Tag: brand

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

NO is not a dirty word

Posted on by Red Slice

I think we’re programmed to see “No” as a dirty word from a young age. No candy before bedtime. No, don’t touch that outlet. No, you can’t have the car tonight. No, you absolutely cannot date that guy who’s ten years older than you and plans to pick you up on his motorcycle…

Here’s the truth: Saying No is actually a gift. Why?

It’s a gift for you because sometimes we need to say no in order to focus on what matters. We need to keep our eyes on the prize. If you say no to the wrong clients or customers and focus on serving the ones you enjoy, who will pay you what you’re worth and who will gladly spread the word about how awesome your products or services are – your business is going to be a lot more successful.

I don’t care how big or small your company is. You’ve got to treat loyal customers better than the rest. You’ve got to serve their needs first and offer then special perks, privileges or rewards.

Remember your brand strategy. Who are you talking to? Who are your “people”? Who matters to your business? Your customers and clients represent your brand to others, so choose wisely. (Tweet this!)

I’m not suggesting you act rudely toward prospects or those in your audience. Not at all. I’m talking more about managing your time, attention and budget better and invest in the right people for your business. If you are too busy dealing with the wrong people, you won’t have the bandwidth to serve the right ones.

Saying no is also a gift to those to whom you say no. You enable them the freedom to find a better fit, to find what they are looking for at a price they are comfortable paying. You also avoid becoming bitter as time goes on and just making both you and the customer unhappy in the end. If something is a bad fit from the start, it’s better to cut bait right then and there.

Also, you give them a gift because you don’t agree to something you don’t have time, energy or passion to deliver. Instead of overcommitting and making everyone unhappy, focus on quality rather than quantity. It may hurt to say no to that client, customer – or even volunteer opportunity – but remember that you do them more harm if you can’t truly deliver your best for them. Let them find someone who will invest their best.

See? No is not a dirty word and, frankly, it needs to be said with love and respect way more often.

How do you turn down work or say no when asked to volunteer? Any tips for how to do this gracefully? Please share your insight and wisdom with us in the Comments!

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

Top 3 tips for a better website + how to integrate social media

Posted on by Red Slice

It’s third quarter for most of us. How’s your year shaping up? I always encourage clients to revisit their brand strategy once per quarter – and this includes your all-important website. For most businesses, your website is the crown jewel of your marketing efforts, your storefront, your showpiece. But often we spend so much time putting it up and then seem to forget about it.

If your website strategy is off, you could be missing out on sales and customer connections. So today, we’re getting priceless tips for a better website from one of the best in the biz.

Norma Maxwell is one of my favorite people and partners. She’s a designer, interactive strategist, and founder of Connect Interactive. Norma and her team help clients create an online presence that not only connects with people, but resonates long after they have made their first contact.

Today, she shares three tips for great sales pages, how to incorporate all your social media channels, and how to layout your page for maximum pop.

RS: Welcome Norma! Everyone struggles with setting up great sales and landing pages.  Do you have three top tips for doing this right and achieving your sales goals?

NM:

  1. Understand who will be visiting your page.  This informs every single decision you will make relating to your visual layout/design, your written content, and your calls-to-action (prompts that “call” your visitor to do something when they get to your page).
  2. Create a compelling message (visually and through your copy).  This is where the importance of knowing your brand and your messaging will come in.  If someone has taken the time to visit your page, make sure they find consistency, professionalism, credibility  when they get there.  This is the foundation of a lasting conversion.
  3. Capture your visitors information so you can stay in touch.  Give them a good reason to opt-in to you list.  You can offer a free download, sample chapter of your book, or access to a webinar—just make sure it is something that provides real value for your visitors.  And think about how you will manage your list when people do show enough interest to opt-in.  Make sure you are sending the right messages to your audience.  Create value so that they will want to hear from you in their already overcrowded inbox. Some people will just want to see what you have to say from time to time; they don’t want to forget about you (which is why they opted-in), but they are not going to buy anytime soon.  Others are very interested in what you have to offer, and if you follow up in the right way, with the right email messages, they will convert to customers quickly.

RS: How the heck can businesses integrate social media strategies effectively to drive visitors to their website? Should your website be your primary destination vs. Facebook, etc?

