If you write content, you’ll know how long it takes. It’s not just about the time and the money, but as a content creator, you put your heart and soul into everything you write.
This is where the 4 Rs of content marketing comes in. It puts the oomph back into what you’ve written before and gives it a whole new lease of life.
So, let’s take a look at those 4 Rs of content marketing:
Repurpose
As a content creator, you’ll have written hundreds of blog posts or articles and, in order to reorganise that content, you need to take a long, hard look at that older content. How can you repurpose some of your content and make it into something else?
Repurpose content
You could tie some blog posts together and make an eBook that you can sell, or give away as part of a lead magnet. You could make an infographic, or break down a post into several parts and make social media posts. And the great bit about that is that you’ve already done all the hard work to produce the content in the first place – it’s just about repurposing it into something new and fresh for your audience.
Retire
Sometimes you will come across an old piece of content that is just past its sell-by date! It might be that things have moved on and it is no longer relevant, or it could be that it just wasn’t something that performed well and probably still wouldn’t.
The other thing to look at is, ‘is this still relevant to my target audience?’ If it isn’t something that they would care about, it’s time to retire that content.
Revamp
I’ve talked about retiring old content that is out of date and no longer relevant to your target audience. However, you don’t want to simply delete or archive that content, as it may have good links attached to it or great SEO (search engine optimisation). Have a look at ways that you may be able to replace it with something more vibrant and current…revamp it!
It could be that you can rewrite some of it – has technology moved on, so you can update some of the information that is out of date? Can you add new statistics? Don’t forget to also add new images and bring your design up to date, so it’s more in keeping with how you do things now.
Everything you write, or have written in the past, has its value, so updating is a very worthwhile exercise. Simply put a note at the top of the article, blog or whatever, saying when the article was first published and noting that it’s been updated with new information.
Readability
Do you read other peoples’ content? I’m sure you do, but most of us only remain focused on something for a few minutes, unless it is something we are personally interested in. The internet has so much information, with loads of articles on similar subjects, that choice for your reader is vast.
So, ensure that your readers stay on your page. But how?
Make your content easy to read and easy to scan for information. Use bullet points, small paragraphs, headings and sub-headings and numbered lists. This breaks up the text and makes it easier to read.
Call to Action
Don’t forget to put a CTA (call to action) at the end so they know what to do next and you could offer an incentive to go somewhere else on your website, such as a freebie that takes them to an opt-in to your newsletter. For more useful articles on marketing, please visit my blog.If you need some help with writing creative content for your blog, website or social media posts…or if you’d like help creating your lead magnet, please feel free to email me – cindymobey@outlook.com
User generated content (UGC) is the original content that is created by your audience. It can be anything from comments or reviews on your blog or social media site, to images and videos.
According to the Nielsen Consumer Trust Index, 92% of consumers trust organic, user-generated content more than they trust traditional advertising. This is probably because UGC is not paid for by the brand and created by your audience, so it is unbiased and seen as more trustworthy and genuine. It acts as social proof and helps you to grow your following, strengthen relationships with your clients, helps with SEO and can boost sales.
Here are a few ways to use user generated content for your business.
Credibility
When potential customers want to buy something, most like to look at product reviews before taking the plunge. Reviews show them that your product or service is reliable. Ratings and reviews can help increase traffic to your website, which ultimately can help grow your business and encourage those potential customers to buy from you.
I would advise every business to encourage customers to leave reviews wherever possible. You can ask them to leave reviews on your website, social media page, or on your Google My Business page.
You can also give an incentive to get more reviews, by offering something like a discount or gift card. Send an email with incentive keywords in your subject line to encourage customers to open them.
If you get a negative review, don’t ignore it. Treat it as an opportunity to turn the customer round and gain their trust. Always reply personally to show that you care about their experience and try to solve the problem they’ve highlighted. If you do turn them around, they will then recommend you to their friends and family.
Host a contest
One way to get customer content is to host a contest on social media. You can even create a unique contest hashtag and get followers to contribute to the hashtag. Users could share their photos or videos accompanied by your specific hashtag to win a prize. If enough of your followers do this, it can push your hashtag to trend, which will not only build engagement with your target audience, but also build awareness of your brand and boost sales.
If you do decide to do this, just keep in mind that your hashtag needs to be simple and not difficult to spell…and also use one that sets you and your business apart from your competitors. And don’t forget to start using your new hashtag in all your own posts.
Video
Video is a fantastic way to create user generated content. Video has such great potential for sharing and there is a higher possibility that video content will go viral.
User generated video give your audience a new perspective on your brand, which not only boosts your credibility, it also illustrates that your brand is genuine as these are the videos of real customers…not something you’ve created yourself.
Use events and holidays
There are loads of different holiday seasons and individual days in the calendar, from Christmas and Easter, to Valentine’s Day or just summer! You could also choose to use a major event.
These holidays or events gives you an opportunity to engage with your customers and connect with them. This gives your followers the chance to share images or videos, use your hashtags, take part in a competition or even write a testimonial and share it with their friends.
A few years ago, a major coffee chain launched a campaign during December. They produced a branded coffee cup with a Christmas theme and asked for inspiring and innovative photos with their cup in the photo. There was a prize of a gift card…and of course, in order to take part, customers had to buy the cup first. They were inundated with photos, which were really imaginative and published them on their website. Customers absolutely loved coming up with really innovative ideas, they loved seeing their entry on the website, (which of course they shared with their friends) and the coffee brand sold loads of coffee. All for a very simple idea.
