Category Archives for "Marketing"

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Email Marketing Enhances Credibility through Automation

Sarah said goodbye to her client, sat down and sighed.  The session had gone really well.  Her client was delighted with the service she received.  Just like the other two.  It felt great to deliver a really professional service.  So, why was it so hard to gain credibility in the wider business world?

Sarah needed just three clients per month to break even and cover her bills.  It couldn’t be that difficult, could it?  She had invested several thousands of pounds in training over several years.  Now she was a skilled nutritionist and making a massive difference for her – so few – clients.  What was she doing wrong?

Credibility and professionalism go hand in hand.  It is hard to imagine a professional who lacks credibility or credibility without professionalism.  So, what is the difference?

I’m using professionalism in the old-fashioned sense of particular expertise.  Usually this includes knowledge and experience.  The medical doctor knows the theory but also how various conditions present in a variety of patients. 

Certainly, if the professional lacks knowledge or experience, they lack credibility.  For many professions though, credibility includes capacity to deliver.  Can the professional marshal the resources they need to the required degree?  It is possible to have professional ability and lack capacity to deliver as a business. 

This post covers credibility as a business, the issues all businesses must address, irrespective of their profession.  The next addresses how to communicate professional content online.

The Sales Funnel

This subheading implies a single thing called a sales funnel.  The concept is a funnel you might use in the kitchen, to fill narrow necked bottles.  It has a wide end and a narrow end and so channels fluids or powders into the bottle. For the cook, the funnel saves time and spills (loss of valuable resources).  Can the same be true of your sales funnel?

The analogy breaks down because the sales funnel does not save spills! Nowhere near the numbers who enter the wide end emerge from the narrow end as customers! Reality is more like the image at the top of this post!

If you are in business and can describe your sales funnel, you have a marketing strategy.  It serves several functions; it can be tweaked, reviewed and measured.  If you do not have a marketing strategy, you do not have a business. 

Your credibility as a business depends upon a marketing strategy that looks out for customers at whatever stage of your sales funnel they are at.  When potential customers experience your sales funnel, you must reassure them they are in safe hands, they can trust you to deliver on your promises. The details depend upon the nature of your business.  This is why I say there is no single sales funnel that applies to all businesses.

Social Media Alone Cannot Work

By and large, social media functions at the wide end of your sales funnel.  Use it to pique interest and build an initial following.  Social media may fulfil other functions, for example private Facebook groups help build community between paying customers.

Your aim is to move people from social media to your email list and website.  There are several reasons for this and I shall cover them in later posts.  Overall, moving prospects from social media to your own site gives you more control over their experience.

Your email list is the glue that holds together your sales funnel, including the social media elements within it.

Automating Your Sales Funnel

Your email list enables you to automate your sales funnel and increase your business capacity.  Once you have a name on your list, someone has expressed interest in your business and you can show them more material of interest, exclusive to people on your list. 

You increase your business capacity.  Automation saves time. 

You deliver regular information into their inbox.  Whatever social media platforms your prospects favour, they are likely to check their email several times a day.  You need to capture and hold attention.  Imagine if they see your email and trust you enough to at least open it and scan the content, based on past experience.

High quality content is essential.  Use it to win credibility by drawing upon your professional expertise. 

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How Email Marketing Builds Your Reputation

Early on, Sarah was concerned about her branding and asked a graphic designer to produce a logo for her emails, website and stationery. He did a brilliant job for a few hundred pounds. But now Sarah’s business has moved on and she has a dilemma. She has a distinctive and attractice logo that has mislead several prospects. Even though it is lovely she fears it could damage her reputation.

Branding is about reputation.  No amount of graphic brilliance improves your brand if your reputation is poor.  So, let’s begin by considering what branding is and is not.

What is Branding?

Most of us don’t drive a horse and cart these days.  Even so we see the impossibility of putting the cart before the horse and expecting the horse to push it along.  Would you really spend a few hundred pounds on your logo before you launched your business?  Really?

Your priority, during early business development, is to create a great product or service, to learn how to market it and sell it.  No logo will help you. A logo is a distraction – putting the graphics cart before the marketing and sales horse. 

