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Why you can’t sell to someone who doesn’t trust you. Part 2

In part two, I’m going to reveal how to present your unique solution that will solve your audience’s problem. (See part 1 here)

The second step is to show them how it’s possible to solve their problem.

You can do this by giving your audience a series of steps they need to take to solve it. Or, you could give them a case study of somebody else who has solved it already.

Now the person isn’t just problem-aware, they are solution-aware

So we’re moving up the ladder in awareness, simply by providing them with great educational material. You become their go-to person for this problem, and now they are even considering doing something about it!

Don’t stop there though. You continue to not only tell them the why and the what but now the how too. You provide them with hope. They don’t have to live with this problem forever.

As we discussed in the previous article, first describe why this problem is an issue for them and how it’s making them feel.

It’s very likely they can’t even identify it themselves yet. Use powerful words and powerful language that speak for them: “This is a real problem, I must do something about it”.

I emphasize this again: educate your audience about their problem. When you educate them, you become their go-to person

Because you become the authority regarding this problem in their life, you become “top of mind” for them.

The material you provide for them can be in print, digital, social media or videos. Almost anything! This is content marketing and you need to keep doing it to stay top of mind for your audience.

So they’re now both problem-aware and solution-aware. The final step is where we hit the jackpot…

That is when your prospect becomes aware of your product or service.

Now, a word of advice.

Do remember that they have multiple ways of getting a solution. You’re not the only person or company out there who is trying to help people with this issue.

You need to be fully aware of what your competition is doing. Identify for yourself how you are different from your competition, and what is unique about what you’re offering.

This will establish you as a brand they want to keep coming back to over and over again.

What does it mean to have a “unique solution” to their problem?

It could be a number of things…

  • You have a unique system that solves the problem.
  • You have unique resources to solve their problem.
  • You have a special guarantee that nobody else offers.

Think about Domino’s Pizza…

“Hot Pizza in 30 minutes or it’s free”

Their pizza wasn’t anything special but their guarantee was out of this world.

A lot of people loved that they were going to get their pizza in 30 minutes and it was going to be hot… even if it wasn’t the best pizza.

Have some way of differentiating your service or product above everyone else’s. Otherwise, you won’t stand out in the market. If your product or service is not unique, you’re going to lose your prospects.

And if you aren’t unique, and you aren’t educating them, you will lose your prospects’ trust

If they don’t trust you enough, they’re not going to pull out their wallets and give you their money. It’s that simple.

Let’s summarize:

Step One

You start out with the prospect who is not fully aware of what their problem is. You put out content to make them problem-aware. You help them articulate their problem. You tell them WHAT the problem is and WHY they have it.

Step Two

You let them know that there is hope for solving this problem. There are other people who have solved it. You tell them what the SYSTEM is for solving the problem.

Step Three

The final step is product or service-aware. This is when you have to stand out from the competition. You show them that you are able to solve their problems in a way that no one else can.

Until they’ve gone through this prospect-awareness journey, they are not ready to buy.

So don’t try and sell them when they first meet you. They need to develop a relationship with you. You need to develop a relationship with them. Only then do they want to pull out their wallets and give you their money in a mutually-beneficial relationship.

Where have you jumped in too soon to make an offer? What was the result? What do you think would be a better result if you had waited to develop that relationship?

I’d love to hear a little more about it, so please comment below!

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Why you can’t sell to someone who doesn’t trust you. Part 1

People only buy from you when they know you well.

They have to really know you, like you and trust you.

And there’s a process for getting them from not knowing you even exist to knowing you well enough and trusting you enough to pull out their wallets.

Today I’m going to show you three steps to gaining the trust of your audience using great content marketing.

You see, no one wants to buy content marketing. Instead, what all business owners want – and NEED – is a great relationship with your audience.

And who is your audience? Those are people who are already in your world. People who mention to you they’re reading your material,  and who are engaging with you, or at least discovering you in one way or another.

That audience may come to you through ads, or referrals. And to build up that relationship, you offer them valuable information, or what is also known as content.

Content should be valuable, inspiring and educational

You’re the expert. You’re the authority.  Educate your audience to help them solve their problem in ways they haven’t thought of yet.

Instead of content marketing, many people also call it education-based marketing.

Use content marketing to build trust

So how do you develop this trust relationship? You have to go through a three step process:

You start with people who don’t even know you exist, and who barely even know they have a problem. What are they doing about it? They’re probably ignoring it and denying it.

Think about it….

