Tell your audience why you're worth their time

Once you've figured out why you're using online marketing, who you're talking to and what you want them to know, you have to convince people to pay attention. One thing business owners overlook when they ask people to sign up for their email newsletter, like them on Facebook or follow them on Instagram is sharing what's in it for them.

What are you giving your audience?

You need to figure out what your audience values and what you can give them.

There is too much content online for people to spend time reading things they don't care about. That means you need to really understand what your audience is looking for and give them that.

It's about them - not you. The happier you make them, the more likely they are to spend money with you down the line. You're building a relationship with your audience where they value you, your expertise and your content.

How do you know what they want?

You need to figure out the perfect blend between what you want people to know about you, what you're trying to achieve and what they want. It can be tricky to navigate this, so here are a few examples:

For me, I share content. I sell my knowledge, but I also give it away. Why give it away? People who follow me online are looking for knowledge and by giving them some for free they a) believe I know what I'm talking about, b) get a taste for what they could get by paying to work with me, and c) start to appreciate what they got for free and think of me as their go-to person.

Another example would be someone who sells cooking tools. Their audience wants to cook. What can they share with them? Tips on how to cook efficiently, recipes they can make, tips on cooking for a family or cooking for a party. They are giving them information that their audience wants while reinforcing that they sell great cooking tools that can make cooking even easier/better.

A third example would be a personal trainer. They need to convince people that they know what they're doing, share tips on things they can do now on their own, and demonstrate that they understand the demographic they want to work with. If they love to work with new moms, they need to share photos and articles about being a new mom, fitness for a new mom, understanding the difficulties of fitting fitness in as a new mom. That messaging, the articles shared and the things new moms would want to work on are very different than that of say a 45-year old man looking to get in shape.

Putting the pieces together to provide value for your audience, while not forgetting what you're trying to achieve can feel overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. By breaking down each piece and then pulling them together, your marketing message will become clear.

If you need any help brainstorming, book one of my 45-minute coaching calls and I'll help you work through it all!

Create Facebook content by theming your days

We talk a lot about the value of having a plan when you’re creating content. Today I thought I’d talk a bit about how having themes for every day of the week for your Facebook page (or any of your social networks) can help you come up with content quickly.

What do you want people to know about?

First come up with some messages that you want to share with your audience: 

• Do you want people to know that using your product will save them time?
• Do you want people to know that you cook amazing meals that are healthy? 
• Do you want people to know that you’re an expert in renovating kitchens? 
• Do you want people to know that hiring a realtor is better than trying to sell their house on their own?

Create a list of broad categories of things you want people to know about you – just 2 or 3. This is going to help make sure that what you’re sharing is helping you achieve your goals.

Assign a certain kind of content to each day of the week.

For example:

Sundays you can share an article from someone else. There are all kinds of people writing incredible content that back up what you want people to know – that healthy food made from scratch is good for you, that exercising every day is important, that selling your home independently won’t always save you money. Spend a bit of time right now finding four articles that talk about something you believe in that would be of interest to your audience.

Mondays you can share a tip. Spend some time writing down four tips that would help your audience i.e., cooking tips, marketing tips, productivity tips, etc. 

Tuesdays you’re going to feature something from your website.  Go and browse around your website - what are some interesting things you want people to know about? Is there a page that tells me why I should buy something? Is there a testimonials page? Is there a free tool I could download? Find four interesting things and save the URLs for those pages and explain why people should be interested in having a look.

Wednesday ask a question from your community. Maybe it’s something about their favourite products or tools, or maybe it’s something about how they overcome certain challenges. Jot down four.

Thursday we’re going to play with Throwback Thursday (#TBT). Do you have old photos in the archives? Pull up four and quickly tell the story about a great event, about your first year in business, or about how much technology has changed since you opened.

Friday share an article from your website. You probably have all kinds of great content on your blog. Go find it and share it again – it’s still relevant. Pick four now.

Saturday we’ll go with something lighter because people like light on the weekend. Are there any jokes or comics you could share? I’m a fan of going to Pinterest and typing in key words to find stuff like that to share. Find four of these.

Do you see what I did there? If you find four of each of those things, you have a month of Facebook content already written and ready to schedule. It will take an hour or two most likely, but once completed you will have great content ready for the entire month!

Leave me a comment and tell me what your daily categories would be and if you think this would work well for you and your content creation! 

