Bike Lane Business Development
Small Business Development
File under: Marketing
I usually join a webinar once a week (even before COVID), and I have found many of them incredibly useful. They can be a fantastic tool for lead generation as well as customer service. HubSpot lays out how exactly to set up your webinar as well as a marketing strategy for it. Check it out here
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/are-webinars-dead-how-to-make-a-webinar
File under: Marketing
You already know this, but video sells. It’s not hard, don’t overthink it, give it a shot. Chris Brogan at Small Biz Survival has a real quick post about how and why you should invest some time (not dollars) into video.
https://smallbizsurvival.com/2020/04/showandtell.html
Photo by Amanda Vick on Unsplash
File under: Marketing
In the new normal, a lot of customers will be looking to pay without using cash or handing over their debit or credit card. Venmo allows you to take those payments without contact and benefit from social media marketing. That is a big win!
DIY Marketers has an excellent post with tips to make the most out of Venmo as both a payment system and a marketing tool.
https://diymarketers.com/how-to-use-venmo/
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
File under: Marketing
Agility does not mean decreased marketing, but different marketing, as Andrew Reid, Founder, and CEO of Rival Technologies writes in Entrepreneur.
“In fact, long-term studies show that the right approach during economic uncertainty is to increase — not decrease — your marketing spend. The last thing you want is to be caught flat-footed and find yourself lagging your competitors when the economy revs up again.
He’s right, but it needs to be agile. He says that you should:
It’s a good read, written from a medium to large company perspective but hits all the right notes for small businesses in the Bike Lane.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349535
Photo by Dušan Smetana on Unsplash
What do you think of when you hear terms like these?
Venti
4K LED Curved 3D
3.5 GHz CPU
50 Mbps download/10 Mbps Upload
2.8-liter engine
AKC Norwegian Lundehund
Force majeure
Myocardial Infarction
If you said that they were all scientific names, you are partly right. You might have said they were names made for pretentious brainiacs, some people would agree with you. In literary terms, this is called jargon.
Webster’s Dictionary defines jargon as:
1 : the technical terminology or characteristic idiom of a special activity or group
sports jargon
2 : obscure and often pretentious language marked by circumlocutions and long words
an academic essay filled with jargon
Jargon is like a habanero pepper; you should use it sparingly. You should avoid using it in almost all of your communication, in both your written marketing like your website and printed material. It should also be used infrequently when your team speaks to your prospects and customers. If you can, avoid it at all costs.
A masterful example of this is the way Apple first marketed the iPod. Mp3 players were commercially available in the late ’90s. They sold under various memory sizes. If you talked to a salesperson in a store, and you would hear, “this one has x Gb, and that is why it’s expensive.” If you asked what that meant, they would tell you it holds more songs. (That is the first sign of jargon, by the way. If your customers ask “what does that mean” it’s jargon).
In October of 2001, their first ad for the iPod, Apple described it with only five words “1000 songs in your pocket” with no mention of how many gigabytes it had. Five simple words launched a product that took the digital music world by storm.
Electronics experts will tell you there were quality, design, or performance reasons that this happened, but it started because apple spoke to people in terms that were so simple everyone could understand.
Did people avoid buying the iPod because Apple didn’t tell them the technical specs? I don’t think so.
Take a hard look at your product or service and find all the mp3 players in there. What is your marketing saying to people? What are your salespeople saying when they talk to prospects? Get all that mp3 player talk out of there and make it iPod talk. Speak your customer’s language.
There is a time for jargon. As I said, jargon is like habanero, so here is your five-alarm chili recipe. If you are in an industry that sells highly specialized products or services to an audience that is highly fluent in your specificity, then you are forced to use it.
I have a client who manufactures military-grade communication equipment to military contractors and government agencies. Breaking down their marketing message into simple sound bites would indicate that they didn’t know their asses from their elbows to their clients. They are speaking their customers’ language.
That is the lone exception to use jargon. Use it when its absence hurts your credibility. That is a rare case, indeed. You may have people ask for technical details, or highly informed prospects and clients, but most times, simple language will not turn people away.
Jargon does.
p.s. Here are what those terms are:
Venti – a serving of a drink of coffee measuring 20 fluid ounces
4K LED Curved 3D – An ultra High Definition, three-dimensional Television with a curved screen for a more immersive viewing experience
3.5 GHz CPU – A measurement of the speed of a desktop computer
50 Mbps download/10 Mbps Upload – The speed at which data can be downloaded from your cable provider and the speed at which you can upload data to it
2.8-liter engine – The size and relative performance of a car engine
AKC Norwegian Lundehund – A rare dog certified by the American Kennel Club
Force majeure – Legal term meaning an unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract
Myocardial Infarction – A heart attack
Speak your customers’ language by avoiding jargon
If you’ve read my blog before, you have heard me talk about how important it is to be able to express to your potential customers what you do, and why you are better than your competition. (Check out my post on “What’s your superpower?” for a refresher.)
It typically will mean one of two things (if not both):
You are using terms that everyone else is using, and they are too general.
You are intentionally general because you don’t want to scare off a potential customer.
These are both mistakes that will hurt your online presence. (If you do this same thing in person, it will have the same effect.)
Let me give you an example. I have a client that is an occupational health department. They have two major competitors in the area. Here are the main parts of two of their websites. (I’ve condensed these down and removed the bullet points and white space so you can better compare the words.) The third competitor’s site was very much the same thing, so I won’t make you read through a third one.