How many times have you heard of somebody who’s had an illness, pain, or ache and a family member or good friend has said to them over and over again “you really need to go and see the doctor about that problem.”

Their problem is obvious to everyone else but that one person, and they’re in denial about it.

They first need to become aware of the fact they have this problem.

Your job as the entrepreneur is to identify their feelings, their pains and their problems. You need to do that in visceral terms. So they realize they have a problem and that they need to do something about it.

If they don’t do something about it, it’s just going to continue. Some people are happy to keep going that way, but most people want to solve their problems and there’s only one way they can do that.

The first step is to become educated that the problem even exists.

So step one is what I call ‘Problem Aware’. In very strong language, it’s your job to let them know they have that problem.

So now you’ve got them to the point where they say “okay I have a problem and it hurts! What do I do about it? “

You move them to step two which is to become solution-aware.

They need to recognize there are ways to solve their problem and there are many people who have already solved this same problem.

This is where you give them information that explains to them this is what the problem is.

So in the first step, you are talking about the problem: “This is why you have it and this is why it feels this way”.

Next you help them become aware that a solution exists.

In part two I’m going to share how you can present your solution to their problem so they see you as the person that can finally help them and lead them to become a customer.

So check back in and see what the next step is, in creating a trust-based relationship with your audience.

When have you – or someone you know – not paid attention to a problem that was really obvious to everyone else? What did it take to become “problem aware”? Please let me know in the comments!

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How to A.M.P. Up Your Small Business This Week!

Like many small business owners, Ted feels like he is banging his head against the wall.

He has a local professional services company where he constantly needs to be finding new clients. Many people call it “prospecting”, which brings to mind both the image of knocking on doors of completely cold prospects, and the image from the wild west movies, of grizzled miners sifting through the dust, looking for gold.

There are some connections between the two mental images, wouldn’t you say?

Ted’s problem is finding qualified leads; that is, people who are not completely unaware of the value he can offer to them, and who are at least open to the idea that he might be able to solve a problem they have.

But like many other small business owners, Ted is reluctant to invest in the very thing that will help him get past the cold calls, and the frustration and uncertainty of not knowing if he’ll have enough clients by the end of the month.

So if you sometimes feel a bit like Ted, let’s help you A.M.P up your business! Here are the three big steps that will set you on a more profitable, more enjoyable path!

A = Audience 

Identify exactly who your Audience is. You can’t speak to everyone! This means you need to know not only what specific market you choose to serve (or niche, as it is also called), but also the specific type of person with whom you want to work (your perfect client, or avatar).

Identify their #1 problem. You must know this in their exact words. As the old cliche asks, “What keeps them up at night with worry?”

How does that problem make them feel? What thoughts go through their minds, both consciously and unconsciously? What do they think about themselves? About others in their life? About their circumstances? 

Until you know the answers to these questions, you simply won’t be successful. So interview and survey your current clients, in order to get the answers you need.

Once you get great clarity on the market and the individual, and you are serving them well, you will also have an Army of referrers to help you grow! This comes later in the steps, but it’s useful to keep it in mind as you begin (and it also fits under “A”!)

M = Message

Armed with deep knowledge of your audience, both individually and as a group, you are ready to help them solve their problem with your services and products.

Clarify your proposition. What are you offering to them? How will it solve their problem?

Know your brand positioning. You want to be able to influence how your audience sees your brand, especially in relation to your competition. What makes you stand out? Why should they pay attention to you, instead of to someone else?

Be remarkable. That is, memorable. Catch phrases like “Just do it” (Nike) can help you be memorable, yes, but there are many ways you can be remarkable. Start to make a list.

P = Plan

Now that you know your audience in great detail, you’ve identified your unique value statement, and placed yourself squarely above the rest of the competition in your audience’s mind, you need a plan to send the message to your audience! If all the above points are simply written down on paper, and you don’t share the message, you won’t have a business!

That is called marketing. You need a marketing Plan, including paid advertising.

It doesn’t have to be a long, fancy plan. You can start with a one-page document that summarizes all of the above points.

Make sure you answer the following: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

A = Army of Referrers

The A.M.P. Up Your Business Blueprint comes back around to A again when you reach out to your current clients and customers, as well as partners in related businesses, and they become your Army of Referrers.

Are you ready to learn more about how to implement this type of 1-page marketing plan? Let’s have a 20-minute conversation and see where you should get started! Click here to apply. If it doesn’t seem like a good fit, I will let you know.

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The top 6 reasons small businesses struggle to get new leads and sales

Leads and sales is all about marketing. So if you don’t have a consistent, steady flow of new leads, converting into paying customers, you probably have a marketing problem.

