Category: a slice of STRATEGY

Pure, unadulterated strategy: marketing, brand positioning, & entrepreneurial wisdom. New trends with staying power. Old standbys with inarguable value.
What to embrace, what to avoid, and what to attempt — with steady discernment.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Are you giving too much away?

Posted on by Maria Ross
Don’t be afraid to give them a taste

Recently, someone wrote to me and asked: 

“Maria, how can I differentiate my services without actually ‘giving it all away’ in the marketing and sales process? It’s literally like pulling people out of The Matrix: unfortunately “no one can be told what the Matrix is – you have to see it for yourself.” So I spend all this time ‘explaining the disrupter’ to explain and  differentiate myself – but then I’ve given everything away.” 

Trying to understand how to give away “valuable content” (aka, content marketing) to get your audience to know, like and trust your brand can be confusing. If I share all my secrets, you worry, why would they even need to pay me? 

It might feel like you’re telling them everything, but if the only expertise you have to offer can be given away in a few posts and free eBooks, I’m worried that you may have chosen the wrong profession! True experts know there is so much more they can possibly share. It’s okay to tempt with a few tasty morsels. When you do, you create more trust in your brand and expertise. 

Here’s what is actually going on: You feel like people already know “the basics” of what you do. So you may think you have to give away the good stuff. Au contraire.  

Don’t discount sharing the basics as part of your content marketing strategy. What is basic for you is a revelation for others who are not as skilled in that area. People will realize there is SO MUCH more that they don’t know – and they need your help. 

Here’s a very personal example: I wrote a book, Branding Basics for Small Business, that gives entrepreneurs and business leaders a DIY, bare-bones version of my consulting process. They can build their own brand strategy using some of the actual questions I ask. 

But I still get paying clients. For a few reasons: 

1. As I said, this is bare bones. Working with me is a richer experience, we dive into deeper questions, I probe further, and we deliver polished recommendations and messaging (they have to come up with that on their own with the book!) This will be true for you, too.  

2. There is always a volume of clients out there who think they want to DIY but then can’t/won’t. They know they need the experience: the hand-holding, the accountability, the creative insight and wisdom that only YOU bring. So they buy the book – and then they might hire me anyway to get things DONE. (PS, I am that person) 

3. There will be those who will never buy from you anyway. Great. They can take the free stuff and not waste your time. But then there will be those in #2. So give them a taste and they will want to engage more deeply with you and benefit from your focused attention. 

Don’t be afraid to give away a piece of what you do to better explain your work and offer a taste of your style, philosophy, and smarts.  (TWEET THIS!)

You have a lot of expertise and knowledge. Years. Perhaps also years of education, certification and lessons-learned.  You couldn’t possibly give it all away, even though you think you might be. And even if you reveal some goodies, your ideal client wants you to tailor your advice and coaching to their needs – so, in the end, they will hire you. 

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

How a Chocolate Éclair Makes You A Better Marketer

Posted on by Maria Ross

Ever thought about why you dive into a chocolate éclair (or mint chocolate chip ice cream, or a bag of jelly beans…name your guilty pleasure!) 

I mean, it offers so much, right? Maybe you’re hungry. Maybe you had a bad day. Maybe you’re celebrating a big client win. Maybe you’re having coffee with a friend and want to share a bit of decadence together. Maybe you just think it looks gorgeous (an adjective I love to apply to food). 

Hunger. Comfort. Reward. Friendship. Beauty. 

There are many different reasons that could have driven you to that purchase decision. And it may be a different from my reason for buying one in line right behind you. 

Your reasons for indulging in this culinary creation are your buying drivers.  

The chocolate éclair’s benefits need to speak to those buying drivers…or you won’t care. 

What does this have to do with marketing and messaging your offerings? EVERYTHING. Because if you are trying to sell me a chocolate éclair as comfort food for my bad day when I want to celebrate a big win, I’m gonna pass. That message just won’t speak to me. 

