3 Ways To Attract WHALES into Your Magazine… ON DEMAND

Looking for more full-page advertisers? In this episode, Charlie McDermott pulls back the curtain on a winning strategy for publishers to attract those elusive 'whales'... a.k.a. businesses with the funds to make a splash in your magazine.  

Here's what we cover:

• 3 simple ways to easily get face-to-face with those hard to reach, big marketing budget business owners.
• How to find better quality leads on LinkedIn Navigator
• Sample invitation emails, social media posts, direct messages and texts you can use to land your whales!

Listen in and chart a course toward growth and authority in your publishing business.

Magazine RainMaker
MagazineRainMaker.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Talk about content. I think that the biggest thing that keeps business owners or publishers from really excelling in social media is they don't know what to say, and this gives you an unbelievable opportunity to get your brand out there and, at the same time, think about it you're helping other businesses.

Speaker 2: 0:27

Hello. Hi, it's the no Cold Calls Ever show Go away.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Welcome to this show that's on a mission to eradicate the time-wasting, energy-draining and yes income-restricting sales tactic of cold calling. If you've ever thought there's got to be a better way, well, that's exactly what this show is all about, and I'm your host, charlie McDermott. Now, if you're listening to us via podcast, awesome, but you can also watch this episode on our YouTube channel. That's at official Charlie McDermott. On today's episode, we're going to get into a simple, powerful and proven strategy you can use to get in front of whales fast, literally on demand. Question if you could choose between attracting a full page or half page advertiser into your magazine or an eighth page or quarter page advertiser, which would you choose? Well, yeah, duh, charlie. Right, the answer is obvious we want the big fish, we want the whales.

Speaker 1: 1:44

But how exactly do we attract them? Well, let's first identify what a whale is. Number one they've got a large marketing budget, right? Hey, you know business owners. I mean, we've all been there. We all start out small and we have dreams of big marketing budgets, but we can't always pony up the cash to actually go big. And that's not to say we're not going to meet with the smaller guys, because at some point, ideally with your help, they're going to become whales and you're in a great position. But hey, let's face it, it's nice to put in those full-page ads in your magazine over and over and over again. So, number one we've got to know who they are. Now, fortunately, your market it's local. You kind of have a feel for things, you kind of know who the movers and shakers are. But you might be just beginning, or maybe you really haven't had success identifying those business owners, because you've done your share of appointments, you put everything out there, you do a great presentation and then you get down to the dollars and they just flat out tell you we've got no budget. So let's avoid that. Great place to start LinkedIn, linkedin Sales Navigator. Let me say that again LinkedIn Sales Navigator it is a phenomenal resource of business information and what I would suggest is start with companies of five or more employees.

Speaker 1: 3:22

Ok, so think about let's do the numbers here on a low end a company that has more employees. So think about it, let's do the numbers here On a low end a company that has five employees $30,000 to $50,000 salary for each of those employees, and let's just go on the low, low end. This is really low $30,000. That equates to a payroll that would support at 30%. So that payroll, let's say on an annual basis, a hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Hopefully I don't lose you with this crazy bath. But if they have a payroll of a hundred fifty thousand dollars, that means their sales are a half a million dollars a year, give or take.

Speaker 1: 3:58

Okay. So then we can extract, extrapolate boy I'm having a hard time with multi-syllable words today. We can extrapolate boy, I'm having a hard time with multi-syllable words. Today we can extrapolate what their potential marketing budget is, ie should be. I always use 5%. That's the way it was for my health club business. Every time we looked at our budget for the next year, we estimated our sales and we looked at 5% of that gross sales amount to invest in marketing. Now many companies look at upwards of 10%, especially the newer companies that have the bucks. All right, so use 5% conservatively. So what's 5% of? I lost myself here of a half a million dollars in sales. Quick math, charlie Pressure's on Is that $25,000? Don't make me pull out a calculator here. So at least you know you're dealing with a company of $2,000 or more a month. Better yet, look at companies with more than five, but we all have to start somewhere, all right. So, now that we have identified those companies, I years ago read a book and hopefully you have. If not, it is worth the read Chet Holmes, the Ultimate Sales Machine, and in it he talks about the dream 100 and writing down literally those top 100 businesses and focusing on those whales. Right Now, local publisher, you don't have probably 100 whales in your community and, again, this is not to exclude any other businesses, but it's the really laser target. Focus in on the ones who can make an immediate, significant impact in your magazine and, yes, in your income, and so what I suggest is ratchet that down to your dream 20.