So let me ask you: is your marketing strategy a little haphazard? Do you wonder how to increase your return-on-investment and get more leads and paying customers?

See if you match any of these top 6 problems faced by other small business owners:

1 – A lack of resources

This could mean time, money, people, or knowledge. When you are busy actually running your business every day, it’s challenging to come up with ways to meet this lack of resources.

2 – Poor understanding of social media

There are more than one billion people who are active on Facebook. And more than 100 million use Instagram every month.

If you aren’t taking full advantage of the social media platforms most often used by your ideal client, you are missing out on hundreds of opportunities to get in front of your core audience.

3 – It’s challenging to keep up with changing trends and technology

Unless you have a staff member whose primary job is to keep up with industry and market trends, it’s a struggle to know what the “latest and greatest” is.

The problem? Most of your competitors are figuring out how to do it… somehow.

4 – Lack of a marketing plan or strategy

As tempting as it is to just slap something together and send it “out there”, shockingly, this doesn’t usually work very well!

If your marketing doesn’t have a focus, your prospects and customers don’t focus on you either. Unfortunately, this goes back to problem #1.

5 – Expecting immediate results from long-term marketing tactics

This comes from not fully understanding how marketing works, and goes back to the problem of not having a plan.

6 – Not getting enough referrals

Word of mouth is not scalable, but it is still an important component of any business’ growth. It’s so important, in fact, that you can, and should, encourage referrals by offering incentives.

New customers are more likely to walk in, ready to buy, if they have a friend or family member who has already recommended your product or service.

There is another way!

If you would like to know a tried-and-true method to increase leads and sales, a method used by the most successful businesses around the world, of all sizes, please sign in below to download our short free ebook, “Guaranteed Customer Conversion for Small Businesses!”

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At last! Automatic monthly income without a lot of time and effort!

In a previous article, I shared the first four of six compelling reasons to immediately produce a recurring revenue product as part of your product suite.

Continue reading below to discover the next two reasons, as well as one of the most efficient, yet effective, recurring products you can offer your customers and clients.

5 – You have more time to maximize client value and increase retention.

This is related to #4, above. When you can spend less time and money to acquire new leads and convert them to customers, it means you have more time and money to create an amazing experience for your current customers.

This also helps reduce churn, which means you spend even less time acquiring new customers.

The key is to go beyond expectations.

Think about it. When you go to a grocery store, you expect quality fresh produce and a decent selection of brands and food types. When you don’t get that, you complain.

If you walk in, however, and someone greets you at the door and asks you what you are looking for, and then they offer to compare prices for you, and they push your cart around the store for you… Well, that is an entirely different experience.

So always give your customers what they expect. And with the extra time and money available to you when you use the recurring revenue model, make sure you also give them a WOW experience.

6 – You can focus on outcomes, instead of being a commodity.

Commodities can be bought and sold. You can measure them and count their features.

Commodities are such things as diamonds, air conditioners, cars, etc. You can measure how many they are, and sometimes how much energy they use.

Instead, with a recurring income product or service, you can market by emphasizing the outcome your customers are looking for.

You can talk about how they will feel when they use the gym as often as they want; or the peace of mind it will give them to know that someone is always on call if their washing machine breaks down; or how working with you every month as a business coach will turn their business – and life – around.

You are not held to providing your service or product for a certain number of hours. This means your customer feels more confident turning to you when they really need to, and you feel secure with money coming in every month. It’s a real win/win for both of you!

The real result: Relationship

While all this is terrific news for you and for your customers, even better is the end result of your recurring income service or product: the relationship you build with each individual in your community.

The ongoing “touches” you get to have with your customers and clients increase the opportunities for you to get to know them, and for them to get to know you. And, of course, the more you get to know each other, the more you will like each other. And trust comes next, after “knowing” and “liking”.

Never, ever underestimate the power of presence – being available to someone regularly – to build the relationship. And in this case, the business.

A great model for automatic monthly income – without a lot of effort

If you are someone who has a list of subscribers – people who have raised their hand and given you permission to show up in their email inbox – you now have available to you the best way to increase both their relationship with you, and, naturally following on that, their expected results.

How do you improve that relationship and their results?

By giving them something concrete to learn and apply each month.

It’s possible to create a membership site and continually update it. That is, indeed, a valuable service and it helps boost relationships.

But if you don’t have the time – nor the inclination – to run a membership program, a simpler, yet still highly effective recurring revenue offer is a monthly subscription newsletter.