Determine the benefits your ideal customer craves and speak to those when you talk about your work.  (TWEET THIS!)

There are lots you can choose from, to be sure. This is why understanding your ideal client at an intimate level can help you narrow it down to what is most relevant and important for them. 

Don’t talk about cost savings if I only care about top-notch quality. Don’t talk just about weight loss if I care more about fitness and health. Don’t talk about how complicated your process is as a way to prove it’s amazing if all I care about is ease and simplicity. Don’t talk just about how hopeless and sad is your cause if I’m looking to donate money that will offer hope and impact.  

Know your audience. Speak to their buying drivers. If you don’t know what they are, ask them. Amplify the benefits they care about the most, not the ones you think they need to know. 

Make sure the benefits you offer match up to the buying drivers of your target customer. Otherwise, you need to tout different benefits or find a new audience who cares about the ones you want to promote. 

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

How Brand Benefits Define your Position

Posted on by Maria Ross
Do your benefits attract the right customer?

Choosing the right lead benefits for your brand messaging dictates which customers you will attract. And a pair of hospital system giants in the San Francisco Bay Area exactly prove this point.

Why this is even more amazing: healthcare advertising is the WORST. Most of it talks about the exact same things and offers no real differentiated position for customers. In my advertising days, we used to joke that, with any hospital billboard or TV spot, you could just swap out a logo and it would be the exact same one as any other hospital in the country.

Here in SF, UCSF and Dignity Health are two separate hospital systems.

UCSF has gone big with promoting their commitment to advanced technologies and treatments. To their doctors’ experience and the medical breakthroughs that they are a part of every day. 

Their tagline: Redefining possible.Their ads and billboards, as this campaign video suggests, focus on technology and offer hope based on what science can do for medicine’s toughest challenges. They have created a brand that showcases them as leaders in medical advancement. If you want cutting-edge treatments for complex problems, go here.

This is one of my favorite ads, for UCSF’s Benioff Children’s Hospital.

Dignity Health differentiates itself based on the human experience. Their ads focus on how extraordinary acts of kindness create miracles every day. They have created a brand that if you want to be treated as a human, and not just a medical test subject, go here. Their tagline: Hello Humankindness.

You MUST watch some of these ads (get ready for all the feels!):

How far would you go for someone?
Kids playing hockey
We can face anything together
Is there a hero is all of us?

Both work as complements in the market, because they both claim a different space.

Obviously sick people care about getting well. But some people care more about the science and technology aspects. Others care more about their experience being treated as human beings.

Clearly, patients want both. But these different brand strategies each claim a separate space based on the main motivator (or buying driver, if you can call it that in healthcare) of their target audience. 

If your primary concern is getting cutting-edge treatment to achieve the impossible, and you care maybe a little bit less about how nice your doctor is (not that UCSF’s doctors are not nice, but if that is not your primary motivation), UCSF will appeal more. I think of data-driven thinkers, those comfortable with risk, those early adopters who want the latest science and technology.

If your primary concern is the patient experience, and you value that above all else to help you get well, Dignity Health will appeal more. This could be someone who had a traumatic experience at another hospital, or someone who knows they really need their hand held. Doesn’t mean Dignity Health’s quality of medical care is not also excellent, it just means they are more attractive to someone who cares more about kindness, respect and well….dignity.

Neither position is wrong or right. But each brand position is super clear on who they are talking to.  And that is why they both work.

Honda and Porsche both sell cars but they sell to very different drivers with very different motivations and needs.

Your brand must claim its space in a crowded market as well. And you do that through the brand benefits you choose to lead with. (TWEET THIS!)

Who is your brand talking to? What benefits do you lead with? Are you taking a position that people can clearly understand or can any company just slap their logo on your website and no one would be the wiser.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

3 Ways to Give Your Marketing More Charisma

Posted on by Maria Ross
Ready to jazz up your marketing?!

You know that killer accessory you have? The one you feel in love at first sight with at a random boutique years ago? You wear it with everything to give your outfit a pop. It makes a statement.

