Home sales in my area are finally up.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the price of homes sold is down.

Actually, that is good news.

It means that the economy is moving  – free market capitalism has reset the price of homes where I live.

The reset doesn’t apply just to homes.

My wife and I went into Bloomingdales a few weeks ago to take advantage of a sale. We walked into atrium in the women’s section where the expensive handbags are displayed. In years past, we gawked at the multi-thousand dollar price tags on those bags. This year, the same brands were there, but the prices of the bags were in the low hundreds, not the thousands of dollars. No, we didn’t buy anything. It was another example of the great reset-sion.

Every high school student knows that price is a meeting of supply and demand.

So why are so many coaches raising their prices?  And urging their clients to do the same? Don’t they know about the world we live in?

That’s why I’m keeping my coaching and consulting prices firm. I’d rather know that I’m helping more people at a fair rate than squeezing every last penny from them.

In the past week, I’ve been able to help several people who have generously written:

“Dan’s coaching helped me get a reality check on what works in today’s marketplace. I now have a more realistic game plan.”

Bruce Freeman
ProLine Communications

“Dan, your coaching and advising has truly added to the growth of my public relations campaign. You are a true partner and I appreciate your tireless effort to help improve and accelerate my success with the media. I am so glad to have you on my team.”

Dr. David Washington
Author of Life is a Choice: “A Guide to Success in Life”

“Dan, You’re the best. Thank you for all of your help! I am making progress on the endorsements. I will be touch.”

Steve Suggs
Sales Manage Solutions

What do I do in my coaching? I like to think of it as ABCD.
Accountability – some people don’t get anything done unless they have someone to hold them accountable.
Brainstorming – I excel in outside the box thinking.
Creativity – I’m off the charts on thinking different.
Decision making – No waffling around. Let’s make a plan and go for it.

To learn more about my coaching to see if it is a fit for you – and I’m not expecting to work with people who are not a good fit – go to www.PublicityLeadstoProfits.com.

I’ve been correctly predicting Internet marketing trends since 1994 when I wrote one of the first books on Internet Marketing. I’ve been right before so there’s no reason to think I won’t be right again. You can bet the farm on most of these trends and get even money on the others.

1.     Mobile marketing will take off in ways you never imagined.
2.     People will be saying, “Visit my app,” in addition to – or instead of -  “Visit my website.” The app will be the brochure, website, and starting point of interactivity.
3.     Small businesses on Main Street will have apps that provide basic info and coupons – even if they don’t have a website.
4.     Doctors, dentists and other appointment-based businesses will rely on text messages and other mobile communications to confirm appointments so they don’t lose money on no shows.
5.     Your prospects will think all types of written or spoken intellectual property –ezines, books, articles, webinars, teleseminars – ought to be free.
6.     You will think that all information ought to be free – except your information, of course.
7.     It will be harder and harder to convince people to pay for intellectual property that is available online. They will pay for customized services specifically for them. Start planning your services menu accordingly.
8.     Entrepreneurs will finally heed Michael Gerber’s mantra to work on the business, not in the business. But they will take action by HIRING outside professionals who can do the work for them instead of waiting to do the work themselves. Productivity and profits will increase while procrastination will decrease.
9.     This phrase will be on everyone’s lips and t-shirts: “If you get something for free, then you aren’t the customer. You are the product.” I didn’t make this up. I wish I did. Think about it. We aren’t Google’s customer, or Facebook’s customer. We are the products they are selling to advertisers. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being considered an “eyeballs.”
10.  Spam will invade social media sites in overt and covert ways, making visits to those sites less enjoyable.
11.  There will be more people showing you how to sell speaking services than there will be companies who can hire speakers. Okay, that one was low. <g>
What are your predictions?

I’ve been correctly predicting Internet marketing trends since 1994 when I wrote one of the first books on Internet Marketing. I’ve been right before so there’s no reason to think I won’t be right again. You can bet the farm on most of these trends and get even money on the others.

1.     Mobile marketing will take off in ways you never imagined.
2.     People will be saying, “Visit my app,” in addition to – or instead of -  “Visit my website.” The app will be the brochure, website, and starting point of interactivity.

3.     Small businesses on Main Street will have apps that provide basic info and coupons – even if they don’t have a website.

4.     Doctors, dentists and other appointment-based businesses will rely on text messages and other mobile communications to confirm appointments so they don’t lose money on no shows.

5.     Your prospects will think all types of written or spoken intellectual property –ezines, books, articles, webinars, teleseminars – ought to be free.

