Over the past week, I’ve heard lots of ‘oh, here we go again’, type comments and lots of negativity around businesses with the second wave Covid pandemic upon us. A lot of us are now experiencing the inevitable second lockdown, which I know is a pretty bitter pill to swallow. It’s not only businesses that are suffering, it’s also our mental health; something that seems to be more highlighted this time around…probably due to lessons learned from last time.
So, what can you do to make the most of a bad situation?
Developing a growth mindset for your small business
We all know that our businesses are going through the mill all over the world – it’s one of the most radical changes the world has seen in the history of work. And lots of us are struggling with this new environment; this new ‘normal’. Big companies, and even the NHS, are learning how to work, manage and lead their employees from a distance, whilst they work from home. But what about the small business? How can you cope during these very stressful times? It’s very hard when there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight, despite what we’re being told by our various governments. I think it’s time we took charge and helped ourselves – obviously this isn’t as easy as it sounds and will involve changes, but sometimes change can be good.
One way is to develop a growth mindset and think of other ways to manage your small business. Hopefully this article will give you some ideas. You CAN do it and you WILL still manage some growth in your business.
How can I develop a growth mindset?
I don’t have all the answers, but after thinking about this at length, this is what I have decided on for my business. I’ll share my thoughts and hopefully this will help some of you.
First of all, decide that you are going to welcome the challenge and embrace the changes you have to make. For us small business owners, the most important thing we can do is maintain the relationships we have built with our customers and communities. You already have good relationships with them and they trust you, so effective communication during this time will be key to keeping your business going.
For some businesses, who have physical premises that have had to close down, it will be a matter of working out how best to still reach your customers. It will also be important to plan what you’re going to do when you can reopen – you’ll be more experienced this time, having been through it once.
Social Media
Most businesses are on social media, so use this to your advantage to regularly update your customers, even if it’s not totally business related. And if you have an email list, or send out a monthly communication or newsletter, now is the time to use it to your advantage. Share funny things, share your thoughts and ideas for the future, so they know you have plans in place for after the lockdown. Make short 30 second videos just to say ‘hello’ and keep in touch. No matter what business you’re in, this is a good idea – people love videos and a short message from you could brighten their day. If your business is suited to gift vouchers, Christmas is coming, so sell vouchers for when the lockdown ends.
Ask Questions or Create Polls
Ask questions or create polls to find out information about what your customers are struggling with in your niche. For example, if you are a beauty consultant or hairdresser, ask if your customers have any problems with their skin or hair. You can then use that data to do social media posts or videos answering their questions.
Offer 1:1 sessions
You could offer 1:1 phone, WhatsApp or FaceTime calls for a small charge, giving personal advice, if they have a problem they’d rather not discuss publicly on social media. For some of your customers, it will be enough to simply be able to speak to you…and this will reinforce how important and valued they are.
Can you offer physical products?
If you have products that you can sell, can you offer special bundles that your customers can buy from you. If I use the beauty or hairdressing scenario again, can you bundle up a few products that you sell into a set? This could be a skincare set, a body care set, a shampoo-conditioner-deep cleansing hair mask combo for example.
If you have a crafting business, give suggestions with photos of your products that would be suitable for Granny, Aunty, Dad or children. Show your customers the end result – what and who are your products aimed at? If you make decorative items, can you adapt them for Christmas? Sell a Christmas tree set or a set of Christmas items for the mantelpiece or Christmas dinner table.
All of these ideas come from thinking about growth and how to grow when you can’t physically be there for your customers.
Social media is huge and we know from previous experience, that during the last lockdown, internet use soared. Orders to online companies grew at an alarming rate, so it makes sense to put your small business out there.
Go ‘to work’
Another way to help with a more positive mindset, is to actually ‘go to work’ every day. Set up an area where you can have your ‘office’, preferably a quiet, private space where you won’t get too distracted or suffer from interruptions.
Set rules with your family, so they know that from, say 10am to 2pm, you are working, so not to be disturbed. I know this could be more difficult if you have small children in the house.
If you are able to work all day, make sure that you take regular breaks to make a coffee, to have lunch or to just sit with other family members for half an hour. I always work from home, so for me this is normal. But I do take breaks and I find I’m much more productive if I have lunch at a certain time, and take a half hour to an hour break mid-afternoon.
During lockdown, it’s good to try and maintain some kind of structure. This is not only good for your business, but also good for your mental health.
I hope some of these ideas have been useful and given you food for thought on how you can manage a growth mindset during this awful time. If you would like to receive my monthly Marketing Tips email, packed with valuable and constructive ideas for marketing your business, please click here to sign up. In the welcome email, you will receive a code to enter a member’s only space on my website, where you will find loads of free resources; checklists, templates, worksheets etc. to help you push your business forward.
If you have any other ideas, which would help other small businesses, or want to ask any questions, please feel free to comment below or email me at cindymobey@outlook.com
It’s a term we hear a lot as marketers, but what does it actually mean?
Market Segmentation is the process of dividing your target market into groups; these groups will need different products or different types of marketing to pull them in.
How do you divide your target market into segments?
First of all, you need to absolutely know your target market or target audience. Who are they? What motivates them to buy? What are their interests etc.?
Once you know who your target market is, you can then divide them into different groups. The groups need to be big enough to give you a solid customer base.
You can use several different ways to segment or divide your market.
Demographics – this includes age, family size, occupation, job
Geographics – this is all about the location of your market – could be local, regional, nationwide or international markets.
Psychographics – things such as lifestyle, values and personality – for example, someone might like to visit the gym, have a Vegan lifestyle, focus on mental health, and be environmentally aware…this list is absolutely endless in possibilities – but all hangs on knowing your target market.
How to identify your segmentation groups
OK, so you know your target market – now it’s time to break that down into smaller groups.
Try and create a detailed description of your ideal client – a persona that describes them in detail.
For example is you sell children’s’ books, one persona might be female, aged 25 – 45, stay at home Mum with young children. Interested in eco products and the environment, and healthy eating for her family. Her hobbies could be reading, family time, socialising with friends and hiking in the countryside.
The questions
Once you have this persona, you can more easily target that audience with specific books that would be interesting to that target group.
You will most likely need to work on several different personas. I give each persona a name as it makes them more real for me!
Here are some questions that might help you sort out your different segments.
What are your highest and lowest value customers regarding the revenue they bring to you and profitability?
Are there any things that your customers have in common – or any patterns of buying you notice that they have in common?
Can you divide your customers into demographic information – age, income, gender?
Can you divide them into location?
What interests and hobbies do your customers have?
Have you noticed that customers with a particular interest or value are interested in your services/products?
How much do your customers know about your industry, products or services?
Do your customers buy online? If you have several online outlets, which is the most popular?
Do your customers need to have a consultation before they buy anything from you, or is the purchase just a transaction?
From your reviews and records, are your customers more likely to be satisfied with a particular purchase, or are they likely to want to exchange or return it?
Do customers ever make a suggestion to improve any of your products or services? Again, look at your records to see if any have the same opinion. Maybe that’s something you can improve and then target that audience?
The more information you can find out about your current customers, as well as your potential customers, the easier it will be for you to segment your market. You will find groups by age, which is quite a broad spectrum to target, but if you look at feedback and reviews, you may find other things that certain customers have in common. For example, it could be how they found out about you? They may have googled your products or services, or maybe had a recommendation. It’s good to know these things.
Segmentation allows you to aim at the right market for your products. It helps you to focus on the way you interact with your customers, based on their interests, hobbies and behaviours.
This article wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t give you a quick overview of the pros and cons of segmentation. This gives you lots of information so you can make up your own mind as to how you would segment your market.
The pros of segmentation
You can look at each segment and determine if your current offering satisfies the needs of that segment. If not, you can adapt your products/services to make sure that you do – this might involve new products/services.
If you have a marketing budget, knowing who you want to target and how, you can better allocate that budget.
Segmentation helps you to set realistic targets or goals for your business.
Understanding your market in more detail, can help you when looking at what your competitors do.
The cons of segmentation
The cons are around, quite simply, costs.
If you are serving several different segments with different wants and needs, you could find costs escalating due to the increased number of products or services, or product variations.
Marketing costs will also increase as you will be serving different groups of people with different marketing. If you do paid ads, you’d need to do more than one to target the different segments.
