Business 101: Holiday Marketing Brush-up – 10 Ways to Clean Up Your Marketing Copy
When was the last time you reviewed your marketing copy? If it’s been a while since you last breezed through it, now is the perfect time to review and refresh for 2011!
10 Ways to Clean Up your Marketing Copy (A Checklist):
#1: Check Messaging – Chances are your company has evolved and so should your messaging. Perhaps you realized that being the lowest price on the block didn’t work with your high value, high service culture.
Check your core messaging and adjust to reflect your current positioning. Often it doesn’t require an entire rewrite – just a thorough edit.
#2: Verify Market Conditions – Does your positioning relative to the current industry trends and/or market conditions reflect the actual current conditions?
If you help companies manage exponential growth, that may change drastically during a recession, for example. Instead of managing growth, shift your copy to focus more on mitigating risk or preparing for the next upswing.
#3: Update Language – Does the hip and trendy lingo referencing the “World Wide Web” sound outdated and old fashioned? Unless you are going for retro sarcasm, the old-fashioned lingo just makes you sound out of touch.
Update the language to reflect the most commonly used (plain language) terminology.
#4: Check References – Do you use any statistics or independent studies to back-up your claim? Chances are that astounding factoid from 2003 is a little less amazing nearly 8 years later!
Review your studies and sources for updated statistics and industry projections. Even if you don’t reference the date, outdated references may no longer be accurate.
#5: Update Product and Service Offerings – Did you expand to include any new products or services that you just haven’t had a chance to add into the marketing yet? Now is the time!
Add any new products and services and delete any that you no longer offer or are working on phasing out with the exception of past clients.
#6: Review Testimonials – Does your marketing copy include testimonials? Confirm the company name hasn’t changed, the person giving it still works there and that what they say about you still fits.
Consider replacing your testimonials with new ones your company has likely outgrown the old ones anyhow.
#7: Check Links – Does your marketing copy include any links to other sites, such as links back to media coverage or client case studies? Take a few minutes to click through your outbound links to check for outdated or broken links.
#8: Update FAQs – Do your Frequently Asked Questions reflect the actual questions you get from potential customers? Often the FAQ page is written when a product or service is first launched and it’s the best guess at what the commonly asked questions will be.
Take a moment to review the questions and compare to the actual questions you hear again and again from potential customers.
#9: Review Team Profiles – Do your team profiles look more like high school yearbook cutouts? It’s time for a new photo and profile (or at least an updated version).
Check for title changes, update role descriptions, share new key accomplishments and update levels of experience.
#10: Ditch the Dull – If you haven’t just plain done a refresh on your copy in a few years, it’s time to update it, even if everything is technically accurate. Because you find it dull and stale, your potential customers will too!
Momentum Monday: Worried About Your Business Taking a Holiday Too? 9 Ways to Keep the Momentum Going Over the Holiday Season
‘Tis the season for retail business and if you are lucky enough to sell that must-have top pick of the year for under the tree, then ‘tis the season for you! For everyone else, chances are business slows down over the holidays.
Let’s face it – decision-makers pack up and go on vacation, budgets get put on hold until the New Year, and the office focus turns to festive decorations, Christmas parties and holiday hub-bub.
It’s definitely time to take that much-needed break and recharge, but before you close up shop for the season, consider how you will keep the momentum going over the holiday season so you are not starting from square one in the New Year.
9 Ways to Keep the Momentum Going Over the Holiday Season
#1: Festive Outreach – Share the spirit of the holidays with a handwritten holiday cards or even better, hand deliver a holiday basket to your top clients.
#2: Final Follow-up – Take 15 minutes every day to connect with the people on your hot prospect list. Send them a thoughtful note or give them a call to wish them happy holidays. The purpose is to get on their radar and schedule a follow-up for the New Year.
#3: Schedule Coffee Dates – You know all that in-person networking you put off when you were overloaded and overwhelmed? It’s time to catch-up with old contacts over a spiced something latte. It’s amazing what comes out of simple conversations. Chances are you will leave the festive face-to-face with a new idea or lead to follow-up on.
#4: Plan your New Year Launch – Don’t wait until January 1st to start planning your 2011 launch. Get it ready now so you’ll be ahead of the game while everyone else is getting over their holiday hangovers before planning their launches.
#5: Clear Out Inventory – Out with the old before in with the New Year. Get rid of your old and outdated inventory for a massive discount so you can start 2011 off with a clean slate.
#6: Holiday Sale – Just because you don’t sell holiday-related products doesn’t mean you can’t hold a holiday sale. Boost your end of year sales numbers by offering special bundled packages or discounts for prepurchasing.