You can certainly write and produce this newsletter yourself, or you can let my company do this for you.

All you need to do is allow one of us to interview you – or your team members – once a month for 30-40 minutes. We take over from there.

We get the recording transcribed, “massage” the content so it sounds JUST like you, set it up in a nice-looking template, then send it to the printer/distributor for you. (Printing and shipping costs are obviously separate from our content management fee.)

That’s it!

Of course, you do need to sell subscriptions to your list, but it doesn’t take very many sales before you’ve covered all your costs, and the rest is pure profit. All while you are providing valuable, relevant, engaging content that makes a difference in the lives of your customers.

I know, you may say, “Why would I mail a print newsletter these days??”

The truth is, people have stopped paying attention to their email inboxes. Lots of emails end up in the wrong tab – or in spam – and they never even get opened (what is your personal open rate, after all)?

On the other hand, how much of your “snail mail” do YOU open, especially when you’ve paid for it? And don’t you think it becomes easy to include an insert to other services and products you may want to offer as well?

If you are ready to receive automatic monthly income without a lot of time and effort, please apply here for a consultation. We are ready to help you increase your Impact, Influence, and Income through the power of engaging, inspiring content!

Do you have a “hole” in your marketing funnel that is leaking leads and sales? Take our quiz and find out!

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If everyone else is doing it, why aren’t you?

Netflix does it. GE does it. Verizon does it. Your local gym does it.

What’s the common denominator? They all have some sort of recurring income product, also known as a membership model.

In this day and age, recurring income is THE business model. If you don’t have a recurring product or service yet, you will likely get left behind by those in your industry or market who do.

Case in point: Netflix vs. Blockbuster.

Netflix started right from the beginning by getting customers onto a pay-once-a-month-watch-all-you-want plan. Customers loved it because it gave them lots of choices, and lots of freedom about when to watch their movies.

In contrast, of course, Blockbuster gave some freedom of choice – “you can get any 3 movies for $6” – but they didn’t provide for customers to watch a variety of movies, whenever they wanted. Once Netflix provided all of their movie selections digitally, instead of just by mail, the game was over and Blockbuster was done.

Why is the recurring revenue business model so popular? Below are the first four of six compelling reasons to start using this model as soon as possible:

1 – It’s money you can count on.

Sure, there are people who come and go; there will always be “churn” when you have any kind of membership program. Some people lose interest in the topic, others decide they can’t afford to stay, and still others just aren’t a good fit for the program.

But in general, if you take good care of your customers (we’ll get to that in a minute), you will have regular income that you can count on for months.

This allows you to plan for how you invest in your company: marketing, ads, launches, professional development, software and hardware upgrades, etc. When you have a regular source of income, you can make plans!

2 – There is less risk in your business.

Anytime potential investors look at the viability of a company, they always look for predictable income. The recurring revenue model gives them what they are looking for.

3 – You can predictably pay off your bills each month.

Many of your company bills are monthly themselves. Software applications like AWeber or Active Campaign. Website support. Utilities. Rent or mortgage (for your business and for your home).

4 – You spend less time acquiring new customers.

Everyone knows it is significantly more difficult – and costly – to acquire a new customer than it is to get a current customer to buy again.

Yes, as stated above, there will always be churn, so you will always need to be acquiring new customers. Besides, you likely want to GROW your customer base!

But the need for frantic, hamster-wheel-style customer acquisition is significantly lessened when you know you have a core number of customers who will likely stay with you from month to month.

To make the most of this benefit, you’ll need to know these numbers:

  • How many customers typically stay each month (retention)
  • How many customers typically leave each month (churn)
  • Your cost to convert a lead to a customer
  • Your cost to acquire the lead
  • Your customer lifetime value

When you are secure with these numbers, you’ll be able to figure out how aggressively you need – or want – to get new leads.

If all these companies rely on recurring income, for all the reasons stated above, it makes sense for you to set up up a recurring revenue model too.

As if these four reasons aren’t enough, check out Part 2 to discover two more, as well as one of the easiest-to-produce, yet most impactful recurring revenue products!

If you would like to talk to me about creating money you can count on in YOUR business, please click here to apply for the Winning Content Strategy Master Plan Session!

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The 3S Marketing System: SEO, Syndicated Content, and Social Media. Go from Relationship to ROI

It’s late Saturday morning. You are new in town and are ready to go explore.

You step out your front door, a little uncertain in which direction you should go, when you notice the neighbors on either side of you are also out in their front yards.

