Periodic, relevant information is the main way to build the trust and credibility needed for customers and prospects to take action:

- to click the Buy Now button

- to pick up the phone to schedule an appointment

- to complete an application

- etc.

I cannot over-emphasize the importance of creating trust-based relationships in business. This is what periodic emails to your list allow you to do.

If your business is relatively new to online marketing, building a subscription list can feel pretty daunting.

I've had many conversations with small business owners who love the idea of email marketing and inevitably the question, "How do you get all these subscribers anyway?"

And that is the question I'm going to answer in this article.

> Why Building Your List Can Be a Struggle

I know when I began my ezine, after the initial signups by folks in my immediate circle, adding new subscribers was a painfully slow process.

I received some glowing complements from subscribers and a couple marketing experts whose opinion I valued. And everything I read insisted that content is the most important component to succeeding in the online marketing game.

So I had good content; where was the rush of subscribers?

Simple: I was competing with thousands of other requests to subscribe.

People need a good reason to subscribe to your ezine. Why they should choose your ezine rather than the hundred other on the same topic.

One way to make your ezine the best choice is to give your subscribers something they can immediately use and get value from.

This is why a free product you give people when they subscribe to your ezine is so important.

> Providing Some Relief

A lesson I learned from my coach, Mark Silver, is the importance of providing prospects some relief from a problem they're struggling with.

After all that's why most people are at your website to begin with yes? They have some sort of question or problem and they're looking for help. Whether they found your website doing a Google search or through a link on someone's blog, they're wanting help and they're hoping you'll provide it.

Free products that they can quickly download from your website are ideal for meeting this need.

In addition, when they use your free product and get some relief there is no better way to build your credibility! People are far more likely to purchase from you when they've already gotten a demonstration of the difference you make.

> What's the Best Free Product to Offer?

The one question that comes up more than any other around the free give-away is "what should my give-away be?"

> 4 Keys to Choosing a Free Product (with Subscription)

Key #1 Easy to Get Online

Remember whatever it is you offer, you want to make it very easy for your prospect to get online.

Fortunately, it's cheap and simple to create a product that is easy to download. I recommend: 

- An article, report, or how-to guide people can download as an Adobe Acrobat file (.pdf)

- An audio recording they can listen to on the Internet (mp3 is currently the most popular format)

- A video they can watch from your website (many computers now have a built-in camera making it easy to create short videos)

Key #2 Solves a Problem Most of Your Ideal Customers Struggle With

When I was trying to decide what free product would be best to offer with my ezine, I initially chose a report on getting more referrals from customers.

How to get referrals is a hugely popular topic among small business owners for very good reasons. But there were a couple drawbacks to this product:

(1.) You need a few satisfied customers who will refer you to others. This can be difficult for many new businesses.

(2.) Referrals are largely an in-person phenomenon. Referral programs work best when you offer local, in-person services. This isn't to say that an online business can't leverage referrals but it takes a lot longer because you don't have the non-verbal cues that naturally come from live contact.

Instead I decided to offer a how-to workbook showing business owners how to create an "audio-logo"–a simple, conversational introduction they could use in situations in which they might be meeting prospective customers.

Most business owners I know struggle with introducing themselves in a way that tells the other person "this is who I help" without sounding like they're reading their "elevator" script.

Voila, this is how my free workbook came about.

Key #3. Is a first Step (Not the Entire Solution)

It's important to offer a solution that is appropriate to the level of trust and commitment your intended user has with your business.

It's meant to be an appetizer; not a meal.

One of my clients offers money management services for people working in the arts many of whom find the topic of money boring, painful, and distasteful.

Rather than immediately ask them to get into the numbers, she created a fun, easy to do Money Beliefs Assessment.

The assessment is light-hearted and empathetic AND anyone who takes the assessment will learn something important about how their money beliefs may be getting in the way of their success.

Key #4. Easy to Use So People Get Results

The reason you want to offer a first step to solving a common problem is you want to give your client an easy win.

Remember, the purpose of your product is to provide relief. If it doesn't help the person get some relief you hurt your credibility.

A product that gets used and produces results is more valuable than any claim you could make in your advertising.

When they get results what happens? They come back for more. They begin to trust you to help with their more complex problems.

They feel safe to invest more time, effort, and money to work with you.

> Bottom Line

If you are trying to build your email list, offering a free product with the subscription will help you attract subscribers faster than if you were offering the subscription alone.

The best product to give away with your subscription is one that:

- is easy to get online

- solves a problem that is common to most of your clients

- addresses the first step to solving that problem

- and is likely to produce a positive result

After so many years spent in marketing and frequently hearing about the "next big thing", I've come to the decision that all these technologies are simply communication tools for building trusting relationships with prospective customers.

No one tool is going to make you a gazillion dollars

But used with common sense and an understanding of where your customers hang out and what your customers are most wanting, I think social marketing technology is well worth learning to use.

Specifically, social marketing tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn extend your ability to make yourself known to prospective customers as well as people who may refer customers to you.

But it takes time and a focus on providing useful information and resources to others without any requirement for receiving in return.

I've always been a resource connector by nature (the one who is always emailing articles and snippets to you prefaced with an "fyi") so social marketing is a comfortable place for me.

If you are wanting results right now, either stay out of social marketing or hire someone who has a lighter touch. Social media requires a lower key approach. Hype and in-your-face sales tactics turn most members of Social-Marketing-Land off.

> SUCCESS STRATEGIES FOR USING SOCIAL MARKETING IN YOUR BUSINESS 

Some strategies that work for cultivating profitable connections in social media.