It is possible a good logo makes your business recognisable and memorable.  But, especially in the early days of your business, is it worth investing time and money in symbolism that might have limited application?

Quality of graphics does not make a good brand.  When your positive reputation is associated with your branding graphics, they acquire value.  

So, choose a business name.  Choose a font.  Put together a logo using your font and business name.  You can do this in half an hour.

This way you:

Many successful businesses use text logos.  Their logo evolves over time but remains essentially text.  Take a look at the logos on these sites:

These successful businesses have simple logos.  We admire them (if we do) because they are successful. 

What is Reputation?

How do you build your business reputation?  Reputation is positive when you get two things right. 

First, show you deliver on your promises.  If you promise a workshop on a particular day, show up and deliver that workshop.  If you are a coach and promise to help your client develop a skill, they must develop that skill.

So far, so good.  The key is accountability. For freelancers this can be difficult.  In employment, you meet requirements set by your employer.  As a freelance, you deliver to your own schedule.  The temptation is not to make your objectives public.  If you do, you have to meet them and you can turn that to your advantage.

Setting tasks publicly and meeting them demonstrates credibility.  An email marketing strategy sets public commitments and automates them. You show you plan your work and have capacity to deliver on your promises. 

The second thing you must get right is your teaching.  The content you promise and produce through your emails, shows you understand and deliver on your subject area.  That’s what I am doing as I write this blog post.  People on my list receive notice of it, while those who access it through some other route sign up if they find the post helpful.

Credibility alone is not enough.  Deliver worthwhile material – material your customers and followers value and this demonstrates professionalism.

Your Email Marketing Strategy

A sound email marketing strategy supports both professionalism and credibility.  The next two posts take each in turn and shows how.  Taken together professionalism and credibility enhance your reputation and add value to your brand.

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Three Essentials for Your Email Marketing Strategy

What do you need in place to support a successful business online? The Venn diagram shows three areas of expertise you need to build a productive email marketing strategy.

Allow me to introduce you to Sarah. Her business is going reasonably well but she needs to take it to a higher level. She longs for more customers because she knows those who use her services really benefit. Sarah has made a start developing her email marketing strategy. Each post in this sequence explores one of the issues Sarah faces.

This post describes three essentials for email marketing. This sequence of blog posts focuses on the third: media channels. Other sequences in this blog cover the other two essentials. Even when you have a clear vision for your business and know how to market and sell your products and services, the practicialities of getting your message out there can present a significant barrier.

Remember: for success you need all three working together, something all business owners find challenging.

1.      Your Business Why?

You cannot communicate effectively if you do not know and understand your business.  Here are 5 elements you need to know well:

2.      Your Business Narrative

The stories and teaching you use to explain your business why?  Stories and teaching depend upon your:

3.      Media Channels

Most businesses use several channels, online and in-person.  Your strategy needs to look something like this:

Imagine a wheel where your website (Hub 1) and email list (Hub 2) are the hub and everything else is the spokes.

All your media channels (Spokes 1) should point towards your website.  You use these to market your business to new prospects.  Aim to engage with them to the extent they wish to find out more.  Great content in social media, points them to your website, where they find out more.  Once they visit your site, invite them to join your email list.

Use email to directly offer new ideas and training.  Encourage prospects to visit your website when you add more material, eg blog posts.  This should be genuine valuable material, unobtainable elsewhere.  

Use emails and your website to sell products and services too. 

This is a basic overview.  Your aim is to find an approach where these three essentials overlap to best support your business.

In future posts I shall explore this approach to marketing in more depth. Each post explores one of the 21 reasons email marketing is essential in more depth.

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21 Reasons Email Marketing is Essential

When you tell your business story, you need a medium to tell it.  Traditional media include public speaking, drama and books.  What can you use online?  The truth is you must design an email marketing strategy.  Email is a flexible approach and the only way to build a secure online business.

Many protest they can build a business around social media.  The overriding reason why this is not best practice is email marketing is the only approach where you have complete control of customer information.

Bear in mind, email marketing strategies take time to implement.  Make a start today and start to see results.  But it takes time to design and build a system that works and requires minimal tweaking.  The 21 advantages I list below, assume an email marketing system that works!

