blogging for beginners Archives - Kirsty France Writes

Posted on 7th February 20227th February 2022 by kirsty — Leave a comment

5 ways to improve your blog today

Have you ever sat looking at a blog post you’ve just slaved over and felt that it was just a bit – meh? Could it possibly be a bit waffly and difficult to read? Maybe you’re just wondering why anyone would be interested in what you’ve got to say. If you’re worried that your topics are less than thrilling, this might help. Otherwise, read on to discover the 5 steps that will instantly improve your blog.

Edit ruthlessly

When you love what you do it can be easy to go on a bit. The trick is to know what to leave and what to remove. You might just need to take a few words out. Firstly, take out the adverbs. You don’t need to say that something is really exciting, it’s just exciting. Then, make each sentence as simple and jargon free as you can. If you wouldn’t say it to a customer in a face-to-face chat, don’t put it in a blog post.

Use subheadings

Subheadings are your best friend when it comes to readability. (Yes, that is a real word.) Reading one endless block of text is tiring; break it up with subheadings and you’ll instantly improve your blog. It makes it more scannable too, so if a visitor is looking for something specific a good subheading can help them find it. You’ll also make your post more user-friendly to people using assistive technology like screen readers. Another big plus is that Google loves subheadings because they suggest you’re organised.

Write a good headline (or 20)

A good headline might seem like a small thing, but it’s an easy way to improve your blog. A great headline will attract attention when it pops up in a search and makes it more likely that you’ll be found in the first place. Your headline needs to let people know what to expect when they click through (no clickbait please). Using the right kind of language also makes it enticing and relatable. Sometimes this can be as simple as making a headline feel personal by using ‘you’ or ‘your’. Write a few then try them out in a headline analyser like this one.

Add a CTA

OK, this probably won’t improve your blog in terms of quality. I put my hands up to that. Using a call to action (or CTA) will help you to make your blog part of your overall business building. If you want your readers to do something after they’ve read your blog post, tell them. People often need a bit of a prompt before they take action. Give them a l ink to your sho p or to book a call, ask them to leave a comment or invite them to sign up to your mailing list.

Get feedback

Here’s the scary one. You will improve your blog much more quickly if you ask someone else to read it and tell you what they think. Weirdly, it’s far more frightening than hitting publish and sending your post out onto the anonymous internet. Getting feedback from a friend or an editor will teach you a lot. You’ll find out what bits have too much jargon or where your sentence structure doesn’t work. Being brave and getting feedback lets you make improvements now.

Could you improve your blog by letting someone else write it for you? I can help with that. Just click here to book your no obligation chat.

Posted on 31st January 20221st February 2022 by kirsty — Leave a comment

How to get blogging basics right (aka I made mistakes, so you don’t have to)

If you’re just starting out writing a business blog it’s important to get the basics right. On the other hand, if you’ve been going for ages, it’s still worth checking to see if you’ve developed any bad habits. I’ve made every blogging mistake going (please don’t look, it’s embarrassing). When I look back on some of my early blogs now, they make me cringe. It’s made me realise how important it is to get the basics right. Here are my top 5 blogging basics that will get you started (or back on the right track).

Know your audience

Sorry if you’ve got déjà vu; I sometimes feel as if I start every blog post with this. The thing is, knowing who you’re talking to is absolutely fundamental. It’s not about excluding anyone; you’re just focusing your time and energy on the people who are most likely to need what you offer. When you have a clear idea of who they are and what they care about, it’s much easier to talk to them. That way you’ll create blog posts that make people feel heard and understood and not underwhelmed.

Don’t make assumptions

You might already know who your ideal customer is, but you’re cursed with knowledge. That makes life easy if you’re talking to other experts in your industry. Otherwise, it can be a challenge to work out how much (or little) your readers already know. The last thing you want is to drive your audience away by talking down to them or blinding them with science.

If you aren’t sure whether your audience is familiar with a particular topic or their level of knowledge, ask! Social media is great for this. You can use your own platforms or ask in other groups to get a wide range of opinions and create content at the right level.