* Think Conversation; not Presentation

Most people hang out on blogs and social networks because they are engaging with others who have similar interests.

Social networks are informal gatherings, like going to your friend's BBQ. You might talk business but if you do it will be a casual conversation. Not climbing up on a bench and bellowing, "Hey everyone, let me tell you about this great new service I'm offering."

It is of course possible that a casual business conversation will lead to a "how about we set up a time to talk more next week?" in which case the result is a meeting in which a presentation is appropriate.

Remember the point is to share information and resources that may be helpful to others in a give and take conversation.

* Expect to Reach Out First

There's a funny T-shirt that reads "More People Have Read This Shirt than My Blog."

That about sums it up if you expect people to swarm to your blog or follow you on Twitter. Unless you're maybe Ashton Kuchner.

Actions you can take to reach out include:

– Finding others who are doing something that is useful to you and your customers and making a point to comment on their posts in a way that adds to the conversation in progress.

– If you, yourself post to your own blog, include links to articles that support or enhance the points you're making. Directing people to other blogs is not only helpful to your readers, it is very appreciated by the persons whose blogs you link to.

  They may even link back to you!

– Let people know about useful resources in all social media you participate in. I regularly post links to articles, statistics, and other bits of information my clients and colleagues may appreciate.

* Be Yourself

Remember your mom telling you to be yourself when you were worried about being liked by people you didn't know?

Your mom was right.

In addition to sharing information and resources with real, actionable value to my clients and customers, I also share observations, reviews (books, movies, electronics), and of course the occasional annecdote about my cats.

And I share in my own voice similar to how I might talk with co-workers or people I know casually at a party.

– Pick Just One and Try it Out

There are a bewildering array of social media sites out there.

Please. Be kind to yourself.

Rather than try to figure it all out, I strongly suggest you get yourself an account with Twitter or Facebook or Linked in.

Not all of them, pick just one.

Then give yourself some time to poke around and get a sense of what's going on.

– Start with People You Already Know, Trust and Like

Once you get an account, invite people you know, trust, and like to join your network. Or follow them on Twitter. Or subscribe to their blog.

This way you start in a small box with others you may already be connected with. You can feel fairly confident that you'll be interested and engaged in the conversations they're having.

As you begin to feel more comfortable you can begin to check out their contacts or look for people interested in a particular topic you love to talk about.

JOIN ME

If you're looking to find some people to hang out with in Social-Marketing-land, I invite you to connect with me.*

To join my Linkedin Network:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/judy-murdoch/0/737/913

To join me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/judy.murdoch

To follow me on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/judymurdoch

* You need to first sign up for an account. All the social media accounts listed here are free.

> BOTTOM LINE

Once I began reaching out more and focused on hanging out with like-minded people, I got used to and even began to enjoy social marketing.

The most important thing to remember is social media is about connection and conversation. If people like what they're hearing and find value in what you offer, you will begin picking up business and business-related opportunities.

But like any online strategy, it takes time and effort on your end to reach out and contribute first.

And feel free to connect with me on one of the social media tools I mentioned.

A couple weeks ago, one of my clients sent me an email with this question:

"I've been checking out a couple programs that say I can make lots of money by including affiliate links on my website. I could really use the extra cash right now. What do you think?"

The client asking this question is a coach who is creating his own information products.

He knows there will be a lag between the time he launches his program and when he starts getting substantive income. He'd like to find an alternative revenue source to tide him over.

> A Typical Affiliate Program

Amazon.com was one of the first online merchants to use an affiliate program. I've been an Amazon.com affiliate for many years.

Here's how I use Amazon.com's affiliate program.

I work with small business owners and help them with marketing issues. Naturally, I will suggest books that I've read and think are useful for small business owners who are looking for marketing help.

I recommend these books on my website and it's very easy to include a link so someone interested in buying one of those books can go directly to Amazon.com to learn more…maybe buy the book.

As an Amazon.com affiliate, I get a special link so that if that person actually buys the book, I get a small commission.

This in a nutshell is how affiliate programs work.

> Sharing the Love

In the best sense, affiliate programs can be a win for everyone:

- you get a little extra money for making a recommendation that you would have made regardless (I was recommending these books long before I became an Amazon affiliate).

- Amazon.com gets more traffic (and building traffic is always desirable) and more sales (again, always desireable)

- The person making the purchase gets a valuable resource they otherwise wouldn't have known about

> Affiliate Mania!

Over the years, gobs of companies have been jumping into the affiliate game. It's easy to understand the attraction of offering an affiliate program.

And something else started happening: everyone and their dog started offering affiliate programs. Along with the mad proliferation of affiliate programs, websites with no other purpose than being a collection of affiliate links began popping up.

The idea behind these sites is people go to your website and see lots and lots of links to click on. If they click on a link and buy something, Voila! you get some money.

> Affiliate Sluts?

Some folks think having website that is, essentially, pages of links is a really super idea.

Myself, I think it's an example of a good idea taken to ridiculous extremes.

From a practical perspective, affiliate link farms depend on getting massive amounts of traffic. Unless you want to work your butt off getting traffic to your website (and you WILL have to work very hard because you have lots of competition) you will never generate the level of traffic you need to earn decent money.

What bugs me more than anything is the lack of added value. Putting up a web page with a bunch of links chosen based on the commission you'll get isn't bringing any value into the world.

You're not sharing your own knowledge and experience to help others. You're simply directing visitors to other businesses.

