Tag Archives: content creation
How to speak the language of your customer
Good quality communication is always about the recipient. To reach out to your customers you need to speak their language and tell them what they need to know in a way that they understand. It is tempting as a business owner to talk about ‘our products’ or ‘our solutions’ but people are coming to you because of their desires or their problems. Speaking the language of your customers is essential in making a sale, and as a customer focused marketing agency we can help you to identify how to speak to them in the best way possible for your business.
Using the right pronouns – When selling to your customers as we’ve already said you always need to talk about their problems and needs. Using the words ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘yours’ makes the sale or product about them instead of being about the company. When you talk about what ‘we’ do, you are excluding the customer from the conversation. It is essential that the customer is included in the conversation by telling them how ‘they’ will benefit. Make it personal to the customer to engage them more effectively.
Use common language – There is a difference between the words you can use to describe a product or service. This difference between the words you choose can either alienate or engage the customer. While both choices of word may be correct, you need to tailor your language to the customer and not to yourself. Remember that your understanding of your business will in most circumstances exceed the customers and you need to speak to them in a manner that they will clearly understand without all your industry background and knowledge. The key is knowing the demographic of your target customer, including their level of education, interests and experiences. This will help you pitch your choice of language and style of how you address them correctly.
Explain everything – While it may be easier for you to refer to things with acronyms or jargon, this is not easier for the customer to understand. A customer may be left confused by jargon which can leave them unsure about the purchase they are making. They will be unlikely to know what HPWB (high pressure water blasting) means, but they will understand that you are cutting the material. When communicating with a customer you should lead with the features and benefits and avoid using industry shorthand and technical terminology and should instead explain everything and why such details matter to them as the end user. It may take longer but this will lead to greater customer understanding, which in turn will culminate in better buy-in and results. A good trick is to imagine you are explaining the information to a child or friend.
Make the decision today and call us here at to discuss your specific requirements , I am sure we can help you and at the end of the day it’s just a phone call !
We would be delighted to listen to your business goals and help you realise them, please get in touch today on 01392 241653 or contact us through our website here, we’d be delighted to have a no obligation chat to see if we can help your business grow.
Why your business needs to have goals
Every business needs to have goals. Without goals, you will carry on as you are and will fall into bad habits that can cost you money in the long run, here at Gleave Media we work with digital goals so we can clearly share with our customers what we are aiming to achieve and map the route we take to achieve them. But why does your business need goals and what happens if you dont have any?
Increased inefficiencies
Without clearly defined goals your business will suffer from increased inefficiencies. Setting business goals can help you by allowing you to constantly review systems and see how they can be improved, but without them, things will carry on as they are and become more lax over time. Businesses without goals often end up with increased inefficiencies, simply because they are not working towards improving their systems.
Decreased income
Without goals in place, it is common for businesses to suffer from decreased income. When there are no goals there is no drive to maximise sales, upsell and find new customers because there is no clear reward for doing so. Where goals are not in place it is common for businesses and employees to settle with what they get and not use initiative to maximise opportunities. With sales goals and targets to work towards, however, there is a constant motivation to work towards this.
Stifled growth
Expanding or growing a business is an expensive and complicated process that simply will not happen if you do not have it as a goal to do so. For many small and medium enterprises that have not set goals to grow and expand, this is the factor that eventually defeats them. Businesses need to be able to grow to meet demand or they will have to turn work away and will get a bad reputation for doing so, which in turn will harm business. Without goals in place, the only result is stifled growth.
So why set Digital Marketing goals?
We always aim to set clear goals as we believe they are vital in any business because it sets the direction and focus that we are working towards and ideally for the company to increase sales and grow trade. Setting goals can be difficult from the subjective position of an owner, where we come in is that we can help you to look objectively at your business and determine how these digital marketing goals can help you to expand and grow.
Getting your business facing these challenges and have them working for you shouldn’t be an afterthought – the businesses that succeed will be the ones that know their tone of voice and ensure it is used across all communication. If you need help in ensuring your business has the right tone of voice then please call us on 01392 241653 or contact us through the website here for a no obligation conversation.
Why tone of voice is important in your business
So the question we’re often asked is how to create any content with the right tone of voice. So in short these are five top tips to follow…..