Don’t dilute your message

I know that there are lots of entrepreneurs out there with a whole range of interests. They’re also incredibly skilled at distinguishing between the different parts of their business or showing how all the different elements combine to help you achieve the results you want. Why does this matter? It’s because it takes time for people to work out what you do then they’ll forget if you don’t keep reminding them. If they see you shift to only talking about something else, they’ll assume you’ve stopped doing the first thing.

Choose your tone

This is another reason why knowing your customer is on my list of blogging basics. You can choose the right tone of voice based on what they need and what they expect from you. The way you talk to a client as a solicitor is likely to be quite different to the approach you take as a beautician. Professionalism doesn’t have to be stiff and formal but it’s still worth bearing in mind. You might want to shake things up in your industry, but it should be on purpose!

Be consistent

If you start a blog then ignore it for a year, your potential customers might wonder whether you’re still in business. It might just be that they couldn’t keep up with their own schedule. When you start blogging, aim for a realistic view about how much you can achieve in terms of quantity and quality. A good blog post once a month is way better than a rubbish one every week. If you’re already blogging and the quality has dropped, do less.

Do you need help with getting your blogging basics right? I can help with that. Just click here to book your no obligation chat.

Alternatively, if you’d like blogging and writing hints and tips straight to your inbox every month, just fill in the form below. I’m a vegetarian so I hate spam and will never share your information with anyone else.

Posted on 9th July 20219th July 2021 by kirsty — Leave a comment

5 ways you can find new things to blog about

Woman making notes about new things to blog about — Photo by Judit Peter via Pexels

Finding new things to blog about can feel a bit relentless. You create a plan then before you know it you have to start all over again. I’d say it’s like painting the Forth Bridge, but even they’ve stopped. Then there’s the monotony of the whole thing. You might have your own favourite methods but you’re just bored of them. What you need are some fresh new ways to help you find topics to blog about. As if by magic, here are a few of my favourites.

Ask the audience

One of the simplest things you can do to find new things to blog about is to ask your customers. I suspect that if you took to social media and said, “what should I blog about?” you’d get tumbleweed, but if you ask, “what are you struggling with right now?” you’ll get some useful answers. You could also try a poll with a few suggestions to get them started.

This method helps you offer timely and useful information as well as boosting engagement on social.

Write a case study

Case studies are brilliant for two main reasons. Firstly, they offer social proof. It’s not just a nebulous statement that you can help with something. You can show your audience that you’ve actually helped someone. Secondly, it lets them imagine themselves in an existing customer’s shoes. Your case study could be describing someone just like them, with the same challenges. If you’ve helped someone else, you can do it for them too. A case study can also help them to understand the process or how you deal with potential problems.

Update an old post

If you’ve been blogging for a while, you should already have data to show what your audience liked. Use your analytics to find your most popular posts. Then update them. Are there new things that you’d like to add? Has your advice changed? This post from last week is an update of one I wrote a couple of years ago. I’ve changed the structure but also added some new ideas. Finding new things to blog about is a perennial topic so it’s always going to be useful.

Find things to blog about with autocomplete

This is a bit of a blunt tool, but it’s useful if you need inspiration. Head to Google and start typing a question that’s relevant to your business. Here’s what I got when I started typing ‘content writing tips’.

As you can see, it gives me a whole list of potential things to focus on, including key phrases that I can target to help with my SEO. Some are useful, some not so much, but it helps me to learn what people are looking for advice about.

Collect useful resources

It’s tempting to believe that absolutely everything you write has to be fresh and original. It doesn’t. Your content just needs to be useful. If you can bring together resources that have helped you (or that will help your customers), that’s incredibly useful. It saves them a heap of research time and offers them solutions that are already tried and tested. By supporting your audience you’re also building trust in your own brand, so it’s a win-win.

Do you need to come up with new topics? I can help with that. We’ll have a 30-minute chat then I’ll come up with some fresh new ideas that you can take away and write about. Just book your slot here.