Finally, affiliate mania makes for bizarre bedfellows hence the term "affiliate sluts."

There are literally hundreds of thousands of affiliates out there. How many are selling products that you can really feel good about reselling to other people? Are these affiliate programs about making a difference or mostly about lining the sellers pockets?

> 4 Keys to Selecting Win Win Affiliates for Your Business

I'm a business owner and I like making money when it's because I helped my clients solve a problem or do something better. There's a sweetness when you make money because you add value. I can't imagine selling stuff and not caring whether or not it helps my customer.

Here are 4 keys I recommend when you consider which affiliates to participate in

#1 Good fit with your business

I help small business owners create inexpensive, results-based marketing programs. My clients typically need help doing things 

- like building websites
– creating blogs
– attracting subscribers to read articles and offers,
– and selling products and services online.

Naturally I recommend website hosts, email list management services, shopping carts, and merchant account services. The vendors I use for these services offer affiliate programs and it makes perfect sense that I participate in those programs.

I am NOT an affilate for weight loss potions, stain removers, or real estate training programs because these have nothing to do with how I help my own customers.

- Shared values

When a product or service rubs you the wrong way, chances are good that the values held by seller are in conflict with your values.

For example, I see my business as way not only to make money but to make a positive difference in the world. For this reason I don't participate in affiliates that, in my opinion, aren't adding anything substantive to the world.

- You use the products and services yourself

The only affiliates I participate in are ones whose products and services I actually use. I feel uncomfortable making money recommending something that I, myself wouldn't use.

- Decent commission

All things being equal, I would choose the affiliate program offering a more generous affiliate commision.

The key qualifier here being "all things being equal."

> Bottom Line

Affilate programs are hot, hot, hot these days for good reasons.

But affiliate programs are NOT about money for nothing.

Affilate programs are meant to enhance and supplement your core products and services…not to replace substantive products and services or to detract from them.

As long as you can be in integrity with the affiliate programs you support, they are a great source of extra revenue as well as a way to offer more value to your customers.

When this is the case, it's a very sweet way to share the love.

A client called me recently for help with her website's homepage. She had been working for several days on what to say on her homepage and was still feeling tentative and unhappy with the results.

I took a look at what she had written so far and told her, "It's not bad but your voice is totally absent from what you wrote. It could be just about anybody's web page."

"That's it!," my client cried, "It doesn't feel like I wrote it! But how do I make sure my voice comes out in my copy and make sure that my home page gets people to take the next step?"

This is a very common problem for small business owners who are doing their own marketing: they know their marketing copy—what goes on their web pages, brochures, and other promotional materials—needs to get results and they figure since they're not marketing "experts" their own way of saying something isn't going to work.

So they take classes, read books, and ask others for help—and end up with bland, lame marketing that still doesn't get them them the results they're wanting.

How the Best of Intentions Will Ruin Your Marketing

This woman is the last person you'd expect boring copy from. She's witty, a great story teller, and has a refreshing "tell it like it is" candor that makes her very effective communicator. (She's a coach who works with women over fifty who are, in her words, "tired of putting their lives on hold.")

So what the heck happened?

Three things actually:

1. She tried to sound like a "professional coach"

Every profession has at least one "professional voice." It's the voice that comes through in the articles found in specialty publications written for your profession.

This voice usually comes "academia"—the people who are doing research at universities and think tanks.

There's nothing wrong with academics: lots of good stuff comes out of their work.

The problem is that academics usually write for other academics, not for the general public. For this reason academic language is full of jargon and technical terms and it's very formal: written in a passive voice.

Unless you happen to be another academic this writing is dry and tedious to read. And if people don't read what you write they're not going to take the action you recommend and that's what marketing copy is all about: helping customers take action.

2. She took copywriting advice too literally

There are literally hundreds of books, classes, blogs, you name it out there with advice for writing effective marketing copy.

I think it's great when I see business owners actively looking to improve their marketing skills. The problem I see however is when business owners try to adopt the copywriting guru's voice for their own.

In the worst case, they end up with copy that reads like a string of meaningless marketing cliches.

Even if they pull it off and write something substantive about what they're selling, their customers are still buying from someone other than who they really are.

Ultimately, our customers are doing business with us not Joe Copy Guru. It is our voice they hear when we pick up the phone and when they talk with us.

Even if your own voice is less than perfect it's better that customers consistently hear the real you.

3. She tried to use everyone's feedback

My background is in advertising and consumer marketing and I strongly recommend trying your marketing out on a few customers before you send it out to the general public.

Typically then, the business owner will ask a customer or two and perhaps a few colleagues or business partners, "what do you think about my article (or website or brochure, etc)?

Often there are all sorts of helpful nuggets in the responses. But in my experience there is also advice that is irrelevant as well as conflicting. One person says there's not enough information on X; the other person says there's too much information.

In an attempt to take in all the advice, business owners end up with copy that is a patchwork of all the little bits and pieces of advice they were given. There's no consistency or coherence in these message and once again the owner end up with marketing that doesn't get any results.

Keys to Avoiding Lame, Mushy Marketing

1. Know what action you want clients to take before you write a single word

When I say "action" I mean what's the next thing you want people to do after they've read or heard your message. Common actions you can ask your audience to take include:

• Click on this link for more information
• Click on this link to subscribe to my ezine
• Call this 1 800 number to get my free report

These are all small, low commitment activities that don't require a lot of time, trust, or money. But they give you the opportunity to get contact information so you can stay in touch and build the credibility necessary for them to become paying customers.

