Kirsty France Writes

If you have a shop with physical premises, a great window display is a no-brainer.  How else are you going to convince people to come inside?  Of course, what your shop front needs depends on the customers you want to attract.  The display outside a seaside bucket and spade shop will be very different from that of a high end boutique.

When you have an online business, it’s easy to forget that the same rules apply.  Your online presence, particularly your website, is a virtual shopfront and should be treated accordingly.

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Are you annoying your customers without meaning to?  Could you be bringing in more business if your marketing talked to your audience in the right way?

Bridging the gap between you and your audience can be harder than you think.  There are so many potential pitfalls if you misjudge your customers.  The main problem is that you’re an expert.  You know your business and your subject inside and out but your customers might not.  You run the risk of alienating them by blinding them with science.  Conversely, you could also end up patronising them by assuming they know less than they do.

It’s a balancing act.  So how do you get it right?

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When you first start a business, you probably just hope that someone will buy from you.  That’s particularly true when you’re a sole trader working for yourself for the first time.

However, trying to market to everyone is a recipe for disaster.  There’s nothing wrong with taking whatever work comes your way in the early days when you just need to make some money.  But you’ll be doing yourself a massive disservice if you don’t get more targeted in your marketing.

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At the risk of repeating myself ad nauseum, I decided to make spring resolutions this year instead of inflicting further misery at New Year.   In case you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about, you can catch up with the rest of this series of blogs here, here and here.
My business goal is the most challenging because it doesn’t rest solely in my hands.  I can talk to as many prospective new clients as I want but they need to decide that they want to work with me.  When you’re hiring a writer it’s certainly true that your personalities need to be a good fit.  I haven’t worked for anyone I’ve actively disliked but there have been occasions where I’m working for someone against my better judgment.  The words start to feel forced and that’s never a good thing.

I’m aiming to sign up five new retainer clients by the end of the year.  The best thing I can do to achieve that is to focus my marketing in the right places.

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If you’ve been following this blog series so far (and if you haven’t you can catch up here and here) you’ll know that I’ve made two spring resolutions this year.  New Year’s resolutions are so 2016.  During the course of my life I’ve made dozens of different resolutions.  Some have succeeded and some haven’t.  I’ve realised that there are two main differences between the two.  Firstly, how much I wanted to achieve the goal or not and secondly, what steps I took to track my progress.

Choosing the right goal

I was 23 when I went to university.  When I left school I had an offer of a place but it was my second choice and I didn’t know what I’d get out of it besides a mountain of debt.  Of course, a mountain of debt then is a molehill now, but that’s another debate.  I spent a few years doing various courses and a few secretarial and admin jobs whilst I worked out what to do next.  When I finally went to university I’d escaped from a job I hated.  I was motivated to study and find a proper career path.  By the end of my first year I’d had a fantastic time and put on a massive amount of weight.  I wanted to feel healthy again so I did something about it.  Getting into the right frame of mind just felt easy.

Choosing a 10k run as a health goal took a while.  I can’t set goals based on what other people think of me.  It has to be about my own opinion of myself.  I know that probably makes me deeply narcissistic but it’s true.  I’m the only person who can put one foot in front of the other first thing in the morning or keep my hand out of the biscuit tin.

Why do I need to track my data?

When you first set a goal that you’re really excited about, you just launch yourself into it.  You’ve made the plan and you’re fired up to execute it.  Then, a few weeks in, your motivation can start to slip.  The changes you made take you out of your comfort zone and it starts to feel like more of an effort.  That’s where tracking comes in.

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This year, I decided that I wouldn’t make any resolutions until spring.  Basically, it’s all about getting into the right frame of mind but if you’d like more detail than that you can read my previous blog post here.  I’m also keeping it simple.  I’ve made one business resolution and one health related one.  I’ll be talking about my business resolution in another post, but for now I need to get down to brass tacks with the health one.

My health goal

I’m aiming to run a 10k by the end of this year.  For some of you that will sound like an epic challenge, I know others who do that distance as a warm up.  I’ve done a few 10k races before but the last one was on Boxing Day 2015.  My last run was a Santa Run for charity at the beginning of December 2016.  When I ran, it prompted me to make other good choices.  I’d still have a drink but not so many that I couldn’t get up and go out in the morning.  I lost weight and had more energy for my kids.

