The bikini concept

Peter Crocker My last newsletter looked at selling to existing customers with the phrase "I've got an idea for you." But what about using a similarly proactive approach with new prospects?

Recently I was approached by an editor looking for freelance work. But rather than send through a CV or samples, she edited my website with some recommendations on how it could be improved, and even picked up a couple of typos that I hurriedly corrected!

This definitely beats the traditional "Here’s my CV call me if you have any work" approach.

Sean D'Souza, a marketing writer I follow, has described revealing a lot of your best material as "The Bikini Concept" because a little taste makes people interested in finding out the rest. Here's a link to Sean's full article.

This idea is not new. It's really just sampling for professional services. Sampling is a very common tactic when marketing consumer goods. For example:

- iTunes Store lets you hear samples of any song before purchasing

- Paul Kelly puts full songs and videos on MySpace before releasing his album

- Baker's Delight offer you a taste of choccy scones as soon as you get to the counter

With service-based industries, the way to give people a sample is to give away your expertise freely. This can be done through public speaking, articles, whitepapers, blogging, authoring a book, allowing trial periods or sharing templates, processes or ideas.

Many successful careers and businesses are built on giving away loads of hard-earned knowledge, tips and expertise. You become the expert in the industry and you attract the best clients because they've sampled your best work and they want more.

Are you willing to give away your secrets? We'd love to hear what works for your business.

Until next week.

Love your work,

Peter Crocker is a director of Flying Solo responsible for the areas of marketing and advertising. He is a business copywriter specialising in websites, videos and marketing communications.

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Read Sean D'Souza's full post about The Bikini Concept at
http://spidersecret.com/so-what-if-you-give-most-of-it-away-the-bikini-concept/
Peter Crocker from Flying Solo | Read my articles
Basically, writing articles is my only means of marketing my copywriting, speaking and optimization services. 99% of all my work comes as a result of someone reading one or more of my articles. Last time I did a rough count, I have now written a little over 500 articles on the subject on writing online. Works for me. : )
Best wishes,
Nick
ExcessVoice.com
NickUsborne.com Nick Usborne from Montreal, Canada
When i started my solo career in carpet cleaning I advertised 'One Room'. This has brought in so much work, as people looking only to have one room cleaned. When they saw my work they immediately asked for a quote on the rest of the house. Strange but I still do 'one room' but at my age that's all i do. patrick burgess from north ryde nsw
I enjoy my Tuesay morning read, thanks and I thoroughly agree with this methodology. As a soloist marketer I believe in the "give not get"
approach. Before I meet a prospective client I'll review the website and offer practical advice at the first meeting. If there is no website then I'll suggest some self promotion ideas for alternative target markets or ways to maximise referrals. This goes a long way to proving your credibility. Recently a new client posted me a thank you letter and a book after our first meet. An excerpt from his letter reads "I greatly appreciate your marketing tips, comments discussed and the fact that you were prepared to serve first." (This is not made up for Flying Solo). If you are wondering, yes he is now a client. Have a great day! Sherryn McBride (www.marketingtalk.com.au) from Perth WA
i also agree, and have taken this tack quite often... although it is yet to net me any work. (i love word of mouth!) what better way to demonstrate what you can do, than showing (a taste) of what you can do? however, i think the key to success is in the way you approach the subject of 'improvements', to a web site for example. Rather than making the author feel like a fool so they end up taking offence, you need to 'gently suggest' rather than 'point out errors'. :) anne george from wordandweb.com.au from adelaide south australia
In my industry, as for many others I'm sure, print advertising simply doens't work. Word of mouth does, as it's a rather personal service. So to raise awareness and trust, one of my 'giving' marketing activities is my articles in an e-newsletter, and they can be re-produced with permission. I don't really hold back - I don't like my articles to be simply self-promoting teasers, I like them to be able to teach someone something (the only holding back I do is to keep to a minimum word limit - but I pack as much info in as I can). I believe in what I call "Karmarketing" :) What you give will come back to you with reinforcements!! Rebecca, Clear Space Organising from Adelaide

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