Here’s a little story for you. Once upon a time, an editor sat at her computer and looked over her client list. Over the years, she had carefully kept track of who referred each of her clients, or how else each had followed the crumbs and arrived on her virtual doorstep. She was amazed to find this: after nine years in business, almost 75% of her clients had been referred to her by some other happy camper. One client had referred 14 other clients to her. Others, when they were satisfied with the work done for them, had the editor do work for each of their children. Still others sent their office colleagues or friends, some of whom in turn sent their colleagues or friends. Yeah—by now, you have guessed I’m that editor. And I am pleased to say these connections are the number one way I have been able to build my business. This is not just because I live in a small town where everyone knows my name. Many of these referrals have come from all over the country, and lately from … [Read more...]
Importance of Personal Brand in Marketing Your Business
My thanks to colleague and mentor Susan Finn, for rising to my call for guest bloggers! Her post continues the personal brand theme I started last month, with the importance of using a professional headshot. You probably think that you are in the business of ______ (fill in the blank: jewelry making, selling insurance, massage therapy, graphic arts). But really, you are in the business of marketing your business. Right now, there are people who need your goods or services. It is up to you to help them find you. Therefore, marketing is not what you do to sell your goods or services, it’s something you do FOR your potential clients. As we all know, with the internet, social media and the constant pace of 24/7 business, it is more critical than ever that a person or company brands and promotes effectively. Your personal brand, product or service might be the most awesome on the face of this earth, but if customers can’t find the value—the unique value—they are unlikely to … [Read more...]
Web Copy Redux
Got some helpful feedback on my Oct. 18 web post, WWW.What the Heck?, which attempts to talk about what makes good copy for your website. One person asked: How about some examples of good and bad web copy, Fran? OK—can do! It just so happens that a couple of years ago, I made a presentation to another group on the same topic. Here are the two websites I used as my examples, with the URLs and other identifiers of the guilty held back (in case they are your first cousins). I’ll just share the first two paragraphs from their respective home pages. Take a look at them and compare each to my points about being brief, using informal language, and getting to the heart of what your client cares about. Both websites are for companies doing home inspections. This one I don’t like—it uses we/you point of view, but it’s mostly about the company, not the customer. On the site itself, you can’t even find this text until you’ve “paged down” twice past too many uninformative stock … [Read more...]
WWW.WhatTheHeck? On Good Web Copy
Have you looked at your business website lately? Maybe you’d better. As a matter of fact, pull it up right now and look at it as you read this. How well does your web copy communicate what you want it to say? As Dr. Phil would say, “How’s it working for ya?” What I do often is write web copy for my clients. Web copy is different from the copy you’ll see in other types of marketing vehicles. We web surfers, well, we just don’t have the time to read a full sentence. So, you have only a few seconds to grab people’s attention and make your case, before they go on to the next site. Readers will ditch your site right away if they are: bored by your presentation confused by what you are trying to say overwhelmed by all the stuff you throw at them can't easily find what they are looking for So, make sure your site is written for your customers, not for your own entertainment. Here are some quick tips, supported by my gurus in web content like Robert W. … [Read more...]