I can give you all sorts of excuses about the slow decline in my running performance.  My kids won’t be among them though.  I ran my first official 10k at six months pregnant and I’ve only slowed down as they’ve got older.  The main reason is pain.  My back started to seize up during runs and at first I struggled through, then gave up completely thinking I would do some yoga and stretches and start again when things improved.

They got worse.

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Did you make any New Year’s resolutions?  How are you doing with them?  I know we’re all supposed to feel happy and bouncy at the prospect of a New Year, making a fresh start, etc., etc.  The way I look at it, it’s January.  The weather’s awful and we haven’t even got Christmas to look forward to any more.  It all makes me want to pull the duvet over my head and hibernate.  The only flaw in that plan is my two small children.  The youngest in particular is likely to jump on my head before stealing the bedclothes and running away cackling.

The fact is, I’m just not motivated to do anything in January, or February for that matter.  So, this year, I resolved to shift my resolutions back a bit.  The weather is warmer, I’m cheered by the sight of daffodils outside my window and I’m ready to take action.

The question is, what happens next?

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Do you remember that Nationwide advert that had the tagline “Brand new customers only”?  It succeeded because it hit a nerve.  People were fed up with the idea that attracting new and shiny customers was more important than looking after the ones they already had.

When you think about it, looking after your existing customers isn’t just polite, it makes good business sense.  You’ve invested time and money in marketing or networking to change that person from a lead into a customer, so why waste it?  Your existing customers already know, like and trust you and you can build on that.  So how do you go about it?

It’s all about value

There are a lot of similarities between content marketing and taking good care of your existing customers.  Content marketing allows you to build a trusting relationship by sharing your expertise.  Your prospects can see that you understand their problems and will offer a solution.  Showing existing customers that you will continue to provide them with valuable information demonstrates that you’re not just looking to take their money and run.

This can take any form you like; sending regular updates, sharing blogs or even emailing a contact directly with an interesting article that’s relevant to their business.  You don’t have to generate all of the content yourself.  The fact that you’ve taken the trouble to get in touch keeps you at the forefront of your existing customers’ minds.  It’s easy to assume that they will remember you and get in touch if they need your services again, but that isn’t always the case.  The marketplace is crowded and there will always be a competitor with a tempting new offer.  Reminding your existing customers of the service you provided increases the prospects of securing repeat business.  If you’d like to know how this can fit into a marketing strategy that avoids the hard sell, you can get sign up for a copy of my free guide on the subject here

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If you’d told me eighteen months ago that I would grow to love networking, I would have laughed in your face.  The idea of standing around a room trying to make small talk with people I’d never met before was my idea of hell.  Then I decided to become self-employed and realised that if I couldn’t talk to people face to face I would be creating huge problems for myself.

Initially I thought, quite logically, that I could network in writing.  That is, after all, how I communicate best.  The reason I became a solicitor and not a barrister is because I do better with a written statement than I do with a spoken argument.  I didn’t do badly when I had to speak during hearings, I just realised that I couldn’t spend my entire life with my heart pounding in my throat.

Talking to people

Then I realised that writing isn’t just about writing.  It’s about engaging with people.  Whilst it’s true that publishing a blog post or LinkedIn article gives me the opportunity to reach a bigger audience, it’s often speaking to people about my work that helps them to understand it.  After all, you’re not going to read something if you don’t think it applies to you.

So, I grasped the nettle and headed out into the world.  Firstly to networking events with other creatives and then to an expo where I could terrify myself by wandering around stalls and talking to people who still had corporate jobs.  Finally, I found a networking group where I could have a lovely lunch and talk to like-minded business women.  They’re not frightening at all.  Well, most of the time.

Looking after my networking contacts

Now that I’ve been out networking, what am I left with?  Well, the first thing I’m left with is a big pile of business cards to sort through.  I’m trying to be disciplined and add them to my contacts list as well as sorting the cards into boxes.  I have dividers for clients, potential clients and people whose services I might need one day.  That’s not to say there isn’t any overlap, but it makes it easier to search through them.

I also have to think about how to look after my contacts and keep in touch with them generally.

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Do you have an email list?  Is it bringing you much business?  I admit that I probably don’t do enough to look after my subscribers so if any of you are reading, sorry!  I’ve resolved to get better at using email.  For one thing, I want to be helpful.  If there are people on my subscriber list who just want to know about blogging, there’s no point me writing to them about time management.

At the moment, I send out a monthly update which has the same content for everyone.  I know I should do things differently so I’ve resolved to improve.  If you’re just sending out a newsletter once a month (or less), read on.  I’m learning from my mistakes so you can too…

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