1. Use short sentences.
2. Avoid jargon.
3. Write in the active voice.
4. Use personal pronouns.
5. Don’t patronise your reader.
Tone of Voice is very tricky to get right, for example if we work with a recruitment consultants, a garage and a dentist and they all want to sound expert, passionate and innovative, how are we to tell them apart through their tone of voice?
You may want to read our post on the 6 Key elements of a Successful Content Strategy for Small Business Owners and Why do you need a Call to Action both will help guide your business down the right Tone Of Voice.
Getting your business facing these challenges and have them working for you shouldn’t be an afterthought – the businesses that succeed will be the ones that know their tone of voice and ensure it is used across all communication. If you need help in ensuring your business has the right tone of voice then please call us on 01392 241653 or contact us through the website here for a no obligation conversation.
Why do you need a call to action?
A common phrase used by marketers is ‘call to action’ or the acronym CTA. Basically this means that after someone has read your content they come to a place in it which has a call to action asking them to do something, be that contact your business or buy the product or service you’re offering.
The key fact is that you want your reader to do something, be that share the post on social media or buy a product, whatever it is your call to action must be compelling. You dont need to write pages of copy for your call to action to work better or worse, it just needs to be compelling and reflect what you business is and stands for – your brand.
If you make your call to action unique great as it will be memorable, if its in your business tone then even better, so if you business is fun then so should your call to action be, if its serious then it follows that your call to action is similarly serious. So our three top tips to make your call to action a winner….
- If your call to action is as simple as BUY NOW excellent but you could take a higher level approach with a prize if the user shares some content as that way they may well discover more content applicable for them – hence this is often used in a retail environment.
- Ensure your call to action is short and 100% clear, as with all content dont waffle or else you risk confusing the viewer.
- Can you offer a deal, buy now and get % off your next order is a common one, or sign up for our newsletter and get offers JUST for newsletter subscribers is also a good one.
Whatever way you choose to go, think differently and look at the potential to try out new ideas to really make your call to action come alive….
Getting your business facing these challenges and have them working for you shouldn’t be an afterthought – the businesses that succeed will be the ones that make it integral to their strategy from the start. If you need help in ensuring your business has the ‘killer’ call to action then please call us on 01392 241653 or contact us through the website here for a no obligation conversation.
6 Key Elements of a Successful Content Strategy for Small Business Owners
As a small business, one of the many challenges that you’ll face is how to stand out from the crowd – especially when that crowd includes big names in your industry with huge marketing budgets. One thing you can’t skimp on in order to meet your goals is a solid content strategy for your online presence. With the right elements all working together, you can get more traffic, more attention, and more customer loyalty, without that Big Name budget. Here are the key elements of a successful content strategy to enhance your brand’s presence online:
Website and Storefront
For most small businesses today, an online storefront is a vital part of expanding your sales opportunities. But your website must be more than just a place to sell goods. It is also a place to introduce quality content to your audience. With an excellently maintained website or blog, you can present yourself as an authority in the industry, and build your brand’s identity in a way that will be very clear to the audience. This is the most important aspect of any content strategy, so be sure to focus the most time and energy on having a well-crafted website.
Social Media and Customer Interaction
Social media can’t be ignored in today’s online culture. While your website should be your central hub, social media should be the place where you can interact with customers on a regular basis. Be sure that you are always presenting your brand’s mission and unique personality in your social media presence. Organizations that interact, rather than just post, on social media are far more likely to convert one-time buyers into loyal customers.
Advertising Profiles and Guest Appearances
One thing that many companies overlook online is the power of connecting with other companies. Consumers like knowing that they are buying from experts, and gaining credibility from other sources is a great way to show your expertise. Seek out guest appearances on other blogs, collaborations with popular taste makers, and create profiles on popular advertising sites such as Yelp, to give your audience the sense that you are well-established as a leader in your niche.
These six elements are the key pieces of creating a successful content strategy for small businesses. With a strong website as your central hub, an engaging presence on social media, and other industry leaders lending you credibility through partnerships, you can begin crafting a powerful online presence that keeps your audience coming back.
Getting your business facing these challenges and have them working for you shouldn’t be an afterthought – the businesses that succeed will be the ones that make it integral to their strategy from the start. If you need help in ensuring your business is listed correctly then please call us on 01392 241653 or contact us through the website here for a no obligation conversation.
Should I Consider a Cloud Based CRM?
A customer relationship management system (CRM) can be the heart of your business. CRMs drive your interactions with customers, manage contacts and provide you with a way to increase sales and expand your customer base. You should consider as an emerging business how the inclusion of a CRM benefits your organization.
