by Angela Taffs | May 31, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
Two genius examples of how to get your business in front of a worldwide audience
This past week I saw two pieces of marketing genius. They were completely different from each other but both had sprinklings of magic within them.
One was not done to promote a business and was done completely off the cuff without any payment and gained phenomenal media attention worldwide.. The other was indeed a little more premeditated, was a business promotion and cost money. But the way it was done again gained worldwide attention and gained tremendous visibility for the business in question.
The simple joys of life
The first was by the wonderful Candace Payne.
No, she doesn’t run her own business but she has wiped the floor as far as visibility is concerned and become an online sensation. And how? All by being herself and having some fun.
Candace is the lady who simply went out, bought a Chewbacca face mask, put it on in her car and screamed with laughter whilst recording it all on Facebook live. During her gales of laughter she spoke about her antics being one of the simple joys of life.
She didn’t sit back and plan how to get views and likes on Facebook. She didn’t watch endless webinars on how to create a perfect video or how to master Facebook live. She just got out there and did her own thing.
And the result has been simply breath-taking! She has so far had 1.5 million views of her Facebook live video, breaking all records. She has appeared on the James Corden show. She got to visit Lucas Film Studio where Star Wars was made. She got invited to the headquarters of Facebook. She is getting to meet movie stars and everyone wants to have her in their life.
Off the back of all this publicity, Candace has created a line of clothing being branded to enjoy the simple joys in life and her business is booming after just a few days.
I think we can all take a lesson from her to stop over thinking things, stop planning to the nth degree, stop trying to be someone you are not and to be true to yourself and let your true personality shine through. Oh, and stop taking life so seriously and have some bloody fun!!!
Way to go Candace
Free? Did you say free???
The second example is somewhat different but still just as brilliant in itself.
A local businessman, Rob Braddick, who owns a number of businesses in the area went and purchased one of the council car parks near to one of his restaurants, The Pier House in Westward Ho! He then pictured himself in front of the parking meter, covering it up and declaring the park could be used for free. Yes, FREE!!!
His social media post declared:
‘HOT OFF THE PRESS……
As of 4pm today my company ‘Braddicks Leisure Ltd’ has acquired a long lease on SEAFIELD CAR PARK at the end of Merley Road.
With immediate effect I’m making it FREE,yes FREE for the community and the public to use.
Please do park up and stroll over to The Pier House for a coffee or a cold pint.(not free!)
Enjoy.’
He paid thousands for the privilege of owning the car park so was he not mad to want to charge people to use it?
Obviously not. The publicity he gained off the back of this gesture was quite frankly incredible. His story got picked up on and was published in national newspapers, radio stations and shared thousands of times on social media.
Local people are visiting his venue to have their picture taken with him with a typical comment on social media stating
‘Just shaken hands with the most famous car park long-leaseholder in the world (surely Sir) Robert Braddick!’
‘Ooooh, super excited to be able to sneak this little podcast in today -possibly the most talked about carpark in the UK! Behind the scenes with Rob Braddick – the most generous business man in Devon.’
He has been hailed as a ‘hero’, ‘star’ and ‘legend’ and has whipped up a media frenzy.
If he had spent thousands of pounds on paid advertising, there is no way his money would have gained him the attention that doing something wholly unexpected and out of the ordinary did. He went against the grain and instead of looking to make immediate gains by charging for his services, he gave something of value away for free. This got people talking and in the world of psychology, where the power of reciprocity is well documented, people now want to come visit his premises to buy food and drink to pay him back for his generosity.
So the lesson to be learnt here is not to always keep trying to sell. Think about doing something unexpected, giving something of value away for free and create an environment in which people want to buy from you.
Way to go Robert!
What genius way can you think of to raise visibility for your business? Leave a comment below
by Angela Taffs | May 17, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
The difference between features and benefits
The difference between features and benefits is the difference between your ideal client sitting up and taking notice of your marketing message or ignoring it and moving on.
All too often small business owners fail to attract their ideal client because all they talk about are the bog standard facts, or features, of their business. They fail to engage with their prospects on an emotional level that makes them sit up and take notice.
To gain interest from a prospect you need to make them feel that you are talking about them, that you can understand the pain point or problem they are having and that you have the resources to help them out (the benefits).
