Tanya Brody

Copywriter | Marketing & Optimization Consultant | Customer Advocate

Have You Prepared Yourself and Your Business for an Unexpected Illness or Accident?

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Unexpected illness small business owner

A friend of mine had surgery and is house-bound for 2 weeks. Another friend of mine survived cancer, and now suffers from recurring health issues related to the cancer. A third friend is recovering from numerous strokes, one of which had a lasting effect, and just moved into an assisted living facility. It’s probably a permanent move.

Yes, I know, this all sounds doom and gloom.

As a small business owner, it made me stop and think about what would happen to my business if I got sick or hurt.

It’s one thing when you work for a large company that provides health care, disability coverage and worker’s compensation as part of your benefits package. A long-term illness or injury wouldn’t be fun, but you’d have at least part of your financial situation in hand.

Those of us who work for ourselves don’t have that kind of safety net. If we’re not there to do the work, the work doesn’t get done.

I pay for my own health insurance, so my hospital bills would mostly be covered. But if I don’t work, I can’t pay my health insurance… You see where this is leading.

It’s a complicated system we live in. I know there are various and sundry supplemental insurance programs out there that would cover me if I ever ended up not being able to take care of myself. But those cost money too.

And what would happen to my clients if I were unable to continue to work?

There are so many questions that surround this situation.

I realize this is an unusual blog post. But my friends got me thinking about what would happen to me if I couldn’t work for a while.

Obviously, if I knew this situation were coming, I would plan a certain amount of recovery time. I’d get my clients to the point where they could live without me for a few weeks. If it were longer than that, I’d find other copywriters who could step in and help.

But what would happen if it was sudden? Like a car accident or a heart attack? How would I manage my business from a hospital bed?

I know small business owners who have been through this problem, and come through it successfully. But it’s tough. If you create a physical product, you can teach someone else to make it. It’s worse when you provide a service and you have to refer your clients elsewhere while you’re recovering.

So, I’d like to ask you, my fellow small business owners, do you have a plan in place if you’re unable to run your company?

Are you running a company with more than one person? Can someone else take over for you? Have you taught someone else to do what you do?

If you’re a solopreneur with clients, like me, do you have someone who can take on your clients while you’re unavailable? And what happens when you’ve recovered and are ready to work again? Are you guaranteed to get those clients back?

If you make a product, do you have a staff that can keep making that product? Do you keep a backlog, just in case? How does your product get to your customers if you’re not there to send it?

Do any of you have resources that you can share with our community?

Do you have tools you use or work-arounds in place if this happens to you?

Is your business doing well enough that you have a personal emergency fund you can tap? If so, how much do you put into that every month, and how long did it take you to grow it to where it is now?

Please share your wisdom in the comments so we can all benefit. That way we can hope for the best, expect the worst, and take whatever comes.

3 Excellent Reasons to Follow Up with Current and Prospective Customers (and How to Do it)

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follow upI got a great compliment from a prospective customer the other day, a fellow named Adam Katz. I called him for our initial consultation, right on time. He answered the phone and commented on my punctuality. Then he said, “I’m very impressed by your marketing and your follow-up.”

This was very nice to hear, because I make an effort to follow up with everyone who contacts me about my copywriting business, and not just because they might be potential clients.

I’ve had a few folks contact me since I was interviewed on Ed Gandia’s podcast who were interested in learning more about freelancing. I’ve taken time to talk to all of them.

Why do I do this? Because following up with people is important. Whether you’re a freelancer or solopreneur like me, following up with potential clients, or you’re a brick and mortar business working with customers. It gives your business a better reputation.

Here are 3 excellent reasons, and good ways, to follow up with your customers:

1. Acknowledging You’ve Received a Message.

I am always amazed by how many companies, from small businesses to major corporations, utterly fail to acknowledge they’ve received your message. Or if they do, it’s something to the effect of “Your message has been logged in our system.”

Okay… So somewhere, a computer has logged my message. Is anyone going to respond to it? Will my question be answered? Or am I stuck in eternal limbo?

I had this occur recently at my car dealership. They had to order a part for my car, and they may have to order a second one, because they don’t know which part is actually causing the problem.