Have a think about what you could come up with for your business.
Recap
User generated content acts as social proof and helps you grow your following, strengthen relationships with your clients, helps with SEO and help boost sales.
Have you ever done this? If you have, I’d love to know how you got on. If not, why not try it out. Again, I’d love to hear all about it. Please comment below and share your story.
If your business collects or stores any kind of information from your customers, you need to ensure that you are complying with the current rules and regulations of GDPR (the General Data Protection Regulations).
Every business should have a privacy policy on their website, which details how you keep your customers’ information safe and secure, and how your business complies with the latest GDPR rules and regulations.
Disclaimer
GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is a very large and complicated piece of legislation. I am not a lawyer. The information in this article is absolutely not legal advice and I cannot be held responsible for its accuracy. Details of where to get the appropriate legal information for both EU and UK can be found at the end of this article. However, the information in this short article will give you a heads up that you need to make sure that your business complies and that there is now BOTH an EU GDPR and a UK GDPR following the UK’s exit from Europe.
Customer data
It is up to you to make sure that the information you hold on your customers is kept secure, accurate and up to date. When you collect someone’s personal data, you must tell them who you are and how you’ll use their information, including if it’s being shared with other organisations.
You must also tell them that they have the right to:
See any information you hold about them and correct it if it’s wrong
Request their data is deleted
Request their data is not used for certain purposes
If you control or process any kind of customer personal data, then your business is impacted by the GDPR rules and regulations. This is everything from the simple collecting of customers’ names and addresses, telephone numbers or IP addresses, to the m ore complex keeping of medical information, bank account details etc.
Two key principles
Data protection is just about protecting your customers from having their data fall into the wrong hands. The two key principles are that businesses must have appropriate, legal reasons for processing personal data, and a business can only collect personal information for a specific purpose…and it is only to be used for that purpose!
Most of us who have a small business hold some form of personal information about our customers. It might be just an email address, or name and postal address, so we all have to ensure we comply. There are very steep fines for those that don’t.
UK and EU Data protection
Up until their exit from the EU, the UK was subject to the EU GDPR rules and regulations as they were still affiliated to the EU, but the UK now has its own UK GDPR rules and regulations.
I am NOT an expert on all the legalities of the General Data Protection Regulations for UK or EU, so it is up to you as a small business to ensure that your business, website and all data you hold on your customers complies with the relevant regulations of your country.
As today (28 January 2021) is Data Protection Day, I thought I’d just bring this to your attention and give you the relevant links so you can do some research and take any advice that you might need from a proper legal representative for your country.
I wrote a more in-depth article about this in January 2020, which was based on EU regulations, which you are more than welcome to read. Click here to read it.
Communication is the most important aspect of your business. It is the general term used to describe how you speak to your target audience and how you write your blogs or emails.
Our language enables us to share our ideas with other people, and communication is probably the most important aspect of our culture. Without communication, the pyramids wouldn’t have been built, the Eiffel Tower wouldn’t be standing – communication enabled the architects to convey their plans to their workers.
Effective communication helps avoid any misunderstanding with your audience, employees and customers alike.
My blog this week looks at the 7 Cs of communication and how, if you keep these seven things in mind, your written communication will be much more effective.
Clear
It’s important to always keep in mind the purpose of every message, email or post you put out. So, what is the purpose of this communication? As long as you keep this in mind, you will better be able to put your message across to your target audience.
If you don’t know the purpose of your communication, your audience won’t either!
Being clear is also about giving clarity to your reader – avoid complex words, long sentences and jargon. Keep it simple and to the point.
Concise
Keep your message short, simple, concise and to the point. Why use a whole paragraph to explain something that can take one sentence?
Being concise will also keep your audience’s attention, saving them and you time and energy.
BUT, keep in mind that, although you are keeping your message concise, you still need to give detail for the message to be complete.
Concrete
This is about being specific with your communication, avoiding it being too general, vague or obscure.
Use words and sentences that can’t be misinterpreted, and it’s a good idea to add facts and figures if you can to underline your meaning. But keep the balance so that any illustrations or examples don’t detract from your main message.
Correct
ALWAYS proofread your message before publishing. I find that reading it aloud ensures that it makes sense. If you use facts and figures, put a link to the source, so you have proof that they are correct and that you haven’t just plucked statistics out of the air!
Check for typos or spelling mistakes, and ensure that sentences are short – this makes it so much easier to read.
Doing these checks saves you time in the long run and boosts your credibility.
Coherent
Look at the structure of your communication. Does it flow in a logical way? You don’t want to be jumping from one subject to the other, as that makes it harder to read and understand.
Do a sense check to make sure you haven’t tried to be too in-depth and cover too much in one message. And ensure your communication doesn’t go off on tangents and side issues.
Complete
In order for you to get the desired response to your message or communication, it must contain all the necessary information.
The best way to do this is to think about your message and about any questions your target audience might have as a result of reading it. Then you can make sure that those questions are answered in the communication.
Include a call to action, so your audience knows exactly what you expect them to do next.
Courteous
Always be polite. Being polite builds trust and goodwill with your readers. Make sure that your communication shows respect for your readers and their feelings.
My parents always taught me that manners cost nothing and this is just as relevant to written communication as to verbal.