Speaker 1: 5:54

All right, as I'm talking about Chet Holmes and the ultimate sales machine, it brings back memories of our Labrador years ago. Awesome dog, oh my goodness. Our Labrador years ago. Awesome dog, oh my goodness. Labrador retrievers. They're phenomenal. Your best friend, like all dogs, but she was unbelievable. But she always had to have something in her mouth. When Barb and I would go out at night, we would come home and we just never knew what we would find that had been in her mouth and two hours later, just completely ruined. I mean, one of the reasons. I'm bringing this up because my ultimate sales machine book by Chet Holmes was completely destroyed. She ate half of it and of course in there I had all the highlights, my handwritten notes, and it was like no, but my Lord, this dog ate.

Speaker 1: 6:49

Oh, what were some of the top ones? I'll give you a few highlights. Light bulbs Fortunately they weren't in the lamps. Oh, here's a good one Pin cushion With pins in it. It blew our mind and we were quite scared. I mean, you can think about it. Every time we went out man, we would do like a thorough walkthrough of the home to make sure she couldn't jump up and get things. But the granddaddy of them all was a large box, not box, a container of Advil, and one of the things we couldn't remember how many pills were in the dang thing. We didn't know if she had a few or dozens. So that led to about a $2,000 vet bill and an overnight stay.

Speaker 1: 7:33

But anyway, back to the episode here. Come up with your dream 20 list, your dream 20 list of local companies Obviously the ones who want to be in your magazine and then focus on those and we'll get into the how to in a moment. All right, so now that we have that list, let's talk about this strategy. So for years I had used a podcast strategy. I'm known for the Good Neighbor podcast. We have geez at the recording of this episode over 30 Good Neighbor podcast locations or podcasts all over North America Very, very effective. We have top publishers using that strategy. But hey, let's face it, that's not for everyone, but you can still tap in to this strategy. But hey, let's face it, that's not for everyone, but you can still tap in to this strategy.

Speaker 1: 8:29

And so last week I was at a mastermind in Dallas and one of the speakers was Alex Shalinski. Now I actually have the book right here. Let me grab it. And Alex's book, if you ever want to check him out, is the Anti-Hustlers Handbook. But he was speaking and his company is called Prospecting on Demand. So Alex is the primo sales guy, consultant, trainer and teaches big sales organizations how to infiltrate, how to get beyond the gatekeepers, how to get in front of very, very difficult to get in front of people I mean, we're talking owners of franchises and major companies and he walked everyone through this strategy. He called the interview offer and I'm sitting there going oh, this is going to be good.

Speaker 1: 9:23

It's so cool that someone is out there helping businesses understand the power of an interview, whether it's a podcast or something that we're just launching with our publishers is a book interview and in his case, he just talked about a simple interview. So this simple interview, just like a podcast, just like a book interview, is simply a reach out to the decision makers, to the whales in your business community, who would be attracted to you via, not a cold call, but simply an invitation to get their story out there. However you define that and I'm going to give you some examples and some emails or direct messages that you can use to give this a try but know that this is extremely powerful and one of the reasons there are a lot of different reasons you allow that individual to share their story. It's the what's the radio channel WIIFM, right. What's in it for me? So your interview your platform again, whether it's a podcast, whether it's a book interview or just simply an interview to help them promote their business. It's their chance to share their story. I call it the origin story right To help local residents better understand who they are, people by people they know, like and trust. That's why the Good Neighbor podcast is so successful because it gives those business owners a platform to share who they are, what they're all about. And you can do the same thing without a podcast, without a book interview. So extremely powerful. Okay.

Speaker 1: 11:15

So let's take a look at how we pull this off. I'm sharing the actual email that Alex shared during the mastermind, and you can see it's very basic and simple, and less is more All right of mine. And you can see it's very basic and simple, and and less is more all right. And this is designed as, again, this, this guy. He's a national, well-known, heck international sales trainer. So many of his clients are doing business all over the country, all over the globe, so keep that in mind. So we want to dial this down to your local market, which is, frankly, even easier.

Speaker 1: 11:43

The subject is simply can we interview you now? Now, put yourself in the business owner's shoes. You get a message, whether it's an email or another form, direct messaging and so forth. We'll talk about those different messaging opportunities. But if you get that question, what are you going to do? And even if you have an assistant that goes through the emails, there's a very, very good chance that the email is going to get open. Okay, so the subject line is really important. Then he just says hey, I'm currently putting together interviews to promote the top in this case, personal injury attorneys in the States, which would be interested in being featured.