I think the benefits outweigh the downside, but you need to take everything into consideration if you’re going to go this route.
Donald Norman, an American researcher, professor and author, once said, “Market segmentation is a natural result of the vast differences among people.”
This is so true, even people with the same hobbies or interests have huge differences between them. It’s just about finding those differences and how you can use that information to your best advantage.
Seth Godin, an entrepreneur, best-selling author and speaker, has been quoted in saying, “Don’t find customers for your products; find products for your customers.”
This absolutely puts it all into perspective. If you can work out exactly what your customers want and work to improve or change your products/services to meet their needs, you’re there! Customers always buy for their own reasons, not ours!
In a previous article I’ve talked about the 7 Ps of marketing, which are a set of key principles that are at the heart of all marketing strategies. They are often referred to as the ‘Marketing Mix’.
Today’s article is about the 7 Cs of marketing and why you need to get your business online. These Cs are the ones that I think are important. Others may prefer other Cs!
Credibility
Millions, yes millions, of people from all over the world go straight to the internet first when they want to buy something. Be it products or services, we all check out the internet for advice and information.
If your business, small or large, is online, then you are more likely to be found for what you do or what you sell. Potential customers can see your reviews, can look at your pricing and products, find out a bit about you etc. etc. And this gives your business more credibility.
Having a website is the obvious choice as you can explain everything you do all in one place. You can show your products or talk about the services you offer in detail. People can see who you are and what experience you have; you can list your qualifications and experience and more importantly, your website shows you are human. Your website will have contact details, so you can be reached and your potential customers can therefore get in touch if they want or need to.
Customer
The customer! Ah, yes, now this is what everything in your business hangs on. No customers? No business.
This is why your business marketing strategy is so very important, (and why I bang on about it a lot with my customers)!
Your marketing strategy helps you find your ideal customer or your target audience. You discover where they hang out, what they’re interested in, how you can pull them in. Your strategy is about getting into the head of your customer and you can only do this by getting to know them.
Any content you put out needs to speak to your customers, be engaging, entertaining or educational. Once you’ve posted content, on whatever social media site you choose, or online, ensure you reply to every comment. Reply to those comments with a question and get a conversation going. And post consistently. You won’t hold your audience’s attention if you are posting once a month, but every day or every couple of days will keep their attention.
Doing your target audience research will let you know which social media sites they use, so you can target that site. Make sure your business is listed in ‘Google my business’, so you can be found locally. And there are loads of free, online business directories out there that you can be part of. Anything that helps your business be found online.
Consistency
I’ve already mentioned this, but consistency really is a key factor in marketing. You don’t just show up once, or just when you feel like it. You need to be showing up, delivering valuable content and products to your customers day in, day out.
If you have a website, which I highly recommend, start a blog and show your audience that you are an expert in your field. Share your blog to social media sites. Show up every day on social media and give something that is engaging, entertaining or educational. Make your audience laugh, teach them something new or point out something that they didn’t know.
Give your customers confidence in your ability to engage with them. They will see you as the ‘go to’ person and in time, this will convert to loyal customers. Consistency is what keeps your customers attention…it takes a long time to build up a customer base. And minutes to lose it. If you are not delivering, your customers will go elsewhere.
Creativity
For me, creativity is about being original. Not about being the same as everyone else. For this reason, rather than use everyone else’s 7 Cs of marketing, or the industry standard, I’ve gone with what I feel is important. When I am helping small businesses with their marketing strategies, these are the things I concentrate on.
Creativity is HUGE! We are all constantly exposed to all sorts of advertising and, if you’re in marketing, you have to find new, creative, innovative ways to target your audience and get their attention. Creativity gets your brand noticed and makes your messages more memorable.
A lot of people out there buy things using their emotions, not for practical reasons. Being creative with your messaging enables you to communicate the emotional reasons for buying from you.
Every touchpoint you have with your customers is an opportunity to be creative and help your customers experience your brand in a positive and unique way.
Community/Communications
I’m going to cheat here and do a ‘2 for 1’ offering! In my opinion, these two go together. Marketing is about communicating great messages to your target audience that reflect your brand, engage them and eventually convert them to customers. By regularly posting on social media, you will build up a community of people who follow you, who like your posts and engage by making comments, or asking questions.
You can set up your own social media groups, so customers can sign up for more in-depth information from you, or maybe coaching in a particular subject. They have to be a member to get access to this information – you may have a few freebie checklists, or helpful hints, or maybe even an e-book that they will get if they sign up. Building this kind of community really helps establish you as an expert and you gain the trust and respect of those who sign up. You’ll be recommended by them and so will grow your audience and also your customer base.
I haven’t mentioned communications specifically, but it runs through everything I’ve just talked about. Digital marketing, or online marketing, is without doubt, the most effective way to communicate with your target audience. You can talk to millions of people from all over the world.
Communication is at the heart of every business, big or small. Regularly communicating with them allows your customers to ask questions; it makes them care about your business; be loyal and recommend you to their friends and families. Most important of all, communicating shows you care, shows that your customers are valuable to you, that they matter and that you value their opinions.
If you have a website, set up a monthly newsletter and ask your customers/potential customers to sign up. They will then hear from you every month. You can use that newsletter to talk about new trends, new ideas, ask questions, teach them something, share your blogs, share new products and show them your human side by sharing what you’ve been up to away from work. The list is endless, but it will be engaging, entertaining and educational which is what marketing is all about.
Customer Service
I can’t stress enough how important good customer service is. Whether you’re looking for new customers or making sure you keep the ones you have, it’s important to make them all feel valued and wanted.
When you have been in business for a while, you will start to recognise the problems that your customers face. If you can answer those questions and solve those problems, they will become loyal customers who will recommend you to their family and friends. If you have a list of common questions that you know your customers need an answer to, put an FAQ section on your website and point to it from your social media pages.
Monitor your social media pages and email – if your customers ask a question, make sure it is answered promptly. You might be trawling a group chat or forum and see a question that you know the answer to – don’t hang around, answer it straight away. Show you are an expert.
You can also give your customers incentives to keep their interest and reward them for being good customers. You can offer freebies or special deals if they join your mailing list…or membership to a closed, member’s only Facebook group.
And, most importantly, say ‘THANK YOU’ to your customers. Make them feel valued, that you care and that you appreciate their custom.
Conversion
There are lots more Cs I could use, but this has to be my seventh…Conversion. It’s the reason we do all the marketing, spend hours on blogs and engaging content. We are trying to get new customers…that doesn’t mean this is the be all and end all, but it is necessary to pay your mortgage and bills!
Knowing your audience and what they want…what their pain points are, will all help you to convert your audience into paying customers. The first thing to do is to make sure you keep track of your customers and potential customers. If you have subscribers to your email, they will all be at different stages in the marketing funnel. Some will be at the bottom, just starting to engage with your business, taking an interest in your content, products or services, but not yet ready to buy. These still needs lots of nurturing by producing that all important engagement, entertainment and education that I keep banging on about!
Next up are the ‘Market Qualifying Leads’ (MQL). They might have come to your email via a free download, (checklist, workbook etc.). And they might have signed up to your newsletter to find out more about you and your business and what you have to offer. They will respond well to receiving more information, but not necessarily to the hard sell. They won’t want to feel any pressure to buy, nor will they want to be bombarded with sales emails. That will just put them off and they will unsubscribe and you’ll have lost them.
The next group are ‘Sales Qualified Leads’ (SQL). This group may have been subscribers to your email for a while, downloaded several freebies, and maybe taken part in some free training. They will be engaged with your online content, following you on social media – and maybe a member of your social media private group. They will be familiar with your business, know how you work and what you stand for. There will already be some trust and respect for what you do. They might start asking specific questions which qualify a meeting. They’ll already know that you can solve their problems, and that you know their pain points, and will now be ready to move on to get the solutions for themselves. They might be open to coaching, or paying for a course, buying an eBook, or buying your products or services.
Always make sure you follow up on new contacts, engage with them as much as possible.
Ask questions, show an interest in them and be genuine!
Always listen to your customers. You may hear something that you hadn’t thought of – another way that your products or services can solve their problems. Or you might hear something that the customer doesn’t realise is a problem, so you can then educate them into recognising that problem – then offer the solution.
Whenever you put content out, make it easy for your potential customers to contact you. Add a Call to Action so they know what they need to do next.