Well, I found another problem that may be able to diagnose which part is the faulty one. So I called the dealership and asked to speak to the fellow I worked with when I came in for the first appointment. He was unavailable, but I left a message.

No one has called to follow up with me. Not even to say, “Hey, we got your message and we’re looking into this. We’ll get back to you as soon as we have an answer.”

As a customer, it’s nice to at least know that someone is working on my problem.

Now, switch that around to your business.

If you don’t respond when someone calls with a question, to place an order or to hire you to do something, they’ll assume you’re not interested in their business and go elsewhere. That means you’re out a customer, and you’ve lost income.

Following up with that person, even if it’s just a quick email to say “Hey, I got your message” can be the difference between a good month and a bad month for your business.

Personally, I follow up in 2 ways.

  • I have an autoresponder connected to my contact form that sends a short email to tell them I’ve received their message and will get back to them shortly. I also include a link to my online calendar so they can make an appointment with me at their convenience.
  • When I get the information from the contact form (via my email service provider) I send a personal email. Again, I say I got their message and I’m interested in talking to them about their project.

Both of these show that I’m interested in working with the people who contact me for my copywriting services. And, most importantly, it shows that their message hasn’t disappeared into a black hole, never to be seen again.

2. Following up after the initial contact.

If people who have contacted me don’t make an appointment or respond to either email, I send another one in a few days.

Why?

Because people are busy. Generally speaking, we’re all much more involved in whatever is going on in our immediate lives. (Or as I like to call it, whatever is on fire on your desk at the moment.)

By taking the time to follow up with someone, you’re saying “yes, I know you’re busy, but you had a concern that I can help you with. What can I take off your plate?

Years ago, when I was a professional touring musician, I had the pleasure of hearing Derek Sivers speak at a music conference in Cincinnati, OH. Derek is the founder of CD Baby, an independent music distribution company. (It’s an awesome company, and yes, you can still find my music there.)

Derek was talking about how to market yourself as a musician, and in particular, how to get the attention of the person you’re trying to reach. He said something during that speech that stuck with me over the years. “Persistence is polite.”

In context, here’s what he was saying; if a music venue coordinator or booking agent didn’t get back to you right away, you should keep trying. A lot of musicians get frustrated in this situation, swear a lot, claim they’re “too good to play this dive” and call the next venue on their list. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work out well for some of them.

I took this to heart at the time, because I was one of those musicians who spent her days calling music venues to book my band. And I made it my mantra.

When I first contacted a venue, I would make a note in my Outlook journal of when I had contacted them, how I had contacted them (phone or email) and what had happened. Then I’d set a calendar alert to contact them again in a few days to a week.

I did this over and over and over. I was always polite, and I deliberately said in each of those messages, “Please let me know one way or the other, so I know what’s going on at your end.”

I wasn’t interested in wasting my time trying to contact people who weren’t interested in talking to me. I’d rather have them say, “No thank you” so I knew and could move on to whatever was next.

Several times, I had venues who would call or email back, weeks or months later, and say “Yes, we want to book you.” Somewhere in the booking process, a couple of them said “We’re really excited to have you, and thank you for continuing to follow up with us until we responded.”

Yes. Persistence is polite. Do it. I think you’ll like the results.

3. Checking in to see if you can help

This is a great idea, especially if you’ve been contacted by people who are interested in what you’re selling, but may not need it right away.

This lets your customers (or potential customers) know that you’re still interested in doing business with them whenever they’re ready. And it keeps you top of mind when they are ready.

Again, I do this in two ways:

  • I write a monthly email newsletter that I send to current customers and people who have expressed an interest in doing business with me. It’s a quick update about what’s going on with me, an invitation to contact me if they’re ready to talk about their next project and a special business tip I only include in these letters.I also include a list of the month’s blog posts from my blog, so they can see what I’ve been writing about. (This sneakily acts as a set of samples and a reminder that I do content writing, among other things. Now everyone on my monthly newsletter list knows my secret.)
  • Occasionally, I’ll send a personal email to clients I haven’t heard from in a while, just checking in to see what’s going on and whether they need my services.

Both of these techniques have gotten me work. And I’ve gotten to help out some folks who were in a bind and needed something done quickly.

How Do You Follow Up In Your Business?

