Apologies, Systems, and Mantras Running a small business there are times when it seems like everything is going wrong. Something broke, you under-delivered, you sent ads with errors, you made someone mad and they left a poor review. The list goes on! When we started Connection Publishing, we signed a contract with North Ogden City to create their magazine. I knew we needed advertising support to launch the publication, so I worked every day selling ads. John Watson Chevrolet was our first advertiser followed by Big-O in North Ogden. We continued to add many great advertisers. I worked morning until night to secure these advertisers. I would get home tired, and worn out. As we approached our first deadline, my wife expressed her concern about how the content was going to come together. I told her I wasn’t sure, but I knew I needed to sell $10,000 in advertising before we could launch, so I focused there. We crept closer and closer to our deadline, and I was still feverishly selling ads. I am so grateful for those initial advertisers who had to take a leap of faith that we would deliver something entirely new. I didn’t even have a sample I could show them. At one point, my beautiful wife realized if she didn’t step in to help, we wouldn’t have anything to put in the magazine I was selling ads for. She assumed when we dreamed up this idea together, that she would be a passive observer supporting me from the background. Well, she stepped into the role of content gathering, writing, and helping, and hasn’t been able to quit yet. (Maybe someday, babe! 🙂) Once we got going, we worked really hard to grow the business. More advertisers came, then more cities, and of course, more people started working for us. As each of those “mores” happened, things got crazy from time to time. Things fell through the cracks. We made errors. The bottlenecks would often be me. Too much of our company relied on me to answer all the questions. Because the decisions became too many, we would inevitably fail, and I would find myself apologizing to my customers about what happened. This is not a fun activity. But with the number of times I’ve had to do it, you would think it was one of my favorite hobbies. It is not! However, owning up to your mistakes actually helps people like you more and trust that you will take care of them when things happen. The first thing that had to change was our systems. Systems Two things happened as we grew. First, I knew each time there was a bottleneck or a recurring problem, I would have to create a system to smooth things out. Those systems included adding software to help us manage content and ads. We started with Trello, which was awesome, but eventually, we needed a more robust system. We knew this after we published an article in the wrong city for the third time. —for the third time. BIG MISTAKE! Not only did I need to apologize, I also had to find a solution. This is how we found our current system, called Podio, and it’s been amazing. Another problem: Our proofing process was painful. So many errors were found after the magazines were designed. It took our graphic designer hours and hours to fix the hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of errors found after she had laid out the pages. Those errors resulted in needing to redesign stuff. Again, not fun, and a waste of time. We often missed stuff because our proofing process was ineffective and clunky. We found out our new software had automation workflow features we could use to set up workflows to make some things happen automatically. We also decided to proofread everything in Word documents before they went to the designer. Then, when we proof copy a second time before going to print, we’d be left with only minor corrections to make. Now, when an article gets put into our system, we mark it “Ready to Proof”. That automatically gets sent to our proofreader who fixes what needs to be fixed. Once the proofreader is done, they mark it “Ready to Design”, which automatically notifies its designer that the article is ready. This one change saved hours of work and made our magazines much better. Look at your processes, and ask if there is anything you might do to make it smoother. If there is a technology that might make things easier, use it. At some point, you will not be able to determine all of the systems yourself. Empower the people who are part of the process to find the best answers. I sometimes find my own ideas are lacking, so I ask my people, who often come up with much better solutions. People who are part of the process should help make decisions and create systems. Repeating Mantras Over and Over As we added more people, we found the need to make sure they knew how things worked. We put together a folder in our system and started recording (video and written) activities that might need to be passed on to someone else. Things like, how to use the software, how to upload something, and our writing standards. At first, all these systems were designed by me. As we got bigger, some of our people have stepped into leadership roles. They have each come with their own set of ideas, and they have added to our systems when they seek to optimize their part of the organization. Caring about everything that happens at our company, I struggled to allow others to make decisions. I would often make those decisions through them. I would say, “You're in charge, but make sure to run everything through me.” I didn’t want to let anything slip. At one point, there were too many decisions to make, which meant I started to lose quality of life because I had my hand in over 200 pages of ads and content every month. In addition to the thousands of small business decisions, a business owner makes each day. That meant errors happened and I had to learn it can’t all happen through me. I had to start trusting people, but at the same time, I wanted to pass along my vision and standards. That was very important to me. Our company, and our reputation. As a leader, I have found repeating the overarching idea over and over is a crucial skill for passing on principles. Here are examples of some things I repeat often: "We Create Connection!" This is our WHY. From day one and even the name of our company was inspired by the idea that we wanted to help create more connection in our lives and in the lives of the customers we serve. When we are making decisions, I often repeat to my team, our goal is to create connection. Does this effort create more connection for our readers, our cities, or our advertisers? This is a core principle so I say it as often as I can. “We Are an On-Time Organization!” I have said this so many times