deliver the PDF?



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I have lots of random thoughts from today. I’ll try to organize them into some kind of flow.

What’s funny is, I feel like I have everything I need from the perspective of how to get business. I just can’t get myself to focus on a single business idea to grow it.

You mentioned two of my favorite names on the internet:

Pat Flynn and Michael Hyatt are both AWESOME!

I’ve listened to both of their podcasts for a few years now. Seth Godin and Chris Ducker are some interesting ones to read/listen to if you get a chance.

Pat Flynn has 3+ separate podcasts now.

·         His main site is SmartPassiveIncome.com. His primary 45 minute podcast goes by the same name in iTunes.

·         He also has a shorter one called AskPat.

·         His other site and podcast, which I think you would get a kick out of, is 1-Day Business Breakthrough (1daybb.com). He co-hosts that with Chris Ducker. That one is interesting because they take a person’s business who volunteers to sit on the “hot seat”, and present their one biggest problem. Then they dissect and advise for 15 minutes. They do both online and brick and mortar businesses (but specialize in the online aspects of both).

From an internet marketing perspective, there are a few things that I think Pat Flynn would call basic-need-to-know’s.

I feel like I could/should be doing all of these myself, if I only had a product or service to offer that was worth investing in… Hmm… I’ve been pondering that for a while. Started several and dropped them. Curse of the perfectionist I suppose. Or curse of Ideation… lol…

But that’s a conversation for another day.

Anyway…They are…


Advertising and Landing Pages

You don’t seem to lack ideas for how to advertise. But here are some ideas on what to do with it.

Any advertising you do (paper flyers, offline to online, Facebook, etc.) should have the singular purpose of directing people to a “landing page”. The landing page can be hosted on your site, but should take them to a special page, not just the home page.

Example an ad ending:
“Visit OfferName.KetosCreative.com for a special offer.”
“Visit KetosCreative.com/OfferName for an exclusive offer.”

And then that site-page would be set up for two purposes.

1.      To sell that special offer (whatever it may be) (should provide great value to the individual)
2.      Get their email address

They have to deliver their first and last name, and email, to get the offer.

Offer:

The offer could be anything that provides intense value, and increases their curiosity about your story/brand.

Ideas could be (reduced enrollment, special session, or even just a special pdf handout, mini book, or CD, or….? You’re creatives I’m sure you’ll have ideas).

I like the single hand out, mini book, or CD/DVD/MP3/MP4, because the best offer provides immediate reward.

You tell me that you can help me do XYZ in less than 10 minutes, I do what you tell me, and I accomplish XYZ to my own utter amazement! NOW I want to know what else you can do for me.

What’s great about that, is that this is what you are already doing with your play now teaching style anyway. So I’m sure you’ll have ideas on what your offer(s) could be. You can even try different offers for different events. Have special landing pages for each.

Note for your internet web geek: if you want to hide the link to the pdf or mp3 on the site just make sure the download page is set to “no follow” and don’t link it anywhere on the site, only link them in the ad flow. That should keep people from getting to them accidentally. If a few find them accidentally, Hurrah! They’ll get great value, and want to come back for more. It’s ok.

In essence, you did this for me personally already. In your 5-minute drum lesson demo when I was there on open house day. I sat with your drum person, and when I left I said “Hey… I could do this…” and even though I’ve been too busy to come back so far, it’s still in the back of my mind… burning… “go back… go back….”. Your offer, whatever it may be, should do the same thing that drum lesson did to me, in the minds of those who get your offer.

Remember, your brand is your story. You live to create, you love to teach. Tell that story at every interaction point. So tell your story while you sell the offer.


Email List:

There are many great services to manage an email list. I’ve tried most of them and my favorite is “MailChimp”. It’s free to get started (great feature) and you can pay for additional space and services after the list starts being profitable. Once you get enough going to start paying for anything, you can start writing that off as a business expense too.

Regardless of which program you use, the point of the email list is to deliver value again and again to your list. The subscribers should be on the edge of their seat for your next email. However, how to go about that varies from person to person, business to business. I’ve seen some that turned me off. So you have to find your own way that works for you.


Bring me back, remind me why I need you and your business in my life:

One reason more blogs show up on Google Searches than static sites, is because continuously updating content means fresh content and ideas. Some kind of updating blog feed on your site is a great way to bring repeat traffic and business. If you have no updating feed, then I see your site once, think “that’s really cool” and then get busy and forget about it.

The feed doesn’t have to be a written post. I could be a YouTube video, podcast update, or a mix of many things.

Give me a reason to come back to your site as often as you can remind me.

The two components of that are:

1.      Having a site with updating content
2.      Having an email list to remind people to come back

The content of the emails and site could be a variety of things.


As to what goes into that email and site feed.

It could be a blog feed, podcast feed, just an actual letter from you to your Creatives about the things you’ve been doing at Ketos Creative. Jesse Duplantis said it best:

“Always tell them what you did, what you are doing, and what you are going to do.”

Content: You could explore what you’ve been doing, tell stories about the business, students, accomplishments, something you’ve learned, a break through your student had, anything really. You could write about industry news, new tech, creative ideas, creative tips, etc, etc…

Student led opportunities: Whatever avenue, or avenues, you choose could be at least partially student led. Put them to work, teach, but get something out of it for the business too.

Blog: You could write about these things. Post weekly, monthly, as often or seldom as you want. Regular is more important than frequent. If I know you have a monthly newsletter, with all kinds of updates, I’ll be expecting. If I know you’ll be having a weekly tip, I’ll expect that.

Podcast/VideoPodcast: The benefit of adding video, is that you can use iTunes Audio, iTunes Video, and YouTube all at once. I know personally, I’m more likely to listen to a podcast on the go than I am watch a video, or read an article. But I find articles and videos helpful when I’m looking for some instruction that is specific to the task at hand.

NewsLetter: Similar to the blog post, but this could be done monthly, have multiple articles, and other news updates. Think “Gateway Life”.

Any combination of these could be included in an email format through MailChimp, and have links back to your site with encouraging “Calls to Action” to get people back to the site.

Another Ketos Service: Podcast Assistance

I like the podcast too, because you could even offer that as a service. If people want to podcast, but have ZERO technical ability or equipment, they could come in to your studio for 30 minutes, record a session, and you can splice (and create) their intro music and voice over… etc. Then send them the MP3/MP4.

I THINK that’s all of what you saw going through my head… I’m sure I’ll think of something else. I’ll let ya’ll digest that for now.

Shalom!

Darrell G. Wolfe
Author | INFJ | Intelection, Learner, Ideation, Achiever, Input

www.DarrellWolfe.Com
Twitter: @DarrellWolfe
Darrell@DarrellWolfe.Com














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