One family is playing with their kids on the swingset, and the other is preparing a barbecue. They both come over to ask what you are up to today.

“I’d like to find a really good coffee shop nearby.”

“You should definitely check out the shop at the corner of Vine and Maple called Coffee Dreams. It’s great!”

“Yes,” replies the other neighbor. “That’s my favorite coffee shop! Make sure you try their pumpkin spiced latte. You’ve never tasted anything quite like it.”

You thank them for their friendly recommendations, hop in your car, and after a short drive, find a place to park, and walk in.

There is a funky blackboard behind the counter with colorful names of coffee varieties, some sandwich selections, and delicious-sounding pastries. The chairs and tables are each unique, and comfortable for small group conversation.

You like the way it feels here. You start to chat with the barista, who is really friendly and helpful. The shop owner introduces herself and offers some great information about the unusual coffee flavors she offers.

Being a real coffee aficionado, you inquire about the origin of the beans and the different ways of preparing coffee, and the owner enthusiastically engages you in conversation. She also encourages you to join her newsletter list, so you can get more information in the future.

You finally leave about 90 minutes later, telling yourself that you’ll definitely be back. This is a good place to hang out.

Same story – Online

Now imagine this same scenario, but instead of in your neighborhood, it’s online. You are interested in a particular topic, like coffee.

You notice that your social media friends have been talking about a specific coffee shop, so you check the reviews online, and discover that the place has raving fans.

When you do a search for coffee shops in your town, it shows up on page 1 of the results, so it’s easy to click on the link to get to the website.

When you get to the webpage, you discover that they not only list their menu items and hours, but they also have a blog with really fascinating information.

After reading for a while, you get to the bottom of the third blog article and notice that you can sign up for their monthly newsletter to keep up to date with all the latest happenings at the shop.

By this time you are hooked, so you are happy to give up your email address.

Then you head out the door to try it out for real!

The 3S Marketing System

In this situation, just like in the real life situation, you have a vital intersection of content marketing, keywords (SEO), and social recommendations (social media).

In fact, the synergy between these three is critical for both the consumer and the proprietor. This is why I call it the 3S Marketing System: SEO, Syndicated content, and Social media.

The consumer (prospect) needs the content in order to become more knowledgeable about the topic, and can only find their way there through a combination of recommendations and keyword searching. The content also helps the consumer feel comfortable with the proprietor, desiring to come back in the future.

The proprietor first needs to decide which keywords will be most obvious for the service offered, and which will likely be most effective at drawing in their perfect customer (avatar). Then she needs to create great free content that speaks directly to that prospect, and his interests.

When the prospect visits, he has a great experience, and it isn’t long before he, too, is telling all the neighbors about how much he loves Coffee Dreams!

Is it relevant?

It goes without saying, of course, that people who don’t like coffee won’t be attracted to a place like Coffee Dreams, either online or in real life. And that is perfect.

The owner of Coffee Dreams wants lots of coffee lovers to show up! But she doesn’t have time for people who aren’t interested in coffee. So she provides content on her site and in her store that is relevant only to coffee lovers.

What do these scenarios really mean for you and your business?

It means you have to leverage the power of combined SEO, content marketing, and social media to build your business.

The first first key to this formula is to fully understand relevance.

As anyone who has tried to work with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) knows, search engines are constantly evolving.

And although it may feel as if that evolution is intended to harm marketers and make their lives difficult, the truth of the matter is that it is intended to provide the user with a satisfying experience.

So don’t take it personally. It’s not about you; it’s about your prospect. As it should be for you too.

Instead of being upset about the constant rotation of Google’s “zoo” (Penguin, Panda, etc.), if you keep in mind the PURPOSE of your marketing, you will be just fine, no matter what the search engines do.

That purpose? To create a relationship with your prospect that brings them on a journey. The benefit to YOU, of course, is that during that journey, they go from prospect, to lead, to customer, to raving fan.

prospect awareness, content marketing,

What is the intent?

To determine how relevant your content is to your target audience, you really need to know the intent behind their search.

While you, as the content person (yes, you!) may be interested in choosing the right keywords for your meta description and to sprinkle throughout your text, your target audience simply wants an answer to a question.

First, we need a couple of definitions, because people often tend to mix these up:

Keyword: A term used to describe something (for the marketer)

Query: What a user types into a search engine to accomplish something or to get an answer (for the searcher)

So ask yourself these questions as you search for keywords:

If my audience member is typing in a query, what is their goal?

Are they looking for information?

Are they comparing different versions of the same thing?

Are they looking to buy something right now?