that it must sound crazy to our team. It came about because we struggled to meet our deadlines many, many times. We had to make sure people knew we were serious when we said, “We can’t accept your information late; it just won’t be in the magazine.” We also couldn’t allow employees to miss deadlines. Everyone needed to know and believe that we are an "On-time organization." As our leaders realized how important this is, they have now become part of our “We are an on-time organization!” mantra. They have put policies in place to ensure that we are on time. This is important to us because we have windows at our printers we can’t miss. They print us an average of 12mm pages every month. Which takes time, so if we miss the window, they will move other jobs in our place and we get even further delayed. We also promise advertisers their ad will arrive at a certain time of the month. Missing that isn’t fair for the advertiser who paid for their ad to arrive on time. “Who Do You Serve?” I use this to focus our attention on being a customer-centric organization. I think some companies come up with policies with decisions based on how to best help themselves. I think this is backwards. So does Jeff Bezos. He’s known for saying Amazon is the world's most customer-centric organization. This challenges motivations. If you are thinking about a policy change because something isn’t working, the tendency will generally be to serve yourself first. When making changes, I ask my leaders to ask themselves: Who do you serve? Does this policy serve them?” It changes how people respond to challenges because these questions keep the focus on serving customers rather than just yourself. Sometimes painful decisions have to be made, but if you make sure you’re doing your best to serve your customer, they tend to stay your customer. “We Have Integrity!” This one is important when you make mistakes. The key is to always own up to your mistakes even when they’re not entirely your fault. The buck stops here. I am responsible, even when we make errors, but I don’t feel like it's an error. As the decider, I’m responsible. There are times when the client doesn’t realize an error occurred. For example, say an old ad runs, but the customer doesn’t notice. Or, we overcharge a client, but they don't bring it up. When this happens, it’s easy to listen to the little devil on your shoulder saying, “Don’t do anything, no one will know”. The problem is, you know. Your people know, too. They will realize you only have integrity when it is in your favor. If you are going to have integrity, it’s all the way, or not at all. There is no such thing as partial integrity. When you make errors, make it right. I spoke with a friend about this recently, and she told me her daycare drops the price when a child reaches a certain age. Her child reached that age several months prior, but they hadn’t discounted her pricing. She hadn’t noticed and didn’t really care. She was happy with their service. They came to her and told her of the error, and gave her an invoice credit. She told them not to worry about it, and just start the new pricing going forward. The daycare center said, “We don’t do things that way. We will refund you. Thank you for being a client.” That company values integrity. You need to repeat your beliefs and standards over and over again. Let people know what your values are, and they will make decisions with those values in mind. A leader needs to allow themselves to stubbornly repeat those values, even at the risk of sounding like a broken record. One of my leaders, Robert, always says, “Proof your Podio!” at the end of meetings because he’s all too often the recipient of an unreadable post in our software, which makes him have to chase down the poster to clarify what should happen with the article or ad. This wastes his time because it could have been avoided if the poster had simply filled in the info properly. “Proof your Podio!” “What’s Next?” I learned this one when I was managing a direct sales team selling Cutco. When someone would call to check in, I would ask them what’s next. It keeps their thoughts on moving forward. This is a great one for sales people. It just gets them thinking about what is next. "Your Brain Listens to Your Mouth" I typically use this one with my kids. They say things that are degrading to themselves, or have super negative talk. I always remind them, "Your brain listens to your mouth!" I also have to use this one on the golf course, cause I definitely talk negatively to myself when I am playing terrible. I have started telling myself, I am only allowed to complain about my golf in proportion to the amount I practice, which is admittedly not much. Talk kindly to yourself because your brain does listen and it will believe what you say. "You Can’t Get Better Until You Start Somewhere!" This is one more thing I often repeat, even my kids hear this one. “You can’t get better until you start somewhere,” I say it to family, friends, and employees. You have to allow people to make mistakes. You can have limits on how many mistakes you can put up with, but when my people make errors, I don’t blame them. I blame my own training and leadership. I find people want to do well; they want to fulfill their responsibilities with excellence. As long as they are clear on expectations and goals, and with an understanding of your business principles, they will fulfill their responsibilities with pride. Most of the time, there are exceptions, but I find those exceptions to be rare. They must be confident you will back them up when they make an error and know that you will correct them with kindness when they mess up. Another one of my leaders told me when she first came to the company that I was direct but kind. I am not afraid to tell people when something is off or needs to change, but I try to do so kindly and with respect for the person I am talking to. I give them leeway because I need it too. Plus, they must start somewhere, or they can’t get better. Today’s post was a departure from my normal marketing-focused ones, but I wanted to talk about things I’ve experienced that can hamper your marketing efforts. Things can happen even if you have an awesome marketing plan executed by an awesome marketing team. You can still lose out on business without good systems and values. It’s tough running a small business, but leadership is a skill that can be learned and taught. This is something you’ll find yourself working on for the rest of your life, I know I am still working on mine. I hope these insights help your small business thrive. Let us know if we can help, because we know you are WHO WE SERVE!