Conclusion
Overall, the 7 Cs of Communication is an effective checklist, which will ensure you are communicating with your audience more effectively.
If you use this simple checklist, you can be assured that you are delivering the best and clearest message you can, with little in the way of misunderstanding.
Ultimately, this will boost the reliability and trustworthiness of your business, as well as saving you more time.
Let me know how you get on with this checklist the next time you write a message or communication.
In general, people across the world are relying more and more on Google to find answers to their questions, or to find out information about absolutely anything. Google My Business (GMB), is a free online tool for businesses to manage their online presence across the Google platform. This is especially good news for small businesses and start-ups to help them with their online visibility.
According to searchengineland.com more than 2 trillion users log onto Google search every year – more than 5 billion searches per day. That’s pretty mind-blowing in itself, but just think how many people your small business could be exposed to, simply by having the right keywords and being on Google My Business. Wow!
How to claim your Google My Business profile
You need to have a Google account (Gmail account), in order to be able to claim your Google My Business profile. If you sign into your Gmail account, then log into GMB, simply enter the name of your business into the field of the form and confirm that you are authorised to manage the business. There will then be several fields to complete in order to set up your account, such as your opening hours, about you section etc.
You have to choose a service category too, from the list provided and it’s important to make sure that your business name, address and phone number is up to date –if your business is on other search engines, such as Bing, you need to make sure that they are all have exactly the same details, so it’s easier for you to be found. By putting in your address, a map will pop up so anyone local to you will be able to easily find you. You can also add a link to your website.
There is an area to add photos of your business – both external view, which is great if you have physical premises as it makes it again, much easier for people to know what they’re looking for if they decide to visit your business. You can also add photos of the interior, so you could add photos of employees, processes you carry out, and photos of your products. This is really important to make these as engaging as possible as it will encourage people to choose you over your competitors.
One of THE most important parts of GMB is the reviews section. Online reviews are obviously testimonials that you are the best at what you do. Encourage your existing customers to leave a review on your GMB page, by sending them a link to the page and ask them! Most will be happy to oblige. If you have an email list, or send out a regular email newsletter to your customers, this is a great item to add to that … and the reviews will really help your Google rankings. As all small businesses will know, good reviews are absolute gold in helping potential customers to choose to buy from you over your competitors. When I want to buy something, I always look at the reviews first.
Put the link to your GMB on your website and on your social media pages, so potential customers and existing customers know that you’re there.
GMB is cost-effective
Well, it’s free (!), so why wouldn’t you want to have it? For start-ups and small businesses, it really is a fabulous platform to get your business out there with no cost – we all know that every penny counts if you’ve just started, or if you’re a small business. GMB gives customers all the information they need to know about you, all in one place…but if you put a link to your website or to your Etsy shop, for example, you can also point them to your other resources, products or services.
You can post to your GMB
Just like social media platforms, you can also put posts on your GMB page. You can use this to promote your business, talk about offers or discounts, new products, updates, news, announcements etc. The possibilities are endless! I use my posts to highlight new blog posts, as well as news about my business or about marketing. I also share some of the posts I use on Instagram and Facebook.
Your post title should only use four or five words, and although you are allowed to use up to 1500 characters for the post, I always keep it to as few as I can – 100-200 at most. The reason for this is that under the post there is the option to use a Call to Action (CTA), which encourages your visitors to take a particular action, such as ‘Buy’, ‘Book online’, ‘Learn more’, ‘Call’ or ‘Visit’. For my blog, I use ‘Learn more’ and then a box appears so I can put in the URL of my blog post, so if visitors want to find out more about the blog I’ve written, they click on the URL box and it takes them to my full blog post and website.
Posts only stay in front of your customers for seven days, so you do need to update your posts regularly. If a customer clicks on posts, they will be able to see old ones, but they won’t be ‘live’ on the homepage of your page.
You can post an event, and this is the only exception to the rule of seven days. Once you input all the relevant details of the event, it will be displayed until the event is over.
A fairly new feature, which is good news for restaurants or cafes, is that GMB now has a menu editor, which includes titles, descriptions, prices, and you can break the menu into sections – starters, main, desserts etc.
Video
You can share video on GMB, and this is a fairly new feature. The video should be no more than 30 seconds and once uploaded, it can take up to 24 hours before the video content shows in local search results.
The maximum video file size is 100MB and minimum resolution should be 720p.
Messaging feature
There is a message feature on GMB, which you have to switch on via your dashboard on your page. This means that customers can message you directly. There will be a message icon which they can click on to send a message and if you have an iOS device you can get these directly via an app. Otherwise, you will need to make sure you check your GMB page regularly. Please not that Google advise that you don’t encourage customers to share sensitive information via their messaging service.
Conclusion
Google My Business (GMB), is a fabulous, free platform for you to advertise your business. The many features make it easy for your customers to find you and find out all they need to know about your business. It’s up to you to add as much or as little information about your business that you choose to. As with any platform, it’s a good idea to have a strategy around using the platform, factor in time to keep it up to date and keep track of any messages and changes that might affect your business or that platform. But, in today’s online world, where billions of people are searching Google every day, it totally makes sense to make use of this great tool.
Whenever I create content, I think about my target market. And that leads me to the buyer personas I’ve created. I find it so much easier to write any content, be it social media posts or blog posts, because I have a particular person, or group of people in mind.