What keyword(s) can I choose that will be the end result of their query?

1 – Enter the funnel through SEO

Since most traffic comes from people who are looking for information, leverage that search to drop them into your marketing funnel.

Where do they end up? On your website! Reading your blog, watching your video, etc.

Ideally, you will have custom content, specific both to you/your company and to your audience.

Although some businesses use generic content (and this may be just fine for businesses like doctors and attorneys and chimney sweeps, that are built entirely on local traffic), in general, you want to use custom content.

Custom content – that is, content provided by you and your team, specifically for your audience – helps preserve your “voice” and attracts exactly the right type of person to your business.

Besides, you know your audience best, and you know your solution to their problem best. So you are the best person (or someone on your team who knows how to articulate your voice is best) to share how your solution solves your prospect’s problem.

So don’t skimp on this critical part of the 3S System. Custom content, produced on a regular basis (it’s important to the search engine spiders that you produce new content frequently), and distributed widely over a variety of platforms (syndicated) is a key element in the SEO algorithm.

Ad – Want help with your content? Join Content Marketing Pro!

2 – Great content – syndicated

Of course, in addition to your content being custom-made for your audience, your content needs to be EXCELLENT to keep them there, and to get them to continue to engage with you.

And as we already stated, great content starts with its relevance to your audience. So you really, really need to know your avatar.

Once your audience knows that you exist, great content that meets their needs helps them begin to like you.

If they like you, they will keep coming back for more great content. Now they trust you!

Think about it: Do you trust someone you don’t know? Or someone you don’t like? Of course not!

Remember that trust means “absence of doubt”. Your prospect has to have no doubt that your intentions are to help them. If they think there is any chance of you not fulfilling your promises, that’s it; “gave over”.

So focus on this: RELATIONSHIP COMES BEFORE ROI.

Build that relationship with excellent custom content.

Brand recognition

So here is the process so far:

SEO brings traffic to your site → great content builds trust

SEO is the technical stuff. Content is all about building trust through relationships. You want to create brand recognition.

There is a LOT to creating brand recognition. For today, here are a couple of quick tips:

  • Know your avatar so well that you choose colors and symbols for your logo and other visuals that really resonate with them
  • Provide great value. Over and over and over. Exceed expectations.
  • Tell great stories about you and your company.
  • Tell great stories that highlight your customers.
  • Be everywhere. Syndicate your content so you are top of mind when your audience thinks of your topic.
  • Be all over the social media channels frequented most by your avatar. Again, become familiar through repetition.

3 – Social Media

And this leads us to the final corner of the 3S Marketing System triangle: social media.

96% of all web activity is now on social media. The search engines have recognized this, and now include many platforms in search results.

In fact, if you are not prolific on social media, you are probably not relevant. And remember what we said about how important relevance is!

Now we are ready for the final step in the process:

SEO brings traffic to your site → great content gets conversions to your list → social media presence

No matter how relevant your content is to your prospect’s search, and no matter how great the content is, the easiest way to convert your lead to a customer is through their friends’ recommendations.

This is why social media MUST be part of your marketing strategy.

Social media must be both engaging and inspiring: get your audience to think, to relate, to consider, to comment, to share.

When they share your content – short posts, images, videos, links to longer posts – they both feel like they are participating, and they are recommending you to their friends and followers.

Don’t you trust your neighbor’s recommendation for an auto mechanic more than you trust the mechanic’s marketing claims?

When you show up on social media, you are able to reach a whole new web of prospects, thanks to one person sharing to their friends, than one of them sharing to their friends, etc.

Social media is how you increase visibility and credibility. And, to bring it all full circle, the more people share your content, the more the search engines trust you.

So in the same way that you trusted your neighbors to find a coffee shop that is perfect for you, and once you were there, you fell in love with it, your prospects actually WANT to fall in love with a solution to their problem. They want to find you!

So through the power of the 3S Marketing System, make it as easy as possible for your perfect audience to find your perfect solution.

Great, relevant content, found through targeted SEO and a prolific social media presence.

Take care of these three corners of the triangle, and you have a solid presence online, that will help your business grow.

  • People trust their social friend’s recommendation more than a Marketer’s
  • Social media must be part of your marketing strategy
  • Get social media to do your marketing for you.
  • Create a graphic here
  • When on social media, you are able to reach a whole new web of prospects, based on one person who follows you. Friends, family, colleagues
  • Increase visibility and authenticity so both customers and search engines trust you

You need to have a relationship before you can count on ROI.