6.     You will think that all information ought to be free – except your information, of course.

7.     It will be harder and harder to convince people to pay for intellectual property that is available online. They will pay for customized services specifically for them. Start planning your services menu accordingly.

8.     Entrepreneurs will finally heed Michael Gerber’s mantra to work on the business, not in the business. But they will take action by HIRING outside professionals who can do the work for them instead of waiting to do the work themselves. Productivity and profits will increase while procrastination will decrease.
9.     This phrase will be on everyone’s lips and t-shirts: “If you get something for free, then you aren’t the customer. You are the product.” I didn’t make this up. I wish I did. Think about it. We aren’t Google’s customer, or Facebook’s customer. We are the products they are selling to advertisers. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being considered an “eyeballs.”

10.  Spam will invade social media sites in overt and covert ways, making visits to those sites less enjoyable.

11.  There will be more people showing you how to sell speaking services than there will be companies who can hire speakers. Okay, that one was low. <g>
What are your predictions?

Nearly every client I have says  their perfect client is “everyone” because “I can help everyone” or “My book can help everyone.”

That might be wonderful but it is bad business. You can’t afford to market to “everyone.” And “everyone” doesn’t want you. They want to work with someone who specializes in “them,” not in everyone.

That’s why I was delighted when I signed a new coaching client who works with lawyers who are in a certain transition point in their careers and must make career and life choices. How cool is that!

If you are still struggling to find the perfect client – and we all suffer from this because we really do want to help as many people as possible – I suggest you use three guidelines which I created and hereby trademark as “Dan Janal’s Rules For Finding the Ideal Client.”

1. Pay you. Yes, you could help the world, but executive women have more money to spend on coaches than women who are at the beginning of their careers – unless that’s the market you want to help.
2. Understand each other. You work with them because you’ve been there, done that and proven it. They know that you know. And you know what they need to know.
3. Get excited about working with them. All clients’ problems being equal, wouldn’t you want to work with someone you click with, someone who you really like and who really likes you? Shouldn’t business – and coaching – be fun? You can probably tell me horror stories about bad outcomes when you hated going to work or working with certain people. Didn’t we start our businesses so we  could avoid that?

If you ask yourself those three questions, you might just find your ideal client.

Then you’ll know what to write about in articles, press releases, blogs and tweets. You’ll know how to position your website and your marketing material. Your audience will find you. At least that’s what happened when I realized I needed to focus on my ideal client.

If you think I could help coach you to find your ideal client, send me an email or go to http://www.PublicityLeadstoProfits.com . I’m available for one-time coaching as well as longer-term coaching that is personalized to meet your needs.

Social Media Examiner listed its top 10 small businesses pages.

What do they top one have in common?

They look like magazine ads.

They are beautifully composed.

They are inviting.

They are colorful.

The usually feature people.

Those are the ones I liked.

Other winners looked like web pages or Facebook pages. To me, those didn’t stand out because they look like everything else.

See for yourself: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/top-10-small-business-facebook-pages-2011-winners/

What do you think?

Which small business pages do you like?

Why?

Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery.

Creating a YouTube video for a company that isn’t paying you is the sincerest form of flattery.

Snpmktg created this video — and didn’t even tell me about it! It’s been posted for more than a year. A client emailed me about it and wondered how he could get this done. Now snpmtkg gets free publicity!

Great example of win-win-win.

Here’s the video. It is worth a look!

PR LEADS Video

Imagine what could happen to your business if you did spec work like this to attract a client. Maybe it would help, maybe it wouldn’t. But it is an idea to ponder for the right prospect at the right time.

In addition to providing the best leads from the best media, PR LEADS also gets requests that can help you in several ways:

1. Companies look for webinar leaders. Presenting a webinar to highly targeted audiences could be a great way to build your brand, your reputation and your credibility. One client told me she got a consulting job worth $93,000 from a person listening to her webinar!

2. Reviewing books. One company regularly posts leads looking for experts to provide peer review for their books. They provide a modest stipend for your work.

3. Speaking leads. Meeting planners post speaking opportunities for experts.

4. Ongoing support. If you have questions about how to respond or want me to look at your responses, please do so! We’re the only service of this kind that offers training and support. Maybe that’s why our clients get quoted so often! PR LEADS is the only publicity leads service that provides this variety – and quality – of services for experts and small businesses.

Maria Perez

Dan Janal’s Publicity and PR LEADS Blog was named a “must read” blog about publicity tactics by the editorial team of ProfNet Connect.