What are some of the reasons for considering a move to the cloud as a storage option for your CRM system? Do you lose control or access to the functionality of your CRM when hosted in the cloud? What do you give up moving to the cloud or, what do you gain from a cloud-based solution for managing your valuable customer information?
Here is a look at these questions and why a cloud-based CRM makes sense for you.
The Perception of Cloud-Based CRMs
Cloud-based computing is the buzzword for our time as it relates to all businesses, large and small. The simplest way to think about the way cloud computing works is by considering placing your files online as oppose to maintaining them remotely, through storage servers you own and control. Moving data, particular that containing proprietary customer information essential to building your business and managing customer relationships automatically invokes thoughts and fears about:
- Security and safety – is my information protected in the cloud and subject to loss or hackers?
- Accessibility – what type of access issues are present if I move my valuable business information into the cloud?
- Portability – Can I easily move my cloud-based information between sites, users or strategic partners with little to know disruption to my business and efforts to grow and become profitable?
These concerns are real; however the advantages of a cloud-based solution may more than outweigh the concerns you may have.
The Reality of Cloud-Based CRMs
The perceptions about a cloud-based solution for your CRM should be weighed against these advantages:
- Cost – use of a cloud solution saves you on the hardware and personnel costs associated with maintaining your own servers.
- Scalability – the unlimited potential of the cloud as a storage option means it grows as you grow, again lowering your costs associated with investing in hardware and people power.
- Accessibility – data can be access from any device connected to your business, allowing you to grant remote access to your field associates when interacting with customers.
If you are in the process of considering the power of CRMs to harness your business outreach and improve customer outreach and contact, you should also consider how a move to the cloud not only compliments your system but allows you to scale up quickly, lower your costs, and give you a business advantage that allows you to be competitive at a time as an emerging business such advantages are necessary for survival. This is how we’ve grown our business and how we can help grow yours.
Why Content Marketing is Crucial in 2017
Any amount of research on the current online marketing climate will tell you that content marketing is key when building a website. When it comes to growing a successful business, generating well articulated, accurate, and target content is crucial to drawing in your target customers. Without well written content, you may find your business stagnating in the competitive markets of the modern age. Here are a few tips to help keep your website’s content marketing the center of attention.
Pay attention to your target audience
In recent years, online consumers are less and less likely to spend their time searching through websites to find the information they need. Instead, the majority of internet users rely on search engines, and target specific keywords in order to find the content they are looking for. On top of this, more customers are less likely to stick around through a long article that weighs them down with over the top information. This means that, while a few years ago running a website with pages and pages of information may have been the best way to gain customers, in today’s market that kind of strategy will end up weighing your business down. Instead, it is crucial to invest in concise content for your website.
Content Targeting
When it comes to content for your website, make sure to hone your content in such a way to draw in specific consumers. For example, it is important to present your potential customers with facts about your industry, as well as with concise articles about your methods and any other information pertaining to your field.
With the specificity of search engine results, and the lack of interest modern-day consumers have in spending long amounts of time looking for information, it is imperative to know your audience. Making sure your website ranks for your business type is one of the best ways to ensure constant traffic to your site, and content is one of the main ways to prove to the variety of search engines out there that your site is worth showing their visitors.
Content Influx
Today’s consumers are used to a barrage of daily information, from Facebook feeds to Twitter posts to Emails. The best way to reach out through this information fog is to make sure your website updates with new content regularly. If your website offers no new content for weeks on end, you’re well on your way to losing website traffic, which means less customers. Of course, while keeping your website constantly updated is key to standing out in the information storm of the internet, the quality of your content is as important as the quantity. If your articles are poorly written, or merely rehashed versions of previous content on your site, your customers will notice, as will the search engines.
At the end of the day, creating good content is the key to marketing your business in the modern world. Content is one of the main ways your website gains renown on the internet, and without it you’ll find yourself high and dry wondering where the customers went. However, once your content is of good quality, and your website offers a wide array of regularly updated information, you’re well on your way to thriving in the online business world.
Developing a content plan shouldn’t be an afterthought – the businesses that succeed will be the ones that make it integral to their strategy from the start. Now the sales bit, if you need help in creating your digital plan please call us on 01392 241653 or contact us through the website here for a no obligation conversation.
