Marketing

Content is king. You’ve probably have heard this saying thrown around as businesses increasingly move online and everyone’s fighting for a piece of social and web.

The goal at the end of the day is: Get more customers and sell more products.

While many people think they can write, the issue is whether or not what you write connects with your customers and brings them back repeatedly to your website. In my experience, most business owners are in too deep to know exactly how their business has evolved or what’s new and newsworthy enough to evoke a response from their target customer. That’s when you need a super hero – not Spidey, but someone who picks out words to earn their daily bread and butter – a copywriter.

If you haven’t come across the term ‘copywriter’ before, there’s a good chance you need one. A copywriter works with words and writes different content for clients on a daily basis. So what you read on your favourite website, or that glossy brochure that leads you to buy clothes at your favourite store, could be the work of a copywriter.

Think of a copywriter as a connoisseur of words. Similar to a vintner, he or she thinks about how they want you to feel after reading about a client, picks out words carefully, mixes them in various combinations and finally comes up with a product that leaves you satisfied and wanting more.

Copywriters come in all shapes and sizes, from those who write about everything to those who focus on a few areas.

My tip for picking a good copywriter? Look at their personal website (not Facebook) and their portfolio and see how it makes you feel. Do the words on their website show a person you’d like to work with? How much care have they taken to create their own website?

You need a copywriter if:

The words on your website and content are dull and boring (you know it and everyone on staff knows it but no one knows what to do about it exactly). A copywriter brings in a fresh pair of eyes, new ideas and can help you identify what your customer really cares about. Dull and boring – be gone!
You are thinking of creating content such as blog posts, brochures, news articles and need easy-to-read and shareable content. If you don’t have the time or in-house expertise to create these yourself then it’s time to look for a copywriter.
You have customers who eagerly ask for regular content from your business, i.e. in the form of newsletters or press releases or even updates to technical type of content.
You suck at writing (and you know it deep down!)
You need a fresh pair of eyes and new ideas to help you in re-positioning or rebranding your business and you don’t have forever to wait or the staff to do this.

Here are a few definitions to help you when you’re looking for the right type of writer for your business:

Copywriter – a person who writes the text of advertisements or publicity material is the traditional meaning. I don’t necessarily agree with this Mad Men type of definition as copywriters these days do a lot more diverse types of writing than what’s covered by this definition.
Content writers are professional writers who produce engaging content for use over the Internet. A copywriter can also be a content writer (check out their portfolio to see what they’ve written in the past, or ask for samples of writing).

The next post will cover how you can find your dream copywriter – stay tuned!

Rashida Tayabali is a copywriter covering health and wellbeing, business, women’s lifestyle, corporate communications and parenting. She loves nothing more than a good book, finding the right words and a cup of tea strictly in that order. Connect with her www.rashidatayabali.com.au

It is easy to just be focused on the product you are selling, and trying to get your clients to purchase your fantastic product. You know how great it is, and perhaps you think everyone needs your product , too!

Clients, buyers and potential customers aren’t concerned about how great you think your product is. The question that the potential clients are asking themselves is “What is in this for me?”

What’s in it for me?

How can this fabulous product improve my life? How can it make my life easier? How can it make my life less complicated? How can this product help save me money? It’s about thinking about the benefits of what your product brings that is the selling point.

At the time, your product might be solving a problem that is totally off the radar of the potential clients you happen to be talking to. You may be raising awareness of your product , which is great, but when people meet you for the first time and hear about your amazing product, they are unlikely to buy. The purchase process takes a number of “Touch-points” before people buy – this is also dependant on the type of product and assuming your are connecting with people who potentially will need your product.

So what will get your potential clients – the ones who you are meant to serve who now know about your fabulous product – what will get them to buy?

1. The Benefits

Marketers and business coaches will talk about selling the benefits, not the features, of your product. This is because talking about the benefits explains to your potential client:

a. What is in the product for them, and
b. How they will solve a problem they are experiencing by using your product. They are interested in knowing how the product will change their lives for the better.

You should be able to clearly define your benefits for your clients if you want to sell your product successfully, and understand how these benefits impact the end user.

There’s four benefits – the financial, emotional, physical and spiritual benefits. So let’s see what these four benefits look like:

Financial: On first thought, everyone may think that this is the most important benefit, but actually it is much lower on the Importance Ladder. The financial benefits come after all the hard work is done, but may be what brings the purchaser to you first.

Emotional: This is what makes people buy – on emotion. How does you product reduce stress, help people overcome nervousness, improve people’s happiness and bring joy to people’s lives? The product has to make people’s lives easier in the areas they are emotionally attached to.