First and foremost, you need to know who your ideal client is and what problem they are having that you can solve. Once you know the pain point of your ideal client, to attract their interest you need to make sure you can explain clearly the benefits of your business and not just the features. If you can’t, your business isn’t thought through well enough and prospects won’t understand what you can do for them or why they should engage in conversation with you.
Remember to get across quickly and clearly what pain point you can solve for them and how it will change their life for the better by using your products or services.
As the saying goes
‘Features tell, benefits sell’
People don’t buy a bed. They buy a good night’s sleep.
People don’t buy books. They buy a way to expand their knowledge.
People don’t buy wellington boots. They buy protection for their feet from mud and water.
People don’t buy diet pills. They buy a way to lose 30 pounds in 30 days.
What is a feature?
A feature is a factual statement about the product or service.
But people don’t buy features. They buy benefits.
What is a benefit?
A benefit answers the question “What’s in it for me?”
Here are a few examples
Sun cream
Feature: SPF Factor 30
Benefit: Allows you to stay out in the sun for longer without getting burnt
Feature: Self-tanning properties
Benefit: A safer long lasting tan all year round
Feature: Once a day application
Benefit: No more chasing the kids around and stopping them having fun having to apply every hour
Handmade jewellery
Feature: Handcrafted
Benefit: Each piece is unique so no one in the world will have the exact same item as you
Feature: Gemstone jewellery
Benefit: Higher quality, will not cause skin irritation or discolour
Fitness instructor
Feature: Fully qualified
Benefit: Trust that they know what they are doing and are not going to leave you injured
Feature: Tailored exercise and nutrition program
Benefit: Results driven to help you lose weight, avoid heart attack and prolong life
Business coach
Feature: Online coaching course
Benefit: Learn from the comfort of your own home without time and cost of attending full day event
Feature: Qualified, experienced support
Benefit: Time proven advice to gain more clients and make more money
Go write down all the features you can think of relating to your product or service. Then alongside each of these write down the benefits. Start to use the benefits in your marketing messages so that your ideal client really understands what’s in it for them by doing business with you.
Remember, if you just talk about the features of your product or service and fail to talk about how you are going to solve issues for your prospects, you will miss out on valuable future clients.
by Angela Taffs | May 10, 2016 | Sales and Marketing
Are you struggling to attract enough quality prospects to your business?
Follow my top tips to start to get those ideal clients queuing up to find out more about you.
Create a plan – don’t just work ad hoc
Fail to plan, plan to fail. I use that adage a lot as it is so true. If you just stick your finger in the wind and hope something will work if you throw enough out there, you are likely to waste an awful lot of time and effort. Have a structured plan of exactly what you want to achieve over a specified time period. You can then prepare the right number of messages to the right audience in the right marketing channels that will significantly increase your chance of success.
How many prospects do you want?
If you want to gain 5 new clients this month and you know you gain one client out of every 5 calls you make, then you need to speak to 20 warm prospects. And then if you know that you get 1 warm prospect out of every 5 prospects you engage with, you will need to find 100 new prospects this month.
Now you have a clear number to aim for and plan to achieve rather than just aimlessly trying to get as many as you can.
Where do they hang out?
Where do your prospects hang out or go to find a solution to the problem you can solve for them? Is it online or offline, or a mix of both. Wherever it is, you need to find out and be there with your message.
If it is social media, are you sure which channels you should be on? Rather than just blindly follow the crowd with the major players such as Facebook and Twitter, do some research on others such as Snapchat and Periscope and see if your prospects are hanging out there and asking questions. This could be a better use of your time than trying to break through the ‘noise’ of over saturated options.
Create messages that talk directly to your prospects
You need to be talking in the same language that your prospects use. By this, I mean using the same keywords and phrases that they use as if they see these in your marketing message, they are more likely to resonate with the words and take notice. Start to join in groups and forums and take note of how questions are asked and what words and phrases are used. Use questions as a starting point for your marketing message by creating a message that helps answer it or gives tips as to how to solve the problem posed.
Be consistent and persistent
There is no point putting your message out there a couple of time and then giving up because you didn’t get a response. It takes time, particularly online. You need to be persistent and consistent to raise your visibility. Just because your post something in a Facebook group or on your page and you know it is there does not mean that many others will see it. There are hundreds of thousands of other messages out there and if you prospect isn’t reading at the right time, your message may easily get missed as it will have dropped down the news feed.