What is a Buyer Persona?
A buyer persona is a kind of fictional mock-up of your ideal client. This is based, not only on demographic, geographic and psychographic criteria, but also more specific data, such as what motivates them etc.
Each buyer persona you have, (and I recommend at least 3-4), will represent a particular group to whom you are going to aim your advertising, your content and your sales pitch. You couldn’t do individual ideal client or buyer personas, because obviously all your clients are different, but it just helps you to focus your communications.
When you are writing your content, you want to:
attract potential customers to your website or online shop
engage, educate, entertain and inspire
gain their trust
convert them into paying customers
retain their custom and hopefully, make them an Ambassador for your business
In order to do all of this, you need to know who your potential customers are, then it’s easier to do all of the above! You need to make sure that you attract the people who match what you have to offer. For example, it’s no good aiming your content at people who hate sport, if you sell football boots!
How do you create this buyer persona?
First of all you need to research your target market, as this will help you create a realistic persona.
Step 1
Look at your current client base and see what your current customers do, what they like and dislike. Are there any similarities between them? Make a note of everything that is similar.
If you have regular customers, you could ring them directly and ask them questions about their buying decisions. Alternatively, if you have an email list, you could send out a survey to your customers asking them things like:
What kind of content would you like from me?
Why do you buy my products or use my services?
Do you have any problems or challenges in your business/life that you’d like me to solve?
Do you have any questions about my business?
This will then give you a good basis for creating your personas.
Step 2
The next step is to narrow down the information you have even more.
What are their demographics? For example, age, occupation, marital status, salary)
What are their geographics? Are they local, regional or in other countries? (You would do one persona for each of these.)
Psychographics – what are their interests? Do they have any hobbies? For example, are they interested in your products because they’re eco-friendly? Take a close look to see if you can align your products/services to their hobbies or interests.
What about their behaviours? What do they like to read about? What kind of programmes do they like to watch on TV, Netflix etc?
How do they learn? This would be important if you are planning to teach something or run a training webinar. Do they learn through being shown how to do something, or through step by step instructions?
What are their pain points?
How often are they happy to have emails from you? When do they look at their emails? What attracts them to opening emails?
Step 3
Now you can start to create your separate personas. You can organise the information you’ve gathered into groups, and each of those groups will be a separate buyer persona.
You could have a group that have similar challenges or pain points, for example.
I give my buyer personas a name, as I find it easier to identify with that group and it makes it easier for me to write for them.
For example:
One of my buyer personas is called Jennifer.
Jennifer is in her late 30s
She is married with two small children, both at school
She runs her own small crafting business. She makes craft items that she sells at local markets, and she has an online shop.
She likes to buy things that are eco-friendly and looking after the environment is important to her.
She struggles with juggling time in her busy day, so her social media posts, although consistent, don’t always sell her business well. She knows that marketing her business is important, but doesn’t have the time or money to invest a lot in this important aspect. She’d like to know more about how to promote her business and get more clients.
I have six of these specific buyer personas, all made-up people, but all of them have one thing in common – they own their own small business. I target my blogs and my social media content at them, aiming to help them with their marketing. They are loosely based on clients I have or have had in the past.
The importance of buyer personas
Now that you have your different buyer personas, you can tailor everything you write or create to those groups of people. You have put a human element to your buyer personas, so everything you create, from social media post and webinars, to podcasts and video etc., can be targeted at your ideal market.
You’ll find that people will engage more with your content and take more notice of your emails, as they will be specifically targeted to them.
If you need any help with identifying your target market, or pulling together your buyer personas, feel free to email or message me. I offer a free initial consultation.
Blogging is a huge commitment for most of us…it takes up valuable time and energy to produce your once a month, or once a week blog. And whilst you may write your blog for fun or to purely engage with your audience, there will come a time when you want to try and make money from it. So, what can you do to help make that happen?
Absolutely know your audience
I find myself writing this all the time when talking about marketing, but it is really so important that you know your audience, especially when you’re writing content for them. Your audience will dictate how you write and what you write…and the language that you use. For example, if you write for a young, gaming audience, you will write for them – you wouldn’t write a blog the same way if it was aimed at a business audience or an older audience.
I’m a marketing consultant so I sometimes have to reign myself in when I’m writing. I love writing about marketing, but when I read my blog back, I have realised in the past that I’m writing for my own peer group of marketers…and that’s not who my audience is! My audience are owners of small businesses who want to increase their own profile online, engage their audiences and of course, sell their products or services. My aim is to teach my readers about marketing, so they have the choice to have a go at it for themselves, and of course, I want to help them with their choice, but ultimately I want my audience to come to me to help them with their marketing and content creation. It’s a fine line!
Just knowing who your audience is isn’t enough – you need to find out a bit more…ask these questions…
What age are they?
What gender, if appropriate?
What is their marital status?
What do they do for a living?
What are their interests outside of work?
And the biggie…What are the problems and challenges they face?
Once you have this information, you can pull together a profile of your ideal customer and use this to direct your blog content at.
Choose the right subject to write about
You’ve sorted out your ideal customer and you know what problems and challenges they face. Write them all down and work out how you can solve those problems.
Once you have a list of solutions, there’s your content. If you’re helping your ideal customers solve their problems, they’ll know that they can turn to you. The right way of course, is not to provide all the answers, which is something I’m guilty of! But this doesn’t mean you don’t provide a detailed article about how they can solve their problem – you can give information that is useful and actionable, but leave something that they can come to you for.