People take notice.

The great thing is, you can add this piece to simple sweater and jeans and like magic, you’ve added some pizazz to your look.

Your marketing and messaging needs to be the statement piece for your business.

Yes, you can describe exactly what you do and give people the price list before sending them off to the Contact button……zzzzzzzzzz….I’m already bored.

Or you can spice things up and add some charisma!

Charisma means “compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.”

You want your work to attract the right people.

You want your work to charm them and inspire devotion so they become loyal customers and raving fans.

So launch a charm offensive! If you want to attract customers and generate revenue, your marketing needs some charisma. (TWEET THIS!)

But with all my talk of making sure you have a clear, consistent message, how do you do that?

Here are 3 tips for how to add more charisma to your marketing:

  1. Be human. I’ve said this one many times before. You have a unique way of talking and your marketing messaging needs to connect with people on a human level. Write like you talk. Ditch the jargon. Explain things in a way that intrigues them, lures them in or speaks exactly their language.  You can still tell someone you are a “financial planner” but talk about creating a happy, healthy, wealthy life on all fronts, not just financial. Or that smart financial planning now means realizing your dreams later. This is much more interesting than, “We’ll help you decide the best places to invest.” You can still tell a prospect that your software will help them manage their recruiting and talent management with integrated data and access to API’s, but you can also talk about helping companies and talented workers make a lasting love connection or that your software takes the hassle out of keeping track of all your candidates so you don’t even have to think about and no one falls through the cracks.

Being human in your marketing does not make you look unprofessional. In fact, let’s put that to bed right now. Professional does not have to equate to boring, stiff, jargon, robotic. It means competence, confidence and accountability. You can be all those things and still speak like a human.

  • Find rich, luscious, delicious words: You get my point. Expand your vocabulary and stop using every adjective you’ve ever heard your competitors use before.  Consult thesaurus.com and find better words for what you’re trying to say. It’s like adding exotic spices to your spice rack! Instead of “flexible” how about “We roll with the punches.” Instead of “effective” how about “compelling, potent or powerful”? Instead of “help” how about, “advise, nourish, encourage”? Choose words that rev up the senses: words people can see, hear, taste. Use these words in your brand marketing to create mental imagery for people that excites them.

If you feel like jazzy writing is not your strong suit, that’s okay, Hire a gifted copywriter to help you add more charisma at precisely the right points in the process. For as much writing as I do, I’ve even done this for my own marketing (because sometimes you just can’t see it for yourself) and it’s made a WORLD of difference.

  • Leverage the power of video: What better way to connect your business to millions across the globe than through the power of video? More than words on a page, video helps you make a human connection (there’s that humanity again!) and enables people to see the real you or people behind your corporate logo. You Tube is the second largest search engine. Let people typing in how to do something find YOU there explaining it to them! Jazz up your static website with a welcome video or customers raving about you in video testimonials. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Your iPhone is one of the best cameras on the market. Just start. I’ve been trying to do more of this myself over on my YouTube channel (subscribe now if you’re not already!)

The key takeaway is that like anything else in life, you have to be interesting if you want to capture attention. And “charisma” is subjective. What might seem charismatic to software developers might not be to ad agency creative directors. Know your audience and you will find the best ways to lure them with your charms!

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

How to Be a Classy Competitor

Posted on by Maria Ross
Competition Can Be Classy

When the world is too much for me and politics, current events, work or just plain mean people are getting me down, I seek peace and joy in baking.

Well, not literally. I mean The Great British Baking Show.

It was once called The Great British Bake Off but a trademark issue with Pillsbury forced it to change names when it came over from the UK to the States. Perhaps you’ve caught a bit of it with initial judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry (best names ever), and then later with Paul and new sidekick Pru Leith – all well-respected, famous fixtures on the British baking and cooking scene. And the hilarious hosts (for comic relief) who narrate the happenings and in equal parts tease/encourage the contestants.

