When you write blogs, emails, social media posts, brochures or proposals, you need to write with the reader in mind. In other words, you need to write with your customer in mind. Don't make the mistake of writing for yourself – because you're not the one you're trying to impress. Your customers don't want to read [...]
Successful marketing and short-term thinking do not go hand in hand. When you're thinking short-term, you make two mistakes. First, you do only a limited amount of marketing; but it takes time to build trust, credibility and brand recognition. Second, you try to take money rather than give value; but if you want to become a [...]
Do you want to build a personal brand? If so, videos are the fastest way to do it. If you publish hundreds of videos, in which you educate and entertain your audience, you'll gradually build a following. People will feel you're speaking directly to them; people will feel they know you; people will feel they have [...]
It's so tempting to position your small business as bland, so you don't offend anyone and you appeal to all customers. But trying to appeal to all customers is a mistake, because people won't know what your business stands for. Instead, you need to make a point of injecting colour and personality into your brand. Yes, [...]
Your small business should aim to publish content on social media every single day. But producing so much content can be hard, because how can you keep thinking of new ideas. One way might be to place some structure around your social media posts by creating a content calendar. For example, you might use something like [...]
Keep getting in front of your customers. And offer value every time you do it. How can you get in front of your customers? Blogs, videos, social media posts, cold calls, emails, digital ads and networking meetings are some of the ways. How can you offer value? Answer your customers' questions, solve their problems and show [...]
The job titles you give to yourself and your staff are a form of marketing. Why? Because they plant a thought in your customer's mind. Certain job titles will reinforce the authority of the person, and therefore the business. Other job titles, though, will undermine that authority. This was something I learned years ago when I [...]
What do you think of when you hear the word 'teacher'? Probably a trusted authority figure. What do you think of when you hear the word 'marketer'? Probably an untrustworthy person who will say or do anything to get your money. The mistake a lot of small businesses make with their marketing is they position themselves [...]
Your customers don't read your marketing emails. They scan them. Don't expect customers to methodically read your emails from first word to last, because they won't. When customers open your emails, they quickly scan them, and their eyes get drawn to 'landmarks' within the email. These are things like headlines, subheadings, buttons, bullet-points and images. If [...]
The dream of any small business is to evolve from being a hunter to an order-taker. When you're a hunter, you have to constantly chase customers, which can be expensive, time-consuming and exhausting. But when you're an order-taker, they go to you and ask to place orders. So how do you evolve from hunter to order-taker? [...]
