Author Archives: cindymobey

How to plan your Christmas social media strategy

I know that a lot of small businesses have already started their Christmas campaigns on social media, and during any holiday period, especially in the lead up to Christmas social media will be alive with engagement. This is because that’s where consumers find products they want, promotions that give them a discount and ultimately make their purchases.

Having a good social media strategy will drive success in your business up to Christmas, and with 4.8 billion users on social media, promotions during this time is crucial. Having said that, it is a challenge to come up with different ways to catch your audience’s attention, especially with the amount of competition out there.

The steps to creating a successful campaign or strategy.

Depending on the kind of business you have, you may choose different approaches – some may choose humour to spread laughter; others may go for the traditional look, whilst some may turn to nostalgia. No matter which way you want to approach your Christmas campaign, you will want it to feel magical, evoke an emotional or inspirational response so that you build a stronger relationship with your audience and strengthen your brand.

Step 1 – Look at what you did last year.

Look at what you did last year – what worked and what didn’t work? Of course, what worked last year might not work this year, so you need to be aware of your specific audience and customers, so you need to look at what they like and want from you.

What social media platforms worked for you last year? Did you sell more on Facebook or Instagram, or maybe through your website or online shop? A lot of you will also have a TikTok account this year, so that might be another way for you to develop your campaign.

Look at the type of posts you put out last year. What gave you the most engagement…and what posts brought you in orders? 


Step 2 – Set SMART goals or objectives.

Set objectives (or goals) and think of a catchy concept. In other words what do you want to achieve through your Christmas campaign? Here are some ideas…

  • Increase my sales by xx% in the month of December.
  • Increase sales for a specific product.
  • Get more traffic to my website shop/online shop.
  • Get new customers.

Make sure that you don’t have too many goals – one or two is enough. Make sure each of your goals is SMART… Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

Once you have your goal(s) in place, you can look at your catchy concept – what is going to draw customers and potential customers in? This is about making your social media pages attractive and maybe having a specific hook. Examples of specific concepts could be:

  • You sell candles that you make and decorate with festive designs. As well as this, you could source some plain LED candles (for those who have small children or worry about having lit candles at Christmas with all the decorations) – and decorate them with your festive designs. This opens you up to a whole new market.
  • If you make biscuits, give ideas on how they can be used to create different Christmas themed sweets – maybe a kit so people can paint or create their own designs.
  • You make hanging decorations for Christmas trees – you could include a range of decorations for other events at Christmas, such as ‘Baby’s First Christmas 2023’, ‘First Christmas in our new home 2023’, ‘Happy Christmas Birthday’ or ‘First Married Christmas’. You could offer further personalisation on these such as names or date/year.

You just need to put your thinking cap on and try and come up with a unique idea.

Step 3 – Understand your audience.

This might seem really obvious, but take a moment to think about your customers and followers – who are you aiming your Christmas social media posts at? To reach your goals, you need to understand what your audience wants, what they like and don’t like…and when they are active on social media, so you are posting at the optimum time to tempt them in.

For example, your audience might prefer videos of your products instead of images. You might get more sales from a ‘live’ event showing your audience your products or a small range of them.

This harkens back to looking at what worked last year – try out the type of post that was most successful last year and see what happens. It’s worth trying a range of posts to see which ones work for your particular audience.

As part of understanding your audience you also need to create engaging captions. Your posts need to be visually appealing, with captions that you’re your audience in so that your posts lead to great engagement and convert to leads or sales. You know your audience best, so write for your specific audience – looking at previous posts and what was the most popular (from your insights) will help you understand what your audience best reacts to. 

Step 4 – Create a content calendar.

To me, this is one of the most important aspects of your campaign. Once you know the kind of messages you need to create, know what your goals are and who your audience are, you need to decide which social media platforms you’re going to use. For me, that’s simple as I only really use Facebook and Instagram.

Now you can create your calendar – you can do this online or on paper. I always plan mine out on paper. Start by writing down each day – from where you want to start your campaign to Christmas Day (or beyond if you’re planning on a post-Christmas sale.

Then decide what you will be posting each day, including the content, the images you’ll use and post type (whether it be single post, multiple images, carousel, reel, ‘live’ video or recorded video etc). Then jot a couple of notes next to it about the caption and don’t forget a list of at least 5 hashtags per post.

Step 5 – Create your posts.   

Once you have your content calendar or plan, you can start creating your posts. If you’re going to video once a week, film them all in one go, with outfit changes.

Batch create posts using a tool such as Canva.

You don’t have to make them all at once for the whole month – I usually make mine a week in advance.

Then schedule your posts. These will form the bulk of your campaign, and once scheduled you can concentrate on replying to comments, sorting out orders and postage. There will always be time to react to something or add further posts is you want to but get your main post ideas ready.

Step 6 – Adjust your branding. 

Make sure your posts are all themed for Christmas – redo your Facebook cover to show a festive theme, or maybe create 4-5 new Facebook covers showcasing different products or any offers you have on – and change your Facebook cover every week in December. 

Some people also adapt their logos for Christmas too.

Don’t just use your social media to get your products/services out there. Make your email or newsletter festive and if you have a blog, you could write about a specific process you use in making your products or just highlight a couple of your products each week (making your blog look Christmassy) and telling your audience about the benefits of your products/services.

Conclusion

Christmas is one of the most busy and intensive times of year for small businesses and their marketing. Competition is fierce, so you need to think of new and innovative ways to stand out from your competition.

By planning ahead, you are going to be in the best position to reach your goals and make your sales. You’ll feel better being organised and knowing what you’re going to concentrate on selling each week – and you’ll know what posts you need to have to encourage those sales. Having your social media posts planned and even some of them done, means you don’t have to quickly react or be sitting at your desk or with your device in hand trying to think what the hell do I post today?

For a list of ideas for fun and engaging Christmas posts, sign up to my newsletter. You will receive 102 general social media post ideas to start with – and in my next email, which goes out at the end of the October, you will receive a list of fun and engaging Christmas post ideas. Click on the link below to sign up!     

Sign up to my newsletter here!

15 Key Customer Service Skills

We all know that excellent customer service is good for your business, whether you’re a huge corporate, or a small business. No matter what you do, your customers are what makes your business work, so it’s crucial to look after them and make them feel valued.

According to Dimensional Research, 52% of consumers say that they have made an additional purchase from a company after a positive customer service experience. And that 90% of customers are influenced by positive reviews when buying a product.