Speaker 1: 12:18

Now a couple possibilities here. If you want to really be specific, to be terrific, what experts are you looking for in your magazine and focus on those top, whether it be law firms or roofing companies or whatever it is to send this message out to and say it in your email copy? The other option is just reference top businesses in the community. So would you be interested in being featured? There's no cost and I would just need a few minutes of your time to ask a couple questions. It looks like you do some great work, so it would be great to have you and I would say on. But whatever, let me know if you're interested. Either way, have a great day. Everyone can do that. It's real simple and easy. Here's another message.

Speaker 1: 13:05

So this one is all about warm calls. So let's replace cold calling with warm calling. The difference now is, instead of saying, please, mr and Mrs Business Owner, I can help you, please meet with me. Obviously, you do a better job than that. That's why I was not successful in cold calling, I decided to switch over to warm calling. You get the idea. Now we're providing value that email has already shared. Hey, I have something of value. Some way to promote your business again, whether you choose a podcast or a book interview or just a flat-out interview. Some way to help your brand get better known in the local community. And it's free. So that doesn't mean that the business owner gets an email and they call you up right away or they reply to the email. The worst number in marketing is what One Doing one thing. But if you have a system that tells you which emails were open, which emails were replied to or clicked on and in those statistics, it makes this even easier. But even if you don't, don't ignore this next step, because it is still a warm call, which is just simply letting the business owner know that you reached out to them all right.

Speaker 1: 14:24

So I'm going to read through this just in case you're listening to the podcast instead of on our youtube channel. If you're watching the YouTube channel, you can see in the instructions warm call, standard operating procedure call two times, make two attempts before leaving a voicemail, and the script goes something like this this is Charlie, from whatever your company you're using here. We've recently connected on Facebook, linkedin, whatever the platform is, and I wanted to circle back to the email I sent you earlier this week regarding doing an interview in our community about the top personal injury attorneys in the States. All right, now one thing you may have picked up and I'm going to get into this in another podcast, but when you identify your top 20, top 30, 30 or whatever it is, think about it. Rather than going after the whole universe, you really laser focus on those whales in your community and now you can spend more time really connecting with those individuals, letting them know that you are a human, not some ad rep, and the ability, as you can see here, we recently connected on Facebook and LinkedIn. You do that that connecting, Obviously, the moment you send out your email, connect with them on Facebook or LinkedIn. Very, very powerful. Now they'll recognize your name and the various communications and you'll get a much, much better response. Okay, he finishes up with.

Speaker 1: 15:58

I'd love to get on a quick call and ask you a couple questions. Are you free at? Yes, throw out there a date, a time, right Text message script. Hey, hope you're well. This is Charlie from my company. I've been trying to reach you regarding an interview for our community about the top personal injury attorneys in the States, on Facebook and email or again, whatever your platform is. Have you had a chance to review Talk soon? So multiple reach outs, keep at it. No one makes a buying decision not that they're buying anything typically on one communication, unless they already know you. So keep at it.

Speaker 1: 16:40

Use different forms of media. So let me switch over to what we provide. Let me just find that email just to give you some additional information here. We send out again what we recommend. So we do the podcast and now we're helping our publishers do a book. You talk about going from publisher ie ad rep to an authority having your own book, and there's a simple, easy way to do this. But generally what our publishers are doing just sending out that initial email. The subject line is can we feature whatever the company name is in our newest book? And the email goes something like this Hi, john, I am your assistant's name. That's a whole nother strategy we'll talk about in another episode, but it's all again, all about elevating your stature. Charlie McDermott's assistant or executive assistant.

Speaker 1: 17:29

With exciting news, we've carved out an exclusive spot for their company name to be featured in our newest book. The Name of the Book, I would recommend going with your town or your market area, so it's really specific and it'll get more attention. So we use the Insider Secrets concept. Only it says 50 in the actual email. Here I'd recommend going with a much lower number and make it different. Rather than 20, maybe go with 23 or 27 or 17. Only 50 local businesses would be featured. What's more, only one business per category can participate. Urgency right If you're sending this out to five roofers or five attorneys of the same niche, the first one who gets it wins. What's more, only one business per category can participate. I believe your company would be perfect to represent your industry. Even more exciting, there's no charge to be featured in the name of your book. Fyi, we've reached out to a few other companies in your niche, since we only have space for one.

