Watch Your Mouth!
Or, 3 Lessons on How Your Language Matters
Okay, so maybe that headline was a bit over the top. Not to mention a bit tongue in cheek.
But behind a statement we can all recognize (and probably more than once heard while growing up) is a powerful business idea lurking just beneath the all too familiar surface. And a point absolutely critical to your business success, both on and offline.
This lesson involves YOUR use of language.
More specifically, how you talk TO your prospective clients and/or customers about your goods and services.
1. It had better be about them…
Let’s start at the beginning. What you are saying and why your saying it in the first place had better capture your readers attention. Also it had better be content wise to what they are looking for, or they’re outta here!
2. If at first you don’t succeed, you better change what you are saying…
Or at least who you send it to…
Be careful of sending the same old marketing that didn’t get you anywhere back when you first sent it, isn’t going to change results the next dozen times you send it. In fact, if the marketing piece sends back 0.0%, then you REALLY need to examine what your sending as a message and who you’re sending it to.
3. Recent, Relevant, and Right what they were looking for!
If they are talking about it, searching for signs of it, YOU had better be talking about it yourself. You must keep up with the way your prospects are communicating a need for what you have.
However, if the WAY your talking in your marketing is stuffy business speak, your going to miss out on a large segment of the population because you aren’t speaking their language.
Next Steps…
Any questions? Comments? Did we hit a nerve?
Drop us a line by leaving a comment. We will reply (here, and by email if you’d like) as soon as we’re able. And if there’s a topic you want us to discuss, let us know.
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To discover how our web marketing firm can help you with your online presence, traffic, leads and sales, kindly follow the link. You can also review our web marketing services to better understand how we work with clients just like you.
Integration Marketing…
What does it mean?
Integration marketing, as we use the term with clients to reveal blind spots in their online business, involves three key and critical issues:
- the relationship between your sources of traffic and the offer or offers on your site (involves pre-action of your web visitor)
- opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell (integration at the point of action),
- the points of contact between the accepted offer and other products or services available to your new lead or customer (post-action integration).
So what does that mean for you?
First, that the language used to address your potential customer matches both
- the modality of how people in that niche/community/social network, communicate, and
- the mindset of your potential customer at the point of contact.
Getting this right means that the person is more likely to “follow along” and take the next step you’ve mapped out for them in advance.
That’s why it is essential to get this part of your marketing efforts right.
Why is this important?
Okay, so if you’ve done a good job of attracting people to begin a dialogue with you, what comes next?
Well, the next issue to consider involves conversion. And that means getting them to take an action.
This could mean…
- buying a product
- joining your list
- leaving a comment
- signing up for a seminar, teleseminar, etc.
Now, that’s great when it happens. But here’s where a lot of people unfortunately drop the ball. Because…
once someone has committed to taking an action, it’s the perfect time to ask them to take another step with you.
Think of this as the law of inertia…
Getting folks to interrupt the pattern of their daily life to stop and pay attention to YOU for even a minute is a huge accomplishment. And NOW that you have their attention, don’t let the moment slip past because you forgot (or are afraid) to ask them to take one more step with you.
That’s what we mean by opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell. And it doesn’t just have to happen at the point of contact, either.
Monetize your follow up
So you have a new customer, client, or lead. Now what?
Here’s where so many of us just drop the ball. And the real issue is one of business philosophy than technology.
There are really 2 business models.
One is transactional. You sell the customer something and promptly move on to the “next.”
The other is relational. Instead of a sale, you’re focused on “lifetime customer value.”
Now, forget for a second the question of “which is best?” Let’s focus on the bottom line for a moment.
The single greatest marketing cost is to acquire a customer or client. In other words, it costs more to make the FIRST sale then FOLLOW UP sales. Now, the question for you is, how effective is your follow up to existing customers/clients?
Just one more point to cover.
We’re currently developing our “12 Step Marketing Program” and we’d like your feedback. In it, we tackle each of these issues in greater detail, as well as uncovering common stumbling blocks that prevent business owners from implementing strategies to improve their traffic, conversion and follow up.
Even though we’re in the process of wrapping it up and have gotten tons of feedback from clients and colleagues, we’d like to hear from you. So, if you have a question or topic you’d like us to consider, just leave a comment on the site.
Next Steps…
Any questions? Comments? Did we hit a nerve?
Drop us a line by leaving a comment. We will reply (here, and by email if you’d like) as soon as we’re able. And if there’s a topic you want us to discuss, let us know.