You could also sign up for my mailing list for hints and tips straight to your inbox every month. I don’t do spam and will never share your information with anyone else.

Posted on 5th July 2021 by kirsty — Leave a comment

How you can find fascinating blog topics

A woman at a laptop reading about fascinating blog topics — Image by Ekaterina Bolovtsova via Pexels

When you start coming up with blog topics, there’s one very important thing to keep at the front of your mind. Your customer. Whatever you write about, ask yourself – “will my customers care about this?” If they won’t, don’t write about it.

Knowing your customer should be one of the foundation stones of your marketing. When you know who’s most likely to need your services you can start talking just to them. A good blog can create that moment of recognition that makes your reader feel seen and understood.

Before you start working on a list of blog topics, think about who they’re for. Are they cash rich but time poor or the complete opposite? Will your products only suit people who are at a particular stage in their lives, like new parents or people who’ve just retired? Think about the problems you solve or the ways you make your customers’ lives better. Then we can get started.

The story so far

Sharing your story with your audience helps you to understand each other. People get to know you, like what you say and ultimately come to trust you enough to buy from you. The key is to talk about your experience and link it to the ways that helps your customers.

As an example, if you’re a parent selling clothes for babies and children, talking about your family shows your customers that you’ve been through it all and know how to make clothes that will last.

What has my personal life taught me?

You might have a personal story that isn’t obviously related to your business, but that’s made you who you are.

For example, when you’re building a business, you need to be a bit brave sometimes. If you’ve found a way to be brave, share it! Maybe something in your past has helped you to build skills that you use now. Tell your customers because they might just recognise themselves.

FAQs

Answering an FAQ is a quick and easy way to create a new blog post. What are you asked most often? What do your customers ask you in emails or face to face? If they’re asking, people who are looking for you online will be too. It’s an easy way to start building your search rankings.

Create a list of the questions you’re asked all the time and start answering them in your blog.

What’s in the news?

You have to move fairly fast for this one, but if you can relate a news story to your business, people are more likely to find you. Lots of businesses offered advice about GDPR when it was on everyone’s minds. You can talk about current topics, but it’s also worth thinking ahead. Look out for topics you can talk about that your customers will need to deal with in the future.

What’s next?

Hopefully that’s got you off to a good start, but what else can you do? As always, put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Think about what questions they’re typing into Google that will help them to find you. I’ve found that small business owners won’t necessarily search for a writer. But they will ask how they can attract more customers or improve their marketing. It’s my job to make sure that I talk about the answers to those questions.

If you’d like some more inspiration in book form, I can help.

‘50 blog topics for your business’ does exactly what it says on the tin. It gives you 50 topics that you can use straight away – if you write one a month that’s over four years’ worth of ideas for less than the cost of a family takeaway.

Does that sound good? Get your copy by clicking on the image below.

book with 50 blog topic ideas for your business

Some useful resources

Answer the Public – type in a key word and it’ll tell you what people have searched for.

Google Trends – what searches are most popular when.

Posted on 4th July 20224th July 2022 by kirsty — Leave a comment

Are you ready to start planning your Christmas marketing?

A woman with hot chocolate getting ready to plan her Christmas marketing — Photo by **Brigitte Tohm** from **Pexels**

Yes, I’m publishing this blog in July. No, I haven’t lost my mind. There are already business owners on my social media feeds talking about buying baubles. I know that there are marketing professionals out there that have already been planning their Christmas marketing for months now. I actually said the words “we could do a Christmas gift guide” to a client when it was still June.

When it comes to Christmas marketing business owners tend to fall into one of four camps. There are the ones who are already on it (if you need some help with the copy, get in touch). Then there are the ones who aren’t going to do anything because Christmas is irrelevant to their business (I may have news for you). Maybe you think it’s far too early to think about Christmas marketing, even if you’ve already started buying stock. Or perhaps you start thinking about Christmas sometime around 25th November. The thing is, if you’re going to do any festive marketing it’s worth thinking about it now.