Speaker 1: 18:32

It's important you connect with us ASAP. Reserve your spot by replying yes to this email. Once you do, we'll send you all the details, none of which will include paying a fee to be featured. Cheers, do you think that'll get open? Yeah, and, more importantly, responded to. You. See the difference between maybe some of those ineffective ways you've used versus this way. So let me give you just a little more help here. So that's the email version. And then let's look at my Lord. You could have a field day with social media posts just putting it out there, especially if you're doing a book. Everything from polling folks on Facebook or LinkedIn about who are your favorite businesses in your community to alerting local business owners that you're doing a book or the podcast or whatever it is Talk about content. You know the podcast or whatever it is Talk about content.

Speaker 1: 19:31

I think that the biggest thing that, excuse me, keeps business owners or publishers from really excelling in social media is they don't know what to say. And this gives you an unbelievable opportunity to get your brand out there. And at the same time, think about it. You're helping other businesses and when you do the interviews, where are you going to promote it? On social media, and it's that guilt by association. Whether that, think about this, whether that whale comes on board as a client to be in your magazine or not, what's the perception? When you're promoting that whale, that business? However, you're going to do it Via a website, via social media, via YouTube, the assumption by other business owners is huh, that company must be happy with Charlie or that magazine. Therefore, maybe I should look into that. Okay, so it's a very cool ripple effect. Not that we want to deceive anyone, not that you're going to go out there and say, hey, someone's in your magazine, that isn't. If someone ever asked me, I would let them know. Hey, you know they're interested, just not now, all right.

Speaker 1: 20:43

Direct messaging huge opportunity. Here's a couple of examples. Again, if you're watching on YouTube, you see them there. Hi, whatever the owner's name is, I'm reaching out because I think your company, whatever the company name is, would be a fantastic addition to our upcoming book your Towns whatever your town name is Insider Secrets. We're featuring local businesses at no cost, interested in a quick chat to learn more? Again, like the email. More Again, like the email If they see it, which they likely will. Maybe even you could argue a higher likelihood if you're connected on social media and they see your message. So great, great strategy. I would highly recommend you send a couple direct messages on whichever platform makes sense. Text messaging here's an example Hi, whatever the owner's name, is Exciting opportunity to feature the company name in your town's insider secrets at no cost Interested. Let's chat, charlie McDermott, all right, short, sweet, to the point, designed to get them to respond. And then, once they do game over, you've got them booked for their appointment.

Speaker 1: 21:52

It's an easy transition into your magazine appointment, which is what this is all about. It's not about being as I joke with my publishers the next Joe Rogan or Larry King, if you remember him from a long time ago, larry King, if you remember him from a long time ago. It's simply about helping businesses and helping yourself get more quality appointments. So your action plan Identify number one, your top dream 20 businesses that should be in your magazine. Then reach out Email You've got a real good flavor.

Speaker 1: 22:29

Copy the dang email. Then warm call Email You've got a real good flavor. Copy the dang email. Then warm call. No more cold calling. Warm call You've got direct messaging. You've got social media Heck, you can drop into these business, among other things. And now they know you and, ideally, you've already connected with them on social media. So, multiple messaging no more one. No more one of anything. The more the better. And remember, these are whales. One sale could be worth five to ten times more than your average sale. I've seen it. I hear from publishers in our program and that can be used. So, yeah, it's worth the extra effort here.

Speaker 1: 23:16

You interview them, ask a few simple questions, let them talk about themselves, their business, how they can help the community Should take 10 minutes, 15 minutes tops. You can do it via Zoom and then book the appointment on the spot. Get in front of them Now. They know you, like you, trust you, You've elevated your positioning. You've helped them. Make sure you fulfill, even if they say no to the appointment, which, in 930 podcast interviews, the only no I got was from me because I didn't feel that business was a good fit. So it is an easy, simple transition to go from the interview to simply getting them on your calendar to meet with them to share what it is you do and how you can help them, because you've helped so many other businesses in the community. All right, hope that helps. Questions on this strategy? Leave them in the comments on the YouTube channel and let me know how it goes for you. Catch me on social media and look forward to talking with you and sharing more in the next episode. See you later.

Speaker 2: 24:25

Say goodbye to cold calling, chasing leads and waking up on Monday with a blank calendar for the week. Now you can join publishers throughout the US who have plugged into a systematic path to sales growth without adding more work or overhead. If you're ready to have more fun while you scale your business and income, go to NoColdCallsEvercom.