Now that you know the importance of following up, I hope you’ll make it a regular part of your business. If you are following up with current and potential customers, how do you do it? If not, why not? Tell me about it in the comments.

 

 

 

How to Build a Lasting Customer Relationship – What I Learned from 3 Marketing Experts During 2 Conferences Last Week

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customer relationship

I’ve spent the last few days trying to process everything I learned during the two conferences I attended last week. There was a lot of information thrown at me. But one point that came across quite clearly was, you need to build a strong customer relationship.

Let’s face it. We all hate the emails, sales letters, websites and other collateral that comes off as, “Me, me, me, buy my stuff.” We look at those and think, “Why? Why should I buy your stuff? You don’t care about me. You only care about yourself.”

But when the message shows us that whoever is marketing to us cares about us. That they’re invested in our success or solving our problem. That they’re interested in building a relationship with us, we tend to pay more attention.

That’s the beauty of building a strong, lasting customer relationship. It’s worth your while, even though it may take longer. A customer who is happy to open your emails and eager to buy your products is worth 20 people who expressed interested in your product, but never respond to anything you send after the initial contact.

Your goal, as a business owner, is to build that customer relationship with as many people as possible. And it’s easier than you might think.

Here is some excellent advice from 3 marketing experts on how to build lasting customer relationships. Their presentations stood out from more than 30 I heard during my 2 days at CONVERTED and 3 days at AWAI’s Bootcamp and Job Fair.

Some you may recognize, some you may not. But they’re all great business people and they have a lot to offer to help you up your business game plan.

All Customer Relationships are Person to Person (P to P) – Pat Flynn

I adore Pat. I had the pleasure of being his Speaker Liaison at last year’s CONVERTED conference, so I got to know him a bit. He’s a genuinely great guy who is interested in seeing everyone succeed. (Yes, I’m biased. I admit it.)

One of the things Pat talked about during his presentation at CONVERTED is, regardless of whether you’re in a business to consumer (B2C) or business to business (B2B) industry, all of your relationships are P to P or person to person.

Whatever your selling, whatever problem you’re trying to solve, there’s a human being on the other end of that transaction

It’s interesting, because before radio and television (which are broadcast, or one to many, mediums) businesses had that personalized touch. Your bank teller knew your name when you walked in to make a deposit or a withdrawal. Your grocer, butcher and baker knew your shopping preferences.

Yes, a lot of that still goes on, thanks to automation and tracking software. But it feels a lot less… personal. When was the last time someone in your neighborhood supermarket called you by name? When was the last time you walked into a shop and the shopkeeper said, “That (insert product name here) you like so much just came in. I set a couple aside for you.”

That’s the kind of customer relationships we can build now, thanks to demographics information and customer relationship management software. We can track customer’s interests, buying habits and more. (Yes, it’s a bit creepy, but stick with me here.)

We can use that information to segment our customer base and send them the specific information they want. Here’s an example from Pat Flynn.

Pat sends this great Welcome email that talks about serving his audience. (If you’ve never seen it, I recommend that you subscribe to his email list, just to see this welcome email.) He tells you straight off that he’s here to help you, and if his emails aren’t serving you, please unsubscribe. He doesn’t want you to waste his time.

Then, he segments new subscribers so he knows what to send them, using this section of his email:

pat flynn customer relationship email

 He deliberately asks you which stage you’re at in your business, so he knows what kind of content to send you. He’s building a customer relationship with you where you are.

(FYI, I’m pretty sure Pat uses Leadlinks from Leadpages to segment his list quickly and easily.)

I confess that whenever I get an email from Pat, I usually open it and read it within the first 24 hours. Why? Because I know it will speak to something I’m going through right now as a business owner. Because I know Pat has experience that will help me overcome my problems.

He’s speaking to me as a person, not just an available source of revenue.

(To Pat’s credit, he doesn’t sell anything directly. His website is Smart Passive Income and it shows folks how to make a good living off of creating great content and selling other people’s products.)

He’s continuing that Person to Person, or P to P, relationship every time he sends me an email. And I love it. I’ve directed several people to his website as a resource for various issues. Just today, I sent someone the link for his podcasting guide. And I’m telling you about him in this blog post.