Call to action
It’s important to leave room for a CTA (call to action) that will draw your audience in, make them want to know more, or ask you for more help. I don’t mean asking directly if they want to employ you. It might be you encourage them to sign up for your newsletter, join your mailing list, download a freebie, listen to your podcast or watch a webinar you’ve set up. This won’t immediately make them a customer, but you’re leading them down the right path, and can help them see how you can add value to their business, or to their life.
For example, say you’re a life coach. You write a great blog post, and your CTA could be you point your readers to your website. You might talk about a particular subject and point them to a free webinar where you talk in more detail about that subject. You might have a free social media group they can join to talk to other like-minded people. Ultimately, this could lead to them booking a coaching session with you.
Content and the buying cycle
Think for a minute about your own buying cycle. Let’s take a recent example at my home. I was out on our sit-on lawn mower and it stopped working and made a strange whirring noise. I told my partner about it when he got home. I know nothing about lawn mowers and certainly wouldn’t have a clue how to fix it.
So, our first problem was THE NEED to get it fixed, but we’re not sure how.
The next obvious step is to find out what could be wrong. My partner goes onto YouTube and investigates the problem. He tries to work out whether it’s worth trying to fix it himself or whether it just needs a new part. This is the INITIAL RESEARCH stage. His research tells him that he needs a new drive belt.
My partner now has a solution to the problem. Now we have to find out who sells drive belts and where we can buy it. This is the FINAL RESEARCH.
Finally, the PURCHASE stage and we order the drive belt and pay for it.
If you are writing a blog with the idea of getting customers from it, you need to be targeting those that are at the INITIAL RESEARCH stage. Then you can give them the answers they’re looking for. But, it doesn’t stop there – you also want to make your content give total confidence in your product or service, so the blog takes them from that initial stage right through to the purchase…and show that your business is the right place to do just that!
The content needs to be in long-form, so that you have time to engage your readers, gain their trust and ultimately help them to see that you have that perfect product or service that solves their problem or meets their needs.
Content needs more than that…
OK, so you’ve let them see that you’re the perfect fit for what they’re looking for, but not all our readers look at an article in detail, so it’s really important to think about the format of your blog.
If you just write plain text, they might miss the point, so you need to make your content visually appealing.
Use bullet points to draw their attention to the important bits
Use short paragraphs
Use subheadings
Make sure that the font you use is easy to read and a decent size
And of course, use images to break up the text
If you want to draw attention to a particular part, use CAPITAL LETTERS or BOLD text…or both!
Include testimonials
How many times do you buy something without looking at the reviews of a product? I know I always do, as it gives me an idea of the product I’m going to order. For example, with shoes, some reviews will say ‘buy one size bigger, as these shoes are on the small side’. This helps me to make my decision to buy or not. So, include a testimonial in your blog if you can to sway your audience that your product is the best. Find a testimonial that says why your product is the best.
Don’t digress
Don’t go off on a tangent and start talking about something else, make sure that you focus on the one product or service that you’re trying to sell or engage your audience with.
By all means, lead up to your point slowly and build a picture, but try not to get too distracted and don’t use too many links, as this will distract your reader.
Buy now!
Try and create some urgency around buying your product or service. I’m sure you will have heard of FOMO – personally I hate this expression, but in marketing it’s an effective tool. The ‘fear of missing out’ on something makes us want to buy it now.
Using language that suggests an urgency to buy can persuade your audience that it’s now or never. Things like:
For a limited time only
Only three spaces left on my course
At this price for a limited time only
You get the idea!
And if you’re building up to a sales pitch, using one of those FOMO phrases…
Start using shorter sentences.
It makes you sound breathless.
It’s urgent.
You need to do this now.
This makes your readers read faster and they’ll feel the urgency.
Don’t be too salesy
Finally, don’t be too salesy. Your audience will know you, they’ll follow your blog because they like to see what you have to say. They don’t want the hard sell all the time.
You need to be giving advice and showing a solution to a problem and that should take up most of your post, but you can weave a subtle sales pitch into the content. Selling your product or service is only a small part of it.
Your readers trust you and trust your content. As my readers, you’ll know that I rarely use my posts to sell my business. Rightly or wrongly, I enjoy writing as it’s my happy place and I’m passionate about helping small businesses to grow. If I suddenly came over all salesy, I’d lose that trust and I’m sure, a lot of my followers.
It’s about getting the balance right. You don’t want to sell so hard that you destroy your reputation and your credibility. Writing a blog lets people know that you are an expert in your field and your followers will be confident that you know what you’re talking about. They may take a while to get to know you, but if they can see that you are knowledgeable and helpful, they will come back, and that will increase the chance that they will buy from you, or work with you in the future.
There are more people than ever online these days – the pandemic has definitely contributed to that as people are looking to buy things they can’t go out to get. But, mainly it’s because technology has improved and become so popular. Searching online for what you want, be that information or the latest gaming device, has never been easier or more accessible.
It seems to make sense that if you’re a small business, you absolutely must be on the online space. That could be with a website, blog, shop, or on social media channels. But with so many people trawling the internet, the competition for business is fierce and converting someone to a customer is a whole new ball game.