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Learn how to outrank your competitors and show up when your potential customers need you most—when they are looking for you. If you were to get lost in the woods and come across a fruit-bearing tree, you would be so excited to find food. Since you are likely starving, you would likely immediately start picking fruit and eating. Would you climb to the top of the tree and try for the fruit hanging far above the path, or would you start with those delicious fruits hanging from the bottom branches which are easily accessible? I would start with the easiest first. Using SEO and SEM are the marketing equivalent of capturing the easiest-to-get business first. There are people searching for your product or service right now. If you don’t show up when they are looking for you, they will go to your competitors. It depends on your business as to how many people are looking for you on search engines, but it could be a significant number. Even if it is only a few, you need to show up where people search, when they are searching. There are two ways to do this. The first is SEO which is covered in this blog post today, and the second is SEM (Search Engine Management) which will be covered next month. Both work but think of SEO as the long-term play where SEM is quicker and can generate leads as soon as tomorrow. We offer both at Connection Media Co. Let us know if you need more leads. I have had 3 clients recently tell me that our paid search efforts are their number 1 source of leads. This is important, don’t underestimate how this could help your business. Search Engine Optimization or SEO in simple terms, is convincing Google or other search engines that you are relevant to the person conducting the search. Google understands its role is to give us what we want when we search and that we are happy with what we find so we come back and ask them again next time. If I was looking for a mortgage and it brought up a loan officer in Colorado, I wouldn’t trust Google results very much. Again, Google wants to give us what we want, so we trust them and continue to use them. For local SEO, search engines look at a lot of factors, but here are some of the primary factors. #1 Proximity-- Are you located near where the person is searching? Map apps on our phones are becoming the number one search engine for local searches. People aren’t going to websites anymore, they are just going to the map, searching for what they want and either clicking the phone number or clicking for directions. This makes managing Google google and Apple Maps of the utmost importance. That is why we added that specific product to our lineup last year because we wanted to meet customers where they are looking. Let us know if you want help with maps. #2 Authority--Do you actually do what someone is looking for? Are you trusted in your industry? Does your website contain proof of your expertise? One of the best ways to do this is by blogging about your expertise, and by understanding and using keywords to make sure search engines like Google and Bing can see that you are an authority in the industry. We can also help you get consistent blogging information on your site. We have 5 on-staff writers who are excellent at this. #3 Relevance--Do people get what they were after when they do find you? This is why when many people “bounce” or immediately leave your website it can hurt your SEO. It tells the search engine that they didn’t find what they were looking for on your site. They are also looking for new content. If your content is 10 years old, they don’t know if you are even still in business, or if your site is just still hanging around. #4 Technically Correct--There are some things that Google asks us to do to make sure your website will work well and feed their engines’ information well. Here are some examples of their requirements.
Maps SEO is a little different. This requires some of the same efforts, but it is also heavily tied to your Google My Business profile and category selections. Maps don’t use keywords, they use broader categories and are heavily influenced by reviews. We can help with this, too. With either of these approaches, you must make the effort continually. If you don’t, you will be impacted by competitors who are making more effort than you are. You might rank well right now, and then two to three competitors come in and do a better job of showing their relevance, and suddenly you are outranked. Making this an ongoing investment is a wise choice. Ranking well in local search results will attract nearby customers. Your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) must be consistent. Consistent NAP data across the web boost local search rankings. This means not only on your site, but also directories, linking websites, and anywhere else you might be listed. Consistency is key. Reputation Management is also crucial to online success. What are people saying about you? Again, Google wants people to get what they are looking for, so they will weigh the sites and listings of companies that treat their customers well. There are many solutions out there to help with reputation management, and we can also help you here. The best piece of advice I have for you with regards to your reputation is to answer negative feedback. When you messed up, admit it, apologize, and tell the person, publicly, how you are going to do better going forward. When you get incorrect or unjustified negative feedback, don’t get into an argument. Just say you’re sorry they had a bad experience, and that you are going to adjust something or simply that you are aware of the situation. No one expects you to be perfect. They want to know that you care though. Never let a bad review just hang out there with no response. Say something, and keep it civil. If they are combative, be the bigger person. Keep calm and type with a smile. Backlinking: Backlinks are just outside websites that link back to your website. Here is why those links are important as generated by ChatGPT.