Why do I love this show? Not just the ridiculously amazing creations these amateur cooks make, from patisserie to scrumptious fruit pies, to ornate wedding cakes, to savory pasties and mouth-watering crunchy breads.

The show is a competition. And it’s beautiful and glorious.

And apparently, I’m not alone. No backstabbing. No diva drama. No ruthless camera asides when their fellow competitors are not watching.

Just a group of ambitious people doing what they love, and making sure they show their very, very best.

Some will help each other when things go wrong. Others will provide a little advice to someone who is not quite sure of the end result (this often happens with the technical challenge, where contestants have no idea what they’ll be asked to make.) One episode even found an ICU physician bandaging up a fellow contestant who had sliced his finger with a sharp knife.

This is how classy competition can be.

You can be classy and still want to win. (TWEET THIS!)

No one needs to tear anyone else down to build themselves down. They let the creations speak for themselves. And they celebrate each others successes, often giving a little wink or silent cheer when another person’s work is judged well by the experienced hosts.

And, more importantly, all this compassion and support does not mean each contestant does not want to win. Some of them are very competitive.

Forget ugly American reality TV shows (except The Voice, which I think does a similar nice job with this). People can be supportive and ambitious. Kind and competitive.  They can learn from each other and celebrate their successes.

We just need to change the script that defines competitive success.

More articles you may like on how to change the way we look at “competition”:

How to Understand Your Competitors Without Falling into a Jealousy TrapWhat Are Your Competitors Secrets? Here’s How to Find Out

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

How to Build a Sales Funnel

Posted on by Maria Ross
How to Build a Sales Funnel - man proposing

“Hi, nice to meet you! You’ve never heard of me before but please click this button/take my business card and spend over $1000 on my products or services.”

The underappreciated skill of marketing is to take a customer on journey. One where they get to know you, assess your approach/values, evaluate how you can solve their needs and compare you against the alternatives. This sales cycle can happen in 5 minutes (rarely, unless you are chewing gum at the checkout line: a low-risk, low investment impulse purchase) or more likely, if you sell high-value goods or services, anywhere from one to six months. For some enterprise software firms with deals worth more than $500,000, this could take even longer.

I know, I wish it could be easier, believe me. You write a clever social media post, create a slick sales page or run one compelling ad and…BAM! New buyer.

Please stop proposing on the first date! Prospects need time to learn about you, know, like and trust you before they are going to invest their money and time. (TWEET THIS!)

Most of you don’t sell $5 items, but more expensive products or professional services.

When was the last time you parted with more than $100 when you met a brand for the first time?

To take a prospects on the journey, you need to build a marketing funnel. Or as I like to call it, do some good ole’ fashioned wooing and create a courtship plan.

Here are 5 ways to build a sales funnel so prospects can get to know, like and trust you before they buy:

  1. Offer a safe, no risk way for them to get to know what you are all about: an easily digestible free guide, white paper, or short video. This should be packed with value and not immediately lead to a hard sell, as they are still getting to know you. You are welcoming them to your world, so make them feel comfortable. Dating analogy: Don’t talk about how many kids you want or ask someone to meet you parents on the first date.
  2. Make each call to action or next step crystal clear: While the next call to action from #1 should not necessarily be BUY NOW, what other step should they take in the journey to get closer to a purchase? Perhaps ask them to invest some more time at a webinar or an event. Or ask them to sign up for your email list so you can deliver valuable content on a consistent basis and prove your expertise. Dating analogy: Plan some fun dates and keep things breezy and casual for a while…but make your intentions known that you are serious about building a long-term relationship.
  3. Offer multiple touch points: Building an automated follow-up funnel and getting them on your regular emails is great, but make sure you also have air cover (also known as brand marketing!) Are you posting regularly to social media? Are you doing a few ads every now and then so you stay top of mind? Are you booking speaking engagements or media? Combining your lead funnel “ground game” with the “air cover” of brand is a winning combination for prospects to start getting more comfortable. Dating analogy: Know any friends who can talk you up to your new crush? Or how about sending some flowers, an article you think they might like, or a “thinking of you” text so you stay top of mind between dates.
  4. Follow-up: Don’t leave people hanging. I can’t tell you how many vendors I wanted to spend money with, but I got busy and they never followed up. If you had a conversation or they attended a webinar and asked a lot of questions, be sure to promptly follow up and ask what they thought, what specific challenges they face, why they attended your training or downloaded your guide. You can automate this with emails or if you have strong analytics and can segment out the really interested folks, reach out directly with a personal email or call. Dating analogy: If you say you’re going to call the next day after your date, CALL!
  5. Make it easy for them to buy: When you get to the purchase phase, tell them what to do to seal the deal. Offer options. Ask for the sale (gracefully). Clients want to be led and they need to know what to do to say yes. Make sure your directives are clear: What button to press, where to click, what the contract process looks like. Dating analogy: When we are ready to commit to someone, what do we do? We pop the question: Will you marry me, or will you move in with me? Don’t assume they know that’s what you want!