Include testimonials so you have proof that what you offer or do actually works and that you give value.
And…I am at the end of my list of 7 Cs of marketing. I hope you have found this useful. Please follow my blog for more articles to help you with your marketing.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, “Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
Content marketing isn’t anything new, and those that still prefer the more traditional marketing route would probably argue that content should be just to advertise. But content marketing is one of THE most important parts of marketing for small businesses today. Your business will be left behind if you don’t use it.
I’m not saying that traditional marketing shouldn’t be used anymore as there is obviously still a place for it. Here are the differences!
Traditional marketing vs Content marketing
Larger businesses will typically use traditional marketing as it is the kind of content that is pushed into the view of the public. For example, TV commercials, radio ads, print ads, brochures etc. You will see traditional marketing everywhere; on billboards, sides of buses, the ad breaks in the cinema, but they are all high end marketing which require a big budget to reach that large audience.
For the small business, content marketing is the way to go; it involves having a content marketing strategy, which comprises of all types of content being created and then published online in multiple locations. Instead of forcing your content on the public, your content will sit online forever, with the end goal of attracting your ideal audience or customer.
There is of course still a place for traditional marketing – you may want to have an ad in print in a local publication or have a brochure or catalogue for events. Some small businesses also get invited to speak about their business on local radio – and of course you’d want to do that!
Content marketing is different in that it doesn’t concentrate on just advertising your products or services, it’s about drawing your audience in by providing useful information that is helpful and solves problems. Your readers can follow you on social media to read more of your content, or follow your blog, in order to find out more. This helps you gain a loyal audience who trust you…and ultimately buy your products or services. It can also help encourage them to sign up to your email list.
What kind of content can I share online?
When your audience find your content useful, their connection to you and your brand is strengthened. They will share your content, so that your audience widens further. There are many different types of content – all of which can be posted, shared or used on social media to point to other things you do, such as a podcast on YouTube, your website or blog. These are just a few examples…
Your website copy – yes, this isn’t something that immediately springs to mind, but it can be useful to post about something on your website – it might be a particular item in your shop, it could be to point your audience at your services – or even to your about page to find out more about you.
Your Blog
Videos
Podcasts
Infographics
E-books
Printables
Quotes
Case Studies/testimonials
Lists/articles
Educational content
The list is endless, but to make your content really work for you, it needs to be optimised for your target audience and it needs to be relevant to the niche you are in.
How do you market your valuable content?
Now you have your content online, what do you need to do to market it?
Website
If you have a website for your business, you can add a blog to it, so you are creating content that people will see when they visit your website.
Email
Do you have a ‘subscribe to email’ button on your website? If not, do it! When you have subscribers, you can send them a monthly email as a newsletter. You can include:
Links to any blogs you’ve written
Details of new products or services
Special offers
Send links to videos you’ve produced on YouTube
Links to any podcasts you record
Links to any articles, news or videos you think they might be interested in (not necessarily ones that you’ve done)
Generally talk about new trends in the marketplace, a little bit about you and what you’ve been up to, ask questions make them feel like part of an exclusive ‘club’.
You can also enable buttons so that your audience can follow you on your social media channels
Social Media
Share your content to all your social media pages. You will have different audiences on Facebook to those you have on LinkedIn for example, and again different to those you connect to on Instagram.
You can schedule your posts, so you’re not constantly on social media (and therefore getting distracted by other things!).
Share the link to your blog in your profiles on social media.
Ask questions linked to your content and respond to anyone who makes a comment. In fact, respond to any comment you get and thank people through messenger or private DM for following you.
Share you blog posts as soon as you publish them. The more immediate responses, likes and shares you get, the more credibility your post gets.
Share your blog posts more than once…share again the next day, with a different caption and image. And again a week later. This way, you will pick up people you have missed, or who didn’t see your original post.
If you notice that an old blog post went well and got lots of engagement, then share that again…not all of your posts, just the ones that had great stats.
Posts with imagesget better engagement, so really think about the images you use to entice your audience in. There are lots of free image sites out there (such as Pixabay, Pexel, Unsplash and Canva) that you can download licensed images for commercial use. DON’T just google images and use one as you could be fined for copyright.
Join groups on social media and participate in group discussions, giving advice, answering questions etc. This helps get your name known and helps you get seen as an expert in your niche. They also have ‘share your blog post/business page’ type events, which help get your content in front of a different audience.
Although not as popular as they once were, I’d still advise using up to 5 hashtags to help categorise your content for your audience.
You can also pay to boost your reach on social media.
Write a guest post for someone else’s website or blog – you then tap into their audience.
Make sure your blog/website has social media sharing buttons, so your audience can click to go look at your social media sites.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Choosing the right keywords or phrases will help your content get seen.
If you write a blog, include keywords and variations of it throughout the blog.
Optimise your social media posts by adding keywords. Just be aware not to stuff too many into anything you publish or it will be seen as spam!
You can find out more in-depth information in my other blog posts that specifically cover this, as it would be too much to include in this post!
Headlines
A headline really matters – the ones that seem to get the most traffic are lists, how to, or a question. Also, headlines that contain numbers, e.g. 101 ways to …….
Emotional headlines also seem to hit the mark too, as well as some of the more controversial headlines!
Images
Using great images can help market your content. Images don’t just have to be photos; it can be GIFs, infographics, graphics or video. These help capture and keep the attention of your audience.
If you have a Pinterest account, make sure your images can be pinned (shared) by other Pinterest users.
If appropriate, also put a caption on any image as this helps with search engines – images alone won’t necessarily be picked up by search engines, but if there is text, they will be.
Revisit and repurpose your content
Revisit your old posts and content regularly. Revisiting content means you can update it with new information, add new images/infographics and maybe add a short video you’ve made on the subject.
You can also repurpose posts into e-books, video or a podcast. You can also use ideas from them to make social media posts.
Conclusion
There are lots of different ways to market your content, but the most important thing to keep in mind is to always have your customer/target audience at the heart of everything you do. Do it for them, aim it at them, and make sure it’s something you know that they will be interested in.
Keep your brand in mind and write in your own particular style – don’t try and copy anyone else. Keep your content original and engaging. Remember, content should always entertain, educate and engage your audience.
Happy content writing and please get in touch if you need help with your content!
Yes, it happens to everyone at one time or another. You have been staring at a blank page and can’t even begin to think where to start. You might be writing a blog, trying to think of what posts to write for Facebook or Instagram, or stuck on a vital part in the book that is going to be the next big thing! It doesn’t really matter what you are writing, it will strike you at some time or other.
If it happens to you, what do you do? Do you even know why it happens?
What causes writer’s block?
There are various reasons why this affliction suddenly strikes. Sometimes it helps to know that you’re not alone, it happens to the best of us. Some of the common causes are…
You want everything to be perfect before you start. You make sure you have time, and you’re mulling over ideas in your head so you can get it down on paper, right first time. Trouble is, your brain suddenly starts wandering off in another direction! You pull it back and try to concentrate again, trying to get the wording just right in your head before you write it down. ‘Did you switch off the oven?’ pops into your head, or ‘Did I reply to that important email?’ It’s easy to get distracted and, if you’re in this position, it’s time to take a break and do something else.
Timing is another common cause. You’re not being distracted by anything; your mind has just suddenly gone blank. It might simply not be the right time to write – you might need more time to think about your ideas a bit more – have a brainstorm instead.
Fear is also a big factor in writer’s block. Some people never become writers because they are simply too afraid to put their writing out there and risk criticism. They are afraid of other people reading their work. It might be that you are afraid to finish your book/article/blog because it might not be good enough. Hitting that wilderness can cause panic, anxiety and a host of other unpleasant things…but it’s good to know that you’re not the only one who this happens to – many of the great writers suffer from a block; I’d even hazard a guess that they all have at some point.
What can you do to solve this ever present block?
Well, there’s no definitive answer that will suit everyone. We are all different and all suffer with writer’s block for our own reasons. I can’t tell you exactly how to fix it, but I can share some solutions to help you get your focus back.
Possible solutions to writer’s block
Here are some ideas – some I have tried and some I haven’t…
Get away from your desk. Go outside, take deep breaths and maybe go for a walk. I live in the French countryside, so I often take a stroll round our field and just sit for a bit.