NM: Your social media efforts will be the most effective when you provide value and remain consistent.  This is challenging, especially for solopreneurs, but if you will take a few hours each month to plan, it is much less time consuming and painful. Once you have a plan in place, you can hire someone to help you keep the plan implemented for just a few hours each week.

At a minimum your business should have a Facebook and Twitter presence.  A LinkedIn presence is also important and increasingly so with the advent of Company pages.  If you can take advantage of more social media sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Pinterest, etc. definitely go for it!  The more pathways you have that lead others to your website (your home base), the better.  It all comes down to what you can manage with the resources you have available to you.

Your website is the destination where you will house all of your most important information in one place—think of it as your physical business location (office, storefront, etc.), whereas your social media satellite spots are wonderful tools for building buzz and driving people to your website where they will become a lasting part of your online community or better yet, a new customer or client.

RS: Can you give us 3 tips to consider when laying out your web page? Does it differ by industry? Are there hard and fast rules for what should go “above the fold” or how you should entice people to sign up for your email list?

NM:

  1. This is the same as #1 above.  The first consideration when laying out your webpage is who will be visiting you there.  What kind of personality do they have?  What are their needs and wants?  What will you say to them visually and through your copy? What is it that that particular person needs to see and hear in order to want to stay in touch with you, or do business with you?
  2. Make sure your message is clear (and your message is conveyed through your visuals—the colors you choose, your brand mark or logo if you have one, any other graphics that are present; your copy—the name of your company, the headlines you use, the verbiage you choose for your newsletter sign-up box, the messaging you have on your home page to let visitors know what you’re all about and why they are in the right place), because your message lets them know that you GET them!
  3. What will be above the fold.  There is a section of your website that will be visible without visitors having to scroll down.  This is called “above the fold.”  This is prime real estate on you website because if someone is just clicking through looking for something, this is the place you will either capture or lose their attention.  You really want to maximize this space by making sure it is visually captivating, makes it crystal clear where they are and why they should care, and invites them to stay in contact with you—because maybe you are not what they happened to be looking for right now, and yet, you have piqued their interest enough that they do not want to forget about you.  If they are really in a hurry, the difference between suggesting to them “what they should do” and not, is the difference between a lost visitor or a new contact.  You don’t have to do everything possible to capture them (because the possibilities are numerous and that’s another article!), but a few that are worth considering include:

– Suggest they “Bookmark” your site.  If you do, they probably will (which makes is much easier for them to find you again).  If you don’t, they may or may not.

– Suggest they “Sign Up” for your newsletter.  You can use some of the ideas mentioned above to make it worth their time and effort and to in effect “thank them” for letting you visit them in their inbox from time to time.

– Call them to “Join” your community if you are a membership website, or “Join” you on Facebook where you can foster a community around your brand.

– Make sure icons to all of your social media locations are placed above the fold—those that want to learn more about you are going to want to find those places, so keep it easy for them.

– Call them to “Read” your latest blog post (and beyond that, at the end, go ahead and Ask them to comment, or ask a question so they will comment with an answer—you will be amazed at how simply asking/prompting your visitors in the direction you want them to go will make a difference.

– Call them to “Register” for a webinar or conference

– Ask them to “Buy” your book or product

You get the idea—obviously you can’t do all of this above the fold (without creating a sense of clutter—which I wouldn’t recommend), so choose the things that are most important to you (and to your visitor) and put them higher up on your home page.  I always advise clients to keep their opt-in list above the fold because it is an opportunity to connect regularly and on a deeper level with visitors that is difficult to match.

Which tip will you put into practice today to engage customers on your website and turn browsers into buyers? Please share in the Comments!

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

What is your customer script?

Posted on by Red Slice

Oh, wait, you didn’t know they needed one?

If brand is all about reputation, than nothing beats it when that reputation spreads organically through word of mouth. You can’t be all places at once, so it pays to turn your customers into your own private evangelist army.

Many power brands revel in the fact that customers love them so much, those fans will generate content on their own accord – without pay – that promotes the company. Virgin America enjoys You Tube videos created by their happy passengers. Local businesses love seeing hundreds of stellar Yelp reviews from fans.