2. Ask for specific, actionable input

Asking people "what do you think" is not really what you want to know. What you want to know is:

After you read this or hear it, will you take the action I want you to take?

Anything else, quite honestly, is irrelevant.

Questions to ask include:

• Is there anything here that confuses you?
• Is the product or service something you see yourself using?
• Are all the questions you want answered before you take the next step answered? What other questions do you have?

You may notice I didn't suggest you ask "Are you going to buy my product or service?" Why? Because it's incredibly speculative to ask someone what they might do in the future.

If you must ask the question I suggest you ask it as "How likely are you to …"

3. Use your heart to evaluate feedback

What does your heart have to do with marketing that gets people to take action?

A lot actually.

I allow my heart—my intuition—if you will, to be the ultimate judge of what input to incorporate and what to discard.

Why? Because the truth about what I want people to know about my business and services almost always resides in my heart.

When I try to think things through too much and "figure things out," my brain treats the problem like a puzzle that rationalization and compromise can solve.

My heart is a lot more direct when it comes to "is this really what I want to say?" or "is this true for me?"

After you get your feedback, before you start editing, notice anything that sounds a little or a lot off. Focus on your heart and ask yourself, "Is this really true for me?" then pay attention to what your heart tells you.

I've learned to listen to that quiet little voice in my heart because it's always spot on when it comes to marketing. When I ignore it; try to "figure it all out" I end up with mushy, lifeless copy that doesn't say anything to anyone. Much less inspire people to take the next step.

Bottom Line

Lame, ineffective marketing happens when the business owner's voice gets lost—because they're trying to sound like somebody or something that they're not.

Your customers really want to hear your own voice; what's true for you; how you see yourself serving them.

Before you pick up your red pen and start using feedback and input from others, please take a moment to make sure

1. you're clear about what you want your audience to do;
2. you've asked for specific input, and
3. you've run the feedback past your heart to make sure it feels true.

One of my clients recently asked me whether she should charge for a series of tip sheets she created for families traveling with young children. Great question.

There's quite a bit of confusion around whether you should sell or give away your information products. About half the advice I hear favors giving information away for free. The other half favors charging.

The truth is, sometimes you should give information and resources away and sometimes you should sell them. The real question is when to charge and when not to.

In this article, I'll give you some guidelines around when to charge and when to give information away.

Start with What Your Business Needs Now

Asking where your business is at and what you need to be successful is a great place to begin.

Every business needs customers, right? So let's look at how strangers become customers. They go through three stages:

Stage One: Visibility (V)

To become a customer a person first needs to know your product exists. You become visible by getting your product and marketing message in front of people who fit your ideal customer description.

Stage Two: Credibility (C)

Knowing that your product exists is usually not enough to get someone to pay cold hard cash for it. Nope, they're thinking "well, that sounds good but how do I know it will really work?"

During the Credibility stage you need to give them information that demonstrates your product will deliver as promised.

Stage Three: Profitability (P)

Once your prospect is convinced that your product will, indeed, deliver the promised value, they will pay you and become a customer.

V to C to P = Marketing Funnel

Picture a funnel with lots of people coming in the widest part (visibility), a percentage sticking around to learn more (credibility), and a percentage of those who stick around becoming customers (profitability).

At any given time in the life of your business, there are people at different stages of becoming customers. Some are learning about you for the first time, some are  checking you out to decide whether they will buy, and some are deciding to buy and paying you.

Ideally, you have a steady stream of people constantly entering and moving through the funnel. If they don't enter or don't continue through, you have a problem and it shows up in your bottom line: You don't have enough paying customers.

When to Give Away and When to Charge

To decide whether or not to charge for an information product, I suggest you take a look at how many people are at each of the three stages.

Your goal is to use information products to help your prospects and customers to take the next step.

When You Need More Visibility

If you're just starting your business or you want to enter a new market, you probably need more visibility. You need people to know your product exists.

When visibility is your goal, I recommend you give something away that provides value and introduces people to your product or service.

Why? The goal for visibility is to answer the following questions:

1. What is it ("it" being your product or service)
2. Does it help someone like me?

You want to give something away that will answer these questions while asking for something minimal from the prospect.

A common example is offering a free Ezine subscription or a free report your prospects can download in exchange for their E-mail address or phone number.

When You Need More Credibility

Credibility is an issue when you're getting a lot of first time visitors and inquiries but not enough are coming back. 

For most products and services, people need repeated demonstrations of what you can do for them. They need to trust you.

When you are building credibility, I suggest you have two information products: one that is free and one that you sell.

1. A free product that allows you to build a relationship with your prospects. Products like Ezines are great because you get a chance to connect with customers once a month or more.
2. Product you charge for which offers a higher level of customer value. Ideally, this is a "no brainer" purchase. Something for which the value is so obvious for what you're charging that most people don't need to think too long or hard about whether to buy.

Although you will be making some money, the real purpose is to demonstrate credibility and build trust.

Warning: The biggest complaint I hear is when someone offers a free report or  one-hour teleclass that turns out to be little more than a sales pitch.

Again, you are creating value and building trust. Doing both will enable you to convert more prospects to paying customers when the opportunity presents itself.

A sneaky sales pitch will undermine the trust you are trying to build.

If You Need More Profitability

If you have a large, loyal base of readers, subscribers, or members who have been hanging out with you for several months and like what they're getting, some of them will want to invest some serious time and money for your focused time and attention.

For example, a consultant I know sends out a free monthly Ezine to her mailing list and sells low cost Tip Sheets, Checklists, and so on.