If you love to exercise, you might try a bike ride or a run – get your blood flowing.
Play a game (but set a time limit or you’ll find the day is gone!)
Spend time with someone who you like to be around, someone who makes you feel good.
Call your family for a chat.
Read a book.
Google some inspiring quotes about writing that will get you going.
As I said above, get rid of the distractions. I’m easily distracted by email/social media posts popping up, so I switch off email and social media when I’m writing.
Listen to some music – I really like this one…or play an instrument!
Brainstorm some ideas and just put them in bullet points in a word document.
Write something else! Leave the writing you’re struggling with and start to write about something different. I often do this with blogs. If I’m really struggling to find the right words, or just can’t think how to string a particular sentence together, I stop! And I start writing a different blog about something completely different. Often, I don’t go back to the original for days, sometimes weeks. Then it suddenly jumps out at me and I can do it.
Take a shower! No, not because you smell or need it! Have you ever noticed that you always get your best ideas when you’re in the shower or just about to drop off to sleep? Occasionally, I have to get out of bed and just jot down a few ideas.
Routine helps
I find that having a writing routine makes me sit down and get on with it. Plan your ‘to do’ list and make sure that your writing forms a big part of that list. It’s the same as ‘hitting the wall’ when you’re running. You have to push through it. So, forcing yourself to commit to a certain amount of time every day or every few days is key to getting out of the doldrums and kicking the butt of writer’s block.
I write blogs, as well as having a couple of books on the go. Sometimes my blog writing doesn’t go well simply because I haven’t done enough research on the subject I’m writing about. So, for me, I go on Google and search for more articles on the subject I’m writing about and see if I can get inspiration for a different angle.
Sometimes you can just write through the block. This is one way to deal with the fear factor! To coin a phrase, ‘Just do it!’ It doesn’t matter what you’re writing about, or if it doesn’t feel right, just keep on writing – you can always edit it later. From time to time you are so full of self-doubt that you can’t see past that. This often goes along with fear. So, push through the block as I said before and, like the runner who gets a stitch, keep going and eventually it will go away.
Finally if you are really struggling, get away from it.
After all tomorrow is always another and new writing day! You could always go shopping for shoes instead!
We all know that unsatisfied customers cost money. Research has shown that about 80% of customers will go to a different company after just one bad experience, especially if it’s about the service they receive. This is why it’s so important to measure customer satisfaction to find out exactly what your customers think of you, your company, your products or services, and the kind of customer service they receive.
It’s a fairly simple thing to do, but the first hurdle for any business, big or small, is actually admitting that you have a problem, or that there is room for improvement.
Measuring customer satisfaction simply boils down to collecting feedback from your customers, either via a survey or using customer data…preferably both!
Why should you measure customer satisfaction?
I’ve already mentioned one reason – customer dissatisfaction.
If a customer is not happy they will not buy from you again. They will find take their business elsewhere and you will see a rise in complaints.
If you were measuring satisfaction, you would identify any problems early enough to be able to do something about it, and save your customer before they defect to another company.
Customer retention
It’s much easier to retain your existing customers rather than go through all the marketing and hard work to acquire new ones.
If a customer buys from you regularly, they bring much more value to your business. A happy customer is more likely to remain loyal to you and your brand.
Measurement helps you keep your customers happy, so they’re more likely to stick with your business, buy more and recommend you to family and friends.
Negative comments can damage your brand
A bad customer experience will most likely be shared with family and friends. An unhappy customer is also likely to share their bad experience on social media sites. This can give your business a bad reputation.
Best-selling author and sought after celebrity speaker, Catherine DeVrye, is a world authority on customer service. She also won Australian Woman of the Year. She once said, “It takes years to win a customer and only seconds to lose one.” This one statement resonates with me more than any other I’ve read. I want my customers to be loyal, and loyalty, like trust, has to be earned – you can’t buy it.
I get my computer protection software from a big, well-known company and stay with them because it’s easy to deal with them. Their product is good and does what it says on the tin and they have a good reputation. But it has started to annoy me that this company spend thousands on expensive advertising campaigns, with rousing music, great copy and a fabulous enticing offer for new customers. But, hang on a minute, I’ve been a loyal customer for countless years and the amount I pay goes up substantially every year. Sometimes I think they take it for granted that I’ll just renew my subscription every year and pay whatever they say without any questions. Should I stay loyal to them when I get a new computer? They don’t make me feel valued as a customer. Apart from sending me emails about new and enhanced features that will ultimately cost me more, I don’t hear from them. There is no incentive for me to stay with them…would it really hurt for them to say, “you’ve been a great customer for more than 10 years – we’d like to reward your loyalty with XXXXXX” It doesn’t necessarily matter what I’m offered – it could be 10% off for a year. It could be that they offer me, as a valued customer, the new features to try out for free for the first year and no increase in my annual subscription. Now that would impress me. It doesn’t take much.
With this in mind, I’m so careful never to take my customers for granted or to forget about them. At the end of the day, they are my ‘bread and butter.’
Enhance that all important customer experience
By measuring what your customers think of your products or services, you are giving them the chance to have their say. This will help you improve your relationship with that customer and could produce ideas on how to improve the customer service you currently offer. Your customers could come up with the solution to a problem you’ve been having, especially if you ask the question, “How can we improve on the service you receive from us?”
If you’re measuring customer satisfaction on a regular basis, you will be able to see the spikes in either direction. The measurement might reveal that customers are very happy with the service they get…in which case you know that you’re heading in the right direction.
Measurement Strategy
Once you are measuring what you do, the results will form the basis of your strategy – how are you going to improve so the scores are better the next time you do it?
So, when doing your marketing plan/strategy, always include a measurement section, which details solid measurable objectives and KPIs, (key performance indicators). If you’ve ever worked for a big company, you’ll have heard of KPIs as they form part of your annual performance review!
CSAT
OK, I have talked about measuring customer satisfaction (CSAT), but how do you measure it?
CSAT is a key performance indicator (KPI) that tracks how satisfied your customers are with your products or services…or both.
It is measured by customer feedback surveys that you send out. Usually it is a question at the end of a survey which will say something like…
‘How would you rate your overall satisfaction of the (service or products) you have received?’
Your customers are asked to reply by ticking the box of one of five answers…
Very unsatisfied
Unsatisfied
Neutral
Satisfied
Very satisfied
The results you get from all your customers can give you an average score…best done as percentages. For example if you surveyed 100 customers and 85 said they were satisfied or very satisfied, you would have an 85% total customer satisfaction rate, with 15% customer dissatisfaction.
The next step would then be to look at the 15 customers’ feedback, who rated you as giving dissatisfaction to try and identify why. This could be answered in other questions you’ve asked. If you can’t identify the reasons, it would be worth contacting those customers to find out what you can do to improve. This gives you a chance to turn the feedback around to positive for next time. The important thing is NOT to ignore it.
You can use a survey to ask very specific questions, such as ‘How do you rate the service you receive by telephone?’ or ‘How likely is it that you will recommend our business to your family and friends?’
The only downside of CSAT is that it only measures how your customers are feeling here and now, at the time they complete the survey. They might be having a bad day or have been trying to get hold of you and haven’t yet had a reply, which could provoke a negative answer.
Before you jump in and send out a survey, define what you want to achieve.
What do you want to measure?
How are you going to send it out? By post, email, telephone or via social networks?
How often do you want to send a survey – once you send one, you’ll need to send more in the future so you can compare results. Once a year is good as you don’t want to bombard your customers with questions.
What questions do you want to ask? It’s good to have a range of questions – some that have multiple choice answers and some that are free text. For example, you might want to ask ‘How can the service we provide be improved?’ This would need a text box so the response can be written by the customer and they can write as little or as much as they want to.
Questions need to be clear, concise and straight forward and be easy to understand.
Conduct an interview on the telephone
This is a more costly way to get feedback, but it definitely has its benefits. For example, if you are launching a new product and have several long-standing and loyal customers, it would be a good idea to get their opinion. This not only makes them feel very valued as a customer, but also that their opinion matters to you and that you listen to them.
Obviously you couldn’t really do this with a big survey to all your customers – you could have thousands – so it would not be cost effective nor a good use of your time.
Analytic tools
There are loads of analytic tools out that that can help you with looking at engagement on your social media channels. These will, to a certain extent, give you details of your customers’ behaviour; how they interact with your brand; how often they buy from you and if they are a repeat buyer of a particular product.
