3 tips to optimise promotion through social media

If you’ve dabbled in any social media spaces yet, you’ll know that it’s easy to lose track of time. As in any community offline, like a sport or hobby group, you’re as equally like in an online community to enjoy yourself and before you know it: you’ve whiled away the hours, feeling that you haven’t achieved anything other than a few good conversations. Time that you’d intended to use for promotion has frittered away and you now have a backlog to deal with as well as a guilt trip.

So how do you best spend time in an online community to benefit your organisation? I’ve picked out three of the top tips to help you on your way.

1. Have a plan
Just as you have your business and marketing plans, have an online promotional strategy too. Identify your market segments and plan to connect with them through their preferred online community. When you know which space is right for you and your customers, it helps you to be strategic with your activities.

2. Work to a schedule
Just as you set KPIs and schedules for other business activities, set them for your social media space(s). Have a plan of action for what you’ll communicate and when; tie it into your other promotional activities to gain some leverage. Make communication in your social media spaces a planned activity that’s just another one of your regular business tasks.
KPIs might include the number of leads you obtain from a certain space, the number of reTweets you earn, the growth in ‘followers’, the increase in hits on certain website pages (test by running a campaign on a specific service or product with a link to a dedicated web page, then monitor your website analytics to see what response you get).
Note: don’t downgrade the quality conversations; they may not turn into immediate sales but can be valuable for building rapport, engaging prospective customers and attracting referrals. People do business with those they know, like and trust.

3. Monitor and adapt as needed
Social media is an ever-changing landscape with technology developing faster than ever. Stay focused on your plan of action and monitor everything. Trial and test various approaches. Use the results to adapt your efforts; target the activities and approaches that do get results for your organisation.
In earlier years, you’d be lucky to see one or two technology developments in your working life cycle; today it’s a frequent occurrence. It’s ‘just life’ these days and so is constant testing and adapting.

History has proven that businesses which adapt to market changes and continually reinvent themselves, survive. Social media is here to stay so you may as well take the opportunities it can provide your business.

Clarity Press provides writing, editing, proofreading and publishing services to all sized businesses in most industries. Enquiries to Managing Director Gina Gray on 0431 850 754. www.claritypress.com.au

© Gina Gray, Managing Director, Clarity Press

4 tips for delivering consistent communications

Regardless how well we plan, sometimes our workload just takes over and, before we know it, we’ve missed a communication deadline (again).

If you don’t have a communication plan in place at all then you’re even less likely to connect with your customers regularly and that spells danger for loss of business. I recently met with a leading edge Australian manufacturer and the Managing Director bemoaned the fact that they grossly under-communicated with customers during a period of major growth for them in 2010; their bank balance is proving the theory. The positive thing is: he’s owning the issue and now making a concerted effort to reconnect and rebuild those rewarding relationships with their customers. Moral of the story? It happens to even the biggest and best of them!

So, when the going gets busy, the Busy get going! Here are 5 tips for delivering consistent communications to your customers, which fosters ongoing relationship and income.

1.    Plan to communicate. Every business needs to connect with customers frequently. When you establish a communication plan, it makes it easy for your team to follow the schedule. A communication plan should be generated at the same time as your business and marketing plan; it’s just as crucial to your business success.
2.    Communicate the plan. Share the plan with your team. Ideally, engage them during the planning phase so that they feel a sense of ownership over this activity. Customer communication should be a whole-of-organisation duty if it’s to be truly effective.
3.    Share the load. Allocate duties to each team member and set KPIs so that there is a purpose for each activity; people need to know that their work will count for something. This also demonstrates the value of your communication efforts at an organisational level and fosters personal ownership of the customer relationship-building role.
4.    Use automation. Online communication systems now allow you to draft your e-newsletters or emails and queue them up ahead of time. You don’t have to be there to hit the send button. Block out some time periodically to create your communications then queue them up to roll out regardless how busy you are at the time. You can also track results such as open rates, click-throughs, bounces and unsubscribes. You can see how many times someone visited a linked page on your website, who they forwarded the e-newsletter or email onto and what they wrote to that person when they did! All of this is invaluable data that can help you plan future promotions and give you a reason to connect with your customers.

If delivering customer communication on a frequent basis appears arduous, it needn’t be: plan ahead, share the load and automate as much as possible. Finally, monitor results and use that information to improve and streamline your future communication efforts.

Clarity Press provides writing, editing, proofreading and publishing services to all sized businesses in most industries. Enquiries to Managing Director Gina Gray on 0431 850 754. www.claritypress.com.au

© Gina Gray, Managing Director, Clarity Press

A Head Start going cheap during National Career Development Week, 16-22 May 2011

To celebrate National Career Development Week from 16-22 May 2011, you can get A Head Start – A Young Person’s Guide to Success in the Workforce for just $5 plus GST, P&P. We know – MAD price for a quality book!