But you also want those messages highlighting the things you want your brand to represent. Meaning, you have to find some way to give your customers a script – or the main talking points – so that the message they are spreading is aligned with the one you want out in the world.  Do you want people to talk about your low prices or your artisan craftsmanship? Do you want the first thing they talk about to be your generous return policy or your quirky and fun email newsletter and brand voice?

What do you want to be known for? What is most important? One way to ensure customers know the script is to ensure that YOU do. I work with clients to build messaging platforms. Messaging platforms are internal tools designed to keep all your marketing on script for the three main messages you want to communicate about your brand. It then digs into each benefit and provides proof points that can be cited to explain why you can make that benefit claim.

Think about a conversation between a customer and a friend. What do you want them to say about you? What do you want the headline to be? Craft your messaging platform to ensure three clear benefits are conveyed in everything that you do, such as your website, your marketing, your ads. This way, you are arming your customers with the right script to share with others.

In order to control the external message as much as you can, you need to clarify the message internally first. Don’t just hope your customers will say the right things. Craft your messaging platform based on your brand and your authentic strengths and then bang the drum around those three main messages over and over again. Pretty soon, your customers will learn the script, too.

What is your customer script? What are the three main benefits you provide or things you want people talking about? Please share in the Comments!

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

4 ways to jumpstart your business after a break

Posted on by Red Slice

New baby. Extended sabbatical. Major health crisis. Six months abroad…heck, years abroad.

People ebb and flow out of big businesses without a peep. But when you’re a business of one – or even five – who’s left steering the brand awareness ship while you go island hopping?

I had my major health crisis just 6 months after launching my own consulting business. You know what happened? Well, for one thing, time did not implode upon itself – everything that seemed urgent faded away, as it should. While I did miss a conference call the day after my brain aneurysm ruptured (I bet the client never thought they’d hear that excuse from my husband), the world did not end. But practically speaking, the blog went cold, the networking ceased and the cacophony of market noise enveloped my absence like a black hole. In the blink of an eye, my business profile faded.

So how is it that 4+ years later, my business is thriving more than it ever has? How is it that I had the best business year financially not long after I fell into the void?

If you have to take a voluntary – or unexpected – break from your business, here are four tips that served me well in cranking up the brand awareness engine again. These are also useful if you simply need to revive your personal brand after a long absence:

  1. Rev up your blogging: When you emerge from your cocoon, one of the few things you have in your control is the ability to add useful content to the world again. And besides, perhaps your client work is dried up for now so what else have you got to do? Build out a new editorial calendar and maybe amp up your blogging for the time being. Maybe you normally blog once a week, so increase that to twice. Make your content super useful, super sexy and super keyword-rich so you can back on the web radar again. Combine this with sending out a few Tweets and Facebook updates about your latest post and you can boost your exposure efforts.
  2. Jump into the online conversation: Again, you can control your content output, so leverage all those great new blog posts in online forums or communities like Biznik, Bzzhive or Focus – or whatever industry-specific places reign supreme for you. Start commenting on relevant blogs or articles on a consistent basis to raise your profile again. Just target 3 per day at about 30 minutes each day.  Or maybe pitch a few contributed articles to media outlets like American Express Open Forum or Entrepreneur.com for even more exposure and street cred.
  3. Invite key people to your welcome back party: When I returned from my hiatus, I reached out to several colleagues with phone calls or personalized emails letting them know where I’d been and that I was up to my old tricks again and ready for action. You may think people know what’s going on with you but really, they don’t. They are too busy. Reach out individually to trusted contacts via email or Linked In and take them out for coffee to let them know what business or clients you are looking for and kindly ask if they can spread the word for you. Don’t be afraid to ask “competitors” as well – they might be so busy that they are turning folks away so you can help them out, and maybe give them a referral fee in exchange. And always ask how you can help them in return. People are kinder than you think – and it’s a great way to reconnect.
  4. Get out there live and in person: Pick 2-3 key networking groups or clubs and start amping up your face time again. Attend lunches, happy hours, book signings. When I was returning to work after my health issues, this was quite a challenge for me as I was still recovering and suffering from massive fatigue – plus I could drive at the time. But I forced myself to try to go to one live event per week. And I asked gracious friends to drive me. They were only too happy to help, since they didn’t want to go alone either!