I’m not suggesting that you jump into content creation right now (unless you really want to). All the same, a bit of thought and planning now will make things much easier further down the line, plus you’ll have plenty of ideas if you need to get someone else (like me) to do the creating for you. So, here are a few things to think about for your Christmas marketing.

Start with a blog

You won’t be surprised to hear me suggest this. Even if Christmas isn’t peak season for you, a blog can be reused and shared throughout your marketing, so you build awareness. If it’s your busiest time, a blog gives you a central piece of content that you can break down and share as individual posts. It means you’re more likely to be found by people buying gifts, looking for inspiration or just trying to survive the Christmas stress.

Be helpful

I know that for most of you Christmas marketing is about making sales. That’s OK. The important thing to remember is that you’re more likely to make a sale if you’re being helpful. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Offer them a solution to a problem. That solution might end up with them buying something. Even if it doesn’t, you’ll have created a good impression and started to build a relationship that’s based on trust.

Ideas for product-based businesses

Need some ideas? No problem. If you’re a gift-based business, start by making gift recommendations alongside some lovely pictures and links to buy. You could create a whole series of blogs with gifts for mums, dads, aunties, little kids – you get the idea. If you have gifts for the person who has everything or is difficult to buy for, talk about that. You could even do a round up of Secret Santa gifts if you have lots of stocking fillers to share.

Ideas for business that create the perfect day

If you help to make Christmas easier or more enjoyable, talk about it in your Christmas marketing. Do you do home delivery, help with meal prep or offer gift wrapping? Can you suggest 5 ways to keep the family entertained when they’re full of turkey or sick of the sight of each other? Talk about ways to survive Christmas without getting frazzled or share expert tips for busy people. If you can make the whole thing less stressful, your customers will love you.

What if your business isn’t Christmassy?

Writing a Christmas blog for a non-Christmassy business takes a bit of lateral thinking. It starts with putting yourself in your customers’ shoes. Can you offer tips to make extra family time less stressful? Could you help them avoid a Christmas Day emergency? Quick self-care tips are perfect for this time of year. You could just focus on fun – share some Christmas jokes or write a funny blog. My personal favourites are this one I wrote for an insurance broker about insuring Santa and a will writer’s letter to Santa.

Have I got you thinking? If you’d like to talk over some ideas and find out how I could write your blog for you at any time of year, you can book your free discovery call here.

How to break your blog writing into 5 easy steps

Break your blog writing down into easy steps

There are loads of reasons why you might have put off starting writing a business blog. One of the ones I hear a lot is the fact that it seems like a load of work for one piece of content. (Actually, it doesn’t have to be one piece of content – read this to find out how you can make it go further.) I won’t lie, writing a blog can take ages. The sight of a blank screen can make even my writing brain turn to fudge sometimes. If you tackle writing a blog as one big task it can be incredibly daunting. Breaking it down into manageable chunks makes the whole thing much less scary and more likely to happen. Here’s my plan for creating a great blog post.

Make a plan

Once you’ve chosen a topic (more on how to do that here), think about what information you need to share. Can you structure it as a list of tips, questions or is it more like a story? Think about what the central point of the post is going to be and write down the points that are essential for covering it properly. For a blog of around 500 words 4 or 5 points is ideal. Any more than that and you’ve got an epic post – or a whole new topic.

Talk through your topic

When I say talk, I mean it literally. This works really well if you freeze in front of a blank page but can explain yourself perfectly when you talk. You can record notes on your phone or use Word’s dictation feature for voice to text. It won’t give you the perfect blog post first time but it helps you capture your voice. You can see which phrases you naturally use and include them in your blog.

Create a first draft

This can be the scary bit, but if you’ve followed the steps so far it needn’t be. You can use your key phrases to create sentences. The points you set out in your plan are your subheadings – just write a few sentences under each. If you’ve talked a good game you might have more than you thought. The important thing to remember is that no-one has to read the first draft but you. Don’t worry about your grammar, just get everything on paper.