Media companies have large audiences. If you can get media – free or paid media spotlights on TV, Radio, Blogs, Podcasts, Newspapers, and Magazines—all are great sources of media coverage. Linking that coverage back to your website, or social media, also adds a ton of credibility to your site and you. Often media coverage can also be a powerful marketing tool that is perceived as content, not just advertising. When I have spots on TV it is usually my use of the piece afterward that is more valuable than the piece itself. It shows relevancy and personalizes me as a business person. Plus, it only shows up in the media once, if I repost it on my website and social media, it lives for a long time. It can influence a future customer even years down the road. This will also help your website’s SEO. Your social media can lead people to your website with the right strategy, further boosting your relevancy and traffic. When you have a business, I find you usually have time or money, not typically both. If you have time you can do these things on your own; if you have money, you can hire someone to do it for you. We would love to be your marketing company. We have so many great solutions and we are happy to talk about your goals and challenges. We'll do our best to help you rock and roll! Please forward this email to anyone you know who would benefit from learning about these ideas. You can subscribe here. The world is moving at the speed of light, and the greatest need business owners have in marketing is not just about selling products or services anymore. It's about crafting a narrative, fostering relationships, and maneuvering through an ever-evolving community and digital landscape. So where should you focus your efforts?
The greatest need I see that business owners have in marketing is establishing an effective strategy. This involves understanding your WHO, defining their WHY, and then employing the right marketing to the right channels. Then you need to be consistent with your messaging. Your WHO Today's consumers are not just passive receivers; they're active participants. So a successful marketing strategy begins with a clear understanding of your target audience. From demographics to psychographics, understanding your customer is key. Do they prefer reading long-form blogs or are they more inclined towards quick video content? Are they more active on Instagram or LinkedIn? These are the questions that need answering. Research is key to each step here. The better your research, the more successful your marketing will be. Choosing the Right Marketing Channels There are an overwhelming number of channels at a business owner's disposal. Social media, email marketing, SEO to PPC or SEM advertising, Print, Video, geo-targeted, keyword targeted, the options are many. The challenge lies in picking the right channels that will reach the right target audience effectively. Creating Compelling Content We're living in the age of content overload. Cutting through the noise and grabbing the consumer's attention is one of the biggest challenges that businesses face. That's where the importance of creating compelling, engaging, and unique content comes in. It actually starts with your titles or your hooks. The same video was posted to YouTube several years ago. One has currently received 27 million views, while the other is at 7,700 views. The only difference is the title or HOOK on these videos. Here they are to demonstrate the difference. Which one would you click on? 7,700 views 96 Million Black Balls delivered to make LA First Floating Cover 27 million views LA throws 96 million 'shade balls' at its water shortage — and it's mesmerizing If you learn how to make great titles or hooks, you can make your business thrive! Compelling content must also follow, but the hook is most important. Think about the title of this article, did it make you want to read it? Titles matter. Consistency in Messaging No matter the channel, consistency in messaging is crucial. It's about creating a brand voice that resonates with your audience and sticks in their minds. Consistency leads to familiarity, and familiarity breeds trust. Whatever you advertise and wherever you do it, do it for the long term and be consistent. The Digital Revolution and Business Marketing The digital age has transformed how businesses market their products or services. It's no longer enough to simply advertise that you are open for business. The key is to leverage digital platforms to engage with consumers and create memorable experiences. Become part of the content they love to consume. When you become content, it doesn’t seem like ads. Social media has emerged as a platform for you to publish your content. Instagram stories, Twitter threads, Facebook groups, LinkedIn posts, and more, businesses can interact directly with their consumers like never before. Use these channels to tell your story over and over again. The Importance of SEO Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a vital tool in your business's digital marketing. There are people looking for you right now. They might not find you if you aren’t doing SEO. Consumers turn to Google for every little query, businesses that master SEO can ensure they're always in sight and never out of mind. Email Marketing - A Tried and Tested Strategy Despite the influx of numerous digital marketing channels, email marketing remains a steadfast strategy. It's a direct line to the customer and when executed correctly, can result in high engagement rates. Video Marketing - The growing giant If you are not using video in your marketing you are missing out. Video consumption is up over 250%. People are spending more time on their devices watching videos. To get in front of them, you must do video. Lots of ways to use video, but first you need a content creation plan and then implement video ASAP. Print - Oldy but a Goody Print is not dead, it has just changed. Science is still in favor of print. If your WHO reads your ad or sees it on paper, you will have had a greater impact on their ability to remember your brand and know what you do. Print does it better than anything else. The key is to find out if your target audience is reading the print publication you are advertising in. FAQs: The Greatest Need in Business Marketing What is the greatest need business owners have in marketing?
