Here’s a marketing idea that, hopefully, won’t make you tear your hair out. Resist the temptation to list facts about your product in your marketing. Why? Because, chances are, customers will find that dry and uninspiring. Instead, look for ways to tell stories through words and images, so you build an emotional connection with your customers. [...]
“I’m sorry I wrote you such a long letter. I didn’t have time to write a short one.” That quote from Blaise Pascal reveals a fundamental truth about writing, communications and marketing. Being vague and verbose is easy; being precise and concise is hard. Many people and small businesses struggle to deliver a powerful message in [...]
Many of you know that I publish daily videos to promote my content marketing agency, Hunter & Scribe. Why? Because I decided that if I published one video a day for 365 days, my business would end the year in a much better place than it started. This video is number 228. Now imagine if you [...]
“Humans are not ideally set up to understand logic,” psychologist Roger C. Schank once said. “They are ideally set up to understand stories.” That’s why your marketing should focus on stories rather than logic. So don’t bash your customers over the head with facts. Instead, tell stories that stir their emotions and generate action. That doesn’t [...]
Want to know how to do good content marketing? Focus on the core problem your small business solves and talk about it repeatedly and forever. For example, if you run a travel agency, the core problem you solve is to help people organise the best holidays in the most efficient way. In that case, you should [...]
If you’re wondering how to approach social media, heed these words of wisdom from Brian Solis. “Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.” Don’t make the mistake of obsessing about algorithms and posting times, because you’re not going to win on social media if you have a tech focus. Instead, focus on building [...]
Here’s a case study in how not to market yourself. I had a meeting with a business owner who wanted to partner with my business, Hunter & Scribe. So how did he market the idea? By focusing entirely on his own needs. He talked about himself. He talked about his business. He talked about how he [...]
Attention small businesses: you need to pump out a lot of content. Maybe there was a time in the past when you could get away with doing a little bit of content marketing or none – but if there was, those days are gone. Why do you need to pump out a lot of content? Because [...]
Add emotion to your marketing, because if you connect emotion to your products, you’ll increase their perceived value. A mattress, for example, might have a perceived value of $1,000. But a scientifically designed mattress that will let you sleep like a baby and wake up feeling recharged and ready to conquer the day might have a [...]
Fun fact: it takes an average of 55,000 steps for a man to run a marathon and 70,000 steps for a woman. Succeeding with marketing is a bit like running a marathon, because you need to put in a lot of effort before you establish trust, credibility and brand recognition for your small business. But surely [...]
