Word-of-mouse-podcast

Click Here for WOMB Downloadable pdf file How Can You Elevate YOUR Business In The Eyes of Current & Potential Customers? Hold onto your socks, or toes; whichever is easily accessible. This strategy is going to surprise you.  AND because only the tiniest percentage of businesses commit to this, it is another, very powerful, strategy to set your business apart from others in your industry, develop raving fans, and loyal customers!  So let’s get started. You’ve heard from your family, friends, acquaintances, strangers—a good 1000+ times, if you’ve heard it once,  references to ‘gifts that keep on giving.’  Quite probably, this quote could reference both positive and negative examples.  This use is all positive. I am not talking about free reports as an enticement for a prospect to provide their email address, etc.  I’m not even talking about a “value added” bonus, which you might include with a product, service or information product. Here, I am talking about another powerful opportunity to be of service to your target audience, by providing a gift to address their needs.  A gift that will indeed, keep on giving, to you as well as to your target audience: This additive does require ongoing attention Can be a core component to “brand building” for your business Acts as a catalyst toward gathering rewards through your new marketing strategy—rewards for your target audience and for your business’ bottom line. The gift is your business providing some source of digital information—a blog, podcast, Facebook Group, an “Ask Annie / Ask Us” Website or a separate area of your exiting Website—which addresses one or two challenges, or concerns, shared by those individuals which make up your target audience.   And . . . this is the IMPORTANT part, you provide these resources . . . without any selling! “What!?,” you say.  Yes, this strategy involves a bit of a trust, a leap-of-faith. But if you provide an information venue which addresses issues especially relevant to your target audience; provide this from a perspective this is not part of your actual, going-out-there-to-sell marketing, it will make a huge difference to your target audience—your current and prospective customers/clients. This is your business providing information that is valuable to your target audience.  This is you, as a business owner, building relationships, which leads to trust.  And when prospects trust you, they’re going to end up coming to you when they do need a product or a service that you offer.  They will want to come to you, someone they’ve learned to trust, instead of searching for someone else. This results in sales. It just doesn’t do so initially. This strategy is slightly indirect but still amazingly powerful. This strategy has already made amazing differences for large businesses and even small businesses, such as River Pools & Spas in the state of Virginia. This approach is worthy. Yes, it’s different, but it is worth your time and effort! Do’s: The information can be in a domain you own, even a section of your main domain You must do the ‘marketing’ of your “gift area” to point your target audience to exactly where that information exists Somewhere in your graphic, or at the byline, place: “this blog/venue is authored, or managed, by MyCompany.com” Do say “Go to OurWebsite.com/specialized_information” or “Go to SpecializedInformation.com.” It is permissible, as well as important, to have subtle branding somewhere on the Web pages of your ‘gift’ area, whether that area is within your primary domain or on a separate domain, which you may decide to set up for this information. Don’ts: Do not say, “Go to OurMainWebsite.com and click on such-and-such particular link” to direct prospects to access your “gift information” area Your ‘gift’ area cannot have anything that really tries to take your Website visitor back to your products/service

Click Here for Downloadable pdf file of WOMB8 Once Upon a—Business—Time . . . Adding ‘story’ to your marketing message, is the next level for “upgrading” your “Secret Sauce.” What does “story” have to do with business . . .? Everything! Wr...

