Why Business Owners Don't Write

In countless smaller businesses, the buck stops squarely at the desk of the guy who started it all. If you're the chief cook and bottle washer at your company, you may be tasked with a huge number of issues, including the business's ongoing marketing efforts. And in marketing, content is still king -- so why do so many business owners shy away from writing that content? Here are a few reasons.

It's hard. 

Producing compelling content, for any purpose, takes a certain amount of mental and emotional energy, and there's no denying that it gives the brain a workout. And let's face it, the last thing your average overworked entrepreneur needs or wants is yet another mental challenge. For those who are not naturally gifted or confident writers, the task can seem positively Herculean -- but even those of us who do it for a living can feel pretty drained after a few hours of bashing away at the keyboard. 

Writing doesn't necessarily get easier over time, either. As the lower-level concerns such as spelling, grammar and mechanics eventually get ironed out, the writer's attention turns instead to more advanced issues. There's always some new challenge awaiting you over the horizon, no matter how good you get. So the creation of written marketing content can tie up a good many brain cells that might have gone toward, oh, running the business. Which leads me to the next objection....

It takes too much time.

Even the fastest, most brilliant writers have to spend X amount of time on any piece of writing if they want it to meet professional standards. Writing is rewriting, as they say, meaning that a first draft is rarely the last one. Before you post that article, print those postcards or allow that new website to go live, you must go over your work with the proverbial fine-toothed comb -- cutting the fat, smoothing out awkward phrases, and making sure the message "pops." 

The less confident or experienced you are as a writer, the more time you'll spend fussing over it. Some of us (myself included) even struggle with typing speed/accuracy. (I never took typing in school. I can galumph along at an acceptable rate, but in any case my own bizarre self-created technique is too ingrained to unlearn now.) 

It might come out wrong.

Failure in the business world can be damaging enough on its own (unless of course we learn from it) when it occurs privately, inside the company. Falling on your face in public is a whole other level of "epic fail" entirely. we're all understandably terrified of looking like goofballs in the way we present ourselves, and marketing is all about public presentation. 

So many business owners will shy away from creating their own marketing content on the grounds that they might inadvertently embarrass themselves, now matter how strongly they write. What if the target audience doesn't get what you're saying? What if your industry lingo makes no sense to the average Joe? What does your public want to hear from you?

These are all sound concerns -- and I hear them all the time from business clients who engage me to write their marketing content. Fortunately, a skilled copywriter can squash most of them. By hiring me to take their writing off their plate, for instance, business owners and marketing managers can focus on the pressing needs of their company instead of wrapping all their free gray matter around a blog article or web page. This strategy also prevents content creation from sapping all their valuable billable time. Outsourcing the writing to a third party can even help ensure that the final product speaks to a broad mainstream audience and not just other folks in the business.

Are you facing any other challenges to producing the marketing content your business so desperately needs? Contact me and let's work on overcoming them!

Practicing Social Distancing? Focus on Social Media Marketing

If you'd never heard the phrase "social distancing" until a few days ago, you're probably familiar with it now. Social distancing is all about adopting specific strategies that prevent large groups of people from coming together -- typically to limit the spread of germs during an epidemic or pandemic. If you own a business, you may have asked your employees to telecommute. If you have customers, those customers may be looking at different ways to get their products and services. It's a confusing time -- but you can respond by making sure your customers can find you via social media and related digital marketing efforts.

There's no denying that social media can be a good thing or a bad thing, especially in its ability to spread panic or misinformation all over the world at the speed of light. But it's also a tremendous boon, not only for distributing genuinely valuable information, but also for keeping everyday communication lines open. People who are practicing social distancing can still share Facebook posts, blog articles, Instagram photos, and any other media that tickles their fancy.

These people also shop, even if they can't do much shopping in brick-and-mortar environments for the time being. Customers may not frequent stores for their discretionary shopping, but you can bet that they'll be burning up the Internet looking for online alternatives. They'll also forego in-store browsing for online browsing by searching for specific solutions through social media and Google. So ask yourself: When they search for a particular product, service, or answer to a burning question, how likely are they to land on a helpful video, blog article or webpage created by your brand?

Social distancing also changes the way businesspeople interact. Expect to see networking organizations using online conferencing platforms such as Zoom instead of shaking hands and exchanging business cards in person. If you rely on conversations with your fellow business owners to discover new opportunities and trends, you (and they) will be spending a lot more time sharing that information from your computers or smartphones. LinkedIn is about to become hotter than ever. Are you currently uploading content and contributing to conversations there?

In short, now's the time to work on your social media presence. Pick out the social media channels most likely to appeal to your target market, and start inundating those channels with relevant, helpful, compelling content. Make sure your website content is updated and effective so that when your blog articles, videos, and other social media posts lead prospects to the site, those prospects will continue the journey through your sales funnel until they become customers.

Social distancing doesn't have to be a contradiction in terms. Take the necessary steps to join the massive online conversation and get your brand's voice heard. You'll continue to reap the benefits long after the world has returned to "business as usual."

Training Your Target Market: The Art of Creative Reinforcement

I was watching a video about dog training the other day. Don't ask me why; I don't have a dog, and I'm not planning on getting one. Anyway, I was fascinated by how different one breed can be from another when it comes to training. Some dogs, it seems, cannot wait to learn new tricks and display their knowledge at every opportunity, while others tend to do whatever they want at any given moment.

What causes some dogs to lag behind in their training? Well, some of them may see training as a struggle for dominance in the human-dog relationship, while others are just stubborn by nature. Then there's the possibility that some animals just aren't quite as smart or attentive as others. In fact, the video noted that one particular breed or other can require 50 or more repetitions before the command sinks in.

Anyone in sales can sympathize with this situation -- and let's face it, if you're in business at all, you're in sales to some extent. The Online Marketing Institute notes that humans typically require 7 to 13 "touches" before they actually buy a product or service. The number of touches required depends in part on the quality of the marketing content used in those touches. This content may include your website or landing pages, a targeted email campaign, ongoing blog articles that continue to answer questions and inspire interest, and/or print marketing pieces that compel action. 

These sales tools can drive business in different ways. But just as Rover probably won't sit the first time you ask him to, you can't expect your marketing content or sales tools to create loyal customers overnight. You have to keep reinforcing the information, coming at your potential customer from several different directions, until your message sinks in.

That's why businesses maintain regular social media presences on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc. It's also why they blog regularly. These actions offer simple, trackable methods for building followings, enhancing (or repairing) reputations, and making multiple impacts until readers either become buyers or share your message with other prospective buyers.

Of course, you can't just keep regurgitating the same material over and over; rote repetition may work on pets, but humans tend to see through it and will eventually tune you out. Yes, you do need to repeat and reinforce your message, but you need to go about it creatively. A varied mix of closely-related messages will support your brand, keep readers reading (and thinking), and maintain interest in what you've got to sell.

So go forth and train your target market, enlisting any creative assistance you may need to help you achieve your goals. Just remember to swap out the doggie treats for more meaningful rewards -- unless, of course, you're marketing directly to dogs.