Customer engagement strategies are the answer, but what kind of strategies can you use to engage consumers and then convert them to buyers? Here’s a few ideas:
Maximise the customer experience (CX)
The customer experience is absolutely the key to any business and you should do everything you can to make your customers happy. They buy your products and services, so every single touchpointneeds to leave them with a ‘warm fuzzy’ feeling, not a ‘cold prickly’ one! The customer experience covers everything, from the very first time they come across your business, through the awareness stage, attraction, interaction, purchase, use of that purchase and of course support and promotion.
Customers are connecting more and more via mobile devices, so being found online is vital. You have just seconds to make a good impression, so your online business needs to be visually pleasing and impactful. It’s important to think about the how your customers will interact with you, so ensure that you are contactable and easy to do business with.
If you have employees that deal with your customers directly, make sure they understand the importance of excellent customer service. Everything they do will reflect on your business. Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hataway once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” This is so true, and quite a sobering thought.
Never underestimate Word Of Mouth Marketing (WOM)
A happy, satisfied customer will be loyal to your brand, and will do some of your marketing for you, by telling all their friends and family how good your products or services are. A satisfied customer will also give great reviews, which always helps your brand’s reputation and makes you stand out from the crowd. Word of Mouth Marketingis probably one of the oldest forms of marketing, but is still very much alive and kicking today!
Relate to your customers
Your customers want to feel that they are valued and important to you. So it’s absolutely crucial to understand their needs and to show that you care about them.
Don’t use a ‘one size fits all’ approach – they are all different. Respond to emails, messages and any communication promptly and positively. If there is something a customer is concerned about, address it immediately and try to work with them to find a solution.
Keep communications personal and make your customers fall in love with your business.
If you get a complaint or any negative feedback, do not ignore it. See it as a challenge to win the customer round…find out exactly what the complaint is – talk to the customer, by phone if possible. It may be a simple misunderstanding, but if it isn’t, do everything you can to solve the problem. Sometimes problems can’t be solved and if this is the case, apologise and give a refund or suggest an alternative…or give a discount for their next purchase.
Surprise them!
How often do you surprise your customers? Surprising them means you do something that they’re not going to be expecting.
That might be a phone call to welcome a new customer or to catch up with an old one.
Send them a completely personalised email
Give a free gift without expecting anything in return…an eBook, checklist, tips or advice
You could use a pop up to deliver a personalised message to a new customer to your website. If you’ve done the pop up well, it can encourage a potential customer to buy from you.
Use Social Media platforms
Most businesses are on social media platforms. And, as a business, you don’t have to be on them all; it would be far too much to manage! But choose two or three and learn everything you can about that platform. Then use those platforms as a tool.
Use it to connect with your audience
Identify questions that they need answers to
Research other platforms, influencers in your niche and find out what problems people have – then you can solve them!
Create content that speaks to your audience
Business pages on social media sites are not all about selling your services or products. It’s about engaging your audience. So use your posts to entertain, educate, engage and inspire. They will get to know you and your business and trust that you know what you’re talking about. And, they’ll also feel that you care about them, not just about the money they can throw your way. Be genuine and authentic!
Listen to your customers
This one is short and sweet, and says what it is on the tin. Listen to your customers. If you want to know something about your services or products, ask your customers. They are in the best position to answer you.
Send out a survey, and give a small incentive to respond. Send it to your customers, the recipients of your newsletter or followers to your blog.
You can also set up a survey and put a link to it on your social media pages. Ask your followers to do the survey and to share it with their friends and families.
Provide valuable content
You might write a blog or send out a regular newsletter. And you most likely do use social media. Ensure your posts or articles are valuable to your customers. As I have said previously, they should entertain, educate, engage or inspire. Ideas for posts could be:
Introduce yourself and your business with a photo or video
Share something personal or share a photo of your workspace
Share an inspirational, funny or work related quote
Create educational posts giving tips that will help them. For example, I am a small business marketing consultant, so I share tips that will help with marketing, or tips to help people grow their small business.
Show that you are an expert in your niche or field.
Ask questions – can be trivial or specific to something you want to know
Create polls – again they can be fun or serious
Use good images
Use video
Above all, show your passion and share your enthusiasm for your business with your customers and potential customers. If you invest the time, effort and engagement into your business, your customers won’t be able to help but get caught up in your excitement and will want to be a part of that.
2020 has been the year of working from home. Are you looking forward to going back to work or is it just another day NOT at the office for you for the foreseeable future?
According to the English newspaper, The Guardian, it has been reported that “only 34% of British white-collar workers had returned to the office, compared to 83% in France and an average of 68% among major European counterparts.” So, if you are working from home, how do you cope? For some, this has been a massive transition.
I’m lucky enough to always work from home, but I also live in rural France, where it is very quiet. I’m not sure how I’d fare in a city with noisy neighbours or sounds of traffic. The only problem I encounter on a regular basis is the inefficiency of my internet provider – being in a rural area means the signal is not always great. But I’m learning to manage that. But I guess that, so long as you don’t have neighbours who suddenly decide that DIY with noisy machinery is what they want to do all day, it works well…and the Covid pandemic means that more and more workers have had the chance to experience what it’s like. But of course, there are other factors to think about. Here are some handy hints and tips for working from home.