Edit your blog

Editing is your friend. Your first draft just gives you something to work with. Remember, you can’t edit a blank page. Use the spelling and grammar check tools that come with your Word document or Google doc as a first step. Then go through and read what you’ve written, preferably at least a day after you wrote it. Does it still make sense? Does everything relate back to your central topic? If not, take it out. You can also ask someone you trust to sense check it for you.

The finishing touches

The final touches are really a set of micro tasks. The key one from a writing perspective is your headline. There’s a whole load of headline theory out there, but when you’re starting out the main thing to remember is that it needs to tell the reader what to expect. Basically, think of a clickbait headline and do the opposite. Then you just need a good picture and remember to use your website’s SEO tool if you have one.

I hope this has inspired you to give blog writing a go. If you really can’t face it and just want to hand the whole thing over, get in touch and let’s see if I can help. Otherwise you can sign up to my mailing list for blogging and writing hints and tips to your inbox every month.

Posted on 14th December 202014th December 2020 by kirsty — Leave a comment

Do you share your values in your marketing?

Woman smiling at phone. Sharing values in marketing. — Photo by **Andrea Piacquadio** from **Pexels**

Marketing (and especially the selling part of marketing) can make a lot of us feel deeply icky. We know we need to sell stuff to make a living but the idea of giving anyone the hard sell just feels wrong. There are lots of solutions to this. One is acknowledging that you’re offering your customers something they want or need and you aren’t forcing them to buy anything. Good marketing is persuasive, not forceful. You show your customers how you can help them in a way that makes it easy for them to say yes. The thing is, a lot of the time they aren’t just saying yes to your product or service. They’re saying it to you. When you share your values in your marketing you help them to make a decision. Here’s how it works.

Why you need to share your values in your marketing

Every successful business shares its values in its marketing somewhere. Even Amazon. They could be about pricing, service or product quality. It all means that when you buy from them you know what you’re getting.

The same applies to small businesses, but there’s a bit more to it. A huge corporation needs overarching brand values because of the number of people involved. When the business is just you it can be more about your personal values. Sharing those means that your customers can recognise you as one of their people. It just makes you more relatable.

What are your values?

What do you stand for? You might think that most of us have the same values – truth, justice… wait, that’s Superman. The values that matter to your customers might be closely aligned with your personal views. Maybe you set up your business to create cruelty free cosmetics or environmentally friendly products. Share what sets you apart.

Sometimes values are intangible. Perhaps the things you stand for are more about how you treat people. Maybe you’re great at going above and beyond in your customer service or at keeping in touch with your customers. It can be more difficult to share that in your marketing but it’s worth doing.

Sharing your values regularly helps you build trust

This is related to the idea that sharing your values makes you relatable. That could prompt you to say ‘right, I’m going to go and write a mission statement on my website and a blog about my values.’ That’s fine, but it isn’t the whole picture.

Giving your customers a regular reminder that you stand for the things you say you do them to believe it. Testimonials are perfect for showing future customers that your promises are backed up by other happy clients and you don’t have to write them yourself.

It doesn’t have to be a mission statement

A mission statement can work brilliantly if it’s something your customers will like. It sets out your values clearly and it can be a great thing to look at if you’re wondering why you started this business in the first place. I’d recommend putting it on your about page so people learn about you and what you stand for at the same time. If you do go for it, remember that you still need to talk about your values in other places too.

Of course, you don’t have to write a mission statement if you don’t want to. If you think they’re pretentious your customers will too.

Need a website that shows customers what you stand for? Or a regular blog where you can share your values? Get in touch or sign up to my mailing list for hints and tips straight to your inbox every month.

Posted on 31st August 202031st August 2020 by kirsty — Leave a comment

How to structure your blog post to get more readers

You might think that the way you structure your blog post isn’t that important. You couldn’t be more wrong. What you write is really important but the way you set it out is, possibly, even more crucial. If your blog post is one big block of text, guess what? Your readers will switch off and go somewhere else.