“If you’re in PR, you’ve likely heard of Dan Janal, founder of PR Leads, (http://www.PRLEADS.com) a service that helps authors, experts and speakers get publicity. Dan’s a smart guy – his book, ‘Dan Janal’s Guide to Marketing on the Internet’ was my textbook in grad school — and his insight into PR issues is often spot-on,” said Maria Perez, editor-in-chief of ProfNet Connect.

In the blog, publicity consultant Dan Janal regularly shares publicity strategy tips, successful publicity tactics and publicity thought leadership ideas.

Other blogs cited include: Ragan’s PR Daily, PR Newser, PR Breakfast Club, PR News Blog, Beyond PR and PRSA’s ComPRhension.

I really set off a firestorm of comments Monday about Facebook using the term “friends” when the people you meet online aren’t really friends.

The most revealing comment was from Samantha Hartley who said that most social media marketing was being outsourced. Well, duh. How can your personality shine if some intern in Des Moines is pretending they are you? If that describes you, I don’t even want to be your Facebook friend!

One person who asked not to be named doesn’t call them “friends.” He calls them “suspects.”

Here are cool comments. If you’re reading this on the blog, please comment there. Otherwise, email your comments to me. Let’s become friends!

Samantha Hartley http://www.enlightenedmarketing.com/ writes: I agree with you about Facebook. Seems like in the beginning (2 years ago?) the quality of interaction was better, but it can wear you down. Also, just about anyone with sense is outsourcing a lot of their SM work.

Master media trainer Jess Todtfeld www.SuccessInMedia.com writes: Could not agree with you more about the “friend” thing.  Some people, even in the real world, are more of “Facebook” friends.  

Bart Bartlett www.evoapp.com. writes: A friend summed up Facebook years ago as follows, “Facebook is for friends you don’t have time to talk to on the phone.”  At this point its also well on its way to being a ubiquitous social platform.

Shel Horowitz www.frugalfun.com writes:  I’d say at least 1/4 respond w/ a thank-you note–and sometimes that’s the beginning of a *real* interaction. Of course, I send something cool and out of the ordinary for a birthday greeting, which helps (and I change it each year). I like the phenomenon when meeting in person of reading the nametag and then the big hug.

Darshan Shanti http://the24hourchampion.com/ writes: I think as “connected” as we’ve become, in many ways, we are more distant than ever. I think the “personal touch” is going to make a comeback.

Amy Showalter www.showaltergroup.com writes: Amen and amen to your comments about courtesy and reciprocity online. It seems to be a playground for those who don’t get social graces off line.

My fave example is an acquaintance who has a web site and online community. Thousands of fans, etc. She sends missives on how to be a better girlfriend but when you respond to her requests or even personal emails, she doesn’t say thanks or acknowledge that she received it.

OK, off the soapbox. I just wanted to say I liked your email and “right on!”

Clive Margolis from England www.clivemargolis.com writes:

You are so right about friends.  As a matter of fact I’ve been to quite a few funerals over the past few years (including both my parents) and guess who did show up!  It was all the old faithful crowd!

I’ve also heard it said friends are the people whose company you don’t mind being in – they can be the weirdest characters.  And I also agree about the face-to-face contact – I deal with a lot of agencies on the phone, but you can’t really trust someone till you’ve met them – or got drunk with them as a guy I once knew put it.

Cheerio, Clive. The first Guinness is on me.

I spent the weekend in Boston visiting an old college friend and my wife’s old college roommates.

It was a nice trip where I realized there are friends who you speak with face to face and have shared memories that go back decades and you have “friends” on Facebook who you really don’t know.

Guess which group of friends will show up at your funeral?

It’s no contest.

Too bad Facebook didn’t use the term “prospects,” or “business acquaintances” instead of “friends.”

It would have been much closer to the truth.

My litmus test: If you haven’t spoken with person ever by phone, then they probably aren’t a “friend.”

They can be nice – and they can “like” you but they aren’t a “friend.” Friends are people you have dinner with, share a glass of wine with, and help them move their furniture.

I realize some people really do write to their real friends on Facebook, but if you’re like me, most people on your Facebook page are really business associates and colleagues of those associates who you couldn’t pick out at a cocktail party. Why am I ranting? Because I see the level of “engagement” on Facebook and LinkedIn to be pathetic for the most part. People are spending so much time building their numbers but very little time being personable.

Case in point: People post their birthdays on Facebook. I send a “happy birthday” message. You’d think one person would at least say “thank you” or use that message as a way to begin a conversation?

Nope.

Not my “friends.”

Do yours?