In future posts, I shall add information about the 21 advantages.  Remember, every business is different.  There is no single strategy that meets the needs of all businesses.  Above all you need clarity about your business narrative; what is the story you need to tell?

Branding

Branding has little to do with graphic design.  Your brand is your reputation; what people say about you in your absence.  Visual and verbal representations of your business become captivating when people associate your brand with them.  If your reputation is poor, the best graphic design in the world will seem negative.

Build Brand (1)

When prospects enter your sales funnel, they stay there if they find quality content.  They may also tell their friends.  Emails that contain or point to quality content are always welcome, build your reputation and so your brand.

Build Credibility (2)

The same content builds credibility because it shows you deliver.  You invite prospects to journey deeper into your world.  They pay for access to exclusive content and services.  This depends upon the trust you build.

Look Professional (3)

The madcap chaotic world of social media is not always the best place to conduct business.  Nothing beats a thought-through sales funnel.  A funnel you own and control and adapt to changing circumstances.

Relationships

Imagine a funnel.  The wide end is its front end and corresponds to fresh prospects, interested people who have not yet made a purchase.  Once someone makes a purchase, they enter the back-end, where you continue to deliver quality content and great offers.  The whole is about building relationships with prospects and customers.  This may be difficult, especially if you have a global market but it is not impossible.

Generate Calls (4)

Someone reads your email and takes interest in your services.  It may be natural for them to make a call.  How natural, depends on your business.  Emergency services are more likely to receive calls than coaches or consultants.  However, prospects are always more likely to call if they see a number and you encourage them to use it.

What would happen if you called everyone who joins your list?  This is a great way to build relationships.  However, it depends upon them giving you their number.  Why would they do that?  For overseas contacts you need Skype addresses or a similar service.  How would you get this information?

Start Conversations (5)

It is easy to reply to an email.  Encourage recipients to do so.  Once you receive a reply, can you move the conversation onto the phone and/or a 1-to-1?

You can support communication between customers too.  Be clear about the purpose of conversations and be certain they’ll actually happen before you make any promises.

Strengthen Relationships (6)

Let’s say you move prospects from social media to your sales funnel.  With social media, they communicate with everyone else taking interest or just hanging around.  They stay on social media when they enter your sales funnel, of course.

But consider the change.  In your funnel, it’s just you and them.  It is an opportunity to strengthen relationships.  Your aim is to move them to where they see the point of buying time with you.

Improve Communication (7)

Always reply, even if they like a post on Facebook.  Ask a question.  They may answer it.  Always try to deepen the conversation and probe for common ground.

Sales

Email marketing is a common and effective version of the sales funnel.  Emails combined with just about any other media are a great way to build relationships and increase sales.

Increase Web Traffic (8)

Use email to direct followers to your website, when you add something new.  You need two calls to action.  The first is the subject line to your email – does it invite, or better compel, the recipient to open the email?  Then you need a call to action to click the link to your website.

Once they are on the website there will be at least one further call to action, for example to sign up for or buy something.  You can see why clarity and compelling content is essential at every stage.

Generate Leads (9)

This is one big advantage of email over social media.  Emails can be forwarded to other interested people.  First, you need great content and then you need to ask!  Many people know others equally or even more interested in your offer.  Or perhaps maybe interested – no need to be picky!

Promote Products and Services (10)

Some people think email is dead!  If it is, how come social media depends upon it?  You see emails every day drawing attention to posts, tweets and the like.  You receive email reminders of events you have signed up for or notices of new products and services.  Many companies send emails, perhaps on a daily basis, that remind you they’re still there.

Boost Sales (11)

You can go further.  If you have a major product launch, use sequences of emails to raise awareness.  You don’t need a massive list to do this.  Use the promotion to grow your list.

Customer Relations Management (12)

Keeping track of your customers and what they have purchased or expressed interest in is another big advantage of email marketing.  There are effective ways to manage huge numbers of customers on the market but start with low-cost (or free) services and grow your business over time.

Build Capacity (13)

Email marketing automates online sales.  Develop a robust and effective system to extend your reach.  Email marketing is scalable.  However, other factors limit reach, such as staffing.