There are some people on the periphery of my professional circle who did not even realize I had been out of commission for six months – not sure if that’s good or bad! But it tells me I did a good job of trying to stay connected and present as much as I could.

When it is time to get back into things, have a plan, take action and you’ll rev things up in no time!

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

If you want less heartburn when trying to attract new customers…

Posted on by Red Slice

Here are the most common marketing challenges I’ve heard when clients call me….

“I spent $5,000 at a booth at this event and I got diddly squat for it.”

“I know there are people who need my product or service but they can’t seem to find me.”

 “People don’t really understand what I do. They end up asking me if I know anyone who offers the exact same thing I do. And I’m like, ‘Hello?! I’m RIGHT HERE!”

“Prospects don’t understand why we’re better than our competitors.”

“I get lots of website visitors but not many of them turn into sales.”

“I struggle with articulating exactly what value I can provide for people.”

“What the *$#@! are we supposed to say on our blog/Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest?

 “I get lots of calls but they are always from people who can’t afford my services.”

” We used to do x and now we do y, but people still associate us with our old brand.”

“I’m just launching a business/project/non-profit and don’t even have a website yet. I’ll work on the brand after I get things going.”

“I already have a business/project/non-profit but it seems to be stuck in neutral.”

Sound familiar?

I’ve talked about this in various forums as a marketing speaker and in media such as MSNBC and Entrepreneur Magazine. The solution to many of these challenges is a simple two word phrase that is easier said than executed:

BRAND CLARITY

See, you can’t build a strong house without a good foundation, you have to crawl before you can walk…insert your fave saying here. Point is, there are two scenarios in which the headache plays itself out:

  1. You already launched your business in scrappy, guerilla, entrepreneurially-action focused fashion and while you got everything going, it’s time to take a step back and clarify your brand story so you can “clean up” what you’ve got out there and make it work better together.
  2. You have not yet launched your business idea, but are going to spend time and money on a website, or social media, or marketing programs without a clear strategy or story to make those investments perform and pay off for you.

If you are in either camp, I am passionate about helping you save misery, money….and migraines.

Please stop the hamster wheel of random execution that gets you no results except making vendors and agencies oodles of cash that you’ll then spend all over again when you need to undo everything. This is not hyperbole. I’ve seen it. It makes me angry. Very angry. I feel like Braveheart or something, trying to rally everyone into taking back their freedom.

I’m unveiling a brand new 4-week virtual course to help you stop this cycle, focus your efforts, and build a solid foundation that will ultimately make your marketing – and life – so much easier and more effective to boot. I’m here to guide you step by step into the bliss of brand clarity.

I invite you to consider the Red Slice Virtual Branding Bootcamp. Four weeks of resources, content, exercises, tough love and guidance on your brand and your message. This is not a DVD set you’ll never play. It’s roll up your sleeves, personal guided time with me for a fun, insightful and informative journey via phone and online so you can stay focused from the comfort of your desk/beachhouse/bed/igloo – I’m committed to making sure you source and shine your story the right way from the start – or clarify the one that’s not working for you.

Early bird rate is in effect until Friday, June 15 (that’s tomorrow). Spots are limited to 8 so I can offer custom feedback and guidance – and some are already gone. I would love to help your business boom so check out the detailed agenda and bonus goodies you get and then take action.  Yes, sessions will be recorded if you have to miss one.

Please register today. I’m so not about sleazy sales pitches or infomercially crap that gets your business nowhere. This is real, juicy, practical content. I’m committed to you. I’m ready for you to shine brightly. Now the bigger question: Are you?

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

Finding your brand voice

Posted on by Red Slice

Norma Maxwell, the creative sprite behind Connect Interactive, LLC asked me this great question recently:

How do I determine my brand “voice?”

Voice is so key to your brand communications. Remember the three-legged stool of brand: Visual, verbal and experiential? The “verbal” component – what you write and how you talk is a key component of a strong brand. Is it cheeky or irreverent? Is it formal or conservative?