If you liked this post, join our 30 Days To a Flood of New Leads program! You will learn ALL you need to know to create engaging, valuable content, that inspires your prospects to take action!

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Content not only drives traffic, it creates leads. And customers.

“Companies that published 16+ blog posts per month got almost 3.5x more traffic than companies that published between 0 – 4 monthly posts.” Hubspot research

Wow. Content makes a serious difference.

The thing is, you need to have a LOT of content. Check out this graph:

blog_monthly_traffic_cs

According to the statistics, it doesn’t matter if you are B2B or B2C. If you publish 11 or more blogposts a month, you get a LOT more traffic:

blog_monthly_traffic_b2b2c

Hubspot is showing that even small companies of fewer than 100 employees NEED to have at least 11 monthly blogposts. Because when you do that? You get a lot more traffic.

Traffic (usually) = leads.

And leads – that then convert into customers – are the seeds for a profitable business.

Here you can actually see the increased leads you get when you publish more blogposts:

blog_monthly_leads_cs

When they analyzed their own posts, Hubspot also found that 75% of their blog views and 90% of their blog leads came from old posts. And the more content you create, the more old posts are hanging around out there, generating traffic.

Have I convinced you yet?

Most businesses “know” they should be publishing regular content, especially blogposts. But to see it in cold hard numbers really drives the point home.

Well here is the cold hard truth: If you aren’t creating fresh content on your website on a consistent basis, you are leaving money on the table.

Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t do that to your business. And don’t do that to your family.

Is NOW the time you are ready to become a content-generating machine?

Do you need some help making that happen?

You don’t have to do it all alone. .

If you liked this post, join our 30 Days To a Flood of New Leads program! You will learn ALL you need to know to create engaging, valuable content, that inspires your prospects to take action!

 

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How content marketing taps into some of our deepest fears – which is why you should use it

I recently read about a psychologist who was teaching his 6-year-old daughter about feelings.

The little girl was standing in front of a mirror, making faces at herself, so he asked her to make a happy face. She opened her eyes and cheerfully bared her teeth.

Then he asked her to make a sad face. She pushed out her lower lip and started pouting.

After a few more experiments, on a sudden inspiration, he asked her to make a lonely face. She immediately turned her face away from the mirror and away from her parents, and looked down at the ground.

The psychologist and his wife were cut deep in their hearts. Even at this young age, their daughter not only knew what it meant to feel lonely, but she also knew how to make it worse: she pulled herself away from the people who love her most.

Isn’t that what we all do when we feel lonely? It’s as if we are the only person in the world, and no one else can possibly understand us.

Nurture connections with content just like the pros do!

Content is all about communication, and you need communication to connect

Click here to learn how to connect with your audience and grow your business at the same time!

Connections lead to safety and security

It reminded me of a conversation we just had on our podcast, Mighty Married Moms, with probably one of the world’s premier experts on ADHD, Dr. Ned Hallowell.

Amazingly, Dr. Ned insists that one of the most effective ways to combat the problems of ADHD – the feeling of being distracted and scattered; having an inability to stay focused; procrastinating; difficulty finishing what we start – is connection with others.

Dr. Ned shares that when we are connected to other people, we feel safe and secure. That security allows us to “play”, which lights up the brain with joy. And a joyful brain is a brain that is creative, innovative, and interestingly, even more disciplined.

What does this have to do with content marketing?

It is not possible to have a viable business without solid connections with your audience.

They need to know that you understand their pain, their frustration, and even their loneliness.

As Dr. Ned explains, when people feel connected, their brain lights up and they feel more joyful.

Don’t you want people to be happy and joyful when they think of you and your offerings??

Create connections in your marketing

Take, for example, a man who feels that no woman could possibly want to date him, because of the way he looks. Of course he’s lonely!

And when you help him articulate those fears of never being connected, he lifts his head, and becomes brave enough to listen to what you have to say.

Or a woman who is struggling to get recognition at work. She knows all the effort she has put into recent projects, and that without her they would not have taken off.

When you articulate her fears and promise a way to help her fulfill her potential, she also lifts her head, and wants to hear more.

Or the new business owner who walked away from a regular 9-to-5 job in order to follow his dream, but for whom the pieces just aren’t falling into place.

When you connect with him about his fears of loss and failure, and explain that you can help him create that dream business, he feels understood and ready to try again.

If you have a real, honest-to-goodness solution to the fears – and loneliness – felt by your customers and clients, make the connection. Be the reason they feel joy!

Connection deters loneliness

Tell your personal stories. Tell the stories of your other successful clients.