Technical

Like any method, email marketing introduces new technical issues.  However, it also resolves some tough issues.  Here are a couple.

Business Security (14)

Corporations own social media and they can (1) change the rules and (2) impose restrictions, if they think you’ve broken the rules.  Therefore, be ready for anything that threatens your business.  Keeping a list of customers and followers outside social media really helps.  Social media feed into your list.

Compliance (GDPR) (15)

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is largely taken care of through your email service provider.  Measures such as double opt-in, unsubscribe links and showing your business address helps you comply with standards automatically.  Remember though, you need to do more on your website to be compliant.

Design

In their early stages, new businesses seek early adopters and find adaptive solutions to the problems they encounter.  Hence design of marketing is crucial during early years.

Some businesses go on to mass markets and so the design challenge moves from “how do we do this?” to “how do we remain true to our original business purpose?”

Marketing Strategy Design (16)

Email marketing has many advantages for the beginner.  It is inexpensive, scalable and imposes a systematic approach from the start.  It is highly flexible, not an alternative to social media but uses it strategically.

Design Products and Services (17)

Many online and offline products and services are highly compatible with email marketing.  Your email marketing strategy influences decisions you make when designing products and services.

Use email lists to test drive ideas or test products in beta.  It’s great to build something new, confident there is a market for it.

Transformation

Most important of all, email marketing is how you communicate your business why.

Explains Your Business Why (18)

Help followers and customers understand why you’re in business.  When they understand your why, they are more likely to buy from you.  Use emails to take them further into understanding your business than you can on social media.

Help them understand how to help you achieve something they want to see happen.

Generate Anticipation (19)

People hooked by your Why, want to know what happens next.  People excited about your business are keen not to miss out.

Educate Your Followers (20)

Take your followers to new levels of understanding using teaching via email.  Also use email to point to new material on your website or blog posts.

Saves Time (21)

This is under the heading of transformation because a robust email marketing strategy transforms your life.  It’s your choice. Use the time you save to build capacity or pursue other interests or commitments.  You should find the latter happens as your business develops.

And Finally

I hope I have persuaded you email marketing is worth considering as the basis for your marketing design.  Even if you read the headings only, you see there are several powerful arguments in its favour.

Remember though, email marketing is not a technical fix.  You need to design a system that works for your business.  It’s not only the technical aspects that matter.  You must get to grips with content.  This is why I offer coaching, so I can help you figure out what works for your business.  Visit new pages on my website about my coaching offer.

In the New Year I shall offer a workshop where you can find out more about email marketing, the various options for setting up your own strategy and how to set about producing content.  Sign up below if you would like to receive notice of the workshop and other events designed to help you tell your story.

Also, in the New Year I shall produce a series of blog posts about each of these 21 reasons to use email marketing.  You shall receive notice of my blog posts, as they appear, if you sign up below.

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The Myth of the Rational Consumer

You may think your clients make rational decisions; show them how you solve their problem and they immediately decide to buy!  If only the rational consumer existed!

The Rational Consumer

Right-wing economists who believe economics is a science, developed an imaginary construct, the rational consumer.  Assume thousands of consumers all behave in their own best interests and you can model the economy.

The political implications are catastrophic.  Some politicians genuinely believe the economy works in this way.  More than that they claim their madcap schemes are the will of the rational consumer.

Experienced marketers are aware the rational consumer is a myth.  Most people do not act in their own self-interest because they do not know what their self-interest is.

Why do people not act in their self-interest?  They have in effect two brains.  Their emotional brain is fast and overwhelming.  Their rational brain is slow and logical.  Often they act on their emotional brain before their rational brain kicks in.

This is not to say the emotional brain is necessarily wrong.  Marketers sometimes encounter buyer’s remorse, where following a good purchase the rational brain kicks in and finds reasons to regret the purchase.

Good marketers engage with both brains, using the urgency of the emotional brain and the logic of the rational so their client feels comfortable with their purchase.  Motivate your client to take full advantage of their purchase. This is especially important for coaches.