#7: Start Seeding your Marketing – Don’t wait until you NEED the sales to start marketing. Even if you are in prelaunch, you should be seeding your marketing by dropping hints to your newsletter database or letting your best customers know what’s coming in the New Year.
#8: Survey your Customers – When in doubt, ask your customers! Send out a survey to find out exactly what they want in 2011 and start planning on how you can deliver it.
#9: Map it, Plan it and Schedule it – Don’t get caught with nothing but good intentions for ideas that need weeks or months of lead time to implement. Map out your marketing, plan each step sequentially and schedule in the deadlines and milestones.
Momentum Monday: CEO Bottleneck Syndrome – 7 Ways to Build Accountability for Yourself
Oh entrepreneurial CEO…how you love to control, know and dabble in every aspect of your business. It’s probably how you started out, working the org chart of one, every detail carefully managed by you. But if you want to move beyond a business built for one, you must stop being the bottleneck.
Letting go is a common challenge when stepping into the role of a true entrepreneurial CEO (and now just someone who happens to work for themselves). The key is hiring talented, capable people and getting out of their way. That’s where CEO bottleneck syndrome becomes a problem.
You finally hired the help you so desperately needed…about 6 months ago, but who’s counting? You created roles and responsibilities that match their talents and get them excited about working for you. Now it’s time to hand over the keys.
AND you will as soon as you update that internal document they need to build the product manual and type out the list of article marketing sites you would like to write for and send them a summary of how you would like that new project to roll out…and so on.
You my entrepreneurial CEO friend are a bottleneck.
Delegating the last 5 or 10 percent of a project or a task is not delegating – it’s making someone’s life miserable as they wait for you to get your act together. But who can tell the boss to hurry up and get stuff done? Not them. It has to be you.
7 Ways to Build Accountability for Yourself
#1: Front End Load – Instead of setting up the project to require your input throughout, front end load your involvement so you won’t cause a bottleneck when you get busy with other priorities. Invest the time upfront to sketch it out in detail, even if to you that means a brain dump with your team taking notes.
#2: Problems, not Solutions – Give them problems, not solutions; questions, not answers. Believe it or not, people like to be challenged. Before you had help, you had to find solutions to every single problem. Now it’s time to let your team support you with their knowledge, and creative ideas.
#3: X Marks the Spot – Think of your job as providing a destination, not driving directions. Give your team an objective, and the key parameters and ask them to get there.
#4: Deadline for Input – If you really, REALLY must have the final say on something, give yourself a deadline for input. If you miss that deadline, instruct your team to assume it’s okay. I guarantee you will miss a few deadlines and it will go ahead without your input and you will realize that everything will be fine or the need to have a say will force you to find the time to get it done.
#5: Share Working Documents – Let your team look over your shoulder by setting up a centralized location for working documents. That way you can continue to work on it at your leisure without denying them access to the information until it’s done.
#6: Build in Follow-up Time – Let’s face it – if deadlines and deliverables were enough to motivate you, you wouldn’t be the bottleneck. Instead of stressing out over tasks you don’t have time for, build in the time following meetings to handle your to-do’s…immediately!
#7: When all else fails…Set up the company equivalent of an incomplete task ‘swear jar’. If you don’t get your stuff done, you are buying drinks!
Family Friday: The Slow Walk Home – The Art of Conversation with your Kids
Sometimes the best moments in life are the simple everyday moments, the ones you tend to skip by without noticing. Not because they aren’t remarkable because every single day with children is full of wonder, but because we’re too busy thinking about what to cook for dinner, the list of errands left undone, or the next big idea.
For me, that moment is walking my daughter home from Kindergarten. It would be easier to pick her up in the car and zip off a few quick errands or stop off at the grocery store for the milk we ran out of yesterday, but then I would miss the most important moment of the day: the slow walk home.
Kicking stones in our path, no place in particular to be at any particular time – sometimes quietly watching the seasons change, but more often giggling and stepping on each other’s shadows. What I love about the slow walk home is holding hands with my daughter and hearing the stories.
“Today, we were playing basketball in gym and I threw it up and it missed and it bounced and hit me in the head.”
“Today, we went to the library and we learned how to put the marker in when we get a book.”
“Me and so-and-so played kittens at playtime.”
Zen and the Art of Conversation with Your Kids
#1: Make a Slow Walk Home a Daily Routine – It doesn’t matter if it’s a walk or a mommy and me play date or a trip to the bakery for a cookie – what is important is doing it every day.
#2: No Questions, Just Listening – What makes the slow walk home so special is hearing about their world as they see it. Avoid the temptation to rattle off questions, “What did you learn today?” Save those for dinnertime and let the conversation unfold.