So, what key customer service skills do you need to possess to make your business stand out?

Patience

They say that ‘Patience is a virtue’ and I’m a firm believer in this. It isn’t the easiest of skills to master, but patience will help you and your customer. It’s very important to hear what your customers have to say; they might be frustrated about something, or just simply confused. They might ask totally irrelevant questions, but it is absolutely crucial to keep calm, hear them out and then try and work through their issues together.

Active listening

Active listening is closely linked to patience. Don’t just hear what your customers are saying – listen carefully and, if necessary, repeat back to them what they’ve just said to you. This demonstrates that you’re listening and understand what they want or what issue they have.

Respect

Hand in hand with patience and active listening is respect. This might seem obvious, but important to remember. Respect is about treating your customers as you would like to be treated. You’d want the person on the end of the phone or email to solve your problem, be polite and actually do something. You can show respect by:

  • Using their name
  • Don’t interrupt them when they’re speaking
  • If you are face to face, look at them when they’re speaking.
  • If you’re on the phone, don’t be checking emails or scrolling your phone, give them your full attention and SMILE! It really does come over the air waves!
  • Wait until they have finished talking or telling you their problem before responding – then summarise what they’ve said and offer a solution.
  • If you can’t offer an immediate solution or alternative, tell them that you will investigate and get back to them.
  • Get back to them in a timely manner – when you said you would!

Self-Control

You are going to get a range of customers calling your business. Some will be happy and calm, will speak in a low voice. Some will be excitable and speak loudly and quickly; and inevitably, you will get the angry customer who shouts and yells, using harsh words – maybe even using expletives to insult you or your business personally.

This is the time to exercise self-control. This is not an easy skill to master, but it’s absolutely vital, especially with the shouting and yelling customer!  Don’t interrupt or tell them you’re not prepared to listen to them – they might just want to be heard and the only way they know how is to shout. Even though they are shouting, try to listen to the actual problem they have encountered. When they have finished, take a couple of deep breaths and then respond. Apologise if necessary and ask them how you can resolve their problem – ascertain what they want. Tell them that you understand their issue and repeat it back to them. Then, in a calm voice, try and discuss a solution that is good for them and for you and your business. You might have to offer an alternative product or service. They might want a refund or replacement. Whatever it is, there is usually a solution to be found, by talking it through with them.

Genuine concern

It’s well-known that showing genuine concern for your customers’ well-being is one of the most important good customer service skills. Concern for your customer is linked to being concerned for the reputation of your business. If you are not concerned about the success of your business and your businesses reputation, you’re not going to be very concerned about the happiness of your customers. They are inextricably linked.

Use positive language. Language and how you say something to a customer plays a big role in delivering excellent customer service. For example, if a customer contacts you to ask about ordering a particular product, but you don’t have any in stock

Negative response – That product isn’t in stock, so unavailable at the moment.

Positive response – We will be restocking that product next week, so I’ll contact you as soon as it’s available.

It’s a very subtle change in language, but makes all the difference to a customer.

Be flexible

It’s important to be flexible when dealing with customers. You may have a policy that says you don’t give away a free product or service, or you don’t do refunds. But there are times when this will be necessary to resolve an issue. If you find you have to bend the rules from time to time to keep your customers happy, it’s not a failure on your part. It can turn an unhappy customer into a future loyal customer – one who tells their friends and family how great you are and how you solved their problem, so worth keeping that in mind.

Communication Skills

This goes without saying really, but thought I’d add this into the mix. Communication is more than the words that you use – it also involves body language, facial expressions and tone of voice, to name a few. These can be very important when dealing with a customer who is not happy. 

  • Keep your body relaxed
  • Show genuine concern on your face
  • Keep your voice calm and neutral
  • Use positive language – words such as can, will, help and resolve are great words to use to help diffuse a situation.

Time Management Skills

It’s always important to be aware of the time you are spending with a customer. If you are finding that a particular customer is just too demanding, or you find you can’t resolve their problem, you need to recognise your limitations. It might be that they are not a good fit for you and your business. There is no shame in admitting this and referring them to someone who will be a better fit. This will save you both time and money in the long run. And that customer will respect you for solving their problem by referring them to someone who can help them.

Handling the unexpected

No matter how long you’ve been in business, there will at times be an element of surprise. At some point, you will face an unexpected situation, so always worth thinking about this so you have a plan.

Now, I have no idea what you might face with your business, but it’s worth knowing what you’ll do if you are faced with something you don’t know how to handle. I would ask the customer for a contact name and number, then make sure I completely understand the situation and tell them that I’ll come back to them. I always give them a specific time – even if I say, ‘I’ll ring you between 10 and 12 tomorrow morning’. This gives them confidence that you’ll look into their issue and gives you time to think about it and work out how you can solve it.

Just ensure that you do get back to them at the time you said you would. If you haven’t been able to get them an answer by that time, still ring them. Be honest and say that you are working on the problem, but it’s taking longer than you expected and give them a new time that you’ll ring to let them know the answer.

Responsibility

Responsibility links in with the element of surprise. If you take responsibility for the problem, your customer will respect and trust you in future. Get involved, be honest with them and stay with the problem until you resolve it.

Persuasion Skills

You will have customers who will be happy with the solution you offer. And there will, inevitably, be some that won’t. This is where persuasive techniques come in. Sometimes, a customer will want to know more about a product or service in more detail before buying. Persuasive skills will be giving them more details and turning that into why the product or service is suitable for them (if it is of course). This will obviously be beneficial to your business too.

You might need to use your persuasive abilities to illustrate exactly why the solution you offer is the best for them. You many need to offer an alternative offer – or try to explain in a different way. 

Improves your brand image

Your company brand is linked to your reputation. Part of earning that reputation with your customers is by doing things well, no matter how hard they might be.

Customer service sets the tone for your whole brand. First impressions really count and a helpful attitude assists in shaping that first impression. Everyone likes to have a positive customer experience and friendly, honest customer service. A good communications strategy will help you and your business to be seen as caring and one that really values its customers and their opinions. It should cover everything from how to talk to your customers and how that aligns with your brand and business strategy.

Feedback

Never underestimate the power of your customers. Customer servicing calls can give you valuable feedback about your business. Don’t be afraid to ask for it. For example, if you are made aware of an issue, you can ask for your customers’ opinions, through feedback surveys, social media and emails. These tools can serve two purposes; gathering feedback about a potential solution and getting you positive reviews and feedback that you can use to promote your business.  