Behavioural Economics

1. How does your behaviour vary from the profit-maximising rational behaviour classical economists insist upon. This may help you understand the reasons for your clients’ behaviour.
2. How much choice do you offer your prospects? Remember too much choice can be counter-productive.
3. How do you position your offers to guide prospects to your best offer?

Slow Down Your Thinking

There is value in thinking about your own thinking.  Too often we rush to a decision without giving it proper thought.

Take time when you make an important decision.  It is easy to get stuck in a narrow definition of the problem.  Try to see the problem in its wider context.  The problem as it initially presents itself is transformed when viewed from another perspective.  Consider using a coach or mentor to help with decisions.

You sometimes find another perspective by taking time out and allowing your mind scope to reflect.  Walking is an opportunity to do this and a good night’s sleep is also effective.  Even turning to another problem allows your mind space to find another perspective.

Beware of Premature Solutions

Beware of the solution that presents itself as a problem.  A prospect who presents with a request for help with their website is presenting a solution.  They may be right and have already done the thinking for themselves.  Still, it is worth finding out: what is the problem the website solves?  Once you know what the problem is, you can assess the proposed solution.  Sometimes a well-defined problem goes most of the way to solving it.

This is a really important point.  The costs of solutions masquerading as problems is immense.  An example of this, now in vogue is Brexit.  There is no agreement about what the problem is that Brexit is meant to solve.  Is it immigration or sovereignty?  Both these problems are poorly defined.  Worse the real problem may have nothing to do with Europe and everything to do with how we make decisions in the UK.  A referendum takes power away from representative government.  It disables opposition, which means the government is no longer held to account or able to receive feedback on its legislation.

Always find out what the problem is first! Sometimes clients resist this and insist on their solution.  If you can help them understand their problem, they are likely to see their problem in an entirely different light.

Following this thirty-ninth and final post in this series to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below.  You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.

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How to be an Impresario and Promote Your Business

A lot depends on personal circumstance but the draw of doing what you enjoy (your job) is at the expense of running your business.

Your Job and Your Business

This is a common mishap for the self-employed.  One reason you became self-employed is you enjoy doing something; you are a coach and you love coaching.

Perhaps you put on an event and as a result get 6 clients.  Maybe that’s hard to imagine but bear with me.

You set to work.  They pay your fees.  For the next 6 months you live and breathe working with these clients.  You are successful in every way, you have enhanced your reputation as a coach.

Then one day you wake up to find you have no clients and no money.  You have done your job, as a coach but neglected your business.  You need another event and it will take weeks to organise.  Many businesses fail because they cannot recover from such a mistake.

You need a programme of events, to keep yourself in the public eye, so you continue to enrol clients.  You may have problems managing new clients when still working with old ones but that is a different problem, one of capacity.

Let’s stay with the problem at hand.  What can you do to remain in the public eye?

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s Gone

1. What do you create that people will miss it when it’s gone (and hope it comes back soon)?
2. What could you create that offers a real incentive to tell my friends? That makes news?  Who can get the word out in exchange for a share of attention?
3. What would happen if your promotion didn’t work? What would happen if it did?

Impress an Impresario

Ok, a few definitions.  A promotion is an event you put on either in real life or online.  Real life promotions might be public speaking, a stall at a business fair, a workshop, training event, a network event over a meal, lunch and learn …  Online promotions might be a blog post, social media campaign, webinar, online course.  These need not necessarily be free events but usually they are fairly low-cost.  Your aim is to find clients.

An impresario is someone who brings people together to work on and promote an event.  You may be aware of impresarios in your own community.  You could join in with what they do.  If you spot a gap in what they are doing, perhaps you can step into the impresario role?

Next, do you need a schedule of promotions to keep you in the public eye?  I find it is best to have a few regular promotions punctuated by occasional experimental promotions.

Can you build a team who work with you because it helps promote their businesses and strengthens their message?  How you do this is flexible.  You might have a team who consistently work with you.  Alternatively, if you have a regular event, you can invite people to take part, perhaps as a keynote speaker or trainer.

Remember, the aim of marketing is to create change and so your events should aim to do just that.  How do you promote change? By being remarkable!  When people talk about your promotions, they are your audience.