Start the day promptly
It’s very easy when you work from home to procrastinate and ‘just do’ a few things before you get started. So, try and think of it as a normal working day. When you go to the office, you get up, shower and get to work. Try and do the same at home. Try and stick to your normal routine. Get up, shower, have a coffee and breakfast and set yourself a time to start work.
Structure your day
Get a normal structure going, as you would if you were at work. Have a ‘to do’ list and break your day into segments. For example, you might trawl through your emails first thing to see if anything urgent needs doing. Then get on with the tasks you’d normally do in the morning. You can stop for a coffee break/comfort break, as you would at work and of course, have a break away from your screen and desk at lunchtime. But don’t be lulled into the false sense of security of allowing yourself an extra half an hour to scroll social media or watch a daytime TV programme. This can seriously impact your efficiency. I know as I’ve been there and done that!
Have a dedicated work space
Rather than sitting on the sofa with your feet up and laptop on your lap, try and create a dedicated work space, with an office ‘desk’. This could be your kitchen or dining room table, but having this space encourages you to focus more and feels more like you are ‘going to work’.
Eliminate distraction
For me, the biggest distraction is social media and email. If I have them switched on when I’m working, I can’t help but respond to every ‘ping’ I hear. This is counter-productive and a huge distraction, causing lots of wasted time. I schedule a time to look at my social media pages, answer questions or comments on posts, and answer DMs etc. I also schedule time to post to my own business social media pages. Other than that, I switch it all off, so I don’t hear those enticing pings!
Know your most productive times
We all work differently, and working from home is a different experience for everyone. What is the best time of day for you to get the harder tasks done? For me, it’s in the morning. I write better in the morning and have more concentration. So, I schedule the most important, urgent or difficult tasks for the morning, and leave the things I find easier to cope with for the afternoon.
From research I’ve done on the subject of working from home, most articles advise that you save all your calls until the afternoon. However, I find that checking emails, responding to requests or phone calls are better done in the morning, before I start writing. If I think the calls are going to take me a long time, I might do them straight after lunch, but I think better in the morning, so it’s better for me to do them then. You may feel completely different – it’s about doing things in the order that best suits you.
Have some planning time
As an ‘at-home’ worker, I tend to do my planning for the next day late afternoon, or even in the evening. Whatever suits you best, ensure that you do have time in your diary to plan your next project, or plan the tasks that need to be done the following day. There will always be times when all your plans go out of the window and something happens that needs your immediate attention – that can’t be helped, but having a plan means that you’re ready to get up and go each day, knowing exactly what you need to do first.
It can be lonely
I think that the pandemic has probably taught a lot of us that isolation can be a big problem in working from home. Before lockdown, you could always relocate for a morning at the local coffee shop, so you are around other people, but lockdown means that bars and cafes are closed, so you are stuck completely at home. This is where technology comes in – you can keep in touch with other work colleagues or friends using messenger, Zoom or FaceTime calls. You can also join virtual meetings in the same way, so you don’t feel quite so alone. And it is good to check in with your work colleagues to chat about a particular project or ask advice. Sometimes just to chat through your day.
I know quite a few people who work from home in rural France. I know that a lot of them have a music playlist in the background to help them concentrate. Having some kind of noise in the background may work well for you. I even read somewhere that one lady has The History Channel on quietly in the background as that helped her concentrate. Again, it’s what best suits your situation and how you work.
Manage the family
This is where I am lucky, as I live with just my partner. Our children live in the UK, so chats with them, and with each other, tend to be in the evenings. If you have your partner also working from home, or maybe retired, and children at home, then they have to be considered and their expectations managed. Just because you’re working from home, doesn’t mean you’re home, so they need to learn to respect your work time and not constantly disturb you. Having set hours that you work does help with this and they will also know what time you will be finishing, for lunch for example, so can chat and interact with you then. Obviously this is not always going to happen if you have young children at home, but it’s about trying to manage whatever situation you’re in as best you can.
Take breaks and have a finishing time
Finally, make sure that you do take regular breaks. I usually start work around 9.30 – 10am and don’t take a break until around 1pm. I’ll have a snack lunch, and sometimes have a wander around the garden. I might put washing on the line or do a bit of tidying up, or maybe half an hour weeding the flower beds, but I keep my lunch break to about an hour, so that I get back to work at a reasonable time.
I sometimes have another short break around 4pm and always switch off my PC between 6 – 6.30pm.
Above all, be kind to yourself and if you have the odd day where every plan goes out the window and you’re just not feeling it….don’t! And don’t feel guilty about it. If you’re not in the right frame of mind, you won’t get anything done and will find yourself procrastinating. Get some fresh air and focus on something else for a while and you might find you at least gain back some of your day. If you don’t, don’t punish yourself, you’re only human and sometimes there will be days when it’s just not happening.
For most, I’m sure that 2021 will see some sort of return to work. Some of you may be lucky enough (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it), to carry on working from home. It’s about what works best for you and only you can really know that. The tips in this article are meant to help with a bit of organisation, but you may find other ideas that work much better. It’s important to look after yourself and I wish you all the luck in the world to do what works best for you and your situation.
I’d love to hear from other home workers and how they’ve found the transition from busy office to working remotely. Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to email me.
Here we are, nearly at the end of another year, and it’s time to look at our year-end review. What a year 2020 has been! The year of a world-wide pandemic, which is still seeing businesses unable to open and more people than ever working from home. Words we’d never linked to our everyday lives before are now the norm; lockdown, covid, furlough and I’m sure loads more. We wear masks wherever we go and we are restricted on when we can go out of our homes and who we can visit.