Their slogan, “Get the life you love!” is what A Head Start is all about. You spend so much time at work that you have to enjoy it. No need to waste your life in a job you hate.

More information and orders

Watch official National Career Development Week videos

How service organisations can stay afloat and grow during the silly season

We’re coming up to a time that for some businesses, generally retail, is the busiest of the year.  But others, generally service businesses, are moving into their annual lull.  Of course, if your business is consistent year round, then you’re most fortunate!

Whatever your prospects, recognise that the summer holiday season is a time of opportunity. And as we all know,  opportunity is a fickle thing: if you don’t pay attention when it knocks, it gets huffy and moves on somewhere else!

So we thought it would be a good opportunity for us to remind you of a few opportunities that may be waiting.  Here are some quick bites to consider:

• Your door – activity of some kind is necessary to attract attention.  If it’s your busy period – make sure you’re communicating with your customers to differentiate yourself from the competition.  If it’s your quiet period, make sure you’re communicating with your customers so they don’t CONSIDER the competition.

• Don’t get so busy in the busy period that you forget to pay attention to your customers. Let them know they’re valued and appreciated.  Failure to pay attention risks their desire to get attention from somewhere else, like your competition.

• Quiet periods are great times to give your communication strategies an overhaul. Let your customers know that you genuinely value their opinion: ask them how you could do things better.

• Think outside the square to attract attention to your business.  What is your competitor doing?  How can you do it differently, better?  For example,  if your customers are bombarded with electronic communication by your competitors, use a completely different method to get your name/product in front of your customer.

Here’s a great anecdote about one business who took advantage of his quiet period to tap into some new opportunities:
‘I knew the Christmas period was literally silly season and clients wouldn’t want to talk about their business products until after it was over.  I also knew that every other business was sending out Christmas cards, which mostly mean very little to business clients.  So I spent some time analysing my client base, segmenting them into Gold, Silver and Bronze categories.

• For the Bronze clients, I printed up some “welcome back” postcards with a hand-penned message,  which I posted at the end of December.
• For the Silver clients, I packaged up a small parcel which had some free samples, some bonus offers, and some fun back-to-work gifts to make them smile which I mailed out at the beginning of January.
• For the Gold clients, I sent them a specially crafted invitation to a new year function in mid-January – held in-house, it was a mini-business products expo with a guest speaker on business marketing followed by drinks and some light entertainment.

All up, the cost for the 3 strategies was well within the budget but the response was phenomenal!’

How to earn customer loyalty

We’re living in an age of instant everything – information is available instantly on the internet, conversation is instant via chat rooms, messaging is instant via phone text.  It’s all so very convenient but when it comes to building good relationships with your customers ‘instant’ just doesn’t cut it!

Imagine what it would be like to expect an instant best friend at the moment of first meeting. That’s just silly!  Friendship, rapport, trust takes time, effort, and good communication to build. So it is with a business relationship.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a weekly text message  for example will endear you to your customer.  Customers need to know that you have their interests at heart, that you care about retaining their business, that they are worth some effort, and that you consider them as a person not just a number.

To make that happen requires that you make the time and effort to treat them as an individuals. Here are some tips:

• Make sure the communication you have with a customer value-adds to the relationship.
• Cut through the volume of instant communication by using a method that sets you apart – a postcard for example carries more novelty value today than an email.
• Surprise and delight your customer with the unexpected, for example, instead of a Christmas card which everyone else sends, a Valentine card has far less competition. ‘I love having you as a customer.’

The ‘instant’ age often forfeits quality for speed so always ensure that your message is clear, well-written and reflecting a quality image of your business. Nothing reassures a customer more than knowing they are getting the best.

© Maureen O’Brien

How to get your message through the mayhem

Between online activity like social media and overflowing email boxes, it’s growing harder to get messages through to your audience.

How do you get your message through the mayhem and communicate effectively when people are distracted by so much information coming from every angle, growing more cynical about the content they receive, and wondering who to listen to now that everybody’s an expert?

Now more than ever it’s important to make every piece of communication count.

• Think outside the square to get their attention.
• Ensure your content is relevant, clear and adds value to the reader.
• Deliver the content in a different way, such as with a gift.
• Make a personal phone call.

I believe we’re going to see more of the ‘old fashioned’ personalised services coming back into popularity, such as gift giving and sending cards. I can highly recommend Wrapped To You gift giving service. They’ve been helping me make a wonderful impression with my clients for years. And Customer Love does some beautiful cards that make saying ‘thank you’ easy.

Make every word count too.