For more advice on this topic, you may enjoy these past articles:

How to do content marketing right (3-part series)
The Art of Seduction: How to Woo Your Audience with Great Content
How to Build a Sales Process and Close More Deals
4  Tips for How to Sell Without Selling Your Soul

And did you know? Sales funnels that effectively use video marketing can greatly increase your customer conversion. Check out this article on How to use videos in a sales funnel for high conversion from Studiotale, to know more about employing videos in your sales funnel.

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

7 ideas for how to make tough decisions

Posted on by Maria Ross
7 Tips for Making Tough Decisions

We very rarely, if ever, get to make a major life decision and live with it as reality – before it is undone. We often wish we could “try decisions on” and then turn back the clock if we change our minds.

Why? Because it’s one thing to talk about a choice and quite another to actually DO IT.

This is a rather personal story about what it’s like to feel a real decision and then have it unmade.

In 2011, I found out I was pregnant. It was completely unexpected, as I just happened to go to the doctor for my annual physical and told him I was late. “Let’s run a pregnancy test to be sure.”

I half-listened to the doctor’s voicemail, knowing it would be negative.  “Your test came back positive. You’re very early, about 5 weeks, I’d say, but congratulations. Let’s talk about next steps.”

You must understand the current state of affairs. My husband and I had talked about kids but were not even close to a final decision. I’d had a major health crisis a few years prior and, in the aftermath, we leaned toward no kids. Still, I always wondered what it would be like. Sweet cuddles and fun adventures balanced with sleep-deprivation and no more freedom to take off at a moment’s notice.

But there was no way to predict how I would actually feel if/when it happened.

Until it was real.

I vividly remember driving to lunch to meet a friend that day with a new found sense of safety to do the speed limit. And wondering, “How do I do this? Who do I tell first?”

Mind you, I had left my husband a message that I had something to talk to him about at home. But no way was I going to drop this bomb over voicemail.

At lunch, it felt weird to tell my good friend, but good to share it with someone. Me. A pregnant woman?! Between our shock, we giggled.

As the excruciating hours passed before my husband got home, I settled into the idea. No more imagining. This was happening. How did I feel? I sat with my emotions in this new reality for about 8 hours before my husband knew anything. Panic. Excitement. Shock. But the overwhelming emotion? Joy. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Then later that afternoon…

Some light bleeding. Maybe this decision was being undone right before my eyes? Fear. Dread.

My husband came home and I told him. But with a caveat that “this might all be going south.”  He reeled from the shock but also expressed concern about me.

And then….it all unraveled.  Light bleeding turned to heavy turned to emergency doctor calls and then finally, that last callback where a total stranger, the on-call doctor, said out loud what I dreaded to hear.

Two days later, an exam at the doctor’s confirmed it. There had been a very early pregnancy but it was over now. No baby.

The decision had been undone. 

But it gave me what I needed to be sure about my choice. And now we have a beautiful almost 5 year old boy.

This story is not just about the 48 hour pregnancy. It’s about how we make decisions.