Asking for opinions makes customers feel valued and can help improve your customer retention. If you use their opinions and suggestions, they will become brand advocates.

Measuring customer satisfaction, through the use of surveys, social media polls etc., help you keep an eye on your customers’ overall experience with your business and brand. You can often deal with a potential problem before it becomes an issue.    

Ability to close

I don’t mean closing a sale here. I’m talking about ending a conversation with a customer. Sometimes a customer just wants to chat and can go completely off subject. You need to be able to steer the conversation back to the point. Only end your conversation after you have solved the problem, or told them that you’ll find a solution and get back to them.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and treat their problem as yours. The customer needs to be aware that you care, value their opinion and they need to be confident that you will deal with whatever they throw at you.

Conclusion

It is well-known that customers are more loyal to those businesses that show transparency in everything they do. And they don’t mind paying a bit more if they are confident in your business and its transparency.

Excellent customer service promotes trust and loyalty; customers are more likely to try other products or services that you offer and they are more likely to recommend your business to their friends and family.

Follow my blog for weekly marketing articles aimed at the small business.     

Do you speak the same language as your customers?


To be successful in business, you need to really understand your customers, know their likes and dislikes. But in this age of increasing technology, such as AI, are you losing the basics on how to speak the same language as your customers?

Why is it so hard?

  • Due to the internet, social media and ‘easy to navigate’ online stores, consumers have a huge array of choices, as well as the cost comparison sites to help them. This means that they have more power than ever before.
  • Everyone is constantly bombarded with data and ads on their social media sites and through spam email, causing an overload, which makes it harder for them to make decisions about what they want.

When you weigh all this up, it’s not hard to understand why knowing what consumers want is so difficult.

How to find out what your customers want

But let’s talk about a particular consumer group – your customers! The quickest and easiest way to find out what they want is to simply talk to them…yes, it really can be that simple, but it’s something that a lot of businesses overlook.

When was the last time you picked up the phone to speak to your customers without a hidden agenda….just to say ‘hello’? So, why not arrange to meet some of your customers face to face – arrange a coffee morning. If that’s not possible, set up an online meeting. There are so many options to do this these days.

Show them that you care about their custom and that you’re genuinely interested in them and, if they have one, their businesses. Ask them how they approach problems in their business and ask them to describe how they deliver value to their customers. Listen carefully to their replies.

Ask them to describe your products and services? Are there any particular words and phrases they use? Ask them what they think of your competitors – listen to how they describe them, what words and phrases they use. Take note of their language and how they describe things and use the information to adapt the language of your marketing, use their way to describe your products….if you’re using their language, they will more easily identify with you.

If you talk to your customers on a regular basis, asking them questions about the products they’ve bought (not necessarily just from you) and listening to what they have to say; their worries, concerns and frustrations, you will learn what makes them tick. Listen to the questions they may have about your products and services, including any objections or criticisms, and ask them how you think you could solve any problems.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, but for the small business, talking to customers can have a huge effect on how customers view you and your business. Everyone likes to feel valued and, by talking to your customers, you’re showing them you care about them and their opinions. If you also go ahead and put some of their suggestions into practice, they will feel even more valued…and are more likely to be loyal to you and your business. So, cut out the fancy, long  words and heavily descriptive text, just describe who you are, what you do and who your products and services are aimed at.

Nothing will increase the popularity of your brand than speaking plainly in language your customers can understand.

Good luck and get listening to your customers – they will teach you how to speak their language and give your business the ‘thumbs up’!

If you’d like to speak to me about your business and how to get the right kind of content in front of your target audience and existing customers, or need help with a content marketing strategy and plan, feel free to contact me. I offer a free 30 minute consultation.

How to make your business stand out in the crowd


Starting a business, any business, is a fairly easy process. Anyone can get business cards printed and hand them out, but how do you stay in business? People have so many choices these days. There are so many different places to spend their hard earned cash. How can you make them pick your products/services? How can you make your business stand out from the rest?

Know your competitors

In order to stand out from the rest you need to know what the rest are doing; what they stand for; what they offer; how they are different to you.

Think about some of the big brand names in the marketplace, such as Virgin or MacDonald’s. How do they make sure they stand out from their competitors? What do they do differently?

Now, think about what makes you buy a particular brand over others. Try this small exercise….pick three brands that you buy regularly (could be a toothpaste, a skin care product, cleaning product, item of make-up). Why do you buy that particular brand over others? Is it simply because they’re cheaper? Is it because the latest advertising for that product encouraged you to try it? Or is it a brand you’ve always bought as you really like it? If this is the case, what makes you really like that brand?

Stand out from the rest

Once you know what your competitors are doing and why they stand out; once you’ve looked at some of the big brand names and what makes them different; and once you’ve looked at what you buy and why, you can look at your own products or services and see how you can make your brand proposition more appealing.  If you have a particular target market, such as women over 40 for example, think about how you are going to get your products/services in front of that specific group. Where do this group go? What do they do? Could you advertise where you’ll know they’ll be….leave business cards and flyers?

What about your online presence? Do you have a good looking website, Facebook page or online shop? Is your brand attractive? Would it encourage someone to try your products? What would encourage you to buy your products or services? #

Seven areas to focus on

As I see it, there are seven main areas to focus on to make your business stand out from the crowd.

  1. Know what your customers want, and wherever possible, give it to them
  2. I’ve talked about this before in previous articles, but make your customers feel valued, care about them and give them a good experience every time they contact you – excellent customer service is a must in every business.
  3. ID-100370861Do something to entice people – a free first consultation, a free gift or trial – everyone likes a something for free!
  4. Set yourself up as an expert in your field – solve your customers’ problems
  5. Advertise – give out business cards, flyers or brochures. Advertise in free directories and pay for the odd ad in your local paper
  6. Be interesting and informative on your social media sites….NEVER be offensive. It can take years to build a good, loyal customer base and one wrong comment to tear it all down.
  7. Ask your existing customers for feedback…and use it to promote your business. Use the positive feedback on your website, your Facebook page – anywhere potential customers may be looking. And if you do get negative feedback…address it IMMEDIATELY!

At the end of the day, people have money to spend and just want to spend it. Generally, they don’t care how long you’ve been in business. They care about how your product or service is going to help them – it’s up to you to show them that you mean business! That YOU are the company to choose.

If you’d like help getting your business to stand out from the crowd, but don’t know where to start, I offer coaching packages to help you with a marketing strategy for your small business.

