You know your product or service like the back of your hand.

You’ve spent years obsessing over your target market like a zoologist in the Amazon rainforest.

If your ideal customer committed a crime, you could describe their features to a sketch artist without batting an eye.

But do you know how to market yourself?

The Jason Leister School of Successful Self-Promotion…

Enter Jason Leister.

He’s a freelance copywriter who specializes in writing copy for info products.  He’s also someone you should listen to in your quest to become a better marketer and all-around success.

Unlike most of the other “gurus,” he’s one of the few people who acknowledge the importance of marketing yourself… and how doing it right can mean the difference between failure and success.

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re in.  The reality of the situation is that you’re marketing yourself all the time.  In your professional and personal lives, whether consciously or unconsciously.

And you only get one shot to make your case.

In a world full of competition, you can’t afford to leave your sales pitch up to chance.

My “High Points” From Jason Leister’s Interview with Steve Gordon.

If you’re feeling confused right now, don’t worry!

I listened to an interview Jason did over at Steve Gordon’s Small Business Marketing Show on this very topic.  I included my notes below in hopes they’ll give you some new ideas about how to market yourself effectively.

Ready?  Here we go:

1)   You need to take a “long view” of acquiring leads and keeping them engaged until they need your product or service.

2)   Plumbers, electricians, dentists are pretty awful about this.

1. They wait until disaster strikes (for you) and hope you call them.
2. Then, after they provide service, they disappear and hope you’ll find them online or in the yellow pages again.

3)   You want to be the person that’s in the front of their mind, all the time.

4)   How do you do that?

1. Get prospects’ attention.
   1. Where would they hang out?
   2. Get your message out there?  Drive traffic to platform/site
   3. Advertise
2. Offer free value through a “lead magnet.”
   1. Lead magnet = something you give away in exchange from contact information
   2. It should solve a small problem within that niche
   3. Package it up and give it away
3. Continue to send emails, updates, and/or newsletters offering value on a regular basis.
   1. Make a list of common buyer objections to your product/service
      1. It could be things like credibility, lack of experience, price, etc.
   2. Use the newsletters/emails to gradually overcome those objections before people are even thinking about buying from you!
      1. Paint a picture through your emails of people using your product/service.
      2. Use “education marketing:” what can your product/service teach people?

5)  Your ultimate goal is to build a system of lead generation.

1. After it’s built, needs to be managed, improved, and tweaked.
2. Most people spend way too much time trying to get clients instead of generating leads.
3. Once you have a system in place, leads will convert into clients on their own if you do a good job of showing them the value you can provide.

Wrap Up…

Although I still recommend listening to the entire interview, I hope my notes give you a few actionable ideas how to market yourself if you’re in a hurry.

I noticed an underlying “theme” to this interview and Jason’s overall business philosophy: people don’t care about your business unless you give them a good reason to.

To make them care, you have to show your prospects the value you can add to their lives.  Those who do this best – before your prospects even consider buying – are the masters of marketing themselves.

When the time to buy comes, they’ll seek you out because you’ve already won the self-promotion game.

Jason doesn’t shy away from this uncomfortable truth.  And you shouldn’t, either.  Not if you want to enjoy massive success.

So answer me this.  How do you show your prospects the unique value your product or service can add to their lives?

P.S. What are your favorite ways to add value to your prospects’ lives?  Are you happy with your results, or do you think you could handle that part of your business more effectively?  Leave me a comment and let me know!