Pat is investing in me, so I invest in him, even if we’re only giving each other time.

That’s a strong customer relationship. I’ll be more likely to buy products that Pat recommends, especially knowing he gets an affiliate payment because I bought through him.

Your Customer Relationship Should Follow the Same Path as a Healthy Human Relationship – Ryan Deiss

I met Ryan for the first time last week at CONVERTED. (At least, we think it was the first time, because he said I looked familiar. Who knows. This is what happens when you hang around marketing conferences.) He is a delightful person and an excellent speaker. (Okay, I already knew that second part from listening to recordings of other presentations he’s given.)

What I loved about Ryan’s presentation is the way he compared a successful marketing funnel to his own relationship history and marriage. It was fun, witty and an excellent comparison.

Why?

Because when you enter a relationship with your customers, you should be in it for the long haul.

So many companies (both B2C and B2B) pursue a customer for the sale, then drop off the face of the earth, until they want to sell something again. Really? (I’m not going to mention the obvious comparison here. I’m sure you can draw that conclusion on your own.)

As soon as you begin your customer relationship, you should think of it as a courtship with a long-term goal of marriage. You want that person to think of you as a life partner. Someone they can rely on. Someone they can turn to when they need their problems solved. (That’s why your product exists, after all.)

One of the simple ways to do that is to make a good impression. We all do this at the beginning of any relationship. (The clothes on the floor and the open lid on the toilet come later.)

As a business, you give make a good impression by putting giving your prospective customer (or current customer) your best content right away. This can be a free sample of your product or trial of your service. It can also be useful content that will help your customer make a decision about your product, and build trust in your company.

On the other hand, if you treat your customers like a convenience, they’ll be looking for a new company to solve their problems. One that will treat them with the respect they deserve and give them the support they need. (Sound familiar? See, Ryan’s got it right.)

Think about the way you treat your customers. Do you give them flowers (or a coupon, or a special sale) for no reason? Do you take them out to dinner (or treat them to a free service) on a regular basis? Do you remember their birthdays every year?

All of this can be automated through your ESP or CRM. It doesn’t take a lot and it’s worth every penny you spend.

Remember, you’re maintaining a relationship with another person. How do you want to be treated as a customer? Treat your customers the same way.

Guide Your Customer Gently Toward Their Decision – Clayton Makepeace

If you haven’t heard of Clayton Makepeace, you’re missing out. Clayton is a copywriting genius. His promotion packages have sold well over $2 billion worth of products. He also works as a marketing consultant, where he’s helped four major direct marketing firms quadruple their sales.

And, like Pat and Ryan, Clayton talked about the importance of building a relationship with your customer.

Specifically, he talked about guiding the customer toward the purchase. He rattled off a bunch of great ideas during his talk at AWAI’s Bootcamp. Here are a few of them:

  • Educate your prospect to help make the sale: If you give your prospect the information they need to make a decision, they’re more likely to trust you, and give you their money.
  • Help your prospect overcome a barrier by meeting them halfway: A great example of this is the loyalty card that comes pre-punched in two slots, so your customer is automatically closer to getting their free (fill in the blank).This can be done for B2B as well. For instance, you can offer your prospect a bonus of a specific tool or done-for-you service that will get them one step closer to achieving success with your product.
  • Get your prospect to take some sort of action to show them how easy it is to succeed when using your product: This can be as simple as writing something down or having them do a simple test with objects they have on hand. You’re nurturing that bond you’ve created.
  • Congratulate your customer when they make the decision to buy: You can do this on the order form or the checkout page. Show them how their life will change now that they’ve made this decision. Then tell them exactly what will happen next, so they know what to expect.

All of these techniques can go a long way to getting your customer to trust you, and help push them toward making the purchase.

I hope my quick review of what I learned on how to build a lasting customer relationship helps you with your customer base. To make things easier, I’ve put together a Customer Relationship Cheat Sheet for you that highlights the main points from each speaker. Click on the button below to download your cheat sheet.

Download the Customer Relationship Cheat Sheet

How do You Build Relationships with Your Customers?

Tell me what you do for your customers in the comments.