The analytics will also tell you what kind of posts your customers like, what time of day they are online and what day of the week is most popular for your posts. This helps you decide what and when to post.
Regarding social media, it’s always useful to listen to your customers and reply promptly to any questions or comments on your posts.
Live Chat and Social Media
Most social media sites have the facility to have a ‘live’ chat with someone, so you could utilise this to talk to customers online. Messenger is another way to speak to them, but be careful not to bombard their inbox with meaningless messages.
The good thing about using social media channels for engagement and chat is that it is a free service!
You may also have live chat software and can use that to interact with your customers. Again, be aware not to be a nuisance!
Marketing emails
Email is perfect for engaging with your customers and for collecting feedback. If you send out a regular newsletter via email, you could always embed a survey in that communication. Or, you could send an email to your subscribers just about your annual survey.
Text
Texting is another great option for getting feedback. It’s cheap to send messages in bulk and gets a survey direct to your customers’ phone.
Customer Experience Factors
Whether you decide to send out a survey, text, message, telephone or email, there are some things you will always come across, which are absolutely crucial to the customer experience…
Pricing
What you charge for a product or service will hugely impact whether a customer will be satisfied or dissatisfied, depending on the customer. If you charge for something you don’t or can’t deliver, they will go elsewhere and will be dissatisfied with the service they’ve received. I’m not saying make sure your prices are low, no indeed not! A product or service is worth what a customer is willing to pay for it. You don’t want to be really cheap as they will question the quality of the product or service you offer. But at the same time, you don’t want to be so expensive that you price yourself out of the market.
Offer easy access to support 24/7
Customers like to have access to your products/services and know that they can contact you 24/7. Don’t just have a phone number with office hours (9-5, Monday-Friday). If you have a website, you can put an email address. Even if you’re not immediately available, at least they can ask questions at the time they want to.
Offer messenger support on social media channels, so they can message you if it’s an emergency. Most of us are online every day, even at weekends and, although it can be a pain on your day off, if you do answer any urgent queries via messenger…or agree to call the customer, you will gain more loyalty and respect.
Educational content and training
If your products or services require the customer to learn something, make sure that there is support in place as everyone learns differently. It might be that you have a blog and post about how to use certain products or a certain service you offer.
Make sure that products or services that need training or support are covered. Include instructions with the product, give them a link to your YouTube channel where it is explained in detail, or give them a link to a Facebook group where you talk about your products or services in detail through discussions or forums.
Email all these support structures to your customers, as well as putting them in with products/services when they buy them. That way, they know they can save emails for use at a later date and don’t have to worry about losing paper copies of instructions.
Build a community on social media
Start your own social media group to support your customers with the products/services they buy from you. Communities serve several purposes…
Customers can talk and discuss your products/services with each other and give tips that they’ve found through experience
Customers can ask you questions
You can set up a regular forum, where you are there, ‘live’ to answer questions
You can advertise your new products or services
You can host networking events online
You can host training sessions, which can be ‘live’ or recorded with a link to the recording for your customers
Cancelling contracts or subscriptions
Make it easy for your customers to change, or cancel a contract or subscription they have with your business.
It needs to be clear and concise and easily accessible. This might seem a bit odd, as you want to keep your customers, right? But if something you sell is not the right fit for your customer, they need to know that they can easily get out of it. If you don’t do this, you could risk damage to your reputation and your brand if the customer bad-mouths you and your business.
Customer incentive scheme
You will have customers who absolutely love your products/services and who come back to you time and time again. What better way to reward them and show you value their custom, than you have a customer incentive scheme or loyalty programme. Incentives can come in all shapes and forms – it’s up to you what you choose to do.
If you run a coffee shop or café, you could give a card that gets stamped every time they buy a coffee. After buying 10 coffees and collecting 10 stamps on their card, they get a free coffee.
If you have a customer who has bought a website design from you, you could tell them that you’ll add a blog to their site for free.
These are just a couple of examples – the sky’s the limit really!
Whichever way you look at it, customer service and the experience they get when dealing with you and your business is crucial to your business’s success. So, be prepared and put in place measures that help you keep track of what your customers are buying and why. And of course, always ask for feedback! And you’ll be having your customers jumping for joy!
If you are goal oriented as a person, it means you are focused on achieving a specific objective or to accomplishing a given task.
It can also refer to your business or marketing plan…or even a project plan – you can make your targets goal oriented, which means they are designed to achieve the results you want.
As Albert Einstein once said, “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” I agree with this to a certain extent, but I do also think that people, such as family also contribute to helping you live a happy life, but I get where he was coming from!
You can apply goal setting to all parts of your life, not just to your business objectives. It just means that you set yourself targets and objectives that will help you make progress. For example, if you join a gym, you can’t expect to be lifting the heavy weights or running for 20km, the minute you step into the gym. You have to build up to that in small steps…or goals. The same could be applied to losing weight… you might have to lose 52lbs, but that isn’t going to come off in a couple of weeks, you need to have a plan with set goals (or little milestones) to get you there. Your first goal might be to lose 7lbs in one month – that’s easier to achieve as it’s realistic and specific. No matter what your goals are for, whether for you in your general life, for your health or for your business, your goals should be SMART goals.
For the purpose of this article, I am going to focus on being goal oriented for your business.
Habits determine whether you will achieve your goals
Many of us ponder the question, “How can I be more successful?” What we don’t realise is that we all hold the tools to become successful inside us, we just need to bring them out. Successful people are where they are because of the habits they adopt. Habits determine our behaviour. If you create good habits and adopt positive behaviour, you will have the ability to be successful.
A goal driven person will work much harder whenever there are deadlines to be met. If you have a goal in your sights, plan how you are going to achieve it – have a clear idea of all the steps needed to get to that goal, breaking it all down into manageable chunks. You may not achieve parts of your goal first time around, but it’s about being focused on that end result and recognising all the steps in between.
What can you do to motivate yourself to achieve?
One of the key things that will help you achieve your goals is motivation. How do you stay motivated to achieve your goals? This is not always easy.
Make sure that the goals you want to achieve are really YOUR goals. You have to absolutely want that goal to be able to achieve it, so don’t look at what other people do and want out of life, look into yourself and what it is that you want – what is important to you?
We sometimes think we want something, just because one of our friends or business colleagues talks about it. For me, a good example is Instagram and getting a good following. I’m still in the early stages of this, but at the very beginning, I was really hung up on how many followers I had, compared to others. So I did all the wrong things to get followers – one in particular, was the ‘follow for follow’ mentality, (or on Facebook, the ‘like for like’ mentality). For a start, after you have done the initial follow or like, several people will unlike or unfollow you and this is depressing when you see your follows going down instead of up. It’s because these followers aren’t the right people for your business. You need followers to follow you because they GENUINELY like your content, or are genuinely interested in your business. The same applies the other way around – only follow or like the businesses that you absolutely feel a connection with or are genuinely interested in their products or services. The follow for follow people will never become your customers.
Money… Lots of people feel that money alone will be enough to motivate them…and maybe for some it does, often to the detriment of everything else. Obviously all of us who are in business for ourselves have money in our minds…we need to pay bills, we want to buy nice things and to do that, you need money. But it’s not a good idea to let it control your every move and fill your every waking thought. You still need some downtime to pursue a hobby or to be with your family and friends. It’s important to still have a life outside of work and making money.
Motivation also comes from the people around you. It’s important to be able to bounce ideas off like-minded people, so it’s good to surround yourself with positive thinkers who emanate positive vibes. We’re human and most humans give and receive energy and inspiration, so make sure you are receiving as much as you are giving away.
Self-awareness. Some of your goals may need you to understand what your strengths and weaknesses are in order for you to achieve the end result. You may need to learn new skills or get someone who has those skills to help you.
Be organised! It’s very easy when you’re focusing on a particular goal to let your thoughts and ideas run away with you. Sometimes your energy and motivation can be seriously damaged by over-stimulation or a cluttered mind, because you just have so much going on in there!
Instead of trying to keep it all in and wing it, sit down and take time to put all your ideas onto paper (or on a word doc) and make a list. Talk it through with someone who understands where you’re coming from and talk out your ideas – they might suggest some solutions. Put your ideas into specific tasks and allocate a time period. You will feel so much better for it.