Why is understanding your WHO or target audience crucial in marketing?
How can a business create compelling content?
Why is SEO important in digital marketing?
Is email marketing still effective?
How can consistency in messaging benefit a business?
So, in answer to the question, "What is the greatest need business owners have in marketing?" - In a constantly shifting community and digital landscape, business owners must stay abreast of trends, understand their customers, and communicate effectively. We would love to help you if you need it. Connection Publishing is rebranding to Connection Media Co. Please let us know if you need help with any of these topics. We are the local specialists in Ogden/ Weber, Layton/ Davis, and Brigham City/ Box Elder communities. Level Up Your Local Small Business Marketing Strategy in 5 Simple Steps (Recommendation Engine)6/10/2023 Running a small business is challenging by itself. Figuring out how to market that business on top of everything else you are doing can be rough! Should you do digital marketing, print marketing, TV, radio, billboards, or email? How about SEO and Pay Per Click? How do I build my brand and generate leads? Will my website convert? How much should I put into organic social media versus paid social media advertising or boosting? And then what are you going to do next month? Dadadadada… It is a complete mess. Many business owners I talk to say they hate it so they just, buy ads here and there, hire an SEO person who charges them monthly for techno babble stuff that they hope works, and have one of their employees post to social media every week. Does this sound familiar? In this article, I am going to take the mystery out of the whole process and give you the tools to make a plan and execute it simply and effectively. This simple 5-step strategic marketing plan will make your life easier and more efficient. First I want to share with you one of my favorite new things that we have now at Connection Media Group. What if you could use technology to find out what type of advertising your competitors and similar businesses to yours are using nationwide? Not only what they are buying but also what they continue to buy in renewals. Then it could analyze the costs of those types of ads and recommend where you could focus your ad spend most efficiently—would that type of information be useful to you? This technology exists. Right here at Connection Pub. In the last year, we’ve grown from a local magazine company to a full-service digital marketing company that helps businesses in Ogden, Layton, Brigham City, UT, and surrounding areas fulfill the multiple layers of marketing that are essential for getting noticed in today’s busy, noisy world. We also had an advertising technology company build us the exact program I was just talking about and it is called the Recommendation Engine. It is a powerful tool that we can use to understand where best to recommend our customers spend their marketing budget. We also have creative teams that will help you create messaging and imagery that will get your target audience’s attention. The whole point of marketing is to get and keep attention. Bring in more clients and money. This simple 5-step strategic marketing plan will give you the edge and make your life much easier. Do this once per year and you will be extremely happy with the results.