 

4 Excellent Reasons to Use More Landing Pages on Your Website

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landing pages

Everyone’s talking about landing pages these days. You must have a landing page. You must have several landing pages. Your landing pages should be optimized. On and on and on.

Fact is, they’re right. Landing pages are important to your business, and they are a great tool to attract site visitors, give them information and convert them to leads and customers.

Why?

First, let’s answer one important question:

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a page on your website, or out there, somewhere, on a server, that is designed to get people who arrive on that page to do one thing. That one thing can be:

  • Give their email address in exchange for a lead magnet or opt-in bribe.
  • Enter their contact information to get someone to give them an estimate.
  • Give their information to enter a contest.
  • Purchase a product.

Okay, so now we know what a landing page is. Why should we use them?

According to a 2015 report by HubSpot, the more landing pages you have, the faster your email list will grow.

This report surveyed 7000 businesses. It found that businesses with between 1 and 10 landing pages had an average number of leads coming in. But when they increased the number of landing pages to between 10 and 15, they saw a 55% increase in leads. Companies that increased their number of landing pages to 40 or more, saw their email lists grow even faster.

Graph of landing pages from HubSpot

And just in case you think this strategy won’t help your company because you’re B2B, here’s the breakdown of B2B vs. B2C companies as they increased the number of landing pages on their websites.

 B2B vs B2C graph of landing pages from HubSpot

Why does this strategy work so well?

1. Focus

Your regular website has lots of links to other places on your site. There are words in the sidebar that can distract your site visitor from doing what you want them to do. In short, websites can be very messy when it comes to getting a site visitor to take one action.

A landing page uses a simple template that lets you focus your site visitor’s attention on one goal and one goal only. (This is commonly referred to as “conversion” in the marketing world.) Once they’ve achieved that goal, you can direct them to your website, or anywhere else you want them to go.

Your landing page should not include links, unless they’re links to a specific section on the page. You can have several buttons on your landing page, but they should all lead to the same form where they enter their contact information, or checkout page to purchase your product.

The only thing you want your site visitor to be able to do on a landing page is to take the action you want them to take.

2. Visibility

The more landing pages you have, the more opportunities you have for potential customers to find you. This helps in 2 ways:

  • SEO: Search Engine Optimization is the art of getting the search engines to find your website. Well, the more opportunities you give the search engines, the easier it will be for them to find your pages. Having multiple landing pages will make it more likely for someone to find your product on a search engine results page (SERP).
  • Opportunities for contact: Let’s say you have multiple landing pages out there, attracting attention in the search listings, via calls to action on your website or driving traffic from paid media ads. Every page gives you more chances to collect email addresses or persuade a site visitor to buy your product.

    3. Variety of Offers

You may only sell one widget or one line of products. But everyone who comes to your website has different needs. One person who visits your site may need 3 widgets. But if you only sell your widgets in bulk packs of 100, that person will never buy from you.

If you have several landing pages offering the same product, packaged in different ways, you’ll have more opportunities to fit the right offer to the right person. Which usually results in more sales and a higher ROI.

4. Opportunities to Target Different Audiences

I’ve talked about identifying your target audience before. Here’s where you use that information.

Lots of companies have several target audiences for their products. Maybe you have an easy meal product that appeals to housewives in the suburbs and college kids living in dorm rooms on campus.

You could just create one landing page and hope it’s appealing to both audiences. Or you could create 2 landing pages, one focused on each audience. That way you’re getting the right message to the right people, and increasing your bottom line.

“How Do I Get More Landing Pages on My Website?”

I’m so glad you asked.

Lead generation and customer conversion are my main services. I can create as many landing pages as you want and export them to your website, so they’re under your URL and creating more SEO value for your domain name.

I optimize all of these pages for conversion and for SEO. That way, you’re getting the most effective landing pages for your business.

To find out more about my landing page building services, please click on the button below.

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Do You Use Landing Pages?

How are they working for you? If you don’t, why not? Tell me about it or ask me questions about landing pages in the comments.

You Need to Use Video Marketing to Promote Your Business – Now!

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video marketing

I have a secret identity. (Shhhh. I’ll tell you, but don’t tell anyone else!)

Along with being a professional copywriter and marketing consultant, I’m also a professional musician. I play the harp (yes, the kind that angels play) and I used to tour with a Celtic band called The Muses. I don’t play anywhere near as much as I used to, but I still do shows a few times a year.