Click here for WOMB7 Show Notes as a downloadable pdf Imagine prospective customers searching for answers to their questions or solutions to their problems—those questions or problems that have to do with the products/services your business offers. Then imagine, that among the best results from their online search are a blog post, an article, a how-to video, or Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) which was posted on YOUR website. And when they reach for that answer, it is you, your business, providing the answer to their question. What would that be worth to you? As a business owner, this is the result you want from your marketing efforts--to be the solution to your prospective customers needs. Now, for the question . . . IS that currently the result of your marketing efforts? Are the new, and return, visitors to your Website / your blog, individuals who need the products, or services, your business provides? Or, if your business is a 'brick and mortar' store and you do not have an online presence--do new visitors to your store return to your store? Do they purchase your products/services? You may be wondering, how can you know if visitors to your Web site or blog are individuals who need your products / services? You can tell by how long they spend at your Web site. Are they there more than 6-8 seconds? If so, they believe that there is information there that they want. If a Web visitor is on your Web site long enough to check out, and read, your product/service pages or articles/blog posts, it signals greater interest, or need. If a visitor returns to your site and again spends time there, they are looking for reasons to to trust you as a vendor for their need. This brings us to the next question . . . do you continue to provide fresh content (information) which your target audience needs? Being in the business that you are in, you probably know several things about your target audience, your ideal customers—those individuals who need your products or services. Such as, what types of problems would someone who needs your products/services have? What challenges might they face? If you can list some of the problems and challenges that your ideal customers have and create a variety of materials (special reports, blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc.) which solve each of those problems, answers those questions, or satisfy those curiosities, you can position your business as the one prospective customers turn to for answers. You can position your business as the business which solves their problems. And if, when your prospective customers are searching for solutions, the best and better results that come up are from your business, you become the solution to their problem. How powerful is that? When your prospective customer is searching for information details about a product/service, they might also look for “How is a certain product made,” “How is service X structured,” or “What goes on behind the scenes of a business that makes your products or provides your services? When their best search results come from your business, you are again positioning your business as a source of solutions for them. As prospective customers see, and continue to see, your business being the source which answers their questions, provides the solutions to their problems, and satisfies their curiosity, those prospects also begin identifying you as an expert in your field. It is then that a trust relationship begins forming with those prospective customers. When those prospects need to purchase the products/services you provide, which business storefront or Website are they are more likely to go to for that purchase? The storefront / Website / business owner that they have come to know as an expert and have grown to trust, of course! Don't you want that business, that business owner, to be YOU? Well, gone are the days when prospective customers are impressed by only how often they see your business name or how you are the "best,

Click here for Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf When the content of your marketing messages is focused on the needs and problems of your target audience with information and keywords important to these prospects, your buiness message is far more likely to be found during online searches. It is also more likely to be remembered, whether it was seen online or offline, because you are speaking to your prospective customer rather than pushing your business at them. No one likes to be “sold,” but most everyone likes to buy things they want. Customer-focused messages transform your marketing into customer magnets! A Step-by-Step ‘Base’ Recipe to YOUR “Secret Sauce” for Customer-Focused Messages Write all your marketing messages content from the perspective of your target audience—online and offline. Talk to your prospects, not at them. Carefully review all marketing messages to make certain they contain words and phrases that your target audience would use when searching for what they want. Caution: be certain you are talking to your prospects rather than search engines. Avoid becoming obsessed and over-packing your messages with keyword after keyword, such that your messages no longer sound like people talking to each other. Search engines are targeting-“tools,” not your target audience. Be the solution to the problems your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website Be the source of answers to the questions your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website. Be the source of answers to the curiosities your target audience is likely to have, by providing relevant content on your Website. Decide upon a plan for how often you will add new content to your Website—remember these are new reasons for prospects to visit your marketing messages, and new opportunities to strengthen your ‘expert’ position as well as develop the trust of your target audience. And all of this is without paying for AdWords and expensive SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies! When your marketing messages and Website content are focused on serving your customers, including thoughtful consideration of which keywords your customers and target audience would most likely be using, your Website content IS your SEO strategy. Who’s Doing It Right? While representing only a very small percentage of the businesses involved in marketing both online and offline, there are businesses are out there that do already create their marketing messages from the perspective of their target audience. Would it surprise you to discover that those businesses that develop their messages in this manner are also particularly successful? A few examples: at the Enterprise level include Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble, and Red Bull; on the small business level, there are “River Pools & Spas” in the U.S. state of Virginia and Dinesen Flooring in Denmark. I know what you’re thinking. Well, yeah! Coca Cola, Proctor & Gamble (P&G), Red Bull—they have MASSIVE UBER-budgets. They can pursue any marketing idea they want. What can that possibly have to do with my small business? Yes, Enterprise-level businesses have budgets which, if we say them out-loud, could make us break out in a zero-envy rash. We can’t play in their ‘financial’ ballpark. However, we can emulate their strategies by acting on what these businesses, collectively, are doing right. We can also realize not all Enterprise-level businesses are doing it right; actually, most of them are not. So, money is not the difference. Insight, choice and execution, through resourceful and creative emulation, is the difference. And small business owners can capitalize on that difference. The Enterprise business examples above are not each utilizing all of the powerful pieces of effective customer-focused marketing. Only Red Bull is doing it all! I’ve spent a few years reviewing and studying thousands of Websites and several h

WOMB4 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf A Social Media Marketing Example: Business Goes From Zero to Hero in 24 Hours I’ll share with you a great example of one customer’s huge problem with a company, which transformed into an amazing “save” for the...