And what we really want when we have to make especially tough ones is to understand how our final choice will make us feel. (TWEET THIS!)

We rarely get visceral certainty. We can only speculate with what we know right now. We really wish we could marry that guy, start that business or take that job and get a taste of it before we truly commit.

We often cannot.

We have to examine both choices from two angles:

  • How will I feel if I do make that choice?
  • How will I feel if I don’t make that choice?

You don’t often get the luxury of emotionally and physically stepping into that reality before you decide. So you have to do your best to imagine. But even that can trick your brain, because I’m telling you, the emotions I felt that day were not even close to what I imagined.

So what can we do? Short of being able to go back in time…

Here are 7 ideas for how to make a tough decision:

  • Gather the right information. Get enough data to make a balanced, informed choice… but then stop. There comes a point where you start simply seeking data that confirms what you already want to do!
  • Use pro and con lists wisely. Such lists are okay as inputs, but they’re not a useful decisioning tool, so say Chip and Dan Heath in their book Decisive. We often construct those lists with an existing bias. And sometimes that one pro is worth way more than all of those cons (or vice versa!)
  • Get a similar perspective. Talk to people who’ve been through it and probe about their before and after. Especially if they possess a similar worldview to yours. But remember, they are not you. You are not them.
  • Trust your gut on how you may react if it happens….and if it does not. When you tell yourself “This is happening” or “This is not happening” take note of your physiology and mood.  Sometimes, you actually already know!
  • Ask others to notice for you: When you describe the dilemma, ask your friends to notice how you talk: voice pitch, facial expressions, body language They may tell you that you are already pointing out all the negatives of one option, or that your face lights up for the other.
  • Make all things equal. Great for deciding between two options. Ask yourself what you would do if most things were equal. For example, when faced with two different kindergartens for our son, one close to our house, one 20 minutes away. I asked myself, “Which would I choose if the commute were not a factor?” When put in those terms, I didn’t even hesitate, which told me what I needed to know. We made the decision to put up with the longer commute.
  • Take the leap. Or don’t. At a certain point, just decide. You only know what you know right now, so stop trying to predict the future. While it is true that we often regret more of the things we did not do, than those we did do, you just need to make a call. Often, we can adapt to whatever decisions we make.

P.S. While this post is about making decisions, if the topic brought up anything difficult for you around miscarriage, please find some resources right here:


For those in the UK, this may help.

Emotional support after miscarriage.

After a miscarriage: Surviving Emotionally from the American Pregnancy Association

Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

A Tale of Two Customer Experiences

Posted on by Maria Ross

Customer experience is now a defining competitive edge.

In fact, this Forbes.com article states that customer experience is one of the top disruptive trends in business this year.

So let me ask you: Which customer experience would you rather have?

  • One where the customer service rep responds promptly, empathizes with your issue, and offers you options to solve your problem, even if it may not be the original solution you’d had in mind?
  • Or one where the customer service rep blames their lack of responsiveness on the company being too successful to manage all their new business, implying it’s somehow your fault for being impatient?

These were two such experiences I had recently. The first with, of all companies, a cable company. The second, with what is supposed the be a new darling of online retailing.

What made the difference? EMPATHY.

Empathy is not just a feel good trait. It’s an essential brand advantage that impacts sales and customer experience. Especially when dealing with an upset customer or client. (TWEET THIS!)

The bad customer service rep (for lack of a better term) blamed me for the initial problem, acted like she didn’t care at all that I was now in a bind, and haughtily said to me, “Well, I can’t help do anything about it” to which, when I prompted, “Well can you ASK someone who CAN do something,” she replied with indifference, “”Sure, I guess I’ll ask if something can be done, but I don’t think so.” Yep. She never asked.

The good customer service rep immediately empathized with my frustration and shock over a huge increase in my monthly bill (“Wow! I would totally feel the same way if I’d opened up a bill and saw that increase too! Let’s see what’s going on here.”)