That is ok. If you are a business owner, I would prefer to see you make the best widget or provide the best service possible! That may mean you need to have someone else help you with marketing. This doesn’t mean you should hire someone and just forget about it. You should gain a basic understanding so that you can ask the right questions about what you are doing and if you are getting a return on investment for your marketing dollars and have your team handle the rest. This simple 5-step system for making a Strategic Marketing Plan is the best way for a small business to start and succeed in its marketing. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments or shoot me an email. Also please share this with someone you think would benefit from this plan. CategoriesWHY do your customers do business with you? Defining your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).6/2/2023 In last week's article, we talked about defining your WHO.. The ideal and most likely customer you work with. Once you know your WHO, it’s time to determine their WHY. Most business people know their personal WHY. That’s the “why” you got into the business you are in, or “why” you work for your company. That’s not what we are talking about when we talk about determining your customer’s WHY. Your WHO’s WHY will be the reasons they like doing business with you. A restaurant owner might say, we made an open, modern, inviting atmosphere at our restaurant, but your customers might say, I go there because the view at night is so perfect, and their rolls are my favorite. You might not know this unless you ask, but you need to know their WHY so you can market directly to them. I saw a Unique Selling Proposition yesterday at Walgreens. It read, “On The Corner of Healthy and Happy.” This is an excellent example of thinking about what people who shop at Walgreens value. Walgreens are always located on very busy and convenient corners. Walgreens is a store with a focus on health, which is why they put “Healthy” first in their statement. The more common language would be happy and healthy. By reversing it, they identify their primary focus while implying that by shopping there for your healthcare needs, you will also be happy. In the Roof Maxx dealership I own with my son, I recently asked him what percentage of homes he inspects are too worn out for a RoofMaxx treatment. He told me about 20% of the roofs he gets on are too far gone. We made the ad you see pictured here to speak directly to our audience. “8 out of 10 roofs can be saved!” This is why its a great ad. Our WHO are men, 55+ who are maintenance-minded. They also like keeping things nice for as long as possible. They enjoy classic cars and saving money. With that in mind, it’s likely this group might be thinking about their roofs after a recent wind storm, saying to themselves, I wonder how much longer I have with this roof? To pique their curiosity, we say 8 out of 10 roofs can be saved. The ad is meant to trigger the thought, “I wonder if my roof could be saved?” Then, we say, a Roof Maxx treatment is a fraction of the cost of a new roof. This drives the action to learn more and call us to see if it’s possible for their roof to be saved, and 80% of the time it is. When creating ads, you should think about your WHO, and then craft your message with their WHY in mind. To make this easier, we have put together a WHY worksheet. It gives you a framework for determining your customers’ WHY, and to help you write a successful Unique Selling Proposition (USP). You can find it here. Getting noticed as a small business with a limited budget is one of the biggest challenges you probably face. My guess is that you need more money and more time. The goal of this newsletter is to provide you with some cheat codes that will save you time and money while making your advertising efforts more effective. If you are in a business that has many competitors, it is easy to get lost in the crowd. I often hear from businesses like this who simply just want to get noticed. On the other hand, if you are in a business with no competitors, you probably face the difficulty of educating people on what you actually do. Your customers might not even know they need you, or what to search for to find you. Both of these scenarios will be greatly benefited by the activity of defining your WHO. The first step in being an effective marketer, is to define your WHO. My guess is you have at least a vague idea of your WHO, however, you are probably way too broad on who you would add to that list. The more narrowly you can define this list, the more effectively you can speak to them in their language about things they like. When I talk about defining your WHO, it is not merely about identity or superficial demographics, it is specific and detailed. It is about understanding what drives your best customer to like and pay for something. Your WHO has an identity and the closer you can get to knowing exactly who they are the better your advertising and messaging will work. It will also determine where you advertise. Let's say you are one of many mortgage brokers in that profession. You could say your WHO is anyone who has or needs a mortgage. This is way too wide. You could narrow it down to one segment of the population, for example, maybe it’s first time home buyers. Much better, but still not narrow enough. If you are a veteran and you love working with veterans, maybe your target WHO is active military members who work at a nearby base who are also first time home buyers. Now, you have a specific target that is narrow, and more importantly, who you can speak to authentically. Once you have narrowed this down, do it again, and then, go narrower. This is easier to do if your audience matches you in some ways. Like-minded people who resonate with your values and ideas. You want to make a community of these people. Seth Godin defines this as your tribe. The closer you are to this group the more your messages will reach and influence them. This becomes even easier by defining your WHY. We will talk about that next week. I own a RoofMaxx Dealership with my son and we have defined our WHO like this. Men, Age 55+, who own a home and are maintenance-minded. They tend to like classic cars and believe in keeping their home and yard in tip-top shape. They also tend to like sports and politics. This is our primary audience. Our WHO. Does that mean we don’t have women or younger people calling us? No. We have them too, but our marketing is targeted towards our WHO. We also have a 1972 Chevy that we drive around and use in our advertising. We focus on the benefits of rejuvenating a roof rather than replacing it. We also put ads in places where our WHO audience spends time. We even enter the truck in car shows with our logo on its door to increase brand awareness in addition to playing advertisements during sporting events. This is step one. You will hear me repeat this over and over. Once you have defined and narrowed down your “Tribe”, you can start to decipher what would attract that person to listen to you. Use the WHO worksheet to define your WHO. Why would they want to do business with you? That will be next week. |
AuthorRyan Spelts Archives
September 2023
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