Following this thirty-seventh post to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below.  You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.

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Why Finding the Right Name Matters

It’s easy to spend too little time finding the right name for your business.  Just how important is it?

A Rose by Any Other Name …

Naming your business, products and services: is it tactical or strategic?  Tactical implies names are temporary, do a job and once finished, can be disposed of.  Strategic implies a name says something about you and sets the scene for many years to come.

You can change your name. When you start out in business, you get to a point where there is pressure to change your name because your vision is clearer.  Perhaps it’s best to start with a name that will do for early months but not embed it too much into your business.  The challenge of changing urls, business cards and other publicity can be daunting.

A good name is one you can live with, even if you change what you do.  Perhaps, you have a personal brand and it helps you whatever you do.

There is a vogue for meaningless company names, eg Carillion, Amey, Consignia, Onyx.  Superficially, they sound good but many associate them with poor service.  They are big companies, bidding for government contracts.  Their names give nothing away about what they do because they do anything that pays.

Choosing Your Business Name

So, choose a plausible name and try it out.  Ask friends or potential customers.  Feedback helps but does not guarantee the name works as part of your marketing.

Say it aloud and get others to say it to you.  What does it sound like?  Is it easy to work out how to spell it?  Does it sound like something different from the spelling?

How does it feel to speak the name aloud?  Does it feel silly or sensible, strong or weak?

Write it down as for a url.  Be aware that words run together can be read in several ways.  For example, “therapist” can be read in two ways, one of which you may wish to avoid.

Will the name come up when Googled?  How easy is it be to find your business online with that name?  Remember competition is such that a name that works well to begin with can lose its advantage when a competitor finds something that works better.

All these are things to consider.  Few are absolute reasons to use or abandon a potential name.

Words Have Meanings

1. Does your business name remind prospects of the change you seek to make? Even if they don’t know the history of it?
2. Does saying your business name change customers’ attitude to help them believe the story you tell?
3. Does the name have room to gain a secondary meaning, so that it becomes associated with what you sell?

Authority

Perhaps the most important aspect of a name is it should be memorable. If someone knows it, they should be able to find you.  This is particularly important in the early days of your business, when you are not well-known and you benefit if people remember anything about you.

As you become better known, a good name comes to be associated with your business and what you sell.  So, think about this when you choose the name.  You sell something remarkable and so you need a remarkable name.

So, to what extent should your name show literally what you offer?  My business name does that but “Market Together” also says something about my approach.  It is memorable but is it remarkable?  I believe it speaks to those who share my values, in other words those who I wish to communicate with are those for whom my name may seem remarkable.

If you have authority in the marketplace it is possible you can get away with more prosaic names for your products and services.  The rest of us need to be remarkable about our names.  But beware words like “awesome”, they are not remarkable!

Following this thirty-sixth post to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below.  You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.

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You Don’t Need an Elevator Pitch

Everyone needs an elevator pitch.  Or so we are told.  Let’s consider whether we need one and if so, what it is for.

Creating Tension

The elevator pitch is the shortest possible presentation of your business.  The idea is, if you are in conversation in a lift (elevators are American lifts) and you have a few seconds to explain, what do you say?

Sometimes we call the 1 minute or so at a network event an elevator pitch.  Technically, this is not right because most elevators take far less than a minute.  A minute is a long time.  You can tell a story in one minute.

The one minute story has value.  You can use your 1 minute version as the foundation for a longer story.

So, the one minute builds on your 10 second pitch. It is usually addressed to a group and rarely to one person; it builds your brand or reputation.  If you regularly attend a network group, constant repetition builds your brand, so people remember you when they meet someone who needs your services.

So, you either build your brand or offer a call to action through the one minute pitch.  Do you want your audience to remember you or to respond to something, for example notice of a meeting?

Remember though you never get the same audience twice.  Whilst it is important you convey a consistent message, it has to be asked how effective your one minute pitch is alone.

So, what is the purpose of the 10 second elevator pitch?  It is not about selling and it is about creating tension.  The point is not to aim for accuracy so much as something to start a conversation.  It should piqué the interest of your audience of one, so they ask for more information.