Here are three guidelines for landing on the right brand voice for your business:

Know your strengths: What do you bring to the market? You may want to sound like Apple, but if you don’t deliver what they do and you’re not hip, innovative and well-designed, it’s fake. Don’t copy someone else – what does your business bring to the table? Play off of that.

Know your customers: Who is your ideal customer? Flesh out that customer profile and understand what makes them tick. What is their sense of humor, what do they need to hear, what will attract them? What cultural references will they understand? Map this to your strengths and give them what they want to hear.

Know yourself: Especially for solopreneurs, write like you talk. I know I do. Bring your authentic personality to the party.

The point at which all three of these things intersect is where you can find your brand voice. Think of it like a Venn Diagram – where do all three meet? Therein lies the magic.

How do you know if you’ve landed on something good? If it’s fairly easy to write your copy and the words just flow – and folks are responding to your voice through comments, tweets or sales, then you know you’re on the right track.

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

The Five Must-Have Website Elements, No Matter What You’re Offering

Posted on by Red Slice

Guest post by Seth Leonard who trains and mentors people who want to build dynamic, successful websites. Right now on his blog he is offering the free guide, Seven Hidden Laws to Building a Dynamic Website.

There are very few universals in the world of websites. In fact, I often preach the value of finding strategies and solutions that fit your specific website purpose, rather than using cookie-cutter formulas that are often irrelevant to what you’re trying to accomplish.

However, there are a few things, no matter what, that your website absolutely must have. I’ve put together the following list of five key elements you should be sure to include with your site:

#1: A Place To Start

This is usually your homepage, but it’s so much more than the first page that someone lands on when they come to your site. Your place to start needs to let people know, quickly and easily, what your site is about.

What are you offering and why should they stay?

Far too often, especially with blog sites, the dominant element of the homepage is the most recent blog post. Well, what if your most recent blog post was slightly off-topic (perhaps a rant about spending Thanksgiving with your family)?

While I encourage you to stay on topic with everything you write, it’s impossible that every post you produce is going to sum up the mission of your website.

Providing this information doesn’t need to be over the top and take up half your homepage. Sometimes it’s a well written tag line that appears at the top of your website. Sometimes it’s a couple sentences that say who you are and what you do.

It can even be a pitch for something you’re selling or something that you want your visitors to do when they’re at your site. For example: “Learn how to write the book hidden inside of you. Click here.” That call to action also lets your audience know what they can expect throughout your website.

Just make it obvious.

Let them know what to expect. And get them excited about it.

If you don’t want to devote a lot of space to it on your homepage, then include a “Start Here” link in a prominent position. Then put your basic introduction on that page.

#2: An About Page

People love about pages. Right after they get the gist of your website (see above), they want to know what you’re about. Whether you’re an individual blogger, a large organization, a startup, or a dude selling plumbing parts out of your house, people always click on your About page.

They want to know what makes you tick.

So tell them. And don’t be boring. Unless you have an amazing resume that reads like a Dos Equis commercial, you should add some personality.

Your audience wants to know what sets you apart from everyone else. They want to know what motivates you. They want to know how you got to where you are.

It’s great to offer testimonials, accomplishments, or career highlights. But don’t leave it at just that. Offer a little bit of your story. You’ll be surprised at how much fun it is, as well as how much more interest you’ll receive from your audience.

Creating my about page was one of my favorite things I’ve done for my website.

#3: Content

This should be obvious, but I can’t leave it off the list. You need to have something for your audience to consume. It can be one thing, or it can be many things. It can be a photo, a daily poem, or a series of essays.

It can be something you’re selling, or even a question you’re asking. It can be whatever you want.

And while it’s obvious that your website needs this, it’s often something we overlook as we focus on marketing, selling, building our audience, etc. Don’t take your content for granted. Put your heart into it and create something amazing.

Create something that has your audience waiting for you to do it again.

#4: An Opportunity To Take Action

I love great content. But great content inspires action. You need to give your audience the opportunity to take action.

Here is something I recommend you do often: think about your ideal visitor coming to your website for the first time. They see your ‘place to start’ and are intrigued, so they continue. Then they explore your about page, or your most recent content, and they’re hooked.

They love what you do and how you present yourself.

Now what?