Physical: How does your product help physically? By giving some sound approach, this gives a framework either figuratively or actually. How does the product make people’s lives better in a constructive way.

Spiritual: This is about the feeling of community, support, belonging. This benefit is about engagement. The spiritual benefit is what raises the attention first and then the other benefits follow.

The question really is how does your product enrich and help your client to improve the issues they are facing? The product is just a means to bring the results: the benefits the purchasers are wanting to achieve.

Take some time to think the benefits through of your product because its the benefits of the product that will sell the product or service you are keen to sell.

2. Trust

If you have just met someone , you are unlikely to believe or want a product they are trying to sell to you. Purchasing is really dependant on the relationship the buyer has with the seller – the more trust that is built up over time, the more you have kept your name and business on the front of the buyers mind for that product. Then, when the client is experiencing the problem that your product solves , when the buyer understands the benefits that your products brings from a Financial, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual perspective plus you are on “front of mind”, then the client will give you a call and you can have a sales conversation.

But its essential to be connecting and building the trust. People buy from people they trust.

3. Timing

Buyers are not likely to buy until they have the need. The more urgent the need the more likely they are to buy, and if you have been keeping in touch, and have been building trust and a relationship with this potential buyer, the buyer will come straight to you when there is an urgent need, because they know the benefits your product brings, and that your product can solve their problem.

When the time is right, you have appropriate pricing and you can discuss your client’s options clearly and assuredly, you will be able to book the business because you have educated your potential client on the benefits of your products or services.

So , in summary, you might have a great product with many bells and whistles, but to sell the product, it’s all about the benefits it brings to the buyer. Work out what’s in it for the buyerand what benefits your product delivers, because at the end of the day, that’s the purpose of your product.

Featured image via Pixabay via Creative Commons CC0

Adrienne McLean
Adrienne McLean is the Founder of The Speakers Practice, which offers Presentation Skills training program for business people, individuals, teenagers and groups. Adrienne is an Internationally Accredited SpeakersTrainingCamp Instructor and is a Distinguished Toastmaster. Adrienne has studied marketing with Michael Port the author of the Top Business and Marketing book – BookYourselfSolid.

Adrienne, with her experience of growing up in a family business, working in the corporate and small business sector plus building her own business, gives an enthusiastic and practical approach to the benefits of presentation skills development, learning to promote yourself and building a successful business. She is a regular presenter, blogger and a contributing author in four recent business publications.

Follow her via Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+

Running your own business can be great – lots of activity, lots of people to meet and help, lots of money flowing through the till.

But what happens when it all goes quiet?

I’ve been running my video business since 1993 and there have certainly plenty of busy and quiet times. In fact it’s been a regular roller coaster over the years. I’d be too busy to bother about marketing and then the work would slow down and I’d realise I’d need to do the marketing. Then the work would pick up again and so the cycle would continue.

But what happens when it goes deathly quiet? I remember it happening back after the Global Financial Crisis in 2009. I even questioned for a second if I should look for a job – literally for a second. Then I remembered I love the benefits of having my own business too much – the freedom, the variety, the control.

Of course that comes with a price – you have to generate the work, even when there’s no work around.

So what do you do? How do I generate work and find clients when it all goes quiet?

The epiphany I had back in 2009 was – what did I do when I started the business? I had to create work somehow and that was before I had hundreds of clients, a solid reputation and years of experience.

I rang people.

I proposed concepts that would solve a problem and create work for me. It was hard work at times, but it had to be done.

So I reminded myself to get over it. There was work out there. There were people who needed my services and I just had to go back to basics. I had to pull my finger out and get on with it. Make calls, talk to people and generate business.

The other realisation I’ve had is recognising where work tends to come from.

For me a lot of work is generated from referrals. So the more people I mix with the more work I seem to get. This means networking groups are an important part of my strategy. Which is good because I quite enjoy socialising so it is relatively easy for me to do.

I’ve learnt over the years networking works best when you are not trying to sell.

Being interested in what others have to offer and what they are trying to achieve is more useful than trying to convince someone to buy from you. Desperation is not a powerful sales strategy :). More often than not, after being interested and being good company, people tend to want to know what I do and how they can work with me.

For others their sales might be through a strong website with effective SEO. It might be through a dynamic social media strategy or email campaign. Check where your work comes from and keep it in mind when determining where to focus your marketing energies.

When you think back to how much effort you put into your business when it started, it’s funny to think a quiet patch could be a threat. You’ve already overcome worse and know how to cope now. Go back to what has worked before and do what is required. You know what you need to do. Get on with it!