Whilst on the subject of being organised, it’s also crucial to work in an uncluttered and organised space. If your desk space or work area is cluttered and untidy, it will affect the way you work.
Keep your eye on the bigger picture. When you’re working on some of the more menial tasks in order to reach a particular goal, you might be tempted to cut corners or not bother with some elements. But if you keep that end result in mind, it will help you stay on track.
Time management is also crucial to achieving your goals. Each goal, or each part of a goal should have a clear deadline so you are accountable for making progress.
Sometimes things will go wrong – it’s inevitable that it won’t all be plain sailing. To keep yourself motivated during these moments, it’s important to remember that things do go wrong and sometimes it’s completely out of your control. Take the Covid-19 virus for example. None of us could predict that a virus that would affect the whole world…just come out of nowhere and stop many businesses in their tracks. But it did, and it is still affecting many businesses, including mine. But we have to keep believing that it will pass and things will slowly get back to normal. It might be a different kind of normal, but we will get there. And we have all adapted and thought of other ways to get our business moving and still try and achieve our goals.
Finally, try and be consistent. If you want to get to that goal, you have to do something towards it every day. Some days you might not feel like doing anything…and you should have at least one day off a week, when you can switch off and be with your friends or family and relax. But, on your work days, if you’re feeling a bit lethargic, just do something small towards your goal – speak to your positive friend; write a social media post; make a new list with smaller, more achievable chunks.
It’s also good to be process oriented
Being goal oriented is nothing new. Whether you realise it or not, you are set goals from the minute you’re born. Your parents or guardians encourage you to take a bottle, to crawl, to walk, to talk, to use cutlery…the list is endless. But these are all goals that you are encouraged to achieve and you are rewarded if you achieve them.
I remember my Mum taking me to a birthday party and she put me in knickers instead of a nappy for the first time out of our own house. All the way there, she reminded me to ask if I needed to use the bathroom and what a good girl I was, and how clever I was. And, if I managed to do this all afternoon, she would take me to the toy shop and I could have a new dolly….and there you have it…I had a goal to work for. The goal was getting the dolly….the process was that I asked to use the bathroom and didn’t pee my knickers! Needless to say, I got the dolly and I was so proud that I’d achieved my goal!
So, setting your goals is good but achieving them is also about the processes you go through to get there.
If you’re setting goals, then you need to have an action plan in place to describe the process you will go through to get the end result. And you need to make sure it is the right process.
Make the process enjoyable and rewarding
None of us can do something we don’t like doing for very long. For example, if you have decided you will follow a particular fad diet for the next six months, it is unlikely you will get to the six month point. Fad diets tend to include things we don’t like eating, or don’t like doing, so it makes it harder to stick to, than a sensible eating diet where nothing is forbidden, it’s just that certain foods are limited.
You need to wake up every morning, looking forward to going to work so you can start work on the next part of your process to achieve your goals. If the process you have chosen is unworkable, you won’t stick with it. Both the goals you want to achieve AND the process must both be rewarding. If the processes you choose are ones you like, they become part of the goal in that they lead you there. And if there is a process you don’t yet understand, take the time to learn about it and always be on the look out to learn new skills.
I love writing, so any goal I set for my business always includes a large element of writing, as that is what I enjoy and it makes my goal feel closer. When you can find the right process for you, you’ll love working on them and you’ll most likely not only achieve your goals, but surpass them!
Conclusion
It’s good to set goals for your business, so you are working towards making your business a success. However, don’t let your goals rule your life or ruin your life! Make sure you strike the right balance and still live a little, spend time with your family and enjoy some rest and relaxation. Work is not the be all and end all for a happy life!
Ensure your goals have a process to get you there that you will enjoy. It will of course, involve hard work and dedication, but if you can make the process rewarding by incorporating things you like to do, you’ll enjoy the journey and it won’t be so stressful.
If you have any comments or more ideas, please feel free to comment below.
Your customers are your biggest assets; they love your brand, buy your products or services, recommend you to friends and family, give you rave reviews and are loyal to your business. It totally makes sense to have a customer-first mind-set and this is now firmly embedded in the culture of most big corporations. They recognise and understand that building the right customer relationships are crucial; it not only builds trust and loyalty, but also results in repeat business and recommendations. This is just as important, if not more so, with the small business. It’s not something that can be achieved overnight, but if you work on getting to know your customers like the back of your hand, your business will succeed.
You can’t successfully market your business if you don’t know who you’re targeting. Who is your ideal customer? What is their persona? Why would they want to buy your particular products or services? All these questions and more need to be answered so you know what your ideal customer looks like and what makes them tick. Then you will be better placed to target them with your marketing.
Identifying your target market is all about three things; Demographic, Geographics and Psychographics.
Demographics
What is their age and gender?
Are they married or living together?
Do they have children?
What do they do for a living?
If you know what they do for a living, what is their rough income?
Do they own their own home?
You can usually gain demographic information from your existing customers by simply talking to them. Social media accounts can also give you relevant demographic information. If your customers are on Facebook, for example, you can usually see information like date of birth, relationship status – people seem to love to share about their lives on social media, so you will probably see if they have children or grandchildren, what they do for a living etc.
You could also get this information from feedback you get. For example, if you make and produce quality rag dolls, you may have feedback that says “Love your product, my daughter/grand-daughter loves her doll and hasn’t put it down since she received it.” This tells you that your customer is a Mum and Grandma and that she likes buying things for her grandchildren.
Knowing the demographics of your existing customers makes it easier to tailor your marketing accordingly.
If you’re really not sure who your target market it, go to Google and research some of your competitors, people who do the same as you, and look at their marketing techniques. Who are they targeting and how? What are the messages they are sending out? What images do they use? What media do they use to advertise? You will then have an idea of what direction you should be aiming for with your business.
Geographics
This is the simplest – where do your target market live? Are they local to you? Just in a particular region? In the same country, but miles away – nationwide? Or international – in other countries?
Psychographics – why customers buy what they do
If demographics look at who your customers are, psychographics take you a bit further into their lives to find out why they buy the things they do. What motivates them and what makes them tick.
Psychographics include things like:
Interests
Activities
Religious beliefs
Attitudes
Personality
Spending habits
Lifestyle choices
Interests
You might think this relates to hobbies, but it’s more than that. It’s more about what you’re interested in, rather than partake in. It’s probably the most telling feature on the list as ‘interests’ covers a wide range of things. Interests will include life experiences and are shaped by all sort of things, such as culture, upbringing and socioeconomic status.
For example:
If you have a child, you will be interested in raising them. You will look on Google for ways to be a better parent, how to keep them amused, how to deal with certain problems etc. You will spend time during the day automatically learning how to be a good parent and thinking about being a good parent, as well as playing with and talking to your child.
You may be interested in getting fit. You might want to change the way you look by losing weight, gaining weight, toning up muscles. This might have an impact on what you eat and drink, how you spend your time and where you go. You might go running, go to the gym, do a line dancing or salsa class!
You might be interested in getting rich, so will be interested in how people get rich quick, in celebrities and their lifestyles. You might google ‘get rich quick’ schemes or business opportunities.
You might simply be interested in going out with your friends and having a great time, drinking and eating in good restaurants, or just clubbing and getting drunk! This might spark an interest in fashion and accessories or fine wines and Michelin star restaurants.
One person’s interests will change over time. What you liked to do when you were a child are vastly different to your interests as a teenager and as an adult.
So, looking at this from a target market point of view, interests will not necessarily characterise your target market – you’ll want to look at a range of interests to suit each of your products or services.
Activities
Now then, activities is the section that could be described as hobbies. As part of psychographic research, you are going to want to know what activities or hobbies your target audience get involved in. You’ll get answers like reading, writing, going to the gym, fishing, taking part in a sport, computer games, playing a musical instrument, singing, painting…you get the picture. The list is endless, but the more information you can gather about your ideal customer or target market, the better you’ll understand them.
You also need to think about people who answer that they don’t have a hobby or many interests. How can you word the question so that you get some kind of answer? One way would be to say, ‘how do you spend your free time when you’re not working?’ Some people might be workaholics and actually spend all their time commuting to and from work and at work, so that when they’re home, it’s eat and sleep…yes, there are those that do that! But this still gives you an answer, and I bet that if they commute on public transport, they’ll be glued to their phone, so may see your ads or marketing. You can still target them.