The bad customer service rep had canned email responses that were supposed to “show empathy” – except when you get the same phrase in every single email, it’s clear it’s from a script (“We never want our customers to have that kind of experience.”) Well, clearly you do if you do nothing to fix the process.

The good customer service rep had no script. She looked at my account and customized a solution on the fly. (“Let me check something real quick. I think I can move your plan to another one we now have available so you’re paying the same price you were before.”)

Google has seen the business benefits of empathy. Company research projects have revealed that its most innovative ideas, productive teams and high-performers rank empathy high as a crucial factor to success.  Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella cites empathy as the most important catalyst for innovation.

How do we build empathy into the customer experience?

  • Implement the right processes: Empower customer service reps to do what it takes to solve the issue and not tie their hands with onerous “permission getting.” Allow for fast resolutions and creative problem solving.
  • Hire right: Emotional intelligence is crucial. Don’t just staff a body. Be sure you are screening and hiring people who have shown empathy in past roles. Ask them how they collaborate, problem solve or handle angry customers. Role play scenarios in the interview and see how they respond.
  • Scale for success: Your success is no excuse for a poor experience. Don’t blame “too many customers” on the reason you don’t have enough reps or logistical support to solve problems. Don’t blame your email system for not getting customer complaints. That’s on you.
  • Acknowledge feelings: While it’s tempting to not want to legally “take blame” for something that went wrong, you can still be human and say you are sorry the customer is having such a bad experience. Acknowledging their angry or hurt feelings by relating to them from a similar experience you have had can go a long way to easing the pain.

It’s not enough to have a great product. The bad customer service experience company has a great product and it’s killing me that I just don’t want to give them any more of my money.

Image Credit: Photo by Jared Sluyter on Unsplash
Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

5 Tools That Run My Business

Posted on by Maria Ross

5 Tools That Run My Business

While I might be a branding expert with years of experience in consulting and marketing, when I started out in 2008, I was not an expert at running a business. I cobbled together my operations and processes over the years.

Since then, I’ve learned a lot about running a business and working for myself. And that includes slowly finding many of the tools I use to run my business on a daily basis.

If you’re wondering what tools, software or apps might help your business run just a bit more smoothly, let me share my 5y favorite go-to’s with you. Full disclosure: A few of the links below are affiliate links, so if you decide to buy, we both win. You can trust me: I personally use everything on this list, almost on a daily basis!

Landing Pages:

LeadPages has changed my life. Yes, I used to build pages off my website and add a clunky little button and have to manage and maintain it, etc. I finally broke down a few years ago and quite simply, I can’t imagine being it. Landing pages are a breeze. Especially since the best performing landing pages are simple and uncluttered. You can add your branding and make them your own. A must if you want to build your email list and quickly and easily get new subscribers with different campaigns. I also use their Campaigns functionality, which operates as a shopping cart and integrates with Stripe (see Payment Processors below)

Email Marketing:

You’d better not be sending marketing emails from your personal email list and BCC’ing everyone – you’ll end up on a spam blacklist! Get thee to an email marketing platform immediately. While MailChimp is free for simple uses for under 2000 subs, I pay for Aweber now and have for several years. I need more list flexibility than MailChimp provides. Their service is the best. I can ask them anything and immediately get help. Truthfully, I’ve had some issues with more complex tasks and being able to route different funnels to the same list, but they are adding functionality all the time.

Social Media Posting:

I use Buffer to schedule my social media posts in advance. I’d like to say I was uber efficient and plan way ahead with a fully stocked queue at all time, but alas. I’m working on it. But when I do think ahead, I can easily schedule posts for Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. They also offer Instagram. I don’t recommend using them for Facebook, as the Facebook algorithm dings you when you schedule with 3rd party apps (use Facebook’s native schedule for that). But Buffer is great if you plan in advance, want to set up promoting a colleague’s campaign, or even for when you are on vacation. I like to spend about 10-15 minutes stocking up my queue each week. But remember to still get on social media live every now and then to interact. It’s SOCIAL, people. Don’t just phone it in all the time!