Let your audience know that they are NOT alone. Many other people have had those same lonely feelings of shame, worry, distraction, and disconnection.

Reach out through your free content to create a relationship and dispel that loneliness.

Don’t do it in a “hypey” way. Do it authentically. Be a real person.

Because on the other end of your ledger sheet are real people.

Real people who are lonely, who feel disconnected and uncertain.

As a business owner you have both a privilege and a responsibility to be honest about what you are offering your customers and clients. About what it will take for them to be successful. And about what they can expect along the way.

But you can also promise them that they won’t have to travel that journey alone. They get to travel with you, the expert in this area, and you will give them the helping hand they need.

You want to have a viable business, and feel great about it?

Use content marketing to make a real difference in people’s lives.

Your action: Please share in the comments below how you can create even more connection with your audience through content that matters.

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More of the most common mistakes you might be making in your content marketing that make it “not work” for you. Part 2

Recently I shared 6 common mistakes people make in their content marketing that will often cause them to say, “Forget it. It doesn’t work.”

And I challenged you to think about whether or not you are making any of those mistakes yourself.

Here are another 5 mistakes – a total of at least 11 – and there are probably more too!

7. Not using the right media/platform for the right audience.

This mistake arises when you either don’t know your audience well enough, or you are unwilling to shift from what is more comfortable for you than for them.

What I mean is, if your primary audience consists of women in their 30s and 40s you should definitely be on Pinterest. Even if you are a guy who doesn’t “get” Pinterest.

And if your audience is ages 15 to 25, at least, you had better be on Snapchat. This month. 😉

I’m not saying you have to be on 15 different platforms, or use 7 different types of media.

Just know your audience.

If you need to be creating podcasts for them to listen to while they drive or work out, do it.

If they tend to live in front of YouTube, create videos.

Don’t guess at this! Do your research and be in the right place.

Is Content Marketing a bit of a mystery to you?

Get the real answers about how to use content to grow your business!

Click here to join Content Marketing Pro!

8. Using social media as a distribution channel instead of a relationship builder.

This is from Gary V. He points out that the purpose of social media is NOT really distribution. It’s to foster a relationship between you and your audience members.

Social media is the best place for them to get to know you as a real person behind a brand.

It’s also where you can reach out to your audience and get great market research (quizzes, challenges, engaging questions, etc.).

And when you engage with your audience – and you really know them – when you ask them to do something for you – such as share a post, or sign friends up for an event – they are very likely to be happy to be part of that community.

And that is what relationships are all about. We all want – no, we all NEED – to belong to something greater than ourselves.

So yes, you can send out your latest blogpost or podcast on social media, and it’s useful to curate other people’s helpful information that way, but the real key is using social media to foster a relationship with the real people in your audience.

9. Asking your audience to commit to you before you commit to them.

Let’s face it; we all have a bit of healthy skepticism when it comes to meeting someone new.

And you ask for something as personal as an email address before you even buy them a drink?

Nope. It doesn’t work anymore, if it ever did.

Now, the key is to give them something first, and THEN – when they not only know you, but they also like you – you can dare to ask for their email address.

***This is really important: When you send someone from an ad directly to an optin, without giving them something to build at least a little familiarity first – never mind trust – it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg.

So don’t do it. Introduce yourself. Commit to serving them first. Once they like you, then you can ask them to trust you with their email address.

10. Not running ads to your content.

This flows right out of #9.

Run ads. But don’t run them to sales pages first, or optins. And DON’T run cold ads to webinars!

Run ads and send prospects – your audience, remember – to valuable, actionable content. First.

You’ll save money in the long run because these content pieces not only create a more informed prospect, but also qualify they before they buy.

11. Not tracking the ROI of your content.

Let’s be clear. Determining useful metrics for content marketing is a bit tricky. Different companies will follow different metrics.

And what you follow depends on what part of the funnel you are looking at – top, middle, or bottom.

Ultimately, it all boils down to what your GOALS and OBJECTIVES are for your content (a topic for another day).

But if you are running ads to content first, then retargeting those who consume your content with more ads, you CAN determine ROI.

Not only can you determine ROI, but you SHOULD. Then you know if your marketing is “working”.

And that’s why we are reading and writing this article, isn’t it?

If you don’t have some way to determine your ROI, then you don’t have a business. Period.

Your action: I would love to hear your biggest “ah-ha” moments from these two posts. (Here is part 1.)Please share below what you have been doing less effectively with your content marketing, and what you think you would like to do better in the future. I will see if I can help in the comments.

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