Words and Images

1. Do words and images matter? How do you present yourself?  Do you know 12 words that show you are on the ball?
2. How do you make it clear you are there for your market? How do you use words to convey your focus on your market, eg us and I.
3. What is your superpower, the thing your market would miss if it was gone?

Your Elevator Role

Take that last question, your superpower.  Whatever your field, you specialise in something that separates you from others in the same field; something of value to you and your market.  This superpower may not be immediately obvious and if you cannot identify it for yourself, perhaps you could ask others for insights.

This is your elevator role.  Once you know your superpower you can describe it in 6 words.  (Six is a little arbitrary but it should be your aim.)

Analysis

I help <name a group of people> to <name something they aspire to>.

So, I might say “I help coaches enjoy their marketing”.

First word is likely to be “I”.  You could use a company name (this is why 6 words is arbitrary, your company name may be more than one word).  You could use “we” but remember they might not know the “we” you refer to.

Second word is likely to be “help” but could be another such as support, heal, challenge …

Third word is your market.  My sentence uses “coaches” but I could change it to “consultants” if I knew I was talking to a consultant.  It would be more accurate if I said “coaches, consultants and freelancers” but we are aiming for clarity.

The last 3 words should describe your superpower.  The point I make is coaches should enjoy their marketing.  Many coaches may not have considered this.  They also have objections, eg isn’t it more important the marketing works?

If the listener thinks they don’t enjoy their marketing or objects to the emphasis on enjoyment, this is tension.  That tension should result in conversation.  If people walk away after such a clear statement, perhaps your statement does not create enough tension.  You might seek better wording or a better superpower.  Try not to change too much, give your statement time to prove itself.  Remember consistency is important.

Pitch or Role?

Perhaps you don’t need an elevator pitch but you certainly need an elevator role.  Consistently turning up and playing that role is likely to build your brand reputation.

Following this thirty-fifth post to encourage coaches to reflect on relational marketing, take this opportunity to sign up below.  You get a weekly round-up of my posts and a pdf about how to make sure you are charging what your business is worth.

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How Does Frequency Inspire Marketing?

We use the word frequency in two ways.  It means going over something over and again, showing up and performing the same act.  It also means something to tune into.  Both meanings are important for marketers.

Consistency and Change

People in your market tune into your message when they hear it many times.  This implies consistency in your message.

At the same time, your offers evolve to meet the needs of your market.  So, some aspects of your business are constant over long periods, while others are responsive to changes in your market as you tune into their needs.

To work out which aspects of your message are unchanging and which change is challenging.

What you do and the reason you do it should be unchanging.  But your understanding of your message evolves.  You consistently point in the same direction but as you move in that direction, your perspective changes.

If you  point consistently in the same direction, you draw people to you who are looking in that direction.  As you get to know those people, you design something that better meets their needs.

Consistency and You

1. How are you consistent (or inconsistent) in your messages or actions?
2. How frequently do you put out your message? What are the vehicles you use to do this?
3. How does frequency affect the way you convey your presence to the world?

Novelty and Empathy

Novelty is important but the place it is important is in the earliest stages of business development.  When you start, you must find your unique message.  This takes time.  Once you have that message, you must not change it.

Have new ideas about how you convey your message but consistency about the message itself is crucial.  This means you must show up online or in real life and deliver the same message over and over.  The only time to contemplate changing the message is if your business is at stake.  Your accountant is the only person who can change your message.

Tuning In

The reason you need to be consistent and frequent is so your market tunes into your message.  It’s like any other message, if you do not take a stand, it is impossible to debate with you.  It is impossible to debate with someone who has nothing to say and so shifts their ground.

Political parties are more successful with a consistent message.  They are all coalitions with a range of viewpoints. Problems set in when there are irreconcilable differences within the party.  However, manifestos change with each election.  The context changes but a party with a consistent message demonstrates it through the changes they make to policy.

Consistency and frequently sharing your message builds trust in your market.  People who like your message are drawn to you.  They need to understand your message and get to know you as a person (or a brand) but in time they get there.

On your part, this requires empathy.  You listen to your market, hear their objections, questions, fears, hopes and then deepen your message in response.

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