Third image courtesy of Stuart Miles at Free DigitalPhotos.net

Managing your online reputation!

In the dim and distant past, the reputation of a small business was all about word of mouth. With no internet, reputation was based on you…how you conducted business, how you interacted with your customers and how your products hit the mark. If you got a negative comment, you would soon know about it, as most businesses were local, and you then had the chance to fix it.

Nowadays, most businesses, even very small businesses, have an online presence – be it a website, social media page or advert. Because of the internet, small businesses are not limited to local business; we can sell worldwide and reach millions of people at the click of a mouse…and businesses are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Although this is fabulous, in that you can reach millions of potential customers, it’s harder to manage your business’s reputation. If someone has left a negative comment somewhere on the web, you won’t always see it, but it can be just as damaging as a word of mouth negative remark. So how do you manage your online reputation?

Google your name

Have you ever googled your name or business name? Try it and see what pops up…you will be surprised…when I did it, there was information about me and my business, but also various events I was involved in years ago when I was employed in the UK. Also try entering your name into google images – that surprised me too!

Every single day, thousands of people are looking online for information about businesses or just a particular person, simply by typing their name into a search engine. With information about you and your business in the public domain, managing your reputation is crucially important. It’s not difficult to manage, but it does take time.

What if you find a negative comment online about your business? You’ll probably want to remove it. If the comment is something someone has said about you on their website or blog, contact them direct and politely ask them to remove it.

Set up Google Alert

You can go into Google Alert and request that you get an email notification every time your name is published online. Simply type google.com/alerts into your browser and open the site. Type your name or business name into the search box. Choose ‘show options’ to narrow the search to a specific language/source/region. Then select ‘create alert’ – you can choose to have alerts sent to you daily or weekly…and you can cancel at any time. I’m doing it for a month just out of interest to see who searches my name…could be interesting!

Be active on Social Media

Not all of us want to do this or have time to, but it is worth joining a few social networks – even if you just use them to fully fill out the profile pages. You don’t have to be completely active on them all the time, but if you add content once a month, this can help your online reputation. As well as the usual sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, there is also Tumblr, Pinterest and YouTube, which are great channels to be a part of. I belong to a few of them, but am mainly active on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and YouTube. One of my goals for this year is to be more active on these and a couple of other sites…even if only adding the odd article or adding a comment to something and why it is interesting to me.

If you do go onto new sites, fill out as much information as you can, especially your name – make sure you use your full name, not nicknames.

It’s also very important too, that if you do set up social media sites and potential customers contact you or ask questions, that you reply promptly. If you’re on social media sites, people expect you to be sociable! By posting regularly, asking questions, answering questions and giving advice, you’ll be engaging with people and eventually you will find you have a good and lasting relationship with your audience.

Be careful about what you post

There are times when we all take photos on a night out and post them to Facebook … but be wary of doing this as it could seriously affect your business reputation. The problem with social media is that other people can take photos of you and post them without your permission. If you do post pictures, remember to put a privacy setting on them so only your friends can see them. There is still a problem with this as social media sites are always changing their rules and regulations, so you can’t be sure that privacy settings are really private…or will be in future. I always used to tell my children when they were teenagers – don’t post anything that you wouldn’t mind your grandparents seeing or, for that matter, the whole wide world! After all, it is the World Wide Web!

If someone does post an embarrassing photo of you and ‘tags’ you in it, you can remove that tag … and there is nothing stopping you from contacting the person who has posted it and asking them to remove it.

Encourage reviews

The upside to having an online presence, such as a website or blog, is that you can encourage reviews of your products and services. This is great for your reputation as those that love what you do tell the world about it when they write a good review. However, there will always be the odd person who will give you a bad review or say something negative about you or your business. This is not necessarily a bad thing; the knee jerk reaction is to delete negative comments, but in reality, if you can address the problem publicly, taking a proactive approach, apologising if necessary and offering alternative products or solutions…or asking the person making the comment to suggest how you can address the problem. Often, this shows you listen to your customers and take action, which can only show you in good light. The worst thing you can do is to ignore it and hope it will go away, or delete it. My advice would be to always reply and try and address any issues. Often this turns a negative into a positive.

If you don’t monitor and actively improve your online reputation, you are missing an ideal opportunity to grow your brand, earn respect from your customers and hopefully build your business.

I hope this article has helped address some of the issues around managing your online reputation. If you have any other tips, please let me know – what would you add to this list?

How to write creative, persuasive content

Do you dream of being able to write creative content that is persuasive and that inspires your readers? It’s not as difficult as you may think and is all about structuring your content so that your article is appealing and irresistible!

There are four forms of content…

  1. Written
  2. Audio
  3. Video
  4. Images

No matter which medium you’re working on, it’s crucial that your content is valuable and useful to your reader…or they simply won’t read it and it won’t resonate with them. Your articles need to help solve a problem or improve their life in some way. This will also help set you up as an expert in your field.  

Create a content strategy

Your content strategy is your why, who and how. Why you are creating it, who is it aimed at and how are you going to get it out there. Businesses use content marketing to build an audience and to either increase their revenue, lower their costs or to get better customers. For me, it’s about engaging with my audience and, almost as a proof point to illustrate that I know what I’m talking about and am experienced in this field.

Publishing content is great, but it also needs to be published consistently. It needs to educate, entertain or inspire your audience. This way you can turn total strangers into followers and then those followers into customers. You do this by building relationships and solving problems.

Know your audience

Once you know what your strategy is, you need to build the content around your audience. What makes them tick? What problems do they have? What do they look like? If you know your audience well and know what they want, you can really deliver.

Now you’re ready to choose which form of content to use. Try and utilise a mixture as this will help keep your audience’s attention.

Written content

This is the most popular and most used way to communicate with your audience. There are lots of different ways to communicate using the written word…

  • Blogging – Blogging is about writing relevant, useful, informative and entertaining copy. A blog is a regular, consistent post. Your audience can follow your blog, and so get informed automatically every time you publish a new one. Anyone can start up a blog about absolutely any subject you can think of! There are cookery blogs, health and fitness, nutrition, fashion, travel, crafting…you name it, and I can guarantee it’s out there.
    A blog post can be as long or as short as you like – you will soon get to know what your audience likes. Use SEO (search engine optimization) to get ranked higher in search engine results and use categories and tags to make your blog easier to find.  See my two articles on SEO for more details on how to do this – SEO part 1 and SEO part 2.  
  • Email – A direct way to communicate with your followers. If you have a ‘subscribe to email’ button on your website, you can regularly keep in touch with your customers and followers. Just be aware not to overdo it and bombard people with emails every day, or use them solely to sell or push your products/services, or you will find lots of ‘unsubscribes’.
  • Newsletters – These used to be hard copy, but most businesses send these out via email nowadays. It is, in effect, an email as in the last point, but this is specifically your newsletter. Again, don’t go mad with the frequency – once a month is great and also more manageable for you too. You can give news on what you’re doing in your business, any new products or services on the horizon or any freebies you might have created. Or, it might be just some interesting information you want to share, or hints and tips. And of course, you can use it to share links to your blog post.  