Featured image photo credit via photopin (license)

Geoff Anderson is the Managing Director at Sonic Sight a Sydney based video production facility; author of Amazon Bestseller “Shoot Me Now – making videos to boost business” and a presenter on using video for business.

He has been working in TV and Events production for over 20 years.

Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

A woman who is one of the leaders of the digital revolution in Montenegro, Natasa Djukanovic is an important figure in the global digital community. While being a mom of three, she is also a mentor and inspiration to her colleagues, as well as an active educator of young people and business professionals on startup strategies, digital business and technology.

natasa

Natasa Djukanovic is CMO at .ME Registry, co-founder of an educational web portal digitalizuj.me and Founder of Spark.me international conference, and below she shares with us key personal branding lessons for female entrepreneurs.

As a CMO you have helped catapult the .me domain among the world’s top 20 domains. What’s your superpower?

I’m Wonder Woman! Just kidding. When Montenegro got assigned the .me domain in 2006, the Government realized that we got lucky and that this is something that can be very successfully exploited. We, as Domain.me opened up as business in 2008, when we signed the agreement of managing the national domain name .ME with the Government of Montenegro.

That is how it all began, our small but dedicated team started to build a brand from scratch. This required extensive analysis of our target market, planning the effective strategies for reaching them and, finally, creating a meaning for our brand. And now 7 years later we are one of the leading domain name brands in the world, and a starting point for many great ideas and projects. So maybe my superpower is the ability to recognize the right product and the right people to help me build a successful brand.

Tell us about your other amazing endeavor, the Digitalizuj.me project, another successful brand that has become an entire movement?

When we started Domain.me we understood that we need to unite and grow an internet community, which could in return support and grow our brand. So we joined forces with other influential people from Montenegro and we created the Digitalizuj.me NGO, with the intention of growing and supporting the local tech ecosystem through series of lectures and workshops.

Our main idea was to educate young people about startups and management with the focus on the digital world. This later on translated into another great project developed by Domain.me, the Spark.me conference, which has become one of the biggest technology and business conferences in the Balkans.

Attracting the leading names in the industry, Spark.me has inspired sharing and exchange of ideas, as well as helping to build a stronger digital community in this part of Europe.

As someone who helped creating three major brands and became a brand name herself, what advice would you give to your colleagues who are just starting out?

Well, first of all get rid of the old obsolete rules about branding. Just because you have a unique product it does not mean that public will want it. Emotions are key.

As someone who works in marketing, you need to be able to untangle the intricate web of human emotions that guide the buyers and to create a product that they desire, even if they themselves don’t know it yet. The next step is building the brand. Naturally, most of us do not have the access to big corporate funds for brand development, so how can we do it on a budget. We tell a story. A well told, truthful personal story surrounding your brand can be your ultimate weapon. Finally, create your own community of people who will become your brand evangelists and who you can advise in return. Domain.ME has a whole network of bloggers who are acting as brand ambassadors and spreading our story. It’s more personal than any advertisement could ever be.

In one of your previous interviews you mentioned a conference where 80% of participants were men. As someone who comes from a traditional society, what challenges have you faced as a woman on your way to the top?

IT industry has been male dominated for years, but we live in a new world, where I can say things are changing. There is still room for more women in our industry, but I have to say that the obstacles I have faced during my career have not been different in any way just because I am a woman. Any expert in my position would face the same challenges, and the key to overcoming them is patience and persistence, as with everything else in life. This is something that I had to learn the hard way, being a very temperamental person and having trouble when it comes to timely reactions.

I’ve personally had more issues with my traditional upbringing, and the ability to overcome some uncomfortable business situations. For example discussing kiss.me domain with five serious, older, male executives without blushing. These days I am used to dealing with all situations and people, considering that I spend at least one third of my time organizing and attending conferences, networking and promoting my brands.

Being a successful woman on the go, what are some things that you just can’t leave the house without?

Oh actually there are only a few, so I can always carry a small bag. For starters I can’t live without my technology. My IPhone and IPad are a must. If you are wondering why Apple, it’s simple, speed. Most of the time I need to do several things at the same time, from having a web conferences while making lunch to talking to my kids on my way to the airport, and these devices enable me to complete these multiple tasks without having to take a break. And considering that I don’t stop, you will rarely see me without my phone. Another thing that never leaves my bag is a pack of band-aids, ever since my kids were little, I’ve always carried one, and I do still, believe it or not my colleagues are quite grateful for this little detail.