Give them something to do. Let them take the next step. Give them the opportunity to further their investment in you by signing up for something, buying something, downloading a resource, joining your email list, etc. Bring them into your club.

Even if it’s just encouraging them to share something with their friends, give them a method to act on their excitement, to do more than just consume content.

Let them act.

#5: The Ability To Contact You

It doesn’t matter how you offer it, but you need to let people contact you. You can post your email address, or if you’re worried about privacy and spam, you can create a contact form. Or you can direct people to Facebook or Twitter and have them contact you there.

There are two reasons you need this. The first is that people like to know you’re accessible. If you offer no method to contact you, you create a wall between you and your audience. It’s harder for them to connect with you and trust you.

Even if they never reach out to you, it sends a strong message that you are willing to let people contact you.

The second reason you need this is that you never know who is going to contact you. You might get a lot of people asking you questions, but you might also get someone offering you the opportunity of a lifetime. Leave that door open, even if it’s just for the odd chance at receiving something amazing.

That’s it. Five elements your website absolutely must have. You can (and should) put your own spin on all of these, but they’re essential to building a website that connects you with your audience in an authentic way.

How do you plan to implement these on your website? Let me know in the comments.

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

How to spring clean your brand, business (& life)

Posted on by Red Slice

It’s that time of year again, when the trees bud, the air warms (at least if you’re not in Seattle) and we start to shed our winter cloaks in lieu of open-toed shoes and lighter fabrics. Freeing ourselves from the unwanted weight of heavy parkas and wool mittens feels pretty darn good.
And with that, we also crave shedding some of the crap in our lives with a healthy dose of spring cleaning.

Removing the clutter and streamlining our lives applies equally to our businesses and brands. When we’re lighter and unencumbered, we can better focus and stop clogging our time, brains and business with the things that don’t matter. So here’s a handy guide to how to perform such much needed spring cleaning on your business – but these can equally apply to your life:

Conduct an Audit
What really needs to stay or go? Has your menu of offerings turned into an endless buffet that only serves to confuse customers and distract your focus? Review your current business offerings and keep the ones making you money, while removing the deadwood of those that don’t. Why waste your time and your prospects’ attention on products or offerings that just take up space?

This audit can also apply to your brand. Which messages no longer serve your or your customer’s purpose? Does your website look stale and dated? Has your brand evolved beyond what your materials are currently saying about it? Set aside time and review everything your customers see with a keen eye, and get objective advice on how to clarify, update or tighten up your brand look, feel, message and differentiation.

Review your Partnerships
Sometimes we form business partnerships when it makes perfect sense but things change. Review your best referral sources, from where website traffic comes and perhaps even your affiliate partners. Run the numbers and the time spent and see if you’re getting the most out of these relationships. If there are relationships worth keeping, spend more attention making them really work for you. If they are not fruitful, release the deadwood and clear your mind, budget and schedule. You want to focus on fewer, more meaningful and higher quality partnerships that build you up, instead of sap your strength. PS: This exercise applies to networking groups and social media networks as well.

Clear the Clutter
Is your file system a disaster? Does your inbox overflow? Do you still have digital files from years ago that serve no purpose but to eat up storage space? Take a day to streamline and organize your systems to help make you more efficient in running your business. Consult with a personal organizer if you have trouble letting go. And speaking of systems, take a look at your business procedures and see where you can increase efficiency. Does billing clients take way too long? Do you spend too much time creating that monthly newsletter or managing your calendar? Document the tasks that are not a good use of your time and hire a virtual assistant or consult with an operations expert on how to manage your business better so you can spend more time being brilliant.

What “deadwood” is your business carrying around? What one thing will you do this spring to make your brand clearer, your load lighter and your business more efficient? Please share in the Comments.

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

Brand lessons non-profits can learn from small business – and vice versa: A chat with Aimee Stone Munsell

Posted on by Red Slice

Non-profits and small businesses have a ton in common: not enough resources, time or budget to spread their message and acquire customers (donors) while also getting their work done. But sometimes, they are sabotaging themselves and there are simple brand fixes and marketing tactics these organizations can implement  to get more bang for their buck. We’ll share some ideas in today’s Slice of Brilliance column.