Audio

Podcasts are very popular and are growing in numbers every day. There are less podcasts out there, than there are blogs, so it is a good one to try for your business. Like blogs, they can be about absolutely anything…someone out there will be interested in what you have to say. It’s also a great way to reach your audience as they can listen to your podcast whilst driving to work, or working out. Your audience don’t necessarily have to set aside a certain amount of time to catch up with your latest message.

Video Marketing

This has been around for a long time now, but it is fast becoming the norm for all sorts of small businesses, as well as the larger corporates. You can ‘go live’ on social media, or record a short message to your customers/followers. It’s versatile, you can say what you like and most importantly, you will reach your audience more quickly. In a few seconds, you can convey a mood, a setting and your message can be received shortly and succinctly in less than a minute. There are lots of ways to use video in your marketing…

  • Live stream – in real time on social media accounts. As it’s recorded ‘live’, it will be a ‘warts and all’ recording, so you won’t be able to edit out any mistakes – but this does add to the excitement and appeal. People see you as you are!
  • Recorded stream – the same as the ‘live’ stream, but you’ve pre-recorded it before you put it out, so you can edit out anything you don’t like and add in anything that might have forgotten with the ‘live’ version.
  • Vlogging – the same as blogging, but using video. This can be longer that the ‘live’ or pre-recorded videos. Your audience love these as they feel they are getting to know you as a person – if you Vlog regularly, they will get used to seeing you and this helps build a relationship and trust. If you decide to Vlog regularly, it will be worth setting up a YouTube channel so you encourage more visitors.
  • Whiteboard videos – these are animated or sketched videos, so the subject matter and scenery is not real.

Images

Using images is also a great form of content marketing. They are usually on your website, on social media or within a blog. Images can be very powerful to help you convey a message and help you create more impact. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and whilst this can be true, I tend to use them more to enhance my messaging.

The only downside is that search engines don’t necessarily recognise images, so a good tip is to make sure you add a caption to your images, known as alt text, wherever it is relevant. If using in a blog, use keywords to help the search engines find the images.    

AND SO, ONTO YOUR ACTUAL CONTENT

Writing your content

Here are a few tips to help you write your content to help make it more persuasive.

  • Write the headline first. Make sure it is compelling and sparks the curiosity of your reader to want to read on.
  • Write your subheadings next. This will help you plan your content and split it into readable chunks for your reader.
  • Add a few captions. Captions catch the readers’ eye, so add a few in for good measure!
  • Opening paragraph – this is what will draw the reader in and help them decide whether they want to, or can be bothered to, read the rest. People spend seconds scanning an article and, if the opening paragraph and headline doesn’t draw them in, you’ll have lost that reader.  
  • Closing paragraph – Depending on what you’re writing about, this is the end of your article/blog or whatever. Use it well; maybe reiterate the most important take-away from your article and have a CTA (call to action) so they know what to do next.  
  • Bullet points – these are easier to remember and, if someone is just scanning your article, these are likely to be read. So, make them stand out, make them full of good hints or tips and great advice. Make them totally fascinating!

Now we know what to include, let’s dig a bit deeper…

Why is a headline so important?

On average, only 20% of people read an article beyond the headline. If your headline doesn’t grab attention then of those 20%, even fewer people will read your content. So what can you do?

  • Give a benefit in your headline. Give your readers an incentive…’how to’ do something or a recipe. Use numbers…’20 ways to …..’
    Let them know that there is something in it for them.
  • Absolutely command attention. Not always easy, but remember you only have a few seconds to hook someone in. Use power words or positive words, such as ‘inspiration’, ‘revelation’ or even things like ‘is your business doomed because…..’
  • Be specific. Make your headline specific to the article – don’t use a generic headline. For example, if you were writing an article about Mental Health, just having the title ‘Mental Health’ isn’t very inspiring and won’t necessarily pull in your audience, but if you have ‘Mental Health – what does this mean?’ or ‘Mental Health – 10 ways to help yourself’, you’re giving specifics and are more likely to get readers.
  • Don’t get cocky. Don’t try to be too clever with a headline, as these are notoriously hard to come up with. And, they can spectacularly fail!
  • Use a proven structure…as talked about in previous points. Being original is great, but you can try too hard!
  • Keep on, keeping on – practice, practice, practice…makes perfect! Take notice of headlines when you’re reading a newspaper or magazine. Look at headlines on billboards and understand how they capture your attention.
  • Action – Know what action you want your readers to take and make sure that is incorporated throughout your article and in your headline.        

Write content your readers will remember

Here are a few tricks to help make your content unforgettable.

  • Emotion – appeal to your reader’s emotions – this makes them care about something and if they care, they will remember.
  • People have short attention spans – use sound bites to grab attention. I’ve heard the term ’60 is the new 40’, referring to the fact that people now live longer…this is a sound bite.
  • Surprise your reader – Say something unexpected – the element of surprise always makes people remember
  • Use solid details. As well as all the trivial stuff, make sure your content has some real concrete solid details and information that help your readers understand your content.
  • Use stories. It could be a case study, or just a little ‘aside’ piece from your personal memory. People love stories, so be a good storyteller.