Finally, what keeps you motivated to explore new professional frontiers?

I must admit that I’m happy to be in the digital branding industry, because it’s so dynamic and so full of opportunities for creative individuals. Potential success in realizing a unique idea is definitely something that has kept me motivated throughout the years; achieving something grander such as inspiring or educating other people along the way is a bonus factor.

Thanks to Natasa Djukanovic for the interview!

Sarah Green is a tech journalist and blogger covering the latest trends in the world of technology and business. Interested in startups, business innovation and entrepreneurial ideas, Sarah looks for the writing inspiration in the great work of tech industry professionals.

Videos are the best way to engage with your audience in today’s online world. It has never been easier to create videos and share them to the world, and, specifically, to your audience.

Businesses who use video are perceived to be more engaged with their audience – it’s a short cut to building rapport with your current and prospective customers.

But how do you get into the habit of being a prolific video creator? Here are 5 ways to easily generate video content to enhance your brand.

1. Make it easy and replicable

Firstly, you need an easy process for creating videos. The more complicated you make this, the more of a burden it will become, and the less likely it will be that you will bother. It needs to be easy to set up and quick to do.

Unless you have a spare few thousands of dollars lying around, make use of the surprisingly effective recording device you carry around with you – your mobile phone. With reasonable lighting conditions, your phone can produce quality videos with little fuss. You can pick up a simple stand for the phone or use a selfie stick (but don’t hold it – attach it to something).

2. Get the audio and vision right

You’ll be more inclined to share your videos if they look and sound okay. The first and essential item is a microphone. You can get a good quality phone lapel microphone for $50. Viewers will forgive poor vision, but not poor sound. Don’t rely on the inbuilt microphone. You will sound distant and amateur.

You should also find a spot that has some decent lighting. It can be sunshine, or just a well-lit room. Bouncing bright lights off a wall or the ceiling will soften the impact and diminish harsh shadows. But once again, keep it simple. The easier it is to do, the more likely it will be for you to maintain the momentum.

3. Streamline your systems

There are a few elements you can create once, and re-use for consistency and branding. For $5 on Fiverr.com, you can commission an animated logothat will immediately give your videos a professional look.

Keep any intros short – no more than 3 or 4 seconds. Your audience is there to be informed by your content, they shouldn’t have to endure a long opening that is just to promote your brand.

Also you can find royalty free music on YouTube and iTunes that you can use for your video openers.

4. Learn some new skills

Invest an hour or two in getting your head around the editing software that comes free with your computer. On a PC there is Movie Maker and iMovie is on a Mac. Editing is actually quite fun, although it does tend to take longer than you’d think.

As the business world embraces video production, you will need to be creating content to compete. It is worth taking a couple of hours to get your head around the software so you can easily create, edit and share videos for your audience.

If all else fails, find a secondary school kid (got any lying around the house?). They’ll be able to show you what to do!

5. Look out for topics to generate

You will have moments of creative proliferation. The ideas will come thick and fast and you will be able to record those videos easily. Of course, there will be other times when you’re busy, tired and the ideas just aren’t flowing. Keep looking for ideas. Jot them down on a note in your phone so you can check in on topics when you are stuck.

You should also build up a library of content that you have in store to release during the busy periods. You can add them to your YouTube channel as unlisted files and then make them public at the appropriate time.

Video is not going to go away. It is here to stay and it is one of the most effective ways to connect and engage with your audience. The sooner you embrace the sooner you can benefit from its power.

You can check out some technical mistakes to avoid here

Featured image via Geoff Anderson

Geoff Anderson

Geoff Anderson is the Managing Director at Sonic Sight a Sydney based video production facility; author of Amazon Bestseller “Shoot Me Now – making videos to boost business” and a presenter on using video for business. He has been working in TV and Events production for over 20 years. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Search Engine Optimisation – or SEO – is always a hot topic because it is so important – it allows your business to be found online with ease. It’s also been a hot topic because in the past, it’s been shrouded in mystery. It’s an area of business people need to be made aware of – if you get it wrong and Google penalises you, the consequences are dire.

In the past, SEO was a challenging game to play; a big industry grew around it which continued to perpetuate the view that if you were going to make it to page one on the search engine results page, you needed an expert who knew how to manage the search engine in the way that no ordinary digital marketer could. This is not the case anymore. Google wants transparency and actively discourages any smoke and mirrors search engine optimisation tactics.

So what is Search Engine Optimisation today?