#3: Try to See the World with Child-like Wonder – Put yourself in their shoes and try to see the amazing newness of the world the way they do.
#4: Be Silly – Stop being the parent and be the Champion Shadow Head-Stomper or the Super Tickle-Finger Monster.
#5: No Agenda, No Worries, No Distractions – Don’t book anything after, stop thinking about what comes next and leave your connectivity behind.
Wishing you and your family a happy, joyful wondrous Family Friday!
Momentum Monday: Are You Giving It Up to a Guru? How to Take Advice without Losing your Power
Are expert gurus the cult leaders of our generation? Most self-professed gurus would argue not, saying that they are simply “helping” people achieve success, realign with their life purpose or whatever the fix-it flavor of the week happens to be.
It’s not their fault that after they write a book, speak on stage or put on their coaching hat and start doling out advice that they get labeled a guru. How can you blame the guru? After all, it’s the followers who choose to follow the advice – the guru is just the facilitator.
Ignore the fact that they built an empire doing just that. Charging upwards of six figures to learn their secret formula. Promising that you are just one $25,000 mastermind payment away from your dreams. Insisting that you MUST follow their advice if you want to succeed.
I’ll bet if you asked a cult leader, the answer would be quite similar. They would tell you their purpose is to simply help people. They would argue it’s up to their followers to decide whether or not to follow. They would question why you blame them that their followers so generously reward them for their good deeds.
Whatever the reason and whoever the source, it’s a dangerous dynamic to give up control and unthinkingly follow what another person tells you to do. That being said, expert advice often helps us fast track our learning curve and avoid serious mistakes.
How to Take Expert Advice without Losing your Power
#1: Filter – Like your mother used to say, “Take it all with a grain of salt”. Filter any and all advice regardless of the source – your best friend, a guru, or the fancy pants strategic consultant you hired to help put together your business plan.
#2: Trust your Instincts – If it sounds counterintuitive, it’s time to start asking A LOT of questions. Often we ignore obvious warning signs that it’s bad advice because we assign a special status to the so-called expert.
#3: Look Beyond the Lesson – More often than not the advice is a specific example intended to demonstrate a general principle. Follow the principle instead of trying to shoehorn your situation to fit the specific example.
#4: Ask for Specific Input – Instead of giving the coach, consultant or expert carte blanche to step into your business and wave their magic wand willy-nilly, ask for specific advice suited to their expertise.
#5: Measure your Results – Build accountability into the expert relationship by weighing and measuring your results. If it isn’t working, perhaps there is a way to adjust the approach to better fit your specific circumstances, but if all else fails, maybe it’s time to acknowledge that you followed bad advice.
The BIG Idea File: Sidewalk Chalk versus Social Media – Does It Really Have to Be a Battle of the Medium?
Whenever the impossible happens in politics, journalists and political analysts struggle to explain why. Their readers want to know how the underdog pulled off a come from behind victory against the clear favorite. Their answers varied widely, but a common thread included hushed whispers of social media.
It’s true much of the success of our fabled underdog can be attributed to a successful social media campaign targeting younger voters and tapping into a new source of public awareness, but what many forget to mention is all the other traditional media he used to get the word out and drive record-breaking voter turnout.
Social Media isn’t a Panacea – It’s a Medium to Get Your Message Out
Now I am no political analyst or even a reasonable hand-drawn facsimile, but I know good marketing and record voter turnout in a city known for voter apathy in support of our underdog took good marketing.
How did our underdog pull out a from behind victory? Simple: his message was everywhere – from social media to sidewalk messages reminding voters to vote (and to vote for him). The lessons in marketing are everywhere in that campaign, but here are a few gems to take away:
#1: Message Matters – Do your homework on what your target audience needs and wants and focus your messaging on addressing those pain points. All style and no substance doesn’t have the staying power or the social media share factor so spend time crafting a solid value proposition.
#2: Integrate Social Media – Don’t think of social media as a replacement for other marketing channels, like outdoor signage or traditional advertising, because not everyone communicates via facebook, twitter and YouTube, but if a segment of your target market uses social media, it’s important to integrate those channels into your campaign.
#3: Leverage the Traditional – If there is a marketing medium that everyone in your industry uses, don’t attempt to be noticeable in your absence. Social media is not a replacement for traditional marketing channels.
#4: Remember the Unusual – Marketers flock to social media because it’s free, but so is sidewalk chalk. Don’t let the glamour of online marketing overshadow other clever marketing and publicity stunts. The purpose of marketing is to create multiple touch points.