If you are networking face to face people will take time to get to know you and find out what you are about. You can’t expect to go to one meeting and sign up new prospects immediately. They will want to see that you are there for the long run and not about to disappear after just one session.
Get prospects to engage in conversations
Once you have the attention of your prospect, get them to engage with you in a conversation so that you start to build a relationship and trust. Ask questions to get to know them better and find out how you can help them, whether online or offline. Ask them to complete a survey, again to find out more about them and to help identify a solution for them. Offer some free advice to build trust and awareness of what you can do for them. This way you keep them engaged and interested in talking to you so you can build a future relationship.
Stick with it
Following on from being persistent and consistent, allow your marketing to take time. You may be surprised just how many people are quietly watching you and taking an interest. When the time is right, if your message and offering is right, they will get in contact with you or engage in a conversation. But if you give up too easily, they will soon find someone else to take your place.
by Angela Taffs | Apr 26, 2016 | Business Success
Discover the secrets to small business success by watching a marathon
Yesterday it was my birthday. It was also the day of the 2016 London Marathon. And I should have been running it. But instead, I was sat on my sofa with tears of disappointment rolling down my cheeks as the race started due to my being injured.
I sat and watched the marathon and during the race it dawned on me the number of similarities between running a marathon and running a business.
Let me share them with you here:
Preparation
Firstly, the preparation. If you just rock up on the start line of a marathon with no prior preparation, you are going to be in for a big shock and it is highly unlikely that you will make it to the finish. Remember the old adage, ‘fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. And it is the same in business. Before jumping into a new business venture with both feet, you really do need to do some prior preparation to test if your small business idea is viable, find out where there are weak spots and then do something about those weak spots to make them stronger.
Planning
Next comes the planning. With running a marathon, you are going to need to plan what resources you are going to need such as kit, hydration, training plan etc. and are likely to want to plan what time you want to finish in. In business, you need to plan the resources you are going to need so that your small business will run efficiently and you also need to plan what you want to achieve over what time period so that you can put steps in place to achieve this. Without planning, whether running a marathon or a business, you are going to fall by the wayside, particularly if you don’t have the correct resources. And without a timeline and goal, you will just drift along with no idea if you are on track or not to achieve your best.
Be prepared for the unexpected
It is inevitable at some point that something is going to trip you up and scupper all your long-held plans, quite literally! In my case, when out on a long training run for the marathon I did exactly that. I tripped and broke my ankle! My marathon plans were dashed as there was simply not enough time for the bone to repair and for me to get my training back on track. Yes, I sat and sulked, got angry and felt sorry for myself. And then I decided that I would just have to adjust my plans and aim for next year. In business, we can easily get thrown off track and this can be the critical point of whether you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get yourself back on track, or whether you simply throw in the towel and give up. It invariably takes far longer to have a successful small business than we initially hoped, and has far more heartache and tears along the way than we ever could have ever imagined. But when you finally succeed, there is no other feeling like it. Just as it feels to cross that marathon line and take your medal.
Support
If you try and train for and then run a marathon alone it is incredibly lonely and the likelihood is that you will lose motivation along the way and give up. You will make so many mistakes and waste so much time and money that you could have easily avoided with the right advice. The same goes for running a small business. You need to find someone that you can discuss your ideas and goals with and who is there to support you when the times are tough. Those who do best in marathons and business are those who get professional coaches who have been there, done it and have the experience to guide you on the right path and stop you making all too common mistakes. We all that helping hand if we are truly going to be the best that we can be.
Be aware of unseen opportunities
We may start out on our path with a very clear idea in our mind of what we want to achieve, but we must be careful not to become blind to opportunities that may appear under our noses. It was heart-breaking this year to see Eliud Kipchoge come across the finish line in first place, achieving his goal, but then looking back at the clock to realise that he had missed the world record by a mere 8 seconds. The disbelief and despair on his face were palpable. He had been so focused on his goal of finishing first, that he simply not realised that he could comfortably have taken the world record title by speeding up a few hundred yards earlier at the finish. In business, yes, you want to keep focused on the end goal but always be open for any other opportunities that may come along to help you succeed even further.