Someone else might say that they spend their free time with their family – they may have children and they take up all their free time. It’s good to know that, again you can target parents.
Someone might be involved in their local community, run a Scout or Girl Guide group; they might be involved in church activities or council meetings. I’m sure you get the idea.
Each of these kinds of responses gives you a lot of information about your target market, or your ideal client.
Religious Beliefs
This is pretty obvious – people may be reluctant to give these details, but if they say they attend services for example, you can always ask where and if they enjoy it. Are they an active member? Do they get involved in youth groups or teaching the youngsters about their religion?
Attitudes
OK, this is a pretty hard one and involves you drilling down further into the lives of your target audience. If you want to discover their attitude or opinion on something, you need to ask questions.
For example, if you sell beauty products, you could ask what they think about beauty products in general. You’ll probably get answers like ‘they must be cruelty free’ or ‘not contain palm oil’, or be vegan-friendly. They may ask if you do products for sensitive skin as they get eczema.
You’d need to think of questions that are related to your particular products or services. Let’s take another example, if you sell some kind of software, you might ask, ‘What do you think about the performance of Microsoft 10, compared to Microsoft 7 or 8?’
Obtaining attitudes to things around them, not just related to your business, gives you a much deeper insight. You could ask about their opinion on the government or wind turbines. Knowing someone’s opinion or attitude to the world around them helps you to know your audience better and know more about what makes them tick.
Asking questions will also give away details of your targeted market’s personality, their values, what they like to spend money on and their lifestyle choices.
However, psychographics are difficult to gain and take a huge amount of time, effort and research in order for you to gain all the information you need. This is one of the reasons why big companies have a marketing department, solely dedicated to finding out who the customers are and working out the right way to market their products to attract those customers. If you combine the data you collect on the demographic and psychographics of your customers, you can paint a picture of what your potential buyer (or your buyer persona) will look like and who they are. Let’s have a look at one example …
Buyer persona
Let’s say you’ve done your research and this is what you have discovered…
Demographic data
Female, aged 40 – 55
Married with children
Household income around £45,000
Stay at home Mum who works part-time
Psychographic data
Interested in health and fitness
Likes to be eco-friendly
Is an active member on Facebook and Pinterest
Likes socialising with her small group of friends
Loves cooking
This demonstrates the difference between the two sets of data and why it’s important to gain both – you have more insight into what your customers might like. Then you can look at your products to see what would interest this kind of customer.
How do you make this relate to your business…and therefore your marketing? I’ll share some examples…
If you have a crafting business, for example, and your crafting activities were soap making or candle making, you’d know that this customer likes natural ingredients that are environmentally friendly and safe for children, so that could be part of your marketing angle.
If you are in the catering industry, making cakes or preserves, she might be interested in special birthday cakes for her family or in your preserves and pickles that use natural ingredients.
Her children are likely to have birthday parties and her friends are likely to have children of a similar age, so anything you make from a crafting perspective may be of interest – bunting for parties, toys, jewellery, etc. And as she enjoys socialising with her small group of friends, she may be interested in hosting an at-home party to buy your craft products.
Where to find her
Once you have this data, you’ll also know where to find her and this is very important. She may attend local fitness clubs or gyms; she may visit a local spa; she will enjoy lunches out at restaurants or bars with her group of friends. This is where you could leave your flyers and business cards.
Now you know what your customer looks like and what she’s interested in, you can tailor blogs to suit her, you can make products you know she’ll like, and you can find out if she has any particular problem that your products can solve.
Survey your existing customers
If you already have a raft of existing customers who buy from you regularly or even customers that have bought once or twice, hopefully you will have asked for their email address, so you can let them know when you launch new products or have any special offers etc. If you have emails of customers, send them a simple survey asking them some simple questions. You can gain both demographic and psychographic information this way, but you can also find out what products of yours they like, what they don’t like, what could be improved and what other products they’d like to see you supply.
Analyse the feedback you have from your customers
Do you have feedback from your customers? Do they recommend certain products? If they do, what reason do they give for the recommendation? It might be that the reason they give is a great tip on how to market that product.
If you have any negative feedback or complaints, don’t put them away and forget them or let them get you down.
You should look at negative feedback/complaints as an opportunity. What are they complaining about and why? Can that product be improved? Imagine being able to go back to a customer telling them that you took their complaint or feedback on board, looked at ways to improve the product and have come up with a new and better product. Then offer to let them have it at a reduced price.
This shows goodwill, shows you’ve listened to that customer, done something about it and then offered the improved version. They will feel valued as a customer, feel that they’ve contributed and will be much more likely to sing your praises and recommend you to their friends and family. You’ve just turned around a complaint into a compliment!
How do your customers like to buy their products?
These days, I would hazard a guess that most of your customers will want to look at products/services online before they buy. They have such a wide choice that it’s important you make yours stand out. People spend their commute to work, breaks, lunch hour, evenings and weekends online, usually browsing through social media sites or looking for something specific. If you are not on these platforms then your products/services will not be found.
Selling online
Social Media is a great way to promote your products or services and to advertise what you do. But, you also have to bear in mind that not everyone is on social media. If your target market is in the older age bracket, they may prefer not to be on social media, so you will have to reach them another way.
Even though they don’t do social media, your target audience probably still uses the internet to search for things they want. You could set up an online shop on eBay, Spotify or Etsy.
A website is a crucial business tool – you can link it to your Social Media sites and vice versa. A website can help you reach a wider audience – it gives you a shop front that is open 24/7 – you can even sell when you are sleeping and you can sell to anyone in the world!
You can put more information about yourself and your business and products or services that you can on Social Media and, if you have an online shop, you can point your customers to that site. Whatever you choose to do, there is always a marketing technique to support it. If you have a website, you can also choose to add a blog, which could also be a fabulous tool to write about your individual products or services … just another way to get your name/business out there.
I know this has been a very long post, but I hope that it give you inspiration and fires you up to investigate your target market in more detail. Once you are armed with all the relevant information, and market your products or services to that audience, you stand a much better chance of making a sale or obtaining a new customer for your services.
If you’ve enjoyed reading this blog, please like and follow me for more marketing information for small businesses. And if you have any comments, I’d be pleased to hear from you.
A CTA is a call to action. Quite simply, it’s you telling someone who visits your website, newsletter or blog to do something. If done well, it will be well designed and thought out, draw the eye of the reader and encourage them to act on something.
It is your last instruction to your audience and tells them to complete a specific task – click on the button!
You need a strong CTA
You don’t just need a CTA, you need a strong CTA that convinces your audience to react. The two main functions of a CTA is to tell someone what to do next and also give them the motivation to do it.
However it’s all very well telling someone to sign up to something, they also need to know why; what’s in it for them? How does it benefit them? How will it make their life easier or better? You may have already written a paragraph before the CTA telling them the ‘why’, but a reiteration or a recap never hurts and will make the CTA all the more powerful.
It’s important to put the CTA in the right place, in front of the right people at the right time. They are the perfect way to get your audience to do what you want them to and to get what you want, be that signing up to your newsletter, downloading your e-book or workbook, clicking to get a free checklist, lead generation, traffic to your website or blog or to simply buy direct. They can be used to educate, inspire and engage your audience, generating trust in your business and brand.
How to write a CTA
Before you begin to write a CTA, you need to know what you’re trying to achieve with it.
Is it to get someone to sign up to your newsletter?
Is it to boost sales?
Is it to get your reader to move to another piece of content?
Is it directing your reader to some free content?
As soon as you know what you want to achieve, you can start to think about the best way to do that.
Make sure your words or phrases speak directly to your audience and try and be as specific as possible. Whilst things like ‘click here’ are OK, it’s not particularly strong or inspiring, whilst something more specific would be ‘Get your XXXXX now!’ or ‘Discover more now!’ – They just sound a little bit more enticing.
Who are your audience?
Think about your audience. Who are you aiming your CTA at? Is it a specific audience? Your CTA will be seen online, and each internet user is completely different. Some might be online absently browsing news items or shopping offers…some might be watching Netflix or looking for music on YouTube. There are lots of different audiences, so if you know who you’re aiming for, you can tailor the CTA accordingly.