#5: Match your Message to the Medium – Just as you wouldn’t attempt to spell out your entire platform in sidewalk chalk, don’t try to shoehorn a traditional marketing approach into social media. Every marketing platform has its own internal rules – find ways to work within, not against, the medium.
Business 101: Top 10 Worst Marketing Mistakes…EVER!
It’s not me, it’s you – well, your marketing. The problem is that people just don’t get it. It being what you do, why it is interesting to me and why I should even bother to read on.
Top 10 Worst Marketing Mistakes EVER!
#1: Too Vague – Um? If your target audience doesn’t get it right away, they move on. Often we assume our target audience knows and understands what we are talking about. Be specific even if you are marketing to friends and family.
#2: Too Much about YOU – People don’t buy because you won awards, or because you do good deeds or that your grandfather started the company back in 1863. People buy because of them and what they need (that you happen to solve). Focus your marketing on them and their needs because that’s what they care about.
#3: Features, not Benefits – Quite simply a feature is the technical whatever the thingie-ma-jig does what it does what it was designed to do. A benefit is what the thingie-ma-jig does FOR them. Skip the what and focus on the how it makes life easier, better, simpler.
#4: Just Plain TOO MUCH Information – Whoa Nelly – slow down there on the marketing! It’s a fine line between giving enough details and overloading your prospects with too much information. Tie your marketing to your sales process and give enough information for them to take the next step and that’s it!
#5: Relying on a GLIB Tagline – Like wind through the willows so goes my understanding of what the heck you are talking about. Skip the artful turns of phrase and poetry and stick with plain and simple language.
#6: Too Cutesy – It’s just super that you are using a superhero theme to leap over the competition in a single bound – just don’t overdo it or your marketing hero will become a villain.
#7: Dull and Boring – Get creative with ways to make your content interesting and relevant to your readers. Even the most technical topic can be jazzed up with interesting factoids put in relevant terms (think measurements to the moon).
#8: Too Pushy – Don’t try to jump to the close before you build the relationship in your marketing. Walk your potential customers through your marketing before asking them to take the plunge.
#9: Unclear Call to Action – What do you want your prospects to do next? Click to buy? Call to book a free consultation? Be specific and clear exactly what you want them to do next and how to do it.
#10: No Contact Information – Follow the golden rule – if you want people to contact you, you need to give them your contact information.
Momentum Monday: Why a Daily Routine is Mandatory for Working at Home – 5 Rules for Work-at-Home Productivity
Somehow working from home is synonymous with overlapping business and personal tasks. Let’s face it – that’s one of the perks of the job!
What other workplace gives you the freedom to play Go Fish with your 4-year-old on your morning coffee break or gather up the laundry during that never-ending conference call?
So why is it that the same freedom we love derails us, and pulls us into a whirling vortex of distraction? The call to the vet about the weird pus coming from the cat, filling out the school forms due Friday, booking dentist appointments, and about 3 million other miscellaneous tasks that go along with the ‘home’ half of working from home.
That is the reason YOU (and I and every other busy working mother) need a daily routine.
5 Rules for Work-at-Home Productivity
#1: Be purposeful about your ‘autopilot’ activities – These are what you default to when you don’t have anything scheduled. If you don’t choose, it gets chosen for you and before you know it, you frittered away an hour.
Create autopilot routines for in-between tasks. For example, your get started routine may include a 5-minute communication check-in, and a quick review of your calendar and task list.
#2: Know your key objectives – Start every day with a clear picture of exactly what you want to accomplish that day. These are your 1 to 3 must-do’s that you WILL finish that day.
Your key objectives isn’t just about creating a list of tasks and must-do’s, it’s about getting results. Consider what you want as outcomes from your activities.
#3: Pay attention to your energy levels – Match your daily work routine to your energy levels and schedule your creative focus time or project work for your peak potential hours.
So for example, if you are a morning person, start your day by tackling your big elephant projects and save your administrative busy work for low energy periods in the afternoon.
#4: Set clear personal boundaries – More important than communicating your boundaries to others is setting personal boundaries for yourself. Think of it as a list of ground rules.
A few suggestions are no personal telephone calls during your office hours, except for emergencies, no television EVER, and no casual chitchatting with friends or colleagues.
#5: Batch administrative tasks – Tackle that 8-mile long laundry list of to-do’s in designated administrative work blocks. Bundle similar or related tasks together to maximize efficiencies.
For example, designate one day a week as your banking day where you handle all tasks related to banking and payments for both your business and personal.
Want to get more done every week? Tune into Momentum Monday bright and early Monday mornings and set the tone for your entire week!
The BIG Idea File: New Twitter – Do the New Features Mean Changing your Old Social Media Strategy?