WOMB5 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf   Status Quo Marketing: Messages With No “Secret Sauce” There exist tons upon tons of marketing in our world: in print, in display ads, and on the Internet. Almost all of it focuses on the companies which are doing the marketing; meaning, the marketing messages are about how Company X: is #4 in their overall industry, the best of their industry in their home state or county, have this or that award for [fill in the blank], or even have been in business since Christopher Columbus landed in the New World. These ads are also focusing on the products and/or services they offer, including their features and benefits. You may be thinking, “Well, of course! The business needs to state their standing in their industry. If they are highly recognized, have a long legacy of being in business, or display testimonials from satisfied customers—if they can. That’s what inspires confidence in potential customers. So these potential customers choose that business over another competing business. That is the purpose of marketing.” And, if this is your thought, you would be correct. That is what marketing is and what marketing has been for decades—the development of messages that profess the awesome-ness of a company. It starts with how one business owner’s company is better than Company B or Company C because of the features of their product, the length of time they have been in business, the quality of their product, and their dedication to customer service, etc. So What’s Wrong? In the above example, I painted a very generic illustration of most of the marketing we see and hear, Company X claims its awesome-ness is greater than Company B or Company C, examples of their competition. Let’s call that generic example Company A. Well, just as you know everything about your business, Company A’s owner knows everything about Company A. And just like you, Company A’s owner is committed to having his/her marketing materials represent his/her Company in the best manner possible. However, Company A is speaking from its perspective—the perspective of Company A; how great their products and services, are, how great Company A is, what high percentages they may have achieved in their Quality Assurance, how they are the #1, or #2, or #10 out of 400,000 businesses that provide the same products/services, and why we should buy their stuff instead of buying from Company B or Company C, who offer the same, or similar, products/services. Yes, that is the third time I’ve made the point that marketing messages drone on and on about their business. This point is “business-critical” so I want to be certain I’ve driven the point into your thinking. Still, what exactly is wrong . . . ? Company A, as well as a minimum of 85+ % of business marketing media, speaks only from the perspective of the business not from the perspective of the customer they hope to attract to their business. Marketing Then vs. Today’s Marketing Message Tsunami Has this manner of marketing worked? Yes, it has—notice the past tense. Can it still work? Yes, but it is far less effective than it was in its “hey-day.” Consumers now are far more sophisticated. Back in the 1940s, for instance, catalogs, newspapers, flyers, magazines and radio delivered marketing messages were the norm. Some people were actually excited to see advertisements, since ads were the primary way to discover new possibilities in what was available. You just had to say how great your company was, what you had to offer, and how customers could get what you had. If your product/service was something the customer was looking for or wanted to have and could afford—done deal. While I wasn’t around in the 1940s, I have been around since the mid 1950s. No, I’m not going to tell you exactly how old I am; girls don’t do that. And the older we get, the less inclined we are to offer such ‘classified’ information. But why should you care abo

WOMB3 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf   Social media ushered a quantum leap change in the manner and speed at which people can share their opinions. And that speed is mind-boggling! But it's important to remember that word of mouth marketing can b...

 WOMB2 Show Notes as a Downloadable pdf Word of mouth marketing has been around for millennia.  No doubt, even before the use of “money” as we know it. When ‘currency’ was just the trading of goods or services, there was word of mouth marketing. Wo...

WOMB1 Show Notes as Downloadable pdf NEW Book Word of MOUSE - Today's Word of Mouth Marketing:  How to Use Social Media in Small Business for Take-it-to-the-BANK Results Available on Amazon on 11/12/13. That's Tuesday, Nov. 12 Online Book Launching...

This is a test WOM podcast episode