Using persuasive writing

If you want your readers to buy something, subscribe to your course or newsletter, you need to be persuasive. Here are some of the reasons you can give your readers…

  • Tell them why…why they should buy your product. Keep it simple – use the word ‘because’ – that tells them all they need to know.
  • Expect objections. If you’re on social media, you’ll know that no matter what you post, there is always someone who objects or who doesn’t agree with you. So, when writing copy, anticipate those objections up front and address them!
  • Give an incentive. Most people have endless curiosity. So give incentives to read to the end of your content…. ‘As well as this, you’re going to love…..’, ‘Here is the best bit’…’Here’s the most awesome part…’. You get the picture!
  • Use stats – these give credibility to your content. And quote your source if there are lots of specific stats.
  • Be passionate about what you do. If you love what you do, it will shine through your work.
  • Give the benefits of what you are offering. You might have told readers why to buy your product/service, but also list the benefits – what can it do for them? How can it make their lives easier? How can it save them time and money?
  • Write about a subject you know about. It will be obvious if you are just spewing out information. KNOW what you’re writing about as it will be easier to be more persuasive about it. And bear in mind that the person reading might not know anything about the subject you’re writing about, so keep the ‘beginner’ in mind.
  • Have a clear call to action or call to benefit. Once they’ve read the article, tell them what to do next and remind them why it’s good, and why they should click or subscribe or buy!     

At the end of the day, you know your customers and you know who your ideal customer is. Write for those people. Write as if you’re talking to a friend in a pub over a drink. Use easy to understand language and not jargon.

Entertain your audience, educate them, inspire them – ultimately you will sell to them. But as with most marketing tactics, it’s important to have that all important engagement first.

If you would like help creating your Content Marketing Strategy, but don’t know where to start, contact me via this blogsite, or drop me an email at cindymobey@outlook.com for a free 30 minute consultation to find out how I can help.

Social Media Posting With Purpose

Posting on social media is an important part of any small business, and we all know the importance of having engaging content. It helps build a relationship and rapport with your followers, can drive traffic to your website, blog, or shop, and can convert followers into customers.

But what if you’re unsure of what to publish, or have just simply run out of engaging ideas? You’re definitely not alone and having a social media content strategy can help you get right back on track. This article will help you understand how that works.

Posting effective posts

How do you know if your posts are going to be effective? You can look at your insights to find out what has been popular before – and this does help you see what kind of post your audience likes to see. But there are also ways to help your post appeal to your audience.

Your caption – describe what your audience are seeing in the image you publish. Draw attention to it by using a question or a headline. Apparently, 150 characters or around 15 words gets the most clicks.

Emoji – you can add an emoji to add a bit more interest to your post – it has been found that emojis attract the eye and, if you use relevant ones, can make you more relatable to your audience. And you can use the arrow or pointing finger to point the eye to your links.

Call to action – this is important as it tells your audience what to do next. For example, if you are publishing a post about a particular blog or article, tell them they can read more by clicking on your link.  

Mention or tag other businesses – or other accounts you have (if you’re posting on FB, mention your IG account for example). Add links – this helps for added visibility and reach. Mentioning other businesses is a great way to promote engagement, not just with those businesses you tag, but encourages others to look at those businesses. It also helps to increase your exposure, as the business you mention might share your post, or do one of their own mentioning you.

Hashtags – add relevant hashtags, (ones that relate to the topic of your post) as well as hashtags related to your business. Use a variety of hashtags and don’t always use the same ones.  

Images or videos – always use high quality photos, GIFs or video clips that will resonate with your target audience.

Repurpose your existing content.

Have you thought about repurposing content you’ve used before? You can simply reuse a post you’ve published in the past or repurpose it into something else. For example, if you have written a blog post, you can take some information from that and write new posts; you can make a video from a post you’ve done before or make posts from video you’ve done before.

You can also share posts that resonate with your business from other people’s posts.

Know your social media channels.

We all have our favourite social media channels. Different people use different channels to achieve their different goals and behaviour can vary greatly between the channels.

Facebook – has the largest and most diverse audience. Because Facebook shows a huge range of content to its users, including ads, news, entertainment, and anything you may have previously shown an interest in, Facebook users tend to scroll a lot. By typically, will only spend a few seconds viewing a post, so it’s crucial to have posts that capture their attention. Facebook is also one of the best channels to put links to your website, blog, or shop.

It’s advised to post at least once a day – twice if possible, for maximum coverage and using just a couple of hashtags.

66% of the UK population and more than 70% of the US population use Facebook. Although the highest number of users are between 18-34, the numbers of older people using Facebook is growing fast.

Instagram – is a very visual channel. Colourful posts with graphics and short video are the most popular, but not as good in getting people to your website, blog, or shop. But a tip is to have your own branded hashtag and to use that as that will help your engagement…and could encourage others to use your hashtag.

More than 60% of Instagram users are between the ages of 18-34, so it’s a younger demographic than Facebook, so worth bearing that in mind when posting. It’s advised to post 3-7 times a week when you’re establishing your brand and more once you get a solid audience. And you can use up to 30 hashtags, but most advise between 5-10 as being the best number.   

TikTok – is about using short video and having fun. There is a huge number of influencers on TikTok, so your brand is more likely to be picked up by one of them on TikTok than on other channels. Sound is also a huge feature of TikTok, and users are more likely to engage with and remember your brand if they like the music you’ve selected.

Posting 1-4 times a day is recommended, and using 3-5 hashtags or more, so long as they are relevant to your post.

Twitter – is about short, sharp posts, as you can only use up to 280 characters, so message need to be clear, concise and to the point. You can post video, but it should also be clear, short and to the point.

Hashtags should be kept to the bare minimum – 1-2 per post. It is recommended to post 1-2 times a day and no more than 3-5 per day.  

LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a more professional channel, and your brand should be more business-like. Keep posts brief and use bullet points and line breaks to get your information across. Visuals and video get more engagement. It’s the norm to share links to articles you’ve written, websites you may have contributed to, or links to your own website or blog site.

LinkedIn has a targeting tool, where you can target people based on language, location, company size, industry, and a lot more.

There’s no hard and fast rule about posting, but it is recommended to post no more than 1-5 times a day (but only if you have quality content) and no less than once a month. Hashtags should be restricted to 1-2 per post.

Threads – is a brand-new channel, that only launched in July 2023. Posts are mainly text based, but you can post reels and stories. It offers a space for real time updates and public conversations.

There’s not enough data at the moment but recommended that posts are 3-5 times a week minimum. Threads doesn’t support hashtags at the moment.  

 

What type of content should you publish?

I always advise having a variety of content to keep your followers engaged. 80% of posts engaging, educating, entertaining and inspiring, with only 20% of posts selling or promoting your business.

You can achieve this by posting things like tips in your niche, FAQs, ‘did you know’ posts, behind the scenes, your story, personal posts, before and after photos, photos of your products or services, case studies, blog posts, links to website or shop, inspirational quotes or educational quotes, funny memes/jokes. The list is endless…and don’t forget you can promote events you’re going to be attending and any promotions, contests, giveaways, or specials you may have going on in your business.