Last Thursday, I performed as part of something called 5 to 10 on Hennepin. It’s an event put on by Hennepin Theater Trust, one of our local arts organizations here in Minnesota. They’ve started bringing in performers and musicians every Thursday evening to highlight the arts scene in downtown Minneapolis.

Well, during my stint, I decided to record a couple of Facebook Live videos to my Tanya Brody – Words and Music page, just to see how it worked and if they’d get any traction. I had a friend of mine record while I was playing. No crazy cameras or extra tech. Just my smartphone and a person holding it.

I was incredibly pleased with the results.

One of the videos reached 354 people and got 88 views. The other reached 1,641 people and got 646 views. That was without boosting the posts. I didn’t have to pay Facebook for exposure for either of these videos, and they got a great response. (Well, for me, anyway.)

Why does this matter?

Consider this. As of my writing this article, my Tanya Brody – Copywriter page has 233 likes. That means any post I put on that page should show up in the feeds of 233 people. (So long as Facebook doesn’t change its algorithm.)

My Tanya Brody – Words and Music page has 120 likes. So those videos only showed up in the feeds of 120 people. Yet those two videos got far more views than anything I’ve posted on my copywriting page in the last month and a half.

I only put up my copywriting Facebook page recently. I’ve had my music page for years. And it’s gotten more exposure in the last week than anything I’ve ever posted on there before.

Why am I telling you this story?

It’s a really roundabout way of showing you that video marketing is the current (and future) trend.

2016: The Year of Video

Actually, people have been using video in marketing for years, on and off line. But it’s become so popular that many of the social media platforms are giving it preference in people’s feeds.

But a lot of major companies, like Red Bull, Netflix, GoPro and Amazon, are using a lot more video to engage with their audiences. YouTube reports that mobile video consumption is rising by 100% every year. Right now, 1/3 (yes, that’s one third, desktop and mobile,) of all online activity is spent watching videos.

And, most people spend 1 to 2 minutes watching a video. That means more time spent engaged with your company, product or service.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that when a friend of yours is using Facebook Live, they show up at the top of your feed. Their post will even show up at or toward the top of your feed for several hours after they posted it.

It turns out that native video uploads to Facebook (meaning not linked from somewhere else) have 10 times the reach of those posted on YouTube. Facebook is definitely on the video bandwagon.

That’s a lot of video. And it’s a great opportunity for you to get more exposure for your business.

Think about it. If my little Facebook Live videos got as much engagement as they did, without any additional work on my part, imagine how much video could increase your bottom line. According to Aberdeen Group, businesses using video marketing grow their company revenue 49% faster, year after year, compared to companies that don’t use video marketing.

How to Add Video Marketing to Your Marketing Plan

Yes, like me, you’re a small business. You don’t have a lot of money to make fancy, expensive videos showing off your products or services. Fortunately, you don’t need them. All you really need is a cellphone with video capability and a way to keep it stable while you record.

As an example, here’s a short video I recorded with my smartphone and a little tripod. It’s a list of topic ideas for videos:

I’m seeing an increase in people recording videos for their businesses in their cars, or while they’re putting together their products. Yes, you want your video to look as “good” or “professional” as possible. But the real goal is to insert your personality into the video so you (and your video) stand out from your competition.

“Hey, Why Are You, a Copywriter, Talking About Video?”

Because I’m also a marketing consultant. My job is to help you find the best ways to market your business. Video is quickly becoming one of those “best ways.” So, yeah, I’m going to talk about it.

Besides. You’ll still need me to write the landing pages you’re going to stick these videos on, and the scripts for the videos, or the video sales letters (VSL) you’re going to use to sell your products or services. So I’ve got plenty of job security.

Speaking of that whole marketing consultant thing, click on the button below to download my Video Topic Stimulus List so you have ideas for your videos going forward.

Download the Video Topic Stimulus List

I added a few more ideas than I mentioned in the video above, so you’ll have even more fodder for your new video marketing series.

How do You Use Video in Your Marketing?

What kinds of videos do you make? Do you use video at all? If not, why not? Tell me about it in the comments.