Your Digital Strategy for 2017
Your company’s digital marketing strategy needs to constantly evolve if you hope to stay ahead of your competition in 2017. As challenging as this may seem, much of it involves staying on top of current marketing trends and keeping your website and social media profiles properly updated. Here are a few things that you can do that will help you with that once the new year rolls around.
Optimize Your Content Across Multiple Devices
There was a time when advertising on the Internet only required you to develop content that can be viewed on a computer screen. While that is still very important, people these days are more likely to use their smartphones or tablets to view content. Your digital marketing strategy should cater to that with ads scaled to fit mobile devices and webpages that can be viewed easily on any device. Mobile ads should even take priority over television and radio ads, especially if you’re targeting a younger demographic.
Automate Your Content Marketing
Thanks to tools such as HootSuite or SproutSocial, marketers have been able to publish content across multiple social media platforms for some time. This is obviously very useful, and these tools have evolved to allow you to create and publish content automatically with the push of a button. Social media could become more important than ever in 2017, and the ability to quickly post content to a wider audience will help you stay ahead of your competition.
Share Useful Content
As important as it is to come up with your own content, you shouldn’t hesitate to share other people’s content if you find it useful and interesting. This is a great way to share links back to your own content and reach a wider audience, especially if you stick to content that is relevant to your own company.
These are just a few things that you can do to stay on top of digital marketing trends during the coming year. As simple as they may seem, they won’t help you if you don’t put in the proper effort. Always work to keep your website and social media profiles updated, and pay close attention to your competition. Digital marketing changes quickly, and you want to make sure you aren’t left behind.
Developing a digital strategy for your business shouldn’t be an afterthought – the businesses that succeed will be the ones that make it integral to their business growth from the start. Now the sales bit, if you need help in creating your digital strategy for your business then please call us on 01392 241653 or contact us through the website here for a no obligation conversation.
Why put a human face on your business?
In 2016 developing your business is greatly helped by building personal relationships and engaging with your customers and prospects as this will help your business develop brand loyalty and a greater sense of trust. It then follows that people are more likely to trust your business if they know that real people work there, so how do you do that, these are are top tips to put a human face on your business.
1. Use genuine pictures of your team with bios where appropriate.
2. Why not conduct an interview with the MD or a key member of staff.
3. Collate and share images of your products and services that customers have shared with you.
4. Positive feedback from customers and people you work with is always good to share.
5. Why not include a thank you for something that a customer has done for you – could this be a long standing award.
6. Include any charity work any staff member has done, run a marathon for example.
So there you have it just a few examples of how you could put a human face on your business and so develop the trust in how your business is seen by your customers and prospects. How you get this out in front of your customers can be by things like blog posts or email marketing or maybe your audience is of a different demographic so Tumblr or Shapchat is more appropriate?
Whatever this is we can help identify and help your business reach its customers so you can concentrate on managing and growing your increasing enquiry levels, to find out more please contact the team either through the website here or call us on 01392 241653.
five top tips for creating great content
The importance of creating great content about your business or products you offer at the right time has been shown to have a direct benefit to drive demand for this offering and at the same time improve the all important bottom line. To make sure you get the most out of any content you create here are our top five tips;
- keep it relevant – don’t just write some generic mumbo jumbo, who is your audience, your target market? If you write with them in mind you will have far greater engagement and by its very nature a greater response rate, which is surely what you want isn’t it?
- don’t just promote – at the end of the day we all want to sell our products or services but if you do this all day every day then people will disengage with you (your business) and more than likely not welcome any future communication updates.
- quality of the content – what you create needs to be written, or at the very least ‘helped’ by the relevant person, so if you’re a hotel writing about the amazing meals you offer then get your chef to share and help – thats common sense surely?
- it is applicable to your business – we see this so many times, where a business creates content that is in no way relevant for your business, not even slightly – not only would this give poor results but it could also damage the businesses reputation.
- does it offer benefit to the reader – as with all content creation you need to think with your reader in mind, what are you offering them, think like a customer so don’t just promote, offer them something of value. To use the example of a hotel why not offer a small article on how to make amazing cranberry sauce this festive season
So in summary if you can offer a relevant targeted message about your business this will have a direct result on engagement and interest. make no doubt about it if you can create great content you will gain more sales leads and improve the quality of your website traffic further promoting your brand.
A short mention for GleaveMedia, we can help with your content creation needs and requirements and help your business achieve it’s targets, just get in touch here.