Conveniently located in ________, we serve businesses of every size. We have clients representing a broad range of industries including manufacturing, pharmaceutical, retail and the public sector. We also serve people through our OEM Clinic exposed to chemicals/toxic substances or who have experienced on-the-job injuries. These patients are often referred by primary care doctors, lawyers, unions or insurance companies/agencies. Customized plans to meet the unique needs of your company or organization. Urgent Care, Minor lacerations, Contusions, Strains / Sprains, Minor fracture, Eye injuries, Rehabilitation, Physical Therapy, Hand Hardening, Occupational Therapy, Chemical Exposure, Specialty Care, Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCE), Case Management, Disability Management, Independent Medical Exams (IME), Repetitive Stress Injuries, Travel Medicine, Exams and Regulatory Evaluations, Pulmonary function testing, Pre-placement physicals, Drug and alcohol testing, Immunizations/vaccinations, Hearing testing, Medical surveillance (OSHA Required), DOT Exams, Police/fire physicals, Fit for duty exams, Back injury prevention, Annual physicals, Immigration Physicals, Prevention and Assessment Services, Job Analysis, Orthotics/Prosthetics clinic, Ergonomic workstation evaluation, Safety/hazard identification, Corporate wellness,
______________ Occupational Health Center is devoted to preventing, evaluating, and managing conditions that are commonly or uniquely experienced by workers exposed to hazards in the workplace. We understand the functional requirements of any given job situation, and help individuals achieve maximum ability. We use our knowledge and considerable experience to effect a successful, timely return to work. __________ Occupational Health Center is dedicated to: A collaborative partnership displaying enhanced communication with our client, A Board Certified Occupational Health Physician led team which provides appropriate care with a return to work focus, Expedient access to the highest caliber of musculoskeletal specialists the region has to offer, from orthopedic surgeons to Spine Center physiatrists, State-of-the-art employee health services that comply with all current regulations _____________ Occupational Health Center is dedicated to helping our clients and their employees stay safe, healthy and productive. Our team has been helping companies like yours address the costs of workers compensation and the indirect costs associated with it for over 15 years.
________ Occupational Health Center offers a comprehensive portfolio of services including, Pre-placement and post injury physical examinations, Fitness for duty evaluations, Injury management, Coordination of health care and referrals to specialists, Work hazard identification, Coordination of post-injury return to work, Workers’ Compensation evaluations and hearing testimony, Immunizations, Medical screening, Dedicated occupational medicine physical therapy center, Hand therapy, Medical surveillance, Federal regulated DOT drug testing, On-site employee health services, Consultation on health-related issues, Injury case management, Spine Center, Hand Center, Physical Therapy
Now, an employee of any of these facilities could spot the differences and know which was theirs. An honest employee would admit that they would not be able to tell the difference if they didn’t work there.
I’m currently working with this client to re-write one of these to find a way to say what they do differently, and more simply so that people not in the industry understand it.
Do yourself a favor. Do this exercise. If someone unfamiliar with your company can tell you the difference clearly and concisely, then you are on the right track. If not, get your notebook out and start working on it. It will put you far ahead of your competition!
Photo by mahfooz cc on Unsplash
It’s incredible when you go to hear a speaker or watch a Ted talk and think “That is so right! I have been saying that for ages!”
That happened to me last week. I went to Inbound 2018 this year. It was my fifth one, and while this is not a review of the conference, it is a recommendation of watching the Keynote address from the co-founders of Hubspot, Brian Halligan, and Dharmesh Shah.
Hubspot’s core message has always been that people buy differently today than they did before the explosion of the internet. This year they reiterated that with a bit of a twist. They are saying that there is another shift happening, similar to their Inbound Marketing shift when they launched the company.
This is what Brian Halligan said during his presentation:
“Trust in sales and marketing is at an all-time low, it’s about 5% on the trust index…this is a sign of the times, nobody trusts anyone anymore… who do they trust? They trust your customers. That’s the only people they trust these days.”
He continued that word of mouth has become a significant source of leads for new business. To maximize word of mouth, you have to make sure that you are delighting your customers.
As a result, Hubspot has added more tools to help businesses to service and communicate with their existing customers.
Dharmesh talked about the new Customer Code that they introduced as a guideline on how to build your company’s focus on “solving for the customer” and keeping your company genuinely customer service obsessed.
I have sung this song for an awfully long time. My previous sales managers would say that I was paying too much attention to existing customers and not enough time “knocking on doors.” I disagreed then, and I feel a bit of vindication now when a company like Hubspot says the same thing. I felt that my long-term success was based on people “wanting to buy” from me and that customer service was the key.
I won’t re-hash the entire presentation here because I think that you should watch it yourself.
Customer service is critical to marketing a small business in 2018 and beyond. If you need help implementing some of these in your business, we are more than happy to help.
I see it all the time. I’ll ask a small (sometimes medium and large as well) businessperson what they do for their customers. The response comes in several different flavors of ambiguous and usually ends up with “Well, we can really do everything…” in said field.
In small business marketing, that won’t work. You may very well be able to do “everything” but it’s not going to get you to stand apart from the crowd. It doesn’t present any advantage to working with you than any of your competitors. When you do everything, you do nothing.
Allow me to paint you a picture, with the help of one of my favorite kid’s movies in recent years, The Incredibles. In the scene where the villain Syndrome says “When I’m old and I’ve had my fun, I’ll sell my inventions so that everyone can have powers. Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super… [chuckles evilly] …no one will be.”
It’s just like you and your business. You have some “Super Power”. You have something that sets you apart from your competition. That is what you do for your customers that makes them want to buy from you. You must be able to define your “Super Power” for your prospective customer. Once they decide to purchase from you or work with you, then you can try and do everything. But don’t start with it.
In “business speak” this is called your unique value proposition….but doesn’t “Super Power” sound so much better?
Your homework kids is to come up with your “Super Power”. Feel free to reply with it below!
photo courtesy of blogs.disney.com