Aimee Stone Munsell is owner of Stone Munsell and co-founder of Real-World Super Heroes, a hands-on community service program for kids. She and I have partnered on branding projects together and I absolutely adore her work ehtic, creativity and brilliance. Aimee worka with the smartest, most interesting people she can find – as clients, partners, employees, expert advisors — to tackle challenges that make a difference for the client and also for the world whenever possible. Her measurement for success: “I’m proud to tell my family what I do.”

So I’ve asked her to share with us the 3 mistakes non-profits make (ahem….that many small businesses do, too) and inexpensive ways to delight customers who’ve just purchased or donated. Plus, she gives you some resources and case sudies of companies engaged in social reponsibility, which is a win-win for everyone.

RS: Welcome Aimee! You’ve worked a lot with non-profits. Why do you think many of them don’t have strong brand awareness?

ASM: Let’s be honest: it takes time and money to build a brand. This is true for any business or non-profit cecause you have to fight through all the clutter out there to connect with the right audience – again and again in multiple ways, over time — to build a strong brand. And why invest in it? Because it is a key building block of sustainability. But it isn’t necessarily seen this way. Many non-profit leaders are in their jobs because they know a lot about the services they provide (as we’d hope!) but haven’t necessarily been trained in business skills. When I work with an NFP’s leadership team, we focus on their goals which often include things such as: bring in more donations, secure new grants, increase community support, and form partnerships to expand services. Then we assess the organization’s current brand position and marketing activity. And finally, together we come up with a focused plan of attack that takes into account the resources they have, often creating execution phased over 6-24 months, to get them where they need to be.

RS: Non-profits as well as many small businesses seem to struggle with messaging and conveying their passion and accomplishments in their marketing materials (website, collateral). What top 3 tips could help them improve?
Continue reading “Brand lessons non-profits can learn from small business – and vice versa: A chat with Aimee Stone Munsell”

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Words that work: How to sell without sounding like a sleaze

Posted on by Red Slice

Too often, business owners believe that just because they know how to write, that their words will persuade people to pay attention, buy their products or provide word of mouth. But effective copywriting to compel an action or convey a brand takes a special skill. Today, Jared Matthew Kessler, Chief Copy Officer (CCO) at The Kick Ass Copywriter will share some insight as to how to sell by solving problems, not just tooting your horn. He’ll also dish on his process for crafting irresistible website copy, how to pitch without sounding schlocky and the biggest mistakes business owners can avoid if they want a compelling message.

Jared’s mission is to transform key ideas into words that sell and help companies stand out from the noise (not just add to it).

RS: Welcome Jared! How do you balance effective selling “techniques” for your clients without sounding overly cheesy?

JK: You know, we’re all a lot smarter these days. We know when we’re being sold and when we’re being helped. However, there’s this fine line between offering a product or service that you know will help people and slapping someone over the head with it.

When I take on a project, I ask numerous questions up front. In fact I gather as many marketing materials as I can and, if I need to, I send them a 7-page questionnaire that really helps me understand their brand – and whether or not there’s what I call a “B.S. factor.” So when I come up with a few concepts and start writing and developing them, I come from a conversational standpoint. Meaning, I literally have a conversation in my head between the prospect and the company owner. At any point, if I feel the “B.S. factor” is coming on too strong, I try and verbally pace the situation. Meaning, if it’s too good to be true you can say, “Listen… I know that sounds too good to be true. And honestly a lot of times it is. But…”

In addition to that, once I sense they are “pitching” someone, I just remove what was written and start again.

It should be about stepping inside the mind of your prospect, and getting people excited, without giving something away. So the product or service would be set up as the solution to your prospect’s problem (if that makes sense). That’s where you have to understand every single aspect of your audience before writing any copy.

I often say, “If you talk to everyone, you’re talking to no one.” It’s a conversation. Not a
sales pitch.

RS: So true. It’s about them, not about you! What big mistakes do you see when business owners write their own marketing or sales copy?

JK: There are four mistakes I see over and over:

1. Telling everyone about how great you are. How qualified you are to help someone. And how “life changing” your product or service is, giving everyone the overblown sales pitch of how much you can help someone. You can’t sell anything without rapport. Without trust. So make it about your prospect first. Then you, last.