Social Media Drip Campaigns:

I think I discovered Missing Lettr from another person’s blog post about productivity tools! Missing Lettr hooks up to your blog and when you publish a new post, it automatically sets up a year-long drip campaign. You can approve and edit all of the campaign posts, but once you do, BAM! You re-promote your content for an entire year without thinking about it. And it let’s you do some cool things, like create speech bubble images, which I kind of love. A huge promotional time-saver.

Payment Processing:

I use a few tools for this. PayPal is my standard for both taking and sending payments. It’s what I started out with. And you can set up subscription payments with them as well. But…I’ve started using Stripe for digital products because there is better integration for some marketing funnels I put together. Since I’m less familiar with it, I haven’t quite figured it out as easily as PayPal…but my VA knows, so that’s all that matters!  And when I sell books onsite at an event, I use Square on my iPad or phone.

Email marketing? Landing pages? Social Media sharing? Check out @redslice’s 5 go-to tech tools that run her consulting and online business!  (TWEET THIS!)

Photo Credit: Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash

Cash flow, creativity, and compassion are not mutually exclusive™

Want To Build Your List? Love the Ones You’re With

Posted on by Maria Ross

Looking for list building tricks? Trying to build your list but not sure where to start? Click through for tips on how to build your list by loving the people who already love you!

We always want more, don’t we? We’re all looking for that perfect list-building trick that will unlock more clients, more customers, more money. 

We all know it’s a lot easier to nurture a large, warm audience and convert them into sales over time. So we collect people and names like we’re picking blueberries and dump them into our sacks as we hunt for more.

But what about those people who already joined your team? Did you just seduce them to get on your list or pay for your course and then you tossed them to the side?

Newsflash: No matter whether you have 5 or 5,000 email subscribers, 10 or 10,000 customers or 5 or 25 clients, these loyal people are your biggest advocates. They have already raised their hands to support you and are your best brand evangelists.

A list-building trick you’ve never considered: 

Love the ones you’re with. While you’re out there marketing to collect clicks, email names, or new customers, do not forget all those people you already have on your side. (TWEET THIS!)

We all start out at Ground Zero and you have to build a brand from nothing. To accelerate, you have to start where you are.

Never lose sight of those who already know, like and trust your brand. Give them VIP service and they will talk about you to others, forward your charming emails or dish about your next big event.

But how do you love on them? Here are a few quick tips:

  • Cherry pick a new subscriber: Every week, check out your new email subscribers and send one or two of them a personal note (“No, this is not a bot, it’s really me!) thanking them for joining your list.

  • Engage with a question: Use your Welcome email to instantly engage them. If you’re a massage therapist, ask them the last time they had a massage and how it made them feel. If you’re an HR consultant, ask them what their biggest retention or recruitment challenge might be.

    I promise, you won’t get 600 responses back to which you’ll have to reply, but those you do get will never forget you!

    My Welcome email asks folks to tell me about their biggest marketing challenge, and someone actually tweeted about how this was the best email sign up she’d ever seen!

  • Offer them a freebie…just because. Not because you’re launching anything or want them to buy. Occasionally surprise and delight them with free discounts, a new eBook, a fun video or even an inspiring playlist curated just for them.

  • Go old school: When a prospect schedules a call to find out more about you or someone refers a client to you, send a handwritten note to prospects you talk to or meet with.

    Assuming this is a reasonable number, of course, but if you have any business development conversation, take it to the next level beyond a thank you email and write them a handwritten thank you note. This personal touch will not go unnoticed.

For more practical ideas on how to nurture your existing loyal fan base, however small, to attract even more fans, followers and clients, please check this lovely little mini-course I cooked up for you, CLIENT LOVE.

Imagine: an army of adoring fans, eager to buy your next product, attend your next event, or hire you for your next gig! The course also includes lessons on getting great customer testimonials, creating a signature touch that gets people buzzing and curating connections so people love you even more.