It’s also worth remembering that people don’t always read everything you write. (I know, it upsets me too.) They might have found your post looking for one quick piece of information. If you structure your posts to make things easy to find, your readers will love you (and possibly bookmark your post for future reference). Here are just a few of the basics.

A good headline

I’ve started with this because it goes at the top, but it’s a good idea to review your headline once you’ve written the post. Clickbait is annoying so make sure your headline reflects what you’ve actually written. This is especially true of titles that start with things like ‘5 tips’ or ’10 things’ (these are great as they also give you a built in structure).

Using power words and emotional language in your headline helps your readers to engage. Words like ‘you’ or ‘your’ helps them to feel that you’re talking to them. You can test the emotional value of your headline using the Advance Marketing Institute’s Headline Analyzer and get some ideas for power words in [this handy list from CoSchedule.

Introduction

A good introduction will get your reader hooked and wanting to read more. Opening with a question often works well because it either gets people nodding or shaking their head straight away. It has the added benefit of weeding out anyone who doesn’t need your help because they just stop reading. You could also start with something surprising or controversial that leads into your topic. The most important thing is to give readers a preview of what you’re going to talk about. It helps to build trust because it shows your readers you know what you’re talking about.

Subheadings

Subheadings are important for two reasons. Firstly, Google likes them. It shows structure which suggests that you know your stuff. It also helps readers who might only be looking for the answer to one question. If you’ve planned a post with a specific number of tips or recommendations, your subheadings can just be a list. If you’re describing a process that needs to be done in a particular order, you can list out the steps and use those as subheadings. Otherwise, plan out what the post needs to cover so you can focus all of the relevant information within that section.

Conclusion

What do you want people to take away from this blog post? Briefly summarise what you talked about so the overall point is clear. You could also list key points or actions readers can take next. Also consider including a call to action. This could be a prompt to sign up to your email list, a question for readers to answer in the comments or anything else you’d like. The idea is to encourage readers to engage further with your business so that you can keep building the relationship and encouraging them to become customers. Practicing what I preach, I’d like you to come away from this understanding that building a clear structure into your blog posts helps to make them user friendly and easy to read.

If you’ve written a blog post that you’re not happy with, or would just like to hand the whole thing over, please get in touch. I can write your blog for you or help you to edit one you’ve already written.

Or you can complete the form below to sign up to my mailing list for monthly blogging and marketing tips straight to your inbox. You’ll also receive a free copy of my guide to getting your business seen online as a thank you.

Posted on 10th August 202010th August 2020 by kirsty — Leave a comment

Do you need great ideas for your blog?

One of the most common questions I hear when I suggest business owners start a blog is “but what will I write about?” Coming up with ideas for your blog (or any of your social media posts for that matter) can feel like a massive task at first. It’s also entirely possible that you think you’ve covered everything you can write about already. The truth is, there are ideas all around you – you just have to know where to find them. Here are 5 simple ways that you can find new ideas for your blog.

Keep it simple

I talk to a lot of business owners who don’t write about really obvious things in their blog. They think that because they think something’s boring and routine their customers will too. Truth is, your customers need you because they don’t know what you know. If your strength is making beautiful jewellery your weakness could be keeping your accounts in order. If you’re the accountant who can give them a simple way to keep everything organised, talk about it! It isn’t too obvious, it’s really helpful. A list of your FAQs = an instant list of blog topics.

How do you help?

You’re in business because you offer something people need, so if you want customers you need to tell them how you help them. What are the benefits of working with you? I talk about things like coming up with ideas, writing in a way your customers will understand and turning lacklustre words into something better. You can also think about all of the different things that people might be Googling that you can help with. Say you offer massage – there are loads of different ways that someone might benefit and you can write about them all.

Talk to people

Taking a genuine interest in your customers’ lives is just basic human decency. It also helps you to come up with ideas. I get a lot of ideas from conversations I have with other business owners. You discover what they’re struggling with and about the misconceptions they have about your industry. That doesn’t just come from business networking. Your customers could be the people you chat to on in the local shop (albeit through your mask just now). The key is to listen to what people need – then you can write about ways you can help.