You can also look at the special days each month, (which I have published on my Facebook page) to see if anything is relevant to your business – or that you can be creative with and make it relevant.

You can also use days of the week through hashtags – such as #ThrowbackThursday and do posts around those.  

Variety is the key to posting. That’s why it is a good idea to have a content strategy and content calendar, so you can plan exactly what you want to do and when to coincide with anything important happening in your business, niche, or industry.

When to post

Despite what you may read on the internet, when to post is linked to your own personal business and how you like to run your business. Most small businesses tend to post first thing in the morning – and I find I get more engagement if I post early.

But it largely depends on your audience. If you are UK based, and you have a lot of followers in the US, posting early won’t necessarily catch their attention as they’re in a different time zone, so it might be worth posting again later in the day to coincide with their morning.

You can look at your insights on each of your social media channels to find out when is the best time to post for your business – and it shows you when you’re likely to get the most engagement.

Batch create posts and schedule.

A big time saver for small businesses is to batch create your posts. That simply means creating a week’s worth of posts in one go – this helps you to be more consistent and you can choose to theme each week if you want to.

Scheduling posts is also a big time saver, as once it’s done, you don’t have to worry about it, (although I would advise checking that your scheduled posts have published as this sometimes doesn’t happen)!

Even if you do batch create posts and schedule them, I’d always advise leaving space for reacting to something, or adding in an extra post or two during the week in real time.

Reply to comments!

This is obvious, but it’s really important to reply to the comments you get on your social media posts. Social media is about being social – and engaging with your audience, so what better way to engage with them than replying to comments and getting a conversation going.

If a post of yours is shared, it’s also a good idea to go to that share and leave a comment to say ‘thank you’ for sharing.

I hope this post has been useful and has made you think about your social media posts. There’s a lot more to it than just making and pressing that ‘post’ button.

If you struggle with posting and want some help with a content strategy for your particular business, I can help you get yours up and running. Just drop me a message on my FB or IG, or email me at cindymobey@outlook.com and we can arrange a free 30 minute call to talk about your business and how I can help.   

Christmas in July – tactics to get ahead of the game

I know – it’s still six months to go, but with Christmas being the biggest and busiest time of year for most small businesses, now is the time to be thinking about how you’re going to promote your products and services in the lead up to December.

It’s a big time of year for consumers too, and with all the financial burdens people have right now, it’s very likely that Christmas shopping will start early – in fact most consumers will have finished their Christmas shopping by the end of November. So, as a small business, you need to be prepared.

What better way to be prepared, than running a Christmas in July campaign. This article will give ideas for marketing promotion to help you bring a smile to customers’ faces and spread a bit of holiday cheer. If you use fun and quirky Christmas images and themes, it will make your business stand out from your competitors.

Tips to create a successful Christmas in July promotion.

You don’t have to just sell Christmas products in your July promotion. You can use all the hype and imagery to sell products that may not have been as successful as you hoped.

  • Sell old stock at a reduced price – as a ‘Christmas in July special’.
  • Use Christmas imagery in your social media posts and take photos of your current non-Christmas stock in Christmassy surroundings.
  • Give sneak peeks of some of your Christmas items – and let people know they can pre-order any of the Christmas items now.
  • Offer a gift with any pre-ordered Christmas gifts over a certain amount of money spent – something like stickers or small keyrings/magnets to encourage sales.
  • Offer Christmas gift vouchers, so people can buy a voucher for family or friends so they can choose their own gift when you launch your Christmas products…stress they can use the gift voucher to buy any existing products too.
  • Host a giveaway for anyone who buys from you on a certain day of your July promotion – for example, anyone who buys on that specific day gets entered into a draw for one of your exclusive Christmas items.
  • If you have a physical shop, you could host a Christmas themed evening, where customers are invited to come along to see your products before they go on sale. Set the scene with Christmas decorations and holiday snacks.
  • Do a special Christmas Stocking post – giving ideas for customers of your products suitable for Christmas stocking gifts.
  • You could hold a ‘live’ Christmas in July event on your social media page – showing in real time, the products you have on sale – and your Christmas products. Give suggestions for how they can be used or who they would be perfect for – so customers can picture to whom they would gift your products.
  • If you write a blog, promote your Christmas in July event on there, and if you have an email list, don’t forget to mention it, and invite your subscribers along.
  • If you have an email list, you could offer your email subscribers a sneak peek before you post, giving them an exclusive first look at your products.     

Social media posting

Marketing, no matter what time of year, is all about building relationships. Injecting a bit of fun into your posts, with fun images or you in a Santa hat with sunglasses on talking about your Christmas products, will all go a long way to engaging your audience.

If you choose to go with any of the tip ideas from above, make a few posts around each thing, so you can repost throughout July – or during the week you choose to do your promotions, such as a post around gift vouchers etc.

The best thing about this kind of event is that it doesn’t cost you anything other than a bit of time to prepare. It’s a great way to help combat that summer slump and is the perfect opportunity for you to showcase new products, as well as a reason to push your existing products.

I’m sure that you can come up with lots of original and engaging ideas to get your audience buzzing – people love a reason to celebrate, so give them that perfect reason with your Christmas in July promotions!

If you like this blog post, please follow for more, or share on your social media pages.

As always, if you need any marketing help, drop me an email at cindymobey@outlook.com

Networking – does it work?

Networking is something that most small businesses know about and understand its importance. It can help you build relationships, gain new customers, and sometimes it can set you off in a completely different direction!

But what if you’re not sure where to start? Do you know what type of marketing networking will suit your business? Do you know where to start looking for those networking connections?

The aim of this article is to answer some of those questions and more…

What is networking?  

Networking is about interacting with other small businesses, your target audience, and potential customers…in fact interacting with anyone for mutual benefit. This might sound a bit harsh but let me explain. If you are struggling with something in your business, or you have a challenge you’re not sure how to solve, networking within groups on social media, or joining face to face networking groups can help – someone will be able to give you advice or provide you with an answer.

In the same way, you’ll be able to share your knowledge or skills to help other businesses in your network. This will help to strengthen relationships with those people.

Networking plays an important part in any marketing strategy, as it’s an inexpensive and very powerful way to find opportunities with customers, suppliers, mentors, marketing experts, investors, and other sellers or service-based businesses.

It can also help you to raise the profile of your business, share new ideas, increase your sales, find out information to see how your business is doing against competitors and helps you keep up with any latest trends in your particular niche.  