Each month 3-5 of her subscribers contact her to learn more about her workshops and seminars costing $500+. She usually books 6 to 8 engagements this way each year.

She explained it to me like this, "I try to provide something useful that my readers can apply right away. For example, I sell a $5.00 meeting organizer they can use to have more productive meetings. Sometimes this is all they need."

"But sometimes they're in a situation that goes way beyond the DIY stage. They need someone from outside the company to step in and help them set up a new system or to help them hire a new executive."

Allowing your prospects to upgrade (or escalate) and get a higher level of support is not only profitable, it's how you can really serve your clients.

Bottom Line

Whether or not to charge for your information products depends on what your business needs in terms of developing customer relationships.

The less known you are to people fitting your ideal customer profile, the more important it is to offer free or low cost information products which provide something of value.

As you build trust and as your prospects learn how you can help them, you can offer more expensive, higher commitment products for those who want (and can afford) them.

Imagine this scenario: You plant sunflower seeds in two different pots. Everything–the seeds, the pots, the soil, the temperature and amount of sunlight are the same.

The only difference is this:

• You water the seeds in one pot two times over a period of three months
• You water the seeds in the other pot once a week over the same period

Question: which seeds are most likely to sprout and turn into healthy sunflowers? The ones you watered a couple times or the ones you watered regularly?

Even if you're not an avid gardener I'm guessing you said "the one you watered regularly."

So what the heck does this have to do with marketing products and services? Quite a bit actually.

How Offers that Get Results are Like Growing Sunflowers

To turn sunflower seeds into beautiful, healthy sunflowers, you need to plant the seeds in good soil and you need to make sure your seeds get plenty of sunshine and water over a period of weeks.

If your seeds don't get enough water and sun they may never sprout and even if they do, the fragile little seedling will wither and die.

To make sure customers say "yes" to your product offers, you need to support your offers properly otherwise you will end up with marketing that seems to go nowhere in terms of customer response.

How to Care for Offers So They Produce Results

To make sure the offers you promote lead to prospects and customers saying "yes" and taking the next step, you need to make sure your offers are getting the sunflower equivalent of water and sunshine.

Offers need:

1. to be repeated to the same audience at least six to seven times over a period of at least two months
2. to be the one, primary offer you make to that audience

If this seems simple to you—it is. However I also know we entrepreneur have a bad habit of ignoring this seemingly simple advice.

How Entrepreneurs Set Their Marketing Up for Failure

I'm an entrepreneur and most of my clients are entrepreneurs.It's lots of fun being an entrepreneur and working with entrepreneurs.

Why? Because we're always excited about some cool new thing we're doing and it's fun being with people who are doing cool, interesting things. BUT the quality that makes it so fun to be an entrepreneur: an attraction to cool, new things, is the very quality that dooms our marketing efforts to failure.

Here's a typical situation when I'm working with an entrepreneurial client and they've just completed a terrific new information product and we've created a strong sales page for their website and have the first couple promotional emails ready to go.

So far so good.

And my entrepreneur client says, "Hey, I've got another great new product idea, I'd like you to help me with!"

They then turn their attention to the cool, new thing they want to work on and ignore marketing for the already completed product which is barely a little seedling peeping out above the soil.

Typically then two things happen, both of which, are deadly to the success of the first offer:

1. They stop promoting the first product altogether so that prospects who were interested but not quite ready to buy that product will forget their intention to purchase
2. They'll add the second offer on top of the first and effectively "bury" the first product offer. Prospects and customers end up seeing a mish-mosh of offers and may be so confused they don't do anything.

The result for our business is the equivalent of having pots full of dirt and no sunflowers: we work really hard on developing products and offers but aren't getting much back in the way of new customers and cash flow.

How to Set Your Offers Up for Success (and Still Have Fun)

So how do we entrepreneurial-types who are constantly inspired to start new promotions make sure we give our current offers every opportunity to succeed?

Here are five strategies I highly recommend.

1. Acknowledge that you're an entrepreneur and that wanting to try new things is in your DNA.

2. Label a file or binder (I'm uber geeky and use a spreadsheet) "product ideas" and when you get a great product idea or promotion idea, jot it down on a piece of paper and put it in your idea binder.

When my ideas have a home, I'm less likely to feel compelled to start working on them because I know I can return to the ones I saved.

3. Commit to supporting no more than two offers at any given time. This means the marketing and promotions you create to support these offers get my full time and focus.

4. Run promotions for your current offer for at least seven weeks. This gives people who are interested in the offers but not yet ready to take the next step several opportunities to take action.

5. Only promote products that clearly fit your brand and fit within the products and services you offer. Customers need context to understand how your offer fits what they already know how your business helps them.

Bottom Line

Sunflowers are so much nicer than pots full of dirt.

If you're feeling frustrated because your offers aren't getting much response, take a look at how well your marketing supports those offers.

If you're promoting something new every month and piling multiple offers on a single email or advertisement, you may be setting your offers up for failure.

You need to focus on one or two offers at a time, provide consistent marketing over time, and make sure your offers make sense within your brand and business in order to start getting real results.

Have you had this experience recently? You meet someone and all signs point to "GO" that this person needs your services. Even better, they seem to have a budget and the willingness to hire someone (like you?!) to solve the problem.

After the initial introduction and hearing a little bit about what your prospect is needing, you come to the moment in which your prospect is waiting for you to say something. They may even invite you to talk about your business and how you help customers by saying something like, "So what is it you do exactly?"