For example, if you have uploaded a video to YouTube, your CTA might be ‘Watch my video now!’ or ‘Watch demo’.
If you are a Chef or love baking and have put a video of you making a cake, your CTA might be ‘Get recipe now’ or ‘Learn to make xxxx’
But it’s not just about having a jazzy button telling someone what to do, you need to lead up to it with some tempting copy too. Never assume that your audience will see a button and click on it because most won’t. They need to be told to do it – it needs to be crystal clear and once they press that button, the instructions also need to be very clear, not at all vague. Don’t use long words and clever language and don’t use jargon. Gently guide your audience in the right direction, you want to attract their attention, not scare them away.
Include them in the introduction to the CTA, using words like ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘we’. This makes them feel valued and their decision is important to you. Focus on the reason they need to do whatever it is. Why is this going to be so good for them? How does it benefit them? Does it solve a problem they have? People love to get something for nothing, or to feel they are getting a real bargain, so if you’re offering something and there is a cost attached to it, why is it such a bargain – what are they getting for their money?
It’s also good to instigate a feeling of urgency – do it now or you’ll miss out on this fabulous bargain. Is it a one-time only offer? Is it at a specially reduced price for the first 20 people to sign up? Is there limited availability? Is the offer only available for a limited time? All these things signify an urgency – telling your audience that they need to take immediate action.
And ultimately, keep the copy short and sweet – your audience don’t want to read a long description – they’ll get bored and scroll on by. It needs to be appealing, persuasive, but short, snappy and to the point. So you need to get the benefits of what you’re offering and why in as few words as possible. This can take some time to get right, so don’t stress if you can’t get it straight away.
Make your CTA look good
Not only should your copy be snappy and appealing, it also needs to be aesthetically pleasing too. People won’t read it if it doesn’t look good. Give it some space – never underestimate white space, it can be used to highlight a CTA very well. Give it a good colour scheme, maybe include a good image. You might have to test a few before you come up with the right formula that works for you, but once you do, they’ll be no stopping you.
Now it’s time for you to go to your website, blog or wherever you have a call to action and make sure it is clear and specific for your audience, or if you haven’t got one, go set one up.
Make sure your audience know what they have to do next and why. And let me know what CTAs you use!
Today I am very pleased to be able to introduce my readers to Denise Bloom, author of ‘The Ladies of Whitechapel’, her latest novel. Grab a cup of whatever you like to drink and sit back and learn more about the lovely Denise.
I had met Denise a few times socially before she asked me to build her a website. It was truly a pleasure to meet her properly in her wonderful home, and to share our love of writing. We talked for a couple of hours about her books, her writing and her writing group. I also learned a bit about her house and her life. And all with a lovely cup of tea and biscuits!
Denise and her latest novel
Initially we met to discuss the fact that she wanted a website. I asked her loads of questions about her target market, the purpose of her website and how she wanted it to look and feel for her readers.
Following an initial telephone call, she had done some research herself on the kind of site she wanted by looking at the websites of other authors and between us, we came up with an initial design, then decided on the pages, the content and how it would all be presented. It is obviously very important to Denise that part of the website’s function is to showcase and sell her books, via a link to Amazon, so we looked at how that would work.
Denise also runs a writing group in her local area, Writer’s Cramp, and she wanted to make this a page on the website to encourage people to write, and showcase some of her group’s work each month.
Denise is lucky enough to live in a fabulous old house which, from the outside, looks like something out of Hammer House of Horror! I absolutely loved it from the start and was sure that it would have some effect on inspiring her to write. Find out more about this in the interview!
She has been writing for as long as she can remember and already has one previously published book, ‘The Invisible Woman‘, which is a darkly chilling and compelling read! This new book, ‘The Ladies of Whitechapel‘, is about the lives of four women and their demise at the hands of Jack the Ripper. I’m not going to give any more of the story away, but you must read it!
Now that Denise has her website up and running, and her book is published and on sale through Amazon, we thought we would collaborate. I wanted to interview Denise about her writing and her book, as well as her website for a mini case study – interview style, and Denise wanted to start a blog, with the first post as an interview about her book, so it made sense to combine the two. Although our blog posts will be taken from the same interview, they will be from slightly different perspectives.
Without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to Denise…
Denise and her thoughts
Denise, you have been a writer for a while now, but what actually made you want to become a writer?
I have always written stories, right back from being little. I remember, I used to write short plays for my friends. We would practice them and would then perform them in front of our parents!
You’ve been writing since you were small, but when did you realise it was something you’d like to do seriously?
When I was in my teens, I wrote short stories and always wanted to write a book.
What made you pick your particular genre?
I feel a bit of a fraud here! I can write in any genre, even fantasy. However, the reason I wrote ‘The Invisible Woman’ was that I always loved crime novels.
Ian Rankin and Agatha Christie are among my favourites. At that particular time in my life, I felt invisible, a feeling that overtakes most women at a certain time of life. I just wrote how I was feeling at that moment. And NO, I didn’t kill anyone, but it didn’t mean that I have never felt like killing someone!
My sequel to ‘The Ladies of Whitechapel’ is almost finished but I cannot give the title away just yet. It is very dark almost horror.
If you could give your younger writing self some advice on writing, what would it be?
The advice to my younger self would be to save all the work you have done in the past. Never throw any of your work away.
How do you decide on the names for your characters?
The names of my characters are taken from the most popular names of the year they were born. You can do this on Google. However, I have chosen names and then changed them mid-book because I didn’t feel the name suited my character.
Do you want each of your books to stand alone, or are you trying to build connections between each book you write?
‘The Invisible Woman’ was successful and most of my readers have begged me to write a sequel. I have one on the back burner, so Heather can live another day!
‘The Ladies of Whitechapel’, although stands alone as a story, has really drawn me into the Victorian era. I have a written a short piece that will be included in an anthology of short stories, called ‘Dark London’, which will be available from June. It includes a couple of my characters from ‘The Ladies of Whitechapel’.
I’m also just finishing a novella, again based in Whitechapel, so watch this space!
Does your beautiful, haunting home inspire your writing? If it does, how?
I have written a ghost story about my house. The area we live in has a history of the resistance and collaboration. I got absorbed in the research and the book is set in both the present day and 1940 Vichy France.
Reasons for your website
It certainly sounds like you have been keeping busy, Denise. I’d like to now ask you a few questions about your website …
Why did you decide to have an author website?
I decided to have an author website, because most of the authors I know have one. People are interested in what you write, why you write and how you write. Instead of answering emails or loads of questions, you can instead guide them to your site, where hopefully, you have the answers.
You have a page on your website for your writer’s group, ‘Writer’s Cramp’. What made you want to start a writer’s group?
I started ‘Writer’s Cramp’ a couple of years ago. I had been attending creative writing classes, run by Kate Rose, a very talented writer and poet. When Kate moved away from the area, we all wanted to keep on writing together and to keep running, so the group was born.
You chose a very minimalist look for your website – why?
The style I chose for my author’s site had to be simple for me to use. I am really not a ‘frills’ person. I like things to be straight forward, and wanted my website to do the job! It’s important to me that my website is easy to navigate for my readers without them having to search or scroll endlessly.
Is there anything you think you might like to add to your website at a later date?
Obviously I want to add a blog, of which this interview is the first post! I think as my books are published and my writing group evolves, I will think of other things I want to add.
For the writing group, I would like them to be able to add their stories, or send them to me if they want me to review a piece. And of course, I will be changing the stories on the website every month, so different members of the writing group get their work ‘published’.
I often look at other authors on the internet, so may see something else I like from their sites. However, I am always open to suggestions and as you, Cindy, are on the ball with new innovations, I know that you’ll come up with more great ideas and will guide me to what is current!
Thank you for the confidence you have in me, Denise! I’m really pleased that you are happy with your site and that it does the job! I’m sure that through our future meetings and conversations, we will come up with new ideas. I know we’ve talked about book reviews, so that’s something we will be adding.
Thank you so much for your time and for sharing a little bit of you with my readers and with yours! If any of you have read any of Denise’s books, we would love to hear from you in the comments below.
If you’d like to take a look at Denise’s website, please click here.
If you would like a website for your business, or need any kind of creative writing for blogs, website content, articles or product descriptions, or would like a free consultation call to discuss a marketing strategy or business plan for your business, feel free to contact me.
The Write Way 