“Man, Twitter – you’ve changed. You’ve changed BIG time.”
As a work-at-home mom who loves nothing more than to settle into my home office and work in the comfort of my pajamas, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are the perfect way to promote my business and network with likeminded people.
No need to de-shmoo (the technical term for removing anything food-related from your clothing or accessories), no need to drive, park, and then smile and nod, no need to worry about the noise from the cartoon channel or the risk of a sudden temper tantrum.
So when twitter announced it was overhauling its interface, adding a lot of new features and functionality, I was curious about whether or not the new features would add or detract from the blissful networking-in-your-pajamas experience.
The New Features of New Twitter
Embedded Media – New Twitter now lets users view embedded media without leaving twitter. Currently New Twitter only pulls embedded media from its partner sites. That list includes DailyBooth, DevientART, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.TV, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, Twitpic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Vimeo, yfrog, and YouTube.
New Twitter Embedded Media Strategy:
- Continue tweeting links to your web site as always. New Twitter doesn’t pull embedded media from sites other than its partners…yet.
- Use the embedded media feature to get your message out or increase views of a video by promoting your video content via a partner site.
- Add pictures to your link tweets to increase visibility and click-thrus. Bonus for Etsy-sellers is New Twitter automatically pulls in product pictures.
Related Content – New Twitter promises to deliver more related content via the details pane. One click shows additional content related to the author or the subject, including @ replies, other tweets by that user and tweets related to a subject hashtag.
New Twitter Related Content Strategy:
- Tag your tweets with popular subject hashtags to increase the likelihood of people finding you ‘accidentally’.
- Create buzz around a link to entice users to use the backtracking feature to find and click on the original link.
Mini Profiles – New Twitter has added a quick view feature for profiles. Click a username to see a mini profile in the details pane without navigating away from the page.
- Update your bio to tell potential new followers why they should click the follow button. Include personal details, not just the boring condensed version of your elevator speech.
What do you think? Will New Twitter bring third-party app users back to the Twitter nest? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Momentum Monday: Get MORE Done – 7 Ways to Boost your Productivity
It isn’t how much time you have in any given day that matters. It’s what you do with it that counts.
#1: Focus FIRST – It’s tempting to start your day with distractions like checking in with social media or peeking at your inbox to see if any urgent messages are waiting for you. DON’T!
Start your day by tackling a task – big or small…it doesn’t matter. Starting with purpose and focus builds momentum, which makes you less inclined to get off track when you finally do check in with the outside world.
You owe it to yourself to start your day with you (even if it’s just the first 30 minutes)!
#2: Single task – Does your workday feel more like a ring-three circus with kids tugging on your sleeve, clients and colleagues ringing and pinging, and all the other alerts, beeps and chimes going off every second of the day?
Create boundaries during your official office hours, turn off the communication tools, and mute all the alerts and FOCUS on one task. You will be far more effective with 30 minutes of focus time than 2 hours of juggling.
The rule: one time block, one task. Learn it, love it, live it.
#3: Make the minutes count – So what do you do when you are waiting for a conference call to start or a meeting to show up? It’s that ‘in-between’ time where you can really get stuff done.
Not big stuff, but the little stuff that sucks your time during your focus time. Keep a running list of quick to-do’s in your task list. It can be anything from a quick phone call or writing a follow-up email.
The rule: as long as it’s something you can accomplish in less than 5 minutes.
#4: Simplify, automate and delegate – Look for opportunities to eliminate steps, find shortcuts, and remove unnecessary complication. Take your brain out of it by using technology and templates to automate.
Then you are ready to delegate because you won’t be overpaying for steps that could be simplified or automated.
#5: Use a timer – We all know that we work better (and faster) under a pressure. Set a timer (and stick to it) to create that sense of urgency to complete the task in less time.
The tendency is when we have more time, we fuss over details, redo and rethink.
Set the timer and go – get it done.
#6: Learn your tools – The majority of end-users only ever use about 10% of the functionality and yet the other 90% is where you will find all the cool time-saving stuff.
Invest a bit of time in learning the in’s and out’s of the tools you use on a daily basis. Watch a quick video tutorial, buy a “For Dummies” book or ask your power user colleagues for their best tips.
You will thank me later. I promise.
#7: Read Momentum Monday – Consider it your weekly reminder to pay attention to your daily habits and build momentum. Sometimes we even kick it up a notch and give you that kick in the ass you need to get back on track.
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- I love that @AlyPain tells it like it is --> STOP Blaming Your Children - Why YOUR Failure Isn't THEIR Fault - http://t.co/LPo51mgI
- Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, "Make me feel important." ~Mary Kay Ash