Celebrate achievements
As the marathon runners get given their medal as they cross the finish line, you need to reward yourself for your achievements in business. Running a successful business is not easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it. It is tough. As with marathon training, there and many highs and many more lows. With each step forward that you achieve, stop and realise how far you have come and reward yourself for sticking with it and making it work
Know when enough is enough
Whilst I am one for saying never give up, if you really have given it your all and your health or relationships are now suffering because of it, you may just need to realise that your dream is going to have to take a different route. This does not mean that you have failed, but simply means that you are going to have to find something different to fulfil your passion for success. Whether it is constant injuries whilst running, and you realise your body simply isn’t suited to constant pounding of the streets, or your small business is simply not working, bills are not getting paid and you are in danger of losing your home, sometimes you have to face the hard truth and find a different way of doing things. This may be switching from the long distance marathon to competing in a triathlon with a shorter run or taking your business down a different route that will generate more income for you.
So there you have my similarities between running a marathon and running a small business. I would love to hear of any others that you may have so please leave a comment below.
by Angela Taffs | Apr 18, 2016 | Business Success, Personal and Lifestyle
It happens to the best of us. We are striving away running our home based business but one day we get up but find that our motivation has decided to take a day off. We know what we should be doing but the body and mind simply aren’t willing.
Half a dozen cups of coffee later and even the caffeine isn’t helping. All we want to do is crawl back into bed and hide. No amount of staring at the laptop screen is producing any sort of work of an acceptable standard and the clock is slowly ticking away whilst you feel like you are swimming in a vat of treacle.
You scroll through your emails half a dozen times and can’t muster the energy to reply to any of them. They will have to wait until later, or perhaps tomorrow. The phone calls you need to make get left for another day as the effort required to speak to another person in even a slightly engaging manner is simply too much.
When you get a day like this, follow these ten tips to get your motivation back on track and get moving forward once again.
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Have a welcoming workspace
Having a clear, decluttered workspace that makes you feel good when you sit down can help you get motivated to get on and do some work. Only have things that you need on your desk along with a couple of personal items that you love looking at such as a vase of flowers or favourite picture.
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Find an accountability partner
Get someone who will chase you up and make you accountable for getting those pesky tasks finished. Knowing that someone is going to be checking up on you to see what you have done can help spur you into action.
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Review your goals
Take a closer look at your original goals and make sure you have not gone off track which is leaving you feeling somewhat demotivated. Re-define your goals if you need to and also take time to realise how far you have come since you started. This can help make you feel good and give you the oomph to get moving forward again.
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Define your why
Why did you start your business? What was that burning passion that you wanted to fulfil? Go create yourself a vision board of what you want to achieve and realise that if you don’t get off your butt and do some work these things are going to slip you by.
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Network
Working from home can be lonely and it is easy to sink into a lull. Get out and mix with other like minded people who understand what you are going through and can help lift you up again. Find a local group that you connect with and make it a habit to meet once a month to help lift your spirits and get inspired.
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Find a hero
Who do you admire? Who would you love to be like? Go print off a picture of them and pin by your desk. When you are feeling out of sorts and de-motivated, take a look at their picture and ask yourself what they would do. Put yourself in their shoes and model yourself on their behaviour. They wouldn’t have got to where they did by not putting in the effort so think about the action they would take in your position and go do it.
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Get off social media
One of the biggest de-motivators in this day and age can be social media. You constantly see a raft of your competitors who are all professing to be raking in the money whilst sipping cocktails on the beach whilst you are still slogging away trying to make ends meet. Well, stop looking at them! Have a social media detox for a couple of days and start to see how much better you feel.
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Exercise
When you are feeling low and de-motivated, one of the last things you feel like doing is exercise. But just going for a simple walk in the fresh air can help clear your head and make you feel so much better. Doing energetic physical activity releases endorphins – the happy bugs – which give you energy and make you feel full of life again ready to tackle the world.
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Dress the part
Slouching around in your pj’s all day is not going to help get you in the right frame of mind for doing your best work. So get up, get dressed, slap on the lippy and act as though you are going to a high level board meeting or to meet your idol in point 6 above. Dress up and show up! It is incredible how by just dressing the part can help change your mood and your attitude.
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Take a day off
Sometimes the simple fact is that you just need to take a day out to chill, read a book, watch a movie or hide under the duvet with a box of chocolate. Everyone needs a down day sometimes. The world won’t end if you take a day out. Just go easy on yourself, take a break and promise yourself you will get back on it again tomorrow.
P.S. If you really are struggling and would like some one to one support to get you back on track, become a member of The Small Business Kit and let me help you out.