I recently saw a DIY newsletter that a veterinary team had written. They were trying to save costs by keeping it in-house. They were so proud of it; however, the words didn’t make sense. It left you with questions. There was no logical flow to it. On top of that, the design was so poor you couldn’t take it seriously. I tried to tactfully broach the subject with them but they weren’t open to listening. They’re set on pushing it out as is and continuing to do so without professional assistance. This is a total waste of time and cost. Worse: it will damage their image in the marketplace and there’s a strong likelihood that their clients won’t be interested in reading future newsletters.

Don’t make the same mistake. Use professional assistance for your communication pieces. If you can’t afford it, then go for at least an editing and/or proofreading service. If you can’t even afford that then read up on all things communication to ensure you follow proven principles that will help you get your message through the mayhem and into your listeners’ sphere of interest. It’s the only way to sustain business for the long term.

How to pick the right social media site for your clients

Snowed under by all the social media options out there? Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Naymz, LinkedIn … You’re not alone. The good news is that you don’t have to do it all.

While social media is the new-fashioned concept for communicating, choosing the right space to set up for your market(s) comes back to the old-fashioned concepts of:

• knowing your market(s), and
• giving them what they want.

Ask:

• Who are your markets?
• What age group, interests, buying options and communication methods do they like?
• Where are they hanging out online?
• Are they even hanging out online?

These are important questions to ask before diving in to invest time and money into this time-consuming activity. There’s no point talking to someone who isn’t there to listen.

Recent studies of social media use in Australia indicate that:

• Baby Boomers love Wikipedia
• Gen Xers like LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter
• GenYers like anything
• Gen10ers like Facebook.

Having said that, it’s still worth asking your customers whether they’re using social media and, if so, which sites.  A survey is a good opportunity to connect with them and ask them what kind of communication they want with your business too; will they even visit your site if you set one up? I bet they would if you delivered special offers on there regularly!

Once you’ve identified where your market(s) hang out, set up your site and be committed to managing it well before you move on to establish another. Build your network in that space. Your confidence will grow too as you connect with people.

Regardless of the preferences of your market, it’s good to have some online presence they know they can go to for quick updates. It also gives you the opportunity to do some market research and quickly address any issues that crop up. Although social media is all about handing control of your brand over to your customers, it also gives you some kind of control over what’s being said when you’re able to respond to a statement. To date, we generally don’t hear about it if someone is speaking negatively about our business to their friends and family; at least in the online space you can have some input.

© Gina Gray, Managing Director Clarity Press corporate communications.

Writing for promotional tools is a skill you need to develop.

Writing for promotional tools is a skill you need to develop. If people don’t understand what you’re talking about then you’ve wasted a heap of time, effort and cost. You literally have only seconds to make a positive impression.
Basic principles

Remember these basic principles that apply to almost every promotional communication piece you distribute:

• catchy headline
• simple language
• WIIFM angle (What’s in it for me?)
• good offer, freebie and/or guarantee
• call to action e.g. ‘Click here to buy now and get your freebie.’ ‘Call us now on (01) 2345 6789.’
• highlight the most important information, which is usually the offer and the ‘how to act/respond’
• use dot points to chunk heavy blocks of text
• always always always proofread before printing
• your contact details; at the very least, your website address.

Quick tips for general promotional tools

• Flyers:
- Generally one piece of paper
- Can be folded for mailing purposes
- Concise copy
- Carefully selected images
- Design that enables readability
- Careful balance of headlines, grabs, copy, white space.

• Brochures:
- What is the purpose of the piece? Who is the audience?
- Is the purpose of the piece clear from the cover?
- Does the first paragraph of copy support or refer to the headline?
- Does the visual/design element reinforce the message?
- Does the piece make good use of subheadings or other graphic dividers?
- Is there a clear and logical flow of information? And is the amount of information suitable?
- Is the design of good quality (or does it look home-grown) and is the layout balanced, spacious and easy to follow?
- Does it contain all relevant details including contact details and buying information?

• Posters:
- Large format
- Cost more
- Colour format
- Short amount of text – concise, must reinforce the image
- Original images must be supplied to designer in maxi size
- Images most important element, then words.

• Emails:

- HTML or plain text?
- Economical communication option
- Subject line must summarise email
- Concise/brief and meaningful
-  Options: standard written, videocasts, e-news
- Beware distortions in transit and spam filters e.g. ‘cockatoo’, ‘free’.

• Websites:
- Concise/brief and meaningful headlines and content – chunked.
- Design: eye tracking studies – F pattern, location of tools.
- Links on meaningful words, not ‘click here’.
- Must be accessible: refer W3C for standards; Vision Australia offer free assessment; Alt Text on links, images, videocasts, tables.

• Media releases:
- A concise headline grabs attention.

- Establish the lead/hook in the first paragraph; it entices the reader to read the complete piece.
- The story must elaborate on the lead.
- Outline body: who, what, when, where, how.
- Make it appropriate to your audience.
- Most important information up first.
- Back-up statements with facts. Attribute quotes.
- The ending: call to action or referral.
- Captions or pull quotes entice and provide variety.
- Avoid vague or complex words. Aim for age 7 reader level.
- Combination of short, medium and long sentences for variety.