And you proceed to tell your prospect exactly what he or she seems to be asking for—how you work with clients so they get the results they're wanting.

About halfway into your explanation, you notice that although your prospect is still looking at you and listening politely, their eyes have a glassy look. They may even be sneaking glances around the room.

If you're like me, you may get an awful, panicky feeling, like, "Omigosh, I've lost them." Unfortunately, when we try to convince prospects we can help by presenting a detailed account of our process, we do, in fact lose them.

We have gotten stuck in PROCESSLAND!

Getting Stuck in Processland is a Common Problem

Don't feel bad if you've gotten stuck in processland: you have lots of company.

You see, when a prospect asks you, "what does your company do?" you want to reassure them that they can trust you. That you really can help them solve their problem so they get the results they want.

To reassure them you take them through how you solve their problem so they have lots of evidence that you know what you're doing and you're very good at doing it.

And you're correct, your prospect is wanting reassurance but not the kind you're giving them.

What Your Prospect is Really Asking For

When you are in the early stages of developing a business relationship, questions like "What is it your company does?" is customer speak for "Can you help me?" Or more accurately, "Can you help businesses in the situation I'm in?"

Because if they're already liking and trusting you, they really want the answer to be yes. If the answer is yes, they can go on to the next stage to having a business relationship with you.

How to Avoid Getting Stuck in Processland

Fortunately, it's pretty easy to avoid marketing that gets you and your prospect stuck in Processland. In fact, just two easy steps.

Step #1: Stop Answering Prospect Questions with Step-by-Step Process Descriptions

No matter how tempting it may be, if this is your first or even second meeting with a prospect, don't get into step by step process descriptions.

Step #2: Tell a Story Instead

The best response is short results-focused success story. Key parts of the story are:

• Who the customer was and the problem they were struggling with
• What they had tried (but didn't work)
• What you saw they needed
• The results they got with your solution

Here's an example used by a Pilates practitioner:

"One of my clients came to me because she was getting married in six weeks and she was frantic because she had gained some weight and her wedding dress was too tight."

"She was dieting and doing aerobics but was really struggling to get her tummy tighter. She said she had always felt embarrassed by her 'fat stomach'."

"I told her aerobics are great overall but they don't help you with specific 'problem spots'. Pilates would help her get a smaller waistline because the exercises strengthens all of the muscles that hold in her stomach. As a plus she would start to see results from Pilates within a few weeks."

"In four weeks my client's waist was so well-defined that she actually needed to have her dress taken in before she got married and several people wanted to know what diet she used to look so great."

Note the Pilates Instructor never gave details around the type of Pilates she used, she didn't talk about specific muscle groups or give the client an anatomy lesson. She stuck to the main points so her prospect could feel reassured that Pilates would help.

Bottom Line

When a prospect asks "what do you do?" they are asking you to reassure them that you can help people in their particular situation. Avoid answering with detailed step-by-step process descriptions.

Instead answer with a short success story about a customer you helped whose situation mirrors that of the prospects. Answering with a success story will help to reassure your prospect that you can, indeed, help them so they can take the next step to becoming a customer and getting that help.

Last week someone in a business discussion forum posted this question:

"Help! No One is Responding to My Offer"

The person posting, let's call her Susan, went on to say that she loves her work and gets great results for her clients. She's excited about a new service she's promoting, yet no one was responding to her emailed offer.

Now Susan is no slouch when it comes to marketing. She sold classified advertising for a big city newspaper, she's been to lots of marketing and sales classes, and has a stack of marketing-related books on her desk.

The emailed offers she's sending reflect her best efforts. And yet, something isn't working.

When this happens Susan's self-confidence as a business owner falters. She wonders if she's somehow missing some essential talent needed to run a successful business.

I know I've felt this way when my promotions are unsuccessful. Perhaps you can relate?

So What the Heck is Going On!?

There are any number of reasons offers fall flat. One reason that gets overlooked by most marketing experts (including me until recently) is this:

We fail to acknowledge our customer's need to belong.

(Note: I want to acknowledge my teacher and mentor, Mark Silver, of www.heartofbusiness.com on whose work this article is based.)

The Need to Belong is a Powerful Human Motivator

Thousands of years ago, human survival depended on membership to a tribe. In a tribe, our ancestors had a better chance of getting food, shelter, and protection. To be cast out of a tribe was more often than not a death sentence.

Today belonging to a tribe is no longer about physical survival—at least not in an obvious way. Yet it remains a powerful influence on what we do; on what your customers do.

In fact, your customer's need to belong is so important that it actually trumps their need for your solution and their ability to pay.

How the Need to Belong Affects Whether Your Customer Buys

When your customer sees or hears your marketing message–whether it's on the home page of your website, an email you sent, or a post card you mailed, his or her decision to take the next step is proceeded by three "micro–decisions."

In order to take the next step (for example, click the "Buy" button) your customer must answer yes to all three questions in this order:

1. "Can I fully be myself and feel fully accepted if I work with this company?" (Do I Belong?)
2. "How much do I want really this?"
3. "Can I afford it?"

Your customer must answer "yes" to all three questions in order of importance to act on your call to action. If, at any point, they answer "no" you've lost them:

• They'll go on to another website
• They'll delete your email
• They'll throw out your post card

This is why addressing the need to belong is so important. It also may seem a little mysterious to you as a business owner. Perhaps you're thinking, "all this makes sense to me but how exactly do I help my customers feel like they belong on the home page of my website?"