Read other blogs

I’m not suggesting you steal other people’s work. Plagiarism is bad. However, reading other blogs and marketing content within your industry helps you to keep up to date. This can also sometimes apply to reading the news too. Writing a blog post about something that’s changing will be really useful to your customers. The obvious example at the moment is Covid-19. There is so much change going on my head’s spinning. If you can help your customers understand what’s happening in businesses like yours it helps us all deal with the stress that little bit better.

Use some tech

There are lots of techy ways that you can come up with ideas for your blog. I like Answer the Public, where you can type in a keyword and it gives you loads of different questions that people have asked around that word. There are also some great keyword research tools. My favourite is Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest. Buzzsumo is also a great tool if you want to find out what kind of content does well in your industry.

I hope that’s given you food for thought – if you want a whole heap of topic ideas for your blog that are ready to go, my new eBook is out now. It’s called ’50 blog post ideas for your business’ and does just what it says on the tin.

Further resources

For even more ways to come up with new ideas, this great post from Orbit Media is well worth a read.

Posted on 3rd August 20203rd August 2020 by kirsty — Leave a comment

Are your future customers scared of you?

Are your customers scared of your business?

Does it ever feel as if some people might be a bit scared of your business? You might think of yourself as a perfectly pleasant person, not an ogre or a troll. Yet you haven’t had a steady stream of new customers beating a path to your door. Or maybe you’ve introduced an exciting new product or service and its fallen completely flat.

It’s not because you’re terrifying. (Probably – if you are actually really scary I can’t help you.) The truth is, people like to know what they’re getting into. Trying something new takes a bit of a leap of faith. If you want your customers to have confidence there are a few things you can do to help them.

Tell them about your business

If you have a business that might be considered ‘unusual’, this is for you. There are a whole load of businesses in the world that do exactly what they say on the tin. If you’re a hairdresser on the local high street, people will get it. But what if people wrinkle their noses and say ‘what’s that?’ when you tell them what you do? Your future customers might be doing the same. You could be the solution to a problem that’s really holding them back, but they’ll never find you if you don’t teach them how you can help.

It’s also possible that they’ve got completely the wrong idea about what you offer. They’ve read something somewhere that was completely inaccurate. It might have been sensationalised or just phrased in a way that made them think it wasn’t for them. Never be afraid to bust a few myths if you need to.

Do your customers know about your services?

Of course, there’s another possibility. Maybe you offer a range of services and most of them are perfectly ordinary. Like a beauty therapist offering facials and massage. Then you bring in something new, like Hopi ear candling. No-one books. You’ve told people you’re offering it, it’s there on the menu but no-one’s buying. That’s probably a sign that they don’t know what it is or why they need it.

Explaining the benefits of a product or service is a great idea no matter what you offer. Even if you think something is mainstream, there are bound to be people who’ve never heard of it. Or maybe they have heard of it but they’re not exactly sure why they’d want it. Saying things like ‘this is a great treatment for hayfever sufferers’ or ‘this will save you time doing x job’ demystifies your services and encourages people to try them out.

Cover the basics

Sometimes people worry about simple things. Signing up for a class or an appointment with a professional is a big commitment. You can’t just run out if you don’t like the look of it. (Well, you could, but you’d probably feel pretty silly.) People protect themselves by not making the booking in the first place.

The concerns your potential customers have will depend on what you offer. If they’re in a group setting they might wonder what the other people will be like. They might worry about what you’re like or whether they’ll be safe visiting you. Going to see a solicitor or financial adviser runs the risk that they’ll be blinded with science. Telling people what to expect gives them certainty and reassurance. It tells them that you’re friendly and will look after them. That could mean the difference between a new customer and one that never gets in touch.

If you need help speaking your customers’ language and demystifying your business, just get in touch. Or sign up to my mailing list for regular marketing and writing tips.