Have fun using these tips to create your promotional literature; you can’t go wrong.

© Gina Gray, Managing Director Clarity Press corporate communications.

Mixing Business With Social

Thank goodness for social media! Business is now more fun and more personal.

Small business in Australia is proving slow, in general, to take up the now commonplace online marketing options through social media networks.

The emergence of groups such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, to name a very few, has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for small business to reach a global market and connect more personally with their clients. And here’s the kicker: it’s virtually FREE!

If you think that social media is for those lonely at-home introverts who don’t have a real life, think again. The strategy of short, sharp, frequent bites of information works in today’s world where people are bombarded with data and information.

Most people today are time-poor. If asked to spend time reading lengthy technical or sales documents (yawn), they’re going to weigh that activity against the multitude of other tasks with higher priority.  Like walking the dog.

While we must veer away from traditional methods to grab their attention, there are some principles that still work. The old sales adage of AIDA, for example, still applies:
1.  Grab their Attention
2.  Capture their Interest
3.  Stimulate their Desire
4.  Motivate them to take Action.

However, it needs to adapt for the new media. Consider the power of key messages, backed up by referral through someone’s personal network.

There’s no doubt that social media has changed life as we know it. It’s:
• Changed the face of the web
• Changed the way journalism functions
• Turned the power of sales and marketing over to consumers
• Enabled small voices to be heard on a big scale.

For businesses, it facilitates the dissemination of information on a massive scale but more importantly, it enables a business to interact directly and more personally with their potential customer – anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world.

The downside? It can be time-consuming (and addictive). To do it effectively, it requires frequent attention and commitment. Once started, it needs to be continued, maintained. It’s not a job for the novice although it’s easy to get into the swing of it in time. However, a lot of time – and opportunities – can be wasted while the novice is figuring it out. For most businesses, it makes cost-effective sense to outsource the task or employ the skills internally.

Now, if you’re feeling daunted and haven’t explored the potential yet, then get clicking. Set up your own personal social sites to get some practice. And when you’re ready to get serious about it for your business then contact us: we’ll help you identify a strategy for mixing your business with social.

© 2009 Maureen O’Brien for Clarity Press corporate communications.

What to include in your crisis communications

Many businesses now have a documented crisis management plan – a backup strategy for dealing with a major crisis in the business such as a fire or theft.  However, few businesses think ahead to an effective communication plan during a period of crisis.

The global  financial crisis (GFC) is a good case in point.  Instead of taking a proactive approach with their clients, many businesses chose the ‘ostrich’ option.  That is, put their head in the sand, hope it will all go away soon and that clients will leave them alone until it’s over! However, there are some simple steps you can take next time a crisis event hits your business.

Be proactive
Being proactive means taking the bull by the horns and addressing those concerns that your customers might be experiencing before they become a problem.  Whether you’re offering a product or a service, it helps to walk in the shoes of your customers/clients.  With the constant media bombardment of bad news that usually comes with a crisis, it’s human nature to begin thinking about how that bad news can affect us, individually.

Address customer concerns
Some of the concerns your customers might be feeling could be:

• Will your business survive the crisis and if not, where does that leave them, the customer?
• If your business is feeling the crunch, will it start raising fees/prices to cope with the squeeze?
• Is there an alternative provider/supplier who might be offering a better deal to get new business during this crisis?

Every business is different but, essentially, the business that doesn’t have a proactive communication strategy in place is leaving itself open to the risk of an eroding customer base.  Either their customers will begin to look for alternatives ‘just in case’ or a competitor will be looking for an opportunity to poach new customers.

Be communicative and confident
A crisis communication plan needs to fit an individual business and should be constructed carefully using skilled communication consultation.  As a general guide, here are some useful tips:

• Increase the frequency of your communications – if you’re sending out a quarterly newsletter, for example, you might consider making that bi-monthly/monthly or supporting the quarterly news with a monthly e-bulletin.
• Use positive and reassuring language and ALWAYS have a purpose/message for your communication – people feel cheated if they can’t identify the WIIFM (what’s in it for me).
• Tell your customers what actions your business is taking to cope with the crisis, for example, ‘We’re reducing expenses by…’, ‘We’ve relocated equipment/people…’, ‘We’re outsourcing…’.

In essence:  be SEEN to be addressing the crisis with confidence.

This information is transferable to situations of major interruption to services or major change in your organisation. For example, if you’re a service business, such as a nightclub, that’s undergoing major renovations then your customers will need regular communications about progress and temporary changes to keep them happy. Really, it’s ‘their’ club so you need to engage them through the process.

Copyright Gina Gray.