How to Create a Sense of Belong in Your Marketing

No, you don't need to start your marketing message off with "Hey I love you. Here comes a great big hug just for you!" Even Barney the dinosaur doesn't say that at the very beginning of the show.

Plus you'd probably creep people out a little.

Here are four ways to reassure prospects "yes, you're at the right place to get the help you need," so that they can take the next step.

Step 1. Begin your marketing message with who you help and the problem you help them with.

For example, "technical consultants who are tired of struggling to get their next contract."

Step 2. Expand on the problem by addressing issues such as:

• how the problem shows up in regular everyday life
• emotions they may be feeling
• solutions they've already tried that didn't work
• why those solutions often don't work

If it feels tricky for you to address emotions in writing, try addressing these points as you would if you were in a conversation with a trusted colleague.

When I began writing the way I speak, I found it became a lot easier to write about customer problems in a way that was natural and empathetic but still within the boundaries of the business relationship.

If you're still feeling stuck, re-read the first few paragraphs of this article to get a sense of how I introduced the problem and expanded on it.

Step 3. Introduce your solution only after you've addressed your customer's experience with the problem.

Once you've covered the problem and your customer's experience with it (in steps 1 and 2) you've told your customer in effect:

"I understand your problem and know how awful it feels to struggle with this problem. You're not alone."

You can demonstrate your expertise and talk about your solution. Again, in this article, I first talked about the problem in detail. I then transitioned to "here's what can cause this problem" and "here are steps you can take to take care of this problem." Step 4. So now that you've discussed the problem, the customer's experience of the problem, and your solution, you can add your call to action. At this point folks fitting your ideal customer profile will be feeling seen, heard, and accepted enough to be ready to learn more about how you can help and what it will take in terms of time, money, etc. This is where you can add a call of action like, "Click here for more details and to register for my xyz program."

Bottom Line

There's an old adage that "People don't care about what you know until they know you care." In this case, it is so true. Your marketing needs to first address your customer's to belong before you say a word about value-added and cost. Otherwise, your customer will move on to another vendor who makes them feel better understood.

It's funny because when I was doing advertising research, I often worked closely with copywriters. I would interview customers to learn how they responded to different messages and report back to the creative team. Sometimes the copywriter or art director would have questions they wanted me to ask my focus groups. So I got to know the writers and their work pretty well.

Yet, when they went back to their desk to actually create the message, I had no idea how they came up with the words that moved customers to action.

Customer-Focused Story to the Rescue!

Turns out like any professional, copywriters have systems. One such system that has made my writing life infinitely easier is the Customer Focused Story: A six step process that helps you develop a message that inspires action on the part of your readers.

The power behind the Customer Focus Story is this: before people are ready to take action, it is absolutely critical that they feel safe to do so. By "safe" I mean your copy addresses two, usually unarticulated questions:

(1.) Do they feel that the business making the offer understands the problem they're struggling with?

(2.) Can the business help THEM?

If your copy helps them answer "yes" to those two questions, chances are very good your customers will take the next step.

Applying the Customer Focus Story: A Real Example

My client, Jane Rawlings of Pilates for Life, specializes in helping women who want to get fit but whose physical limitations make it difficult to use standard options such as fitness centers, aerobics classes, etc. Jane offers private and semi-private classes that enable clients to safely progress at their own pace. In this way clients get stronger and fitter without risking further injury.

Here is how we developed the Customer Focused Story for Pilates for Life:

Step 1. Name the who and the problem with which they're struggling.

The first thing you want to tell readers is "this is who I help and what I help them with." The point is to elicit a strong "Yes, that's me," in your ideal prospect so they will want to keep reading.

In the case of Pilates for Life, the who and what are:

"Women who are suffering from chronic back pain. Oftentimes, the pain is so bad it makes it hard for them to do things most of us take for granted."

Step 2. Specify the solutions they've tried which didn't work.

I know when I first began using the Customer Focused Story, I resisted this step. Why wouldn't I immediately launch into my wonderful solution?

Here's why. Two little words: "Yeah, but." No doubt you've experienced this when you've talked to prospects. You tell them about your product or service and they respond to every claim you make with "Yeah, we tried that but it didn't work." This is normal. They don't want to buy something they already know doesn't work.

The best way to deal with "yeah buts" is to simply acknowledge the solutions they've probably already tried—the ones that didn't work.

For example:

"They've tried the usual fitness options: low impact aerobics, yoga, and weight training but often those options just make things worse."

Step 3. Specify why those solutions don't work.

When you not only acknowledge what your prospects probably tried but go on to say in effect, "Hey, what you did was perfectly understandable. That's what most people would have tried. I tried those things and my customers have tried those things." You're demonstrating empathy.

You are also letting them know they don't have to feel embarrassed or ashamed for trying and failing. That they are not the only ones who have struggled to find a solution to their problem.

Pilates for Life example:

"The problem with most mainstream exercise programs is the instructor's lack of experience working with back injuries and chronic pain. An instructor who is unfamiliar with these conditions may push for progress too quickly. Or they may assume persons with chronic back pain can do each movement in the same way as everyone else. Often times, this can strain the back muscles even more, cause more injury, and make the pain even more severe."

Step 4. Talk about what they need to do to solve the problem.

Your reader is probably thinking, "OK, I understand why what I tried didn't work. So what DOES?" Here's where you get to address their question.

Pilates for Life example:

"A successful fitness program for persons with chronic back pain requires three things:

(1.) a fitness trainer familiar with the physiology of back injuries;

(2.) private or semi-private classes so the instructor can make sure the participant is doing the movements properly; and

(3.) a significantly slower pace to allow the muscles to adjust to new movements."