2. Underestimating the power of your words. I mean this is similar to #1 in that a lot of people misunderstand what “copywriting” means. They think it’s all about making something sound good. And I think, huh? There’s so much work that goes into not just what I do, but what any true Copywriter does. And the reason I say, “true” is that I’ve seen a lot of “writers” tout themselves as Copywriters because of how much money they can make. And that makes me sad.

The main difference is that when you write copy you don’t just make something sound good. It has to be relevant to your audience. Sell a product or service without the greasy sales pitch. Increase your sales. Build your brand. And work.

I think too many people fall in love with an idea, instead of falling in love with a result. Recently, I had a client’s web site I rewrote the copy for and within hours she had people wanting to work with her. I love that! However, there was a TON of work and research behind that. I sent out surveys to send to her clients that really love her. I’ve written pages and pages of copy for each individual web page. Wrote a new tag line that served her brand much better than her web designer tried to pull off. Developed multiple concepts and… more importantly she didn’t change any of my work – which is the main reason I love her so much. 🙂

3. Building a website instead of a brand. I love a great ad campaign! One that’s smart. Effective. And solves their prospects problem in as a few words as possible (that’s 100% original). The best ones are when all the ads align with each other. For instance, take that David Beckham Superbowl ad (I’m sure you remember it ladies). Now it’s nothing to write home about in terms of incredibly original. But my point is, if you looked at the colors in the commercial. The style. The simplicity. It’s exactly the same look and feel as if you went into the store.

What I see of a lot of smaller businesses is that they just have a certain look and feel to their website. A certain look and feel to their business card. A certain look and feel to their actual business. And their brand is just inconsistent across all platforms. From their marketing collateral to their website, it really needs to be cohesive. It has to all click – not just one piece of it.

4. Have you or your web designer write the “copy” yourself, just to try and save a few bucks. What’s unfortunate is that people mistake a great looking website for an effective one. And that’s really two different things. It’s like me saying, “Well I can design your website for you.” I mean, I’ve never done that, nor would I ever! In fact I’m the first one to recommend a professional web designer to someone, because the design should support the copy (or vice versa).

In addition to that, I unfortunately tend to see certain business owners lose more money in lost sales, than trying to hire someone like me to begin with. What’s worse, is that if you’re a new brand, you have to build trust in the beginning. So if you’re looking to hire a Copywriter to “save the day” for your failing business months/years later, it’s unfortunately not going to do much good unless you rebrand yourself. Because once you lose someone’s trust, it’s really, really hard to earn that back. Even then so, it’ll take a lot more time and more money, than hiring a professional Copywriter from the start.

I mean, look at the rebrand JC Penney’s is going through. And how many millions of dollars in advertising are they spending to get you to revisit them after you already experienced them years ago?

It’s the same thing with trying to save any flailing business. Do it right from the beginning, or even if you’re doing it right, keep it consistent and hire a professional. In the short term, it might be more money than you thought. But in the long run, at least you’ll stay in business.

RS: Awesome points. You’ll end us spending more money (and losting more sales) if you don’t get it it right from the start. And it’s an investment in your business, not something you should skimp on.  One reason people cite is that “Another writer won’t sound like me if they write my copy.” How do you approach writing projects when you have your own writing style but need to reflect a client’s brand or voice?

JK: This is a great question! People get caught up in this a lot. They think that since you haven’t written copy for cell phone companies, or for medical sales or _______ that
you’re somehow unqualified – or the owner can do a better job than a professional Copywriter.

For me specifically, it’s similar to how actors research a role. I recently saw an interview with Brad Pitt on taking the role he did for Moneyball. In the interview, he mentioned how few people research roles nowadays. He mentioned how he could pick up certain character traits from spending months with the actual character he portrays. And how important the research process is for any project he takes on.

I mean, when you spend that much time researching your client, reading their marketing materials, talking with them over the phone, reviewing their answers to your questions… it’s only natural to pick up someone else’s style. Not only that, a lot of times you even help them discover their own voice, their own brand they didn’t even think they had. What’s more exciting than that?!

 What copywriting or messaging techniques have you found worked (or didn’t work) in your business? Please share your story in the Comments.