Don’t assume people understand

Are you introducing a new program? Running an event that’s going to be amazing? Offering all kinds of incredibly valuable products and services that nobody is buying?

Sometimes we need to take a step back from what we’re doing to make sure that we really and obviously explained to people what’s in it for them to buy or take part in something.

Figure out the key value points

First, think about what the main value is of what you’re offering. What will people get or what problem will it solve?

Try to come up with three to five things. It could be that they’ll learn something, it could be that they’ll feel better, it could be that they’ll meet like-minded people. Having these values in writing will help you get better at selling. 

Share that information in detail somewhere

Now you want to really explain the value. This is where a blog is really useful. If you don’t have that, a product page or a post on Facebook or on other social media networks will work.  Write out in about 500 words (this is more of a blog post guideline) what the value is. Break it up in much the way this post is done with sub-headings that jump out (download our free infographic on the key parts of a great blog post).

Value one – two to three sentence description explaining how that will translate for them.

Value two – what is going to change for them as a result of taking part or buying your product.

Value three – what tangible learning point or thing will they get out of buying? 

Use plain language 

Sometimes one of our biggest weaknesses is not realizing that other people don’t understand the way we speak. As much as possible, break things down as simply as possible. Try not to think of this as “dumbing down” your content, but instead think of it as making it easy to read quickly and simple to understand. 

How plain and simple your content is also depends on who you’re talking to. If you’re offering an advanced class in something you’re going to speak in a language that makes it clear that this isn’t for beginners, but take the time to think that through. You want to ensure that people don’t feel overwhelmed when they’re exactly who you’re hoping to have take part in something.

End with a call to action

One of my biggest weaknesses in business in the past has been to tell people all about the things that I do, but fail to make it clear and easy for them to actually start working with me. I think that’s something a lot of people feel uncomfortable with and worry feels pushy. 

Here’s the thing though – people often don’t think to take the action you’re hoping that they’ll take. You need to make it as easy and straightforward as possible for them to do the thing you want them to do.  

State the call to action – Download this free infographic now,  sign up for the class now <insert a link for them to sign up>, buy this amazing widget here <insert a link for them to buy>. 

By clearly explaining the value of what you’re offering and making buying or taking whatever action you want them to take as simple as possible you are far more likely to convert your readers to customers.  

Leave a comment and let me know if you have anything to add or experience with making this work!

Invite your customers to tell your story

There is little more powerful than someone else telling people what you do, or that you’re good at it. That’s why testimonials are so important. But there are many other ways that you can get your customers to help tell your story, both to their friends, and to yours. Today I’ll run through three ways that you can get your audience talking about you, creating powerful content, and taking some of the pressure of creating content off of you!

1) Create opportunity and reason to check in

Whether people are using Foursquare, Facebook, or Instagram, you want them to check in to your location and let their friends know they’re there, and you want to make it as easy as possible for them.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you’re set up on all of the different apps so that when they try to check in, you appear. If I’m out and want to share my location with a picture, and the location pops up for me to tag, I do it. If the location doesn’t show up, I don’t. This is easy to do on Facebook (by putting in your address and making sure your page is listed as a place), and adding your location to Foursquare makes it available both there and on Instagram as well. On top of making it easy for people to check in, be sure to encourage them to do so - either by asking them to check in, or…

2) Have contests

Contests are a great way to get people to share content for you. Put up signs in your location or promote them online to get people to share photos, stories or quotes that have to do with your business. Create a hashtag that then ties all the entries together and that leads people back to your site or business.

Here are examples of the types of contests you can run:

Ask people to Tweet or Facebook their favourite thing that you sell. Let them know to tag you or use a specific hashtag, like this company did:

The contest will encourage people to post photos like this:

or this one:

Ask a social media question for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card with a hashtag that corresponds to your business (i.e., #AskWellmanWilson)

3) Ask for their story

People like sharing their story and are often willing to do it as long as you ask. There are many ways to do this:

• Ask them to write a sentence or two describing what they like about your company or your product.
• Ask for a guest post that details their experience with you or your product.
• Send them a questionnaire they can fill out and then post their answers as an interview.

Being the voice of your business and telling the story of your brand is made easier when you invite your clients and customers to join in. Our next blog post will give you some of the benefits that encouraging your customers to tell your story can bring.

What are some other creative ways you’ve seen businesses invite their customers and clients to tell their story?