Here’s a definition – Search Engine Optimisation is a set of techniques applied to your website so that the search engine (usually Google in Australia) recognises your site as relevant to a search query entered by the user. The search results that come from a user entering a search query is called a search engine results page or SERP.

The aim of SEO is to have the links to your pages appear naturally or organically on page one of the SERP. Consumer behaviour has changed, and these days we don’t usually go beyond page one of the search engine’s results pages to find what we’re looking for. If we don’t find what we want on the first page, we simply refine our search query or keywords. The position of the links on the search engine results page is a result of SEO techniques.

Why is Search Engine Optimisation the business of everyone in the business?

SEO and content are today’s dancing partners – the ice cream and jelly of digital marketing. The SEO process starts with keywords, and it’s no longer just the job of the digital marketing team to think about these keywords. Defining keywords helps a business understand what it represents for its customers – what value or solution the business provides to its customers and what business it is really in.

What do I mean by this? Here’s an example. I recently ran through a keyword exercise with a doctor for her general practice. We started with the big headings; womens health; mens health, etc. Then I asked – what do you do in these areas? The answer I got was thorough and technical – a lot of terms that I could not understand. The next question – if your customers were looking for that service, what would they type into a search engine? That’s when we get to the real value, finding the words that your customers would use to find your product or service. Only then can we build out a strategy for SEO and establish a framework that informs website navigation and where the content will go. Would the doctor have thought she would be part of determining the SEO structure for the buinsess? No, she didn’t. Will the GP be doing the SEO? No, she wont be. But as you can see from the example, she is an essential part of its success.

Any content creator in the business also needs to know the keywords for the business and the SEO strategy. In the case of the doctor’s business, that is going to include the receptionists, the practice nurse and the other doctors in the practice, all of whom write some form of content that will most likely be published on the website (as well as used in other formats).

Link Building is a lot like Public Relations

SEO includes ‘on-page’ techniques, using your keywords in the URL, page title, headings, content and images; as well as ‘off-page’ techniques, which is essentially having other sites link to your site. Anchor text are the words or phrases on the site that links to yours containing the hyperlink to your site. These should be your keywords. You can understand that “click here” or “learn more” won’t do a lot for you. Links and anchor text should always make sense to the visitor. This is a way you can assess quality. If a link or anchor text looks weird or out of place, like it doesn’t belong, then it doesn’t.

If your customers were looking for that service, what would they type into a search engine? That’s when we get to the real value, finding the words that your customers would use to find your product or service

Good linking is helped by having active social media profiles and publishing a quality blog that others link to. But it’s also simply a matter of ensuring that businesses and organisations that you do business with have links to your site on theirs. Look to your partners, organisations that you sponsor, your community affiliations. Does that university business school that your CEO just made a speech to have a link along with the info and pic about the event? Does that sports team you support have a number of links to your site? What about the sponsorship you make to the local training awards program, is there a link from their site to yours? You check and if not, you make the phone call or send the email and ask that the link be made and then you check again. If every organisation you partner with in a variety of ways over time included links from their site to yours, your off-page SEO would be doing well.

What can you do about making SEO the business of everyone in the business?

It’s likely that most people in the business, outside of marketing, have little idea of what SEO is, and even if they do, they won’t think that they have anything to do with it.

Here are my top five tips for increasing the focus of everyone in the business on SEO.

It starts with education. How this happens in businesses varies greatly but even the very simple “paper bag lunch” training session will go a long way.
During your training, avoid technicalities and keep it simple. Playing a keyword game is a great place to start. Choose a topic and have everyone come up with three different words or phrases that they would type into a search engine if they were looking for that thing. Run some live tests and show the results.
Demonstrate how other businesses in your sector are using keywords by visiting a few sites. Show page titles and URLs, as well as content, headings and subheadings and images for sites that have good SEO structure and ones that don’t.
Inform everyone what the target keywords are and benchmark your performance for those. After some dedicated keyword -focused SEO work, celebrate your success as you move up the rankings in Google.
Set a quality ‘link’ challenge. How many links can your team generate over a month or two?

What are your tips to encourage your organisation to focus on SEO?

Beth Powell

Beth Powell is the founder of Digital Marketing Club, a coaching and support program for marketers and non-marketers that provides direct answers to your questions about your own digital marketing and gets your roadblocks unstuck. She has become known as the go-to person for clear explanations about how digital marketing works and how businesses can use the various solutions to improve their marketing and grow their business. Beth is a sought after conference speaker and author of the soon to be published book “Drive More Business: A 5 step Guide to Digital Marketing for Auto Dealers”. For more information, email info@digitalmarketingclub.com.au.

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