Networking is a skill like any other. Many small businesses feel very anxious about it, but like anything else, the more you do it, the more you get involved in group discussions and take the time to get to know people in the groups you belong to, it’s a skill you can fully develop. The more you do it, the easier it is.

What are the different types of networking?

Networking is one of the best ways to grow your business and your brand. It’s important to help you reach people you wouldn’t otherwise have met on your own.  

The four main types of networking are:

  • Business to business (B2B) – the exchange of products, services, or information between businesses – simply put, one business selling to or supplying another business. This can be products or services or could be a manufacturer selling goods to a business, so they can make their products.   
  • Business to consumer (B2C) – this type of marketing targets the consumer, so businesses selling directly to individual buyers.
  • Social media networking – this is probably the most well-known way to network for small businesses. Social media helps you engage with your target audience and your customers. You can find out information about what people like, attract new customers, get feedback, and build customer loyalty. You can also use it to advertise, promote giveaways, do market research, increase traffic to your website and develop your brand.   
  • Professional association membership organisations – this would be joining professional groups where you must become a member, such as the Chamber of Commerce for example, and are largely face to face groups. They usually incur a fee, but often professional groups run networking evenings where they have guest speakers or training sessions to help you with your marketing.  

Networking as a tactic for your marketing plan

Most small businesses know that networking is important, especially at the start of a business, but it is also important no matter where you are with your business. It’s about creating relationships that in turn could turn into a collaboration, sales or create advocates for your business. So, it is important to add Networking as a goal on your marketing plan.

The goal could be broken down into the skills you need to develop for networking, (all kinds, not just on social media), such as:

  • Listening skills
  • Self confidence
  • Person skills
  • Making a good first impression
  • Maintaining eye contact
  • Patience
  • How to show passion for your business

I’ve talked about this before, but an ‘elevator pitch’ helps make networking easy. An elevator pitch is a short paragraph that takes you 30 seconds or less to say, which describes what your business does. It should include what you do, what makes your business special, what sets it apart from others in your field and why someone should do business with you. Check out the blog I wrote about this.

Having an elevator pitch would be part of your networking goal.

Common mistakes

Networking might not come easily to you at first, but you soon get the hang of it. Practice makes perfect!

These are some of the things to avoid when networking:

  • Don’t focus on sales – networking is about building your brand and reputation. Instead ask questions about other peoples’ businesses and focus on building a rapport that will eventually lead to a sales conversation. But that might not be for weeks or even months!
  • Don’t talk more that you listen! Yes, it is good to have to opportunity to tell your business story but listen to and show a genuine interest in other businesses.
  • If you’re attending a face-to-face networking event, think about dress code. Sometimes formal dress is a requirement, sometimes it’s just casual, so always worth checking.
  • If you’re attending an event, be prepared. Decide what you want to achieve – is it meeting potential customers? Getting referrals, or do you just want to build connections with people who might be able to help your business grow? Knowing what you want will enable you to decide how you will approach people.
  • Not following up – if you say you will get back to someone, make sure that you do. If you exchange telephone numbers or email addresses, drop them a mail just to say hi and remind them who you are, or give them a quick call to do the same. If it’s someone you’d like to work with or get to know better, suggest a coffee, and catch up – or a Zoom call catch up.

There are lots of different ways to network, so it’s just about finding the ones that work best for you and your business.

If you liked this article, please share, and follow for more marketing help and tips.  

Why you need an elevator pitch!

An elevator pitch is a brief way of introducing yourself and your business. It’s great for making connections and getting your key points across in a succinct manner (no more than 30 seconds).

The reason it’s called an elevator pitch is because 30 seconds is roughly the amount of time you’d spend in an elevator (lift) with someone going from floor to floor. Once you have your pitch ready, it’s great for networking events, or anywhere you meet people for the first time, and they ask what you do. How would you describe yourself and your business in that short amount of time?

How does it work?

First, an elevator pitch is not about making a sale or closing a deal. It’s about being engaging and friendly, clear, concise, and informative. Quite a lot to get into 30 seconds. It’s just about capturing the attention of the person you’re talking to – and you can finish by giving them a business card or flyer.

Get started.

  1. Introduce yourself, ‘I’m Cindy and I’m a marketing coach and copywriter for small creative businesses.’ Don’t waffle, just say it how it is.
  2. Next, is your mission – a clear understanding of what you do. ‘I share how to create engaging content, understand marketing tactics and how to promote their business online.’
    Now you know who I am and what I do – very basically!
  3. Then, it’s about the value you offer – what makes your business stand out? What value do you offer your customers? ‘Through 1:1 coaching, we work closely together to understand their business and how it works. I teach them the tools and skills to manage their marketing themselves and support them through the whole process.’
  4. Finally, it’s the hook – what will make them remember you and want to know more? This could be a fascinating fact or statistic about your product or service to keep your listener engaged. ‘My clients tell me that after each session, they feel super motivated, feel they can get to grips with their marketing and are raring to go to put the things they’ve learnt into practice and watch their business grow.’
  5. Now, put it all together and read it through. It might need tweaking here and there. Time yourself, so you know it’s no more than 30 seconds, and you’re good to go.

“I’m Cindy and I’m a marketing coach and copywriter for small creative businesses. I share how to create engaging content, understand marketing tactics and how to promote their business online. Through 1:1 coaching, we work closely together to understand their business and how it works. I teach them the tools and skills to manage their marketing themselves and support them through the whole process. My clients tell me that after each session, they feel super motivated, feel they can get to grips with their marketing and are raring to go to put the things they’ve learnt into practice and watch their business grow.”  

I timed myself reading this and it was almost exactly 30 seconds!

How to use it.

You can use your pitch on your website, in the social media ‘about’ section, or even as a post to remind people of what you do. You can put it on flyers or promotional material. You could even use it at a job interview, if you adapted it for that purpose. That’s the good thing about a pitch – you can adapt it to different situation and scenarios. For example, if you wanted to use it to try and get more business or sell your products, you could add a call to action at the end of your statement, asking them if they’d be interested to hear more, or if they’d like a call at a later date.

You don’t have to learn your pitch, word for word, or it will sound stilted and rigid…it’s just designed to help you, so you’re clear and don’t stumble when you’re next asked, ‘And what do you do?’

I hope this has been helpful and if you would like help with marketing or content creation for your business, drop me a message at cindymobey@outlook.com