How well is your website converting?
Is your LinkedIn profile generating leads for you or your business?
Does your company profile, in other capacities, inform the intended audience appropriately?
In my line of work, I see A LOT of company websites, LinkedIn profiles and pages, and business overviews. It is alarmingly evident that some of the most effective marketing basics are not widely known. So I thought I'd share a few universal truths that don't seem to be practiced very often and, when shifted into, can completely turn your results around.
- Always state these two pieces of info prominently and succinctly: Your basic Value Proposition and your Market. Very simply - what do you do and for whom? Make sure that both of these are super obvious and clear anywhere you represent your business.
- Build rapport. Connect to your audience by empathizing with their lived experience. Every customer goes from [State A], where they're unhappy or struggling with something, to [State B], the transformational process you bring them through that solves their problem, to [State C], where they finally have their dream scenario. If you can effectively make your prospects feel fully seen in their pain(A) and/or their dream(C), they will be asking where to sign up before they even hear about your solution(B). This can be especially difficult for startups who are super passionate about what they do - which is B - and what they practically eat, sleep, and breathe 24/7. But if you want to connect to your market, you've gotta speak to their experience.
- 80/20: Them/You. Talk way more about your audience than your business, company, product, or service.
- Sell BENEFITS, not features. Talk about how they will be transformed, not about how cool your stuff is. While the human mind does like facts and figures, purchasing decisions are based on emotions. (Subconsciously though, so your own conscious mind might beg to differ, but the facts are out there if that part of your brain needs to cling to them.)
- Utilize your LinkedIn Headline for marketing!! It is The Most prime real estate on this platform.
- Bonus tip: When writing copy for outside support, like consultants or advisors, set aside the sparkly customer-marketing language and shift into a more internal gear. Speak to your audience. You're not trying to wow these people; they need to know about your operations so they can help you grow your business.
Again, these are just some basic fundamentals, and any one of them can be explored to great depths, but even if you start at this level, you will be way ahead of the game.