To receive monthly emails with summaries of all our latest content, sign up for our “Monthly Web Tips” above. Does that sound fair enough to you?
To discover how our web marketing firm can help you with your online presence, traffic, leads and sales, kindly follow the link. You can also review our web marketing services to better understand how we work with clients just like you.
Blogs and Web Marketing
3 Tips On Blogging for Business
Recently a new client asked if blogging really was for business. See, over the past 6 months he heard that you should blog about your business, and that you should NOT blog about your business.
His basic question was: “who’s right?”
Frankly, I can’t think of ANY possible reason why you wouldn’t blog about your business. So I’ll share with you here what I shared with our new client.
Blogging IS perhaps one of the most powerful ways to talk about your business. The questions is, if it’s such a powerful tool, why do some folks get it all wrong? What’s the catch?
Marketing your business costs you time or money.
Actually, time IS money so it’s not much of a distinction, usually. However, in the case of blogging, it’s the time factor that causes most business owners so much trouble.
Why is that?
Because at times blogging can be hard to do.
Think of it this way. On the one hand, the power of blogging is the ability to quickly and easily update or add content to your site. In the “old days” you need to contact your web company or IT staff to code in the new stuff you wanted added.
Thank goodness those days are gone, and gone for good.
But on the other hand, the reason blogs have become hugely popular is the fact that they are CURRENT. At least, they should be. And that’s where some people find that it requires so much work.
It’s now so easy to add new content to your site, coupled with blog features that help categorize and organize your information. Which allows you to engage in a conversation with your website visitors, clients, and potential customers.
That’s the key.
Now, the way folks can easily see that your blog is current is by glancing over at your “Archives.” You could disable this feature on your blog.
But why would you?
The fact that blogs are kept current is one reason why search engines love them so much. Relevant content is all about remaining current and talking about what’s happening today.
So staying CURRENT is one of the keys to blogging success.
Here’s the next piece in the puzzle for you, and your business. And it’s all about…
CONSISTENCY
Most folks get all fired up, start blogging like crazy, and then over time their enthusiasm wanes. Let me share with you a real life example.
Back in September we were a featured speaker at a business conference. Probably 60 to 75 business owners attended our talk on blogs, marketing, and web 2.0 stuff. Now, if I do say so myself, it was very well received.
Afterwards, some folks scheduled follow on appointments and became clients (yeah!) Some left the talk and started their own blog (excellent). Since we believe in giving folks immediately useful tips, it wasn’t hard for them to get started…
And that was the problem. Three posts in September. None in October. One in November. None in December.
Do you get the picture?
Blogging effectively is about consistency. It IS a commitment, no doubt about it. If you can’t set a schedule to keep to it, then outsource your blog content to someone on your team who will do it for you.
To gain readership online, not to mention improving your search engine results, consistency will be another key to your success.
There’s just one more key to discuss. And it involves using…
TOOLS & STRATEGIES
And that’s where we come in.
Remember the talk I referenced above? Well, some folks went out and started up a blog for their business. And that’s just awesome.
It was good to discover that folks took our advice to heart and implemented a few steps immediately. But as some folks found out, there’s more to blogging than pounding content on a site.
Needless to say, we received more emails lately regarding their need to become more effective at blogging.
What they found out (as you are here) is that you need tools and strategies to maximize your effectiveness. Like knowing which keywords you should target. And having tools installed in your blog to help you get the results you want.
Not to mention knowing HOW to use those tools.
If you would like to blog about your business, or started a blog but are unhappy with your results online, what can you do?
Well, for starters the tips here are a good first start. You can also leave us a comment and we’ll be happy to answer your questions and comments.
And of course, you can always begin a conversation to see how we may be able to help you out in more specific ways.
Let me put it this way. Each post to your blog is a new web page. That means, each time you post new content you are claiming more “internet real estate” for you and your business.
It really is that simple.
Next Steps…
Any questions? Comments? Did we hit a nerve?
Drop us a line by leaving a comment. We will reply (here, and by email if you’d like) as soon as we’re able. And if there’s a topic you want us to discuss, let us know.
To receive monthly emails with summaries of all our latest content, sign up for our “Monthly Web Tips” above. Does that sound fair enough to you?
To discover how our web marketing firm can help you with your online presence, traffic, leads and sales, kindly follow the link. You can also review our web marketing services to better understand how we work with clients just like you.
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