Step 5. Tell them why you're qualified to deliver the solution that works.

Finally, you get to talk about your solution! Specifically, you are going to write about how you are qualified to deliver a solution that works (which you just wrote about in Step 4.

Qualifications you want to refer to can include your personal experience, formal training and education, success stories about how you've helped your own customers, and testimonials.

Pilates for Life example:

“For over twenty years, Pilates for Life owner, Jane Rawlings, suffered from chronic pain due to a childhood back injury. She looked everywhere to find an exercise program that would improve her strength and flexibility and, she hoped, provide some relief from the constant pain. When a friend suggested she try Pilates, she was skeptical but after just two sessions, she was a fan.

In fact, she was so convinced that Pilates was the answer for persons suffering from back injuries and chronic pain that she decided to become a certified Pilates instructor. Initially she worked as an instructor with an established Pilates studio but quickly realized persons suffering from the same back problems as she weren't getting the right help.

That's when she decided to start her own fitness service, Pilates for Life, which offers private, closely supervised exercise sessions for persons for whom standard exercise programs just don't work.”

Step 6. Tell the reader exactly what the next step is and how to take it.

At this point, a reader who is an ideal customer for you, is probably feeling hopeful and excited about learning more about what you do. So you are going to tell them exactly what the next steps are.

Pilates for Life example:

The ideal customer for Pilates for Life is a women who is in chronic pain due to a back injury. Because they are in so much pain so much of the time, they are highly motivated to find solutions. There are two actions they could take:

"(1.) Go to the Pilates for Life website and complete a short assessment to help them determine whether Pilates is right for them.
(2.) Call Jane to talk about how Pilates might help them."

The reasons for offering two alternatives are:

Some people reading this message will want to do more research before they actually call Jane. The assessment gives them a safe way to get more information without risking a sales pitch.

Some will read Judy's story in step 5 and will immediately see her as someone they can relate to. In this case they will want to talk with someone who understands what they are dealing with.

Putting It All Together

Once you complete Steps 1 through 6, you have all the pieces of your marketing message. The very last thing to do is to write it using "you" instead of "the customer" so it speaks to your customer in a personal way.

To see the completed marketing message, click here.

Bottom Line

I see so many small business owners struggle with creating a strong, to the point marketing message that inspires customers to take action. The Customer Focused story, in my experience, is a common sense, straight forward solution to this problem. Next time you need to write a brochure or a flyer to promote a product, try using the Customer Focused story as your outline. I bet you'll find the process a lot easier and you'll like how it affects your bottom line!

Until recently, Nancy has gotten her business primarily through in person meetings: attending networking events, taking people out for coffee, and giving presentations.

In person is great for getting local business but Nancy wants to serve a national customer base. So she hired someone to design a Web site and using E-mails and postcards to market her services.

She’s been using E-mails and postcards for the last ten months and the results have been dismal.

“I haven’t gotten a single new client,” she told me.

So I took a look at the E-mails she was sending out and I immediately saw the problem.

Enthusiasm Can Turn People Off

Nancy loves her work and really wants her clients to succeed. It’s hard to spend time with her and not get excited about what she’s doing.

Her enthusiasm works to her advantage when she meets people in person.It seems logical then that enthusiasm would work in all her other marketing.  Wrong.

Establishing Trust is the First Step

There’s a saying, “People want to know you care, before they care about what you know.”

As human beings, we have a natural desire to belong and feel valued. It’s the reason why people hate to be sold to…we don’t feel understood or valued for who we are.

When you meet someone in person, it’s a lot easier to build trust because you can communicate that you care in many ways: in your tone of voice, in the way you look at others, in your gestures.

For people like Nancy, building trust occurs almost immediately during in person meetings because she communicates that she cares both in what she says and what she doesn’t say.

But when communicating in less personal ways—using E-mail, postcards, and other types of written media, you have only words to work with. 

Which means you must take an extra step and deliberately demonstrate empathy before you enthusiastically share why your products and services are so wonderful.

Establishing Trust Means Starting with the Negative

So how do you show you care when you use E-mail, Web pages, and other mediums that limit your ability to express yourself?

You start with the problem or pain your customer is likely experiencing.

When you do this you are saying, in effect to your audience:

“I understand you have this problem that you’re struggling to solve.”

“I, too, have struggled with it”

“Through my experience, education, research, etc., I have come up with a solution to solve the problem.”

“My solution will work for you too.”

Once you say these things, you are free to bubble away about your wonderful solution.

Example: Establishing Trust First

So let’s go back to Nancy.

Instead of immediately starting her E-mails off with how she helps her clients double their fund raising results she begins with demonstrating empathy and understanding.

Before:

“Non-profits, let me show you how to double, even triple your donations.”

After:

“Non-profits, are you struggling to compete for funding in today’s difficult economy?

”Can you feel the difference?

Nancy’s E-mail then went on to describe her own struggles with fund raising and how she developed her solution.

When Nancy began using this approach, her prospect inquiries immediately increased and she’s now in the process of turning some of the prospects into clients.

But she first needed to demonstrate she understood and cared before they were willing to make the call.

Bottom Line

The less personal the communication, the more important it becomes to first establish trust with your prospects.

For E-mails, blog posts, Web pages, etc.:

1. Start with the Negative: demonstrate you understand their problem and struggle to solve it.

2. End with the Positive: share why your solution is better and will work.