And all through this we still have to try and run our businesses from home. This has meant a huge upsurge in the number of people online, selling their products and services like never before. So this year end is even more important than any we’ve seen before; it’s even more crucial to do an end of year review and to start planning for the year ahead. With a possible vaccine in our sights, hopefully 2021 will see a more positive outlook for small businesses. That is, at least, something we can do for ourselves and our businesses. We can use what we’ve learned this year to plan for next year, taking into account the new skills and tips we’ve picked up to push business forward and still be successful.
So, where to start…
Review of 2020
Your business and your products/services
First of all, go back to basics. This helps you look at your business in a whole new light. Ask yourself the following questions:
Who are you and what does your business do?
What are your products or services?
What went well and what didn’t go so well?
What products or services were popular? Is there room for improvement?
Do you have any new products or services planned for next year?
Due to the changes you’ve had to make this year, are there any expenses you need to take into consideration for next year, e.g. for training, new technology, new equipment?
Your competition and your area of business
How, look at your competitors.
Do you know who your competitors are? If not, do some research and find out about them and what they offer.
What is your USP (your Unique Selling Proposition) that sets you apart from your competition?
Looking at what you do and comparing yourself to your competitors, are there any trends, any opportunities you haven’t picked up on or any threats you hadn’t thought about?
Are there any changes in your industry that you need to be aware of or address?
Do you adhere to all the new GDPR rules that came about in 2018? For example, does your website comply with those rules? Are you doing everything you can to protect your customers’ data?
I hate to use the ‘B’ word, but have you considered Brexit, due to hit the UK in January 2021? Have you thought about how this will impact your business? – Can you still get access to materials for things you make? If you can, will there be any export charges? – If your business involves travel, either to or from the UK, depending on where you live, what impact will Brexit have on travel? Parliament have already passed the bill to take away freedom of movement, so how will this affect you?
Customers
Our customers are the most important aspect of our businesses. Do you know your customers well? If not, do some in-depth research.
Who are you selling to? Build up a picture of at least six customer personas, so you can tailor your products and services to them.
What are your customers’ needs and wants?
What are they buying and why?
Has their buying behaviour changed? For example, where are they buying? Is it more online?
What are your customers’ challenges? What are their problems and can your products/services solve those challenges or problems?
Are there any new markets or new groups of people that could benefit from your products/services that you haven’t yet considered?
Customer behaviour will constantly change, so it’s important to keep ahead and know what they want. If you have customer personas or profiles that you’ve created in the past, how have they changed and evolved?
Marketing your business
Marketing is a hugely important part of your business. This is an area that you really need to review. Take a step back and look at what you’ve done this year to market your business.
How are you talking or interacting with your current customers? Can that be improved?
How do you approach and talk to new or potential customers?
How are you positioning yourself in the marketplace? How are you promoting yourself and your business?
Look at your brand; what does it say about you?
Take a look at your pricing. Is it relevant to what you offer? Do you need to put your prices up to compete in your market?
Look at all your social media channels. How are your using them and how engaged are your audience?
Are there any new platforms or ways to market on social media that you’re not currently doing, but should…such as video?
What are your competitors doing with their marketing? Is there something you could take or use from their example?
Think about new campaigns or activities for 2021 that will help you stay connected to your current customer base, and also attract and engage new customers.
Resources
Look at your current resources.
Do you have anyone working for you? Do you have a business coach or Virtual Assistant? If you do, do they meet all your requirements? Is there anything more you can outsource to them, or anything they shouldn’t be doing anymore?
Do you have any skill gaps that you need to fill? If you do, look at what courses you can take to get you up to speed.
Is your workspace or office space big enough? Does it suit your needs? Do you need to update any equipment?
Do you need to update any technology or invest in something new?
If you buy in materials, are you getting a good deal? Sometimes we stick with one company to supply materials because we know them well, or just because we always have. That doesn’t mean they’re the best supplier, so take a look at some alternatives.
Are there anything you’re currently paying for that you no longer need?
If you post your products to customers, do you have a good deal? There are so many new companies that have sprung up, you may be able to find a much better deal than you currently have.
Finances
OK, now we’re at the biggie. The one we don’t like to think about, but a very important part of your year-end review.
What was your turnover in 2020 and what was your profit?
What is your projected turnover and profit in 2021?
Do you have a healthy cash flow or is your business having cash flow problems? If you’re having problems, what can you do about it? It’s not a good idea to ignore it!
Do you have any capital or any excess cash?
Are your books all up to date and ready for the tax man? I know I said the ‘T’ word, but it’s important to keep your business afloat. If you need an accountant, shop around and ask friends who are in business. If you have an accountant, ask him/her to give you all the relevant figures for 2020.
Do you have any operational costs or employee costs for 2021 that you haven’t planned for? How are you going to pay for that?
Do you need to look for external funding or any kind of investment to reach your goals for next year?
Do some projections – they don’t have to be exact. Maybe start with monthly projections, or where you’d like to be this time next year. And then, what you’d like to see for your business in 3 years’ time or 5 years’ time.
Once you have completed your review of 2020, you’ll have all the relevant information you need to start planning for 2021. Now you can start planning your goals for next year and